Christmas - Manisha Deora

Courtesy Source: Goodhousekeepiing. com

Christmas is a well-known Christian holiday set in December, celebrated the world over and famed for its decorations and Santa Clause. The Christmas means “Feast day of Christ”.It is a yearly celebration marking Jesus Christ’s birth it is observed on the 25th of December as a cultural and religious celebration among a lot of people all over the world. Christmas is celebrated in all Christian countries but there are differences in the way each nation celebrates this date.

Christmas is a cultural festivity that entails a lot of preparations. It is a public holiday and so people get a Christmas break to celebrate it. Preparations for Christmas start early for most people so that celebrations begin on the eve of Christmas. Preparations for Christmas involves a lot of activities. People usually buy decorations, food, and gifts mostly for children in the family and friends. Some families shop for matching Christmas outfits for everyone.

The common preparations include decorations of the place with Christmas trees, lighting. Before decorations begin, the house must be deep cleaned. The Christmas tree brings the Christmas spirit in homes. Presents are placed under the Christmas tree in wrapped gift boxes and are not to be opened until Christmas day. The church is also decorated for the special event.

Christmas reminds us of the importance of giving and sharing with friends and family. Through Christmas, we know that Jesus birth is the beginning of great things in the world. It is generally an opportunity to think about nature and the reason for our existence. Christmas is such a festival which people from all religions and faith celebrate worldwide despite it being a Christian festival. It is the essence of this festival which unites the people so much.

Manisha Deora

The Fabindia School

mde@fabindiaschools.in

Simplicity and Trust - Prakash Dangi

Simplicity is the most important part of human nature. It is the state or quality of being

simple. Something is simple or complex depending on the way how we describe it. That means we should be simple with our personality and ideas without any showoff. If we talk about school life there also we adapted simplicity to achieve the goal in a short time. And opposite to it, we can show off anything that we move away from our goals. 

When we talk about simplicity, there are some people who come in my mind such as Mahatma Gandhi, APJ Abdul Kalam, Mother Teresa etc. Mahatma Gandhi was a very great freedom fighter but he was a very simple man. The most important proverb that we remember is Mahatma Gandhi " Simple living, high thinking". I will share one incident of APJ Abdul Kalam's life. In 2013, APJ Abdul Kalam went to attend the graduation ceremony in IIT Badlapur. He saw seven chairs arranged on the stage but the centre chair was different from the other chair. Kalam was disappointed and told the organiser to change the chair immediately and bring it to the same chair, then he attended the ceremony. So this incident shows the simplicity of APJ Abdul Kalam. We should tell the stories of great people to our students to build simplicity in life.

I think simplicity and trust work together. If people are simple, then we can trust them. This is because we feel quite comfortable with them. I will share one story on trust. It's about a pilot flying a plane. Lots of people were travelling on the plane. Suddenly, the weather was bad and the pilot could not see the way. All people were frightened but there was a small girl who was playing with her doll. She was very calm and people could see no fear on her face. Everyone was shocked to see the girl. After some time, the weather changed and the sky was clear. 

One man  came near a small girl and asked her, "Why you were not scared when the plane lost its control?"The child replied, "Because the pilot of the plane is my father and I am sure that he will put all his efforts to save me and he will not let anything happen to me". This story depicts the trust of a daughter on her father. So I think to create a healthy environment in the classroom for learning, we should listen to students carefully, try to solve the problem of students,  give equal opportunity to every student, etc. If these things are applied, then we will definitely build trust in students. "Trust doesn't need any verification, if things are to be verified, then there  is no trust."

- Prakash Dangi, The Fabindia School