AAROHAN
The Smile of Harmony
The year started with nine children and two Diyas. We were eagerly looking forward to
spend another exciting year in mirambika.
Our first agenda was to keep our group’s name, which after many discussions was
decided as ‘Harmony’. The year was filled with new experiential projects. But sadly,
towards the end of 2014, two of our group mates left. And yet, we proceeded to bring
in Harmony amongst ourselves.
137
HARMONY: AGE 12+
AAROHAN
India and its Government
Our first project for the year was
India and its government. The
project made the children learn
about different types of ruling,
and the need for a government.
Children wanted to know how
a government forms, and what
happens to it further due to
different causes. They enjoyed
knowing in detail about the
Indian government. They studied
the Constitution of India and the
different positions of people in a
government. They were able to
relate and study with ease too.
This is a poem written by a child
who gathered information on the
Congress Party.
Indian National Congress
Somewhere near 1885,
Was the time when
congresses came to life.
Indian leader was
Jawahar Lal Nehru,
He said that “Ab main
kyun thehru!”
Government will be so bright,
it would be secular,
It would be right,
the symbol will be hand,
Signifies the work on our land.
They ruled us from 1950 to 1970,
They proved that
they are ‘mehnati’.
Mostly in the Constitution Assembly, members were from Congress,
And made the Constitution
with no mess,
Congress Party is very old,
That’s what I am told.
Education for the illiterate,
Some people who you have seen
but not met,
The current leader is
Sonia Gandhi,
And the corruption disappeared
like a quick aandhi,
I think Congress is the best,
Let’s make them win
and take their test.
The children have written a report on the three main
projects which we worked on this year. They shared
their reflections in the following write-ups.
This piece of writing is based on the government
project that was done in the beginning of the year.
We were stuck on an island where no one lives. We had to
survive for our whole lives. We had no phones, no laptops
and no houses. How could we survive? But eventually we had
to live our lives. We had to bring food from the forest, get
fresh water from the nearby waterfall. We had to build houses
from natural resources for our protection. We had to have
new clothes. We were only 10 to 12 years in age. We had to
manage all of this... What would we do?
This is what our Diyas told all of us to imagine.
“We would organize ourselves,” said some. Ideas came up till
we became a full-fledged village. But how will we rule? “We will
need a government,” said someone. “Who will be the leader,”
said another. “I will be the head,” said another. “I will! I will!”
shouted everyone. “No we will vote for the leader,” said an
intelligent lad. And that’s how our topic ‘Government’ started.
None of us knew properly what government was. But all of us
enjoyed going to the library or using the Internet to learn
about this topic. We wrote an advertisement to fill the vacant
posts for the prime minister and government. Our group
made games on the government and put up corners to make
the smaller groups play them. We even thought of mirambika
as a country. The topic was lot of fun. We can say that
everyone enjoyed it.
– Shashvat and Vitasta
Vacancy for the Post of Prime Minister
The people of our country
need a new prime minister.
Vacancy for the post of a prime minister.
Our people have been looking for
a hardworking, righteous, and sincere.
A Prime Minister who will fulfill all the blanks in the
country correctly. The person should also be fair.
Salary: 50 thousand
Gender: male/female
You will be provided a house, security, food, water
and all the other things that you need.
– Rini
– Vitasta
HARMONY: AGE 12+
138
AAROHAN
The Unexpected Project
Then we came across the next project in which we
explored about the discoveries and theories made
by scientists based on force, motion and simple
machines. Here are the children’s reviews:
It was a fine bright summer day
in July, the sun was shining
bright and I was looking at the
fan rotating. We had just finished with our math class and
some of us were winding up our
tables and getting ready for our
next class. At that instance, we
saw Srila Di entering our very
small yet noisy class. She came
and took her seat and said in
calm words, “Please settle
down.” That very moment,
we were sitting on our seats,
mouths zipped and ready to
write. To our surprise, she
Climate
asked us to close our notebooks
and get up. She said, wearing
her glasses, “Imagine you are
on the moon... Show me how
would you walk!” Without a
word we showed her the action,
and had a discussion. She then
asked us to write about whatever we did.
Her second activity was pulling
the chair. She asked us to pull
the chair without lifting it and
we were experts at it. She then
questioned us about what we
had just done and we told her
that we just dragged the chair.
