Disturbing Trend

Disturbing Trend

A class VI student commits suicide,Class V students arrested for molesting a class mate..this kind of news in daily papers disturbs me. Where are we going?In this screenage of mobilephone,TV ,Balika Badhu,Kids Reality Tv shows ,movies and exposure to news channels which work hard to get the women audience by indulging into family affairs...doing family panchayat on the TV studios and beaming it into our homes, brings closure the private lives of people .The Television is a strong media and if not used carefully they will create negativity in the minds of kids who cannot think rationally. I may be wrong blaming only the TV.

Parents, school and peers play a vital role in shaping the children’s future. Now it is not a adolescence problem, it is small kids who get angry easily and expect more from others and dream of those role models from media.

We speak of quality time with the kids. Ask any parent they will say that they are spending a lot with their kids, but how ...with the mobile on and talking to friends and the TV going ,computer running..yes this QualiTV time is not what they want!

Now the children are more intelligent than what we were at their age. They are aware of anything and everything of it.The educational system is numerical and not geometrically designed,what I mean is,not according to ones ability and talent but in a standard set of subjects a child should pass.It is like pushing all kinds of shapes and sizes inside a fixed cylinderical shape.

Let us role- play like a kid for a day in our home..be creative and learn about them...be a child once in a month...There is a kid in everyone of us, let us bring it out and become playful with our kids.

‘A child,’ said William Wordsworth, a famous poet, ‘is the Father of Man’

IN HIS NAME.

violin in hands Father McGuire

It was 1954 that Fr Mc Guire came to India as a young Canadian Jesuit priest. Father taught in Darjeeling in St. Joseph's and St. Robert's school and in St. Mary's school in Kurseong before coming to Kalimpong in 1990. In 1993 the Jesuit superior asked him to start a school for poor children and Gandhi Ashram was born.

I am one of the first children to be taken in by Fr. Mc Guire. "I did not know that life could be so different"

Father noticed that Nepali children were interested in their own music and they had proved that they could go very far in St. Robert's when Father taught a group of poor boys known as Gandhi Youth Group. He chose the violin as an instrument for the children to play because he feels the violin is the most beautiful instrument.

Gandhi Ashram Orchestra began with 11 children in 1993. We gave our first performance in Kalimpong only after 11 months of our encounter with the violin. Later on we were 15. Afterwards we were 30 and now there are almost 80 of us in the school orchestra. Rudramani Biswakarma conducts and teaches the orchestra. Father McGuire picked him up from the streets in Darjeeling when he was a small boy. 'Rudra' is a highly talented, dedicated man, who lives in his world of music. He interprets the music of the great masters and teaches us with love and care. He can relate to us who come from a similar background.

"All children in the school play the violin except the Kindergarten class"

In 1999 eight children were given scholarships to ICSE Schools in Kalimpong. Four of us were taken by Dr. Grahams Homes and five others by Saptashri Gyanpeeth. The principals of the schools heard us playing the violin and wanted to help us. It meant more than a dream coming true for us to be able to study in these schools.

Seema, a tenth grader from the first batch to the Homes says:
"I am very grateful to the people who have given children like us an opportunity to study in such a good school like the Homes".

Now we have 31 students going to different schools in Kalimpong.
We stay in the hostel of Gandhi Ashram School and go to these schools every morning.

Father McGuire is doing a lot for us. He is a channel through whom God's goodness is flowing into our lives. I know I have dared to dream 'big' because of the hope father gives us. We are given the self worth and dignity that helps us to grow and be what we are now.

By Sony Rai, Class 11, 2004

Father McGuire died on August 15,2005 but his legacy continues........
www.gandhi-ashram-school.org/home.php

http://colbyinindia2008.blogspot.com/search?q=saptashri