The project regarding climate was based on more research
work in which children had to work independently to find out
their sources of information. Here are the children’s views:
Hello friends!
We are going to talk about the
topic we finished recently:
“Climate”. We first started off
with the temperature and measurements of climate. We learnt
the incredible ways of how early
men used to measure temperature. We also got to know about
the instruments used to see the
temperature, rain and wind. At-
mospheric pressure is one of the
most amazing sub-topics we did
in climate. We even thought of
making a weather station which
included rain gauge, anemometer, thermometer, barometer,
wind vane, and hydrometer.
But unfortunately we couldn’t
make it. We also learnt about
the wind’s direction and other
phenomenon related to it.
She asked us to find another
word for it. For a minute or so
we were confused what it would
be, when suddenly Vitasta said,
“We pulled the chair out.”
Srila Di was satisfied with her
answer. Next, she asked us to
put the chair back where it belonged. Suddenly Madhav said,
“What’s the point?” She said,
“Do as I say”, so we did. Dhriti
said, “It’s pull and push, because it’s the opposite of pull.”
This is how our new topic ‘Force
and Motion’ began At first we
thought it would be very boring.
But fortunately we were proved
wrong. This project was filled
with fun activities and awesome
experiments. It was fun and interesting and we hope all the
mirambikans after us do it. We
would like to read their reviews.
– Madhav & Dhriti
We also started different
sub-topics on different
regions of the world. Vitasta
and Madhav took the icy
peaks of the polar regions.
Aaryan and Dhriti took the
beautiful green deciduous
and temperate forests. Rini
and Shashvat took the
deserted deserts and Adya
and Ishit took the lustrous
and mysterious rainforests.
We did creative decorations
in four different places all
over mirambika. We also
gave delightful presentations to other groups.
– Adya and Ishit
Shashvat
Vitasta
139
HARMONY: AGE 12+
AAROHAN
As we do project works which energize us, to channelize this energy we read
quotations and reflect on them too. This is a reflective activity in which children
wrote their own quotation after reading some of the quotations by The Mother.
Reading quotations made them feel centred and while reflecting they were calm.
Rini
Inside me is the light of thee
You can be free
when you believe in thee
With the help of your inner friend
and the help of thee
You can get happy
and you will be free.
– Madhav
I go in thee,
forgetting and forgiving
The light in thee,
shone over me
to forget and forgive
– Ishit
As the year goes on, we go through
many things; seasons are a part of
it. Changes in the seasons not only
affect the plants, insects and birds
but also the people.This poem was
written by a child while doing creative writing, “Looking out from a
window”. It was the beginning of
the rainy season when they wrote
it. One of the poems is here to read:
Looking Out
To thy power I aspire to fly
Like a bird in your clean sky
Wash out the fear clean the sorrow in your pure loving heart
Your blessings are flowers;
your love is a garden
I want to wander and get lost in
thy garden a total disappear in
thy love.
– Adya
HARMONY: AGE 12+
On the breezy afternoon,
Looks like a night
and out will come the moon,
I look up and down;
tip tip top comes the rainy sound.
It’s green everywhere,
and so cold I can’t bear.
Rain is making ripples,
on the pond so clear.
And I cheer, pigeons
flying here and there,
This experience I should share.
– Vitasta
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In a reflective activity in
which it was asked what
the role of a child is, one
of the children expressed
her feelings with the
following words:
Children have everything
to learn, this should be
their main preoccupation
in order to prepare themselves for a useful and a
productive life. At the same
time, as they grow up, they
must discover in themselves the things which
interest them most and
which they are capable of
doing well. There are latent
faculties to be developed
and there are also faculties
to be discovered. We are
on earth to progress and
we love everything.
– Rini
AAROHAN
Celebrations are a part of our days. We celebrate to rejoice and welcome everything.
For mirambika’s birthday, the children were asked to write their thoughts about it.
One of the children compared mirambika with the school bag!
mirambika as a bag
I keep notebooks that have
knowledge, mirambika keeps
teachers. I have an eraser that
erases pencil marks, that goes
for the health centre. The pencils are the children, if it does
something wrong then the
eraser erases it. The 30 cm
long scale is a long one so
it goes for the principal. The
pencil box is the building.
The water is the food that we
get. Charts are the photographs that are displayed.
French Restaurant
In our group, we also learn French. We enjoy speaking
this foreign language. Children have fun learning and
also speaking the language. Children of this group
opened a French restaurant. Children were to take
orders in French while they also interacted with their
guests in French. They were to speak only in French.
Children made food on their own and then served it.
Tara Didi, Indu Didi and Sanghamitra Didi were invited
as the main guests to the restaurant.
Why did we decide to have
a French restaurant?
This idea was given to us
by our French and English
teacher (Vibha Didi). She told
us that we could have a French
restaurant so that we could
come to know about French
dishes and their recipes. Also,
we would learn how to converse in French fluently.
How was it to be done?
When we all got this idea, we
all became very excited and
started thinking of ways to do
this, but then Vibha Didi came
up with an idea. She told us
that each one of us is going to
bring two French dishes. After
this she asked us all what the
different jobs are there in a
restaurant; we told her that
there are waiters, cashier and
chefs. After we told her these,
she asked each one of us what
role we would like to take.
When she said this, my friend
Madhav and I got up and said
that we want to be the waiters.
Then another friend of ours
Shashvat got up and said that
he wanted to be the cashier. He
also said that he could bring
some fake money, but now
there was no position left for the
three girls. So we decided that
they can be guests in the
restaurant. When I went home,
I searched for two French
dishes and wrote their ingredients and the way they were
141
The pockets are the classrooms. The zips are the trees
always outside. Sharpener is
the library that sharpens
our mind.
– Dhriti
supposed to be prepared. The
day of the French restaurant:
The awaited day finally came
and we all were very nervous,
especially Madhav and I.
Everybody got their dishes and
I have to admit all of the dishes
looked very tempting. The
dishes were Ratatouille, Blue
Cheese Walnut Toast, Quiche,
Apple Butter, French Sandwich
and many more.
As people started coming in,
Madhav and I went to welcome
them and take their orders.
We had the Principal of
Mother’s International School
and Tara Didi in our restaurant. We enjoyed serving everybody and we had a lot of fun.
When everybody left, there was
still food left for us so Kamala
Didi told us that now you children sit down and we are going
to serve you all. When she said
this, we all became very happy
and took the food to eat and
yes it was very tasty.
After this, all of us went and
washed the plates.
What did I learn out of this?
There are many things I learnt
and they are that how do you
converse in French fluently
and I also learnt many new
French dishes. We all really
enjoyed this!
– Ishit
HARMONY: AGE 12+
AAROHAN
samanvaya
“tmatmaakr vaao dhaD,aÊ maOM Akolaa @yaa k$^M?
tuma baoif,ËaoM ko ilae maOM Balaa kba tk laDU^M\?”
jaI ha^MÊ yao ]%saahÊ yao jaaoSa hmaaro baala kiva maaQava jaao ABaI harmaaonaI ko Ca~ hOM ]nakI rcanaa maoM idKta hO.pUrI trh sao samaana vaatavarNa maoMÊ hr Ca~¹Ca~a
iksa kdr ek dUsaro sao iBanna ivacaarQaara maoM saOr kr rho hOMÊ yao [nakI rcanaaAaoM sao spYT pta cala rha hO.p`dUYaNa kI samasyaaÊ samaaja kI isqaitÊ maaOsama ko
rMgaÊ gaRhkaya- pr vyaMgyaÊ CaoTI bahna ko p`it snaoh Baava tao khIM ABaavaaoM maoM rh rho iksaanaaoM ko p`it AadrBaava.kha jaata hO ik BaaYaa kI ]%pi<a
p`orNaadayak hOÊ [-Svar sao p`aqa-naa hÊO hmaoM [tnaI Sai@t evaM saamaqya- imalao ijasasao hma [naka yaqaaoicat maaga-dSa-na krto rhoM.p`stut hOM [nakI rcanaae^M…
gaRhkayakma haota hO gaRhkayasamaJaatI hOM AruNaa dIdI
pr @yaa saatvaIM kxaa ko baccao
saaocato hOM yahI.
@yaaoMik jaba hmanao
ilayaa vaOBava Ba[yyaa ka kama
]samaoM jaaoD,a jayaa dIdI
AaOr ivaBaa dIdI ka BaI naama.
saaqa maoM kaOSalyaa dIdI
hma saba khMo haya rama!
Aad\yaa
yahI batanao maoM inakla jaatI hO ij,aMdgaI
pr tba BaI tumhoM yaad nahIM AatI
ApnaI QartI maata kI.
tba BaI maafI nahIM maaM^gato
Apnao [na taOr trIkaoM pr
AaOr Agar ek idna maOM nahIM Aa}Ðgaa
laga jaaegaa tumhoM Dr.
maOM tumhoM dota hUÐ sauKÊ
maOM tumhoM dota hUÐ ]jaalaa
Agar maOM naa Aa}^ tao
hao jaaegaa saba kalaa kalaa.
maaQava
tao caMda maamaa hmaaro saaqa daOD,oM.
maOM iksaI kao Dranao ko ilae Cup jaatI
magar kuC j,yaada dor naa ruk patI.
hma saba kao doK kr KuSa hao jaato
magar naa Kanao kI ija,d\ banaato.
eosaa lagata hO ik hmaaro mammaI¹papa
tbahmaoM j,yaada Pyaar krto qao.
magar saca pta nahIM hmaoM @yaa
hma ek caIj,a tao ja$r hOM.
hma Apnao maaM^¹baap ko baccao hmaoSaa hOM
AaOr kBaI kBaar baDo, haokr hma BaUla jaato hOM
ik vaao BaI hao rho hOM baD,o
magar naa if,Ë kroM mammaI¹papa
AapkI if,Ë maOM rKUMgaI hr dma.
maOM pkD, kr rKMUgaI Aapka haqa.
irnaI
Aaja maOMnao saUya- sao basa j,ara yaMU hI kha
Aapko saama`ajya maoM [tnaa AMQaora @yaaoM huAa.
tmatmaakr vaao dhaD,aÊ maOM Akolaa @yaa k$^M?
tuma baoif,ËaoM ko ilae maOM Balaa kba tk laDU^M\?
AakaSa kI AaraQanaa ko ca@kraoM maoM pD,ao
saMga`ama yao GanaGaaor hO kuC maOM laD^,MU kuC tuma laD,ao.
JaaiD,yaaÐ ihlaMo tao saaocaoM hma hOM prI
Aba @yaa saaocao icaiD,yaa yaa igalahrI.
Apnao saaro iKlaaOnaaoM ko saaqa saaoeM
taik ek BaI hmasao gaussaa naa haoe.
AaOr rat kao gaaD,I ko baahr doKoM
HARMONY: AGE 12+
142
kaSa! eosaa haota
mausaIbat jaba maoro Gar AatI
Apnao daostaoM kao saaqa laatI
vah maoro kanaaoM maoM gaura-tI
AaOr maOM Saaint sao pukartI.
AAROHAN
Pahlao mausaIbat Gar maoM rhtI
]sakao isaf,- maOM hI hUÐ sahtI
CaoTI hO pr tUf,ana BaI
haÐ vah hO maorI CaoTI bahna hI.
nahIM nahIM vah hO PyaarI
maorI AaOr baD,aMo kI dulaarI.
ija,d\dI hO maorI CaoTI bahna
]sako baaro maoM Aba @yaa khnaa.
jaba AatI hO ]sakI baat
ek kaSa! Aata hO ]sako saaqa
kaSa! vah na haotI [tnaI naTKT
baat maanatI maorI JaTpT.
Agar haogaI kao[- Sarart kla
mauJao pta nahIM haogaa ]saka hla
kaSa! maOM BaivaYya doK patI
kla kI mausaIbat kao Tala patI.
jaadU doKnaa AcCa lagata
mauJasao BaI kaSa! jaadU hao sakta
hr caIj,a [Qar¹]Qar kao ]D,atI
maoj,a iktaba klama yaa kusaI-.
kaSa! maOM BaI ]D,tI [tnaa }pr
fr¹fr krto maoro pOr
CUtI maOM Aasamaana
sabaka haota mauJa pr Qyaana.
kaSa! maOM iktaba ko AMdr jaatI
piryaaoM sao maOM imala patI
basa yah AaKrI kaSa pUra kra dao tuma.
&ana jaanakarI samaJadarI
mauJamaoM Bar dao tuma
basa yah [cCa pUrI kr daoo tuma.
ivatasta
maaOsama
kBaI baairSa kBaI QaUp
kBaI sauhanaa haogaa $p
kBaI TaopI kBaI Cata
hr idna Alaga maaOsama Aasamaana laata.
kBaI esaI kBaI pMKa
kBaI hITr ka QaMQaa
caaya AaOr pkaOD,o
AcCo lagato igarto jaba Aaolao.
kTlaoT AaOr saUp
AcCo lagato jaba haotI sadI- kI QaUp
Saba-t AaOr baf- AcCa lagata zMDa zMDa
tba Kanao ka mana nahIM haota ]balaa huAa AMDa.
saaocaao qaaoDa,
@yaa BaUla gae tuma ]sa samaya kao
jaba imalaI qaI Aaj,aadI hmakao
jaba KUna kI naidyaaÐ bahI qaIM
AaOr AaMsaU ko saagar banao qao.
jaba tlavaaraoM kI KT¹KT qaI
AaOr baMdUkaoM kI saT¹saT qaI
@yaa BaUla gae hao ]sa samaya kao
jaba mana maoM jaaoSa qaa AaOr sabako AMdr raoYa.
hmakao imalaI Aaja,adI baD,I mauiSkla sao
[sailae Apnaa hO doSa hmaara
JaUz¹froba bao[-maanaI BaodBaavanaa evaM WoYa
[nasao Kraba @yaaoM krto hao Apnaa doSa
@yaaoM kr rho hao Kraba [saka vaoSa.
JaUz [tnaa @yaaoM hao baaolato
@yaaoM bao[-maanaI sao jauD,to.
@yaaoM foMkto hao icaPsa ko pOkoT
@yaaoM foMkto hao tuma babalagama
AaOr haota nahIM tumhMo qaaoD,a BaI gama.
143
saaocaao qaaoD,a [sa baaro ma
kcara nahIM fOlaaAaogao
laaogaaoM kao jaaga$k kraogao AaOr
kcara nahIM tuma [sa j,ahana maoM fOlaaAaogao.
saaoca banaaAao sauMdr ijasasao rhogaa sausaMskRt doSa
camak ]zogaa [sa saMsaar maoM
hmaara Pyaara Baart doSa.
yao BaI maorI saholaI
[cCa maorI saholaI hO
kBaI¹kBaI yah ek pholaI hO.
yah AatI hO AaOr jaatI hO
AaOr kBaI tao Cup jaatI hO.
trh¹trh ko $p yao phnao
AaOr maorI saaoca lagatI hO bahnao.
kBaI tao ]D,tI ivaSaala gagana maoM
kBaI rh jaatI isamaT ko mana maoM.
kBaI bana jaatI ittlaI
tao kBaI rh jaatI ek putlaI.
[cCa baZ,ae maora jaaoSa
calaUM Aagao laokr Apnao haoSa.
hO ]mmaId maorI
jaao mauJakao kuC krnao kao ]ksaae.
krnaa caahtI hUÐ kuC mahana
yahI hOM jaao eosaI saaoca laae
maOM duinayaa kI saaoca badlanaa caahtI hUÐ.
duinayaa kao AaOr svasqa banaanaa caahtI hUÐ
maOM [sa duinayaa kao hra Bara banaa}ÐgaI
yah maorI [cCa hO ik AaOr poD, lagaa}ÐgaI.
QaRtI
HARMONY: AGE 12+
AAROHAN
hmaaro iksaana
jaao BaI hma Kato hOM vah dota hO kaOna
banaanao vaalaa KrIdnao vaalaa yaa ]gaanao vaalaa.
hmaaro iksaana ka haqa khIM haota hO
vaOsao doKa jaae tao banaanao vaalao
kao Eaoya donao vaalao sao phlao
KrIdnao vaalao kao donaa caaihe.
Aro nahIM ]sasao BaI phlao
]gaanao vaalao ka Eaoya haonaa caaihe
]samaoM hmaaro iksaana ka haqa pUrI trh haota hO
maoro ihsaaba sao iksaanaaoM kao
sabasao jyaada Eaoya donaa caaihe.
Baart ko iksaI BaI kaonao maoM
iCpo hue iksaanaaoM ko p`it
maora Aadr Baava va sammaana phuÐcao.
SaaSvat\
“The chief aim of education should be to help the
growing soul to draw out that in itself which is
best and make it perfect for a noble use.”
– Sri Aurobindo
HARMONY: AGE 12+
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