On Failure

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will
When the road you're trudging seems uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't quit,
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow----
You may succeed with another blow
Success is failure turned inside out----
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell just how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far.
So stick to the fight when you are hardest hit---
It's when things seem worse that you must not quit.

---Anonymous

Felicitation programme

In this edgy competitive scenario where perform or perish is the punch line, students of Atmiya Vidya Mandir and Sarvanaman Vidya Mandir are on the crest of the wave with their stupendous performance in the board exams. To celebrate the success, the inauguration ceremony was followed by felicitation programme held by Yogi Divine Society for the students who secured outstanding grades in board exams for class X. Though all the students of this very first batch passed the board exam with flying colors but among them Sarthak Jariwala was awarded a trophy for his glittering success of getting 10.0 CGPA, moreover Mantavya Patel held the next trophy for scoring 9.8 CGPA, adding to this Kishan Viradia and Sahaj Patel were also awarded for scoring 9.6 CGPA. Thus the programme was concluded with an encouraging speech by respected Fuaji.

Written by: Seema Madam

Inauguration of Dining Hall

The imposing array of buildings of AVM campus has recently been added with a new wing of dining hall. Bearing the subsurface of the projected temple, it offers all required facilities and seating arrangement reminiscent to that of a restaurant. The inauguration ceremony of this newly constructed Dining Hall took place in presence of saints, Fuaji -Shree Vitthaldas Patel (Secretary of Yogi Divine Society), students, parents, teachers, house masters, didis and other members of AVM family. Mahapuja was performed amidst chanting of mantras to invoke God and seeking His blessing.

Written by: Seema Madam

School Chale Hum

Drawing by: Nirlep Patel (Std 2)

Clay Model by: Soham Mistry (Std 9)

Concept & Photography by: Manish Prajapati

Moving Towards Where We Wanted To Be

Everybody wants to develop and, infact, everybody is developing in his/her way. Yet sometimes we are confused that whether we are going in the right direction or not.

It requires a clarity of destination in our mind and a whole lot of determination to reach the destination.

It also happens that many a times the destination of our life changes after reaching a certain stage of life. That may be for the good and equally for the bad as well.

Nevertheless, what we really need is somebody who can redirect us to our Goal and keep reiterating about our destination with which we had begun our journey. They may be our friends, teachers, spouse, children or parents.

In a nutshell, we must keep our eyes focused on our Goal, always. As it is rightly said, "Eyes off the destination & you invite an accident."

Written by: Paras Sir

A LIFE - by Manish Sir (H.O.D., AVM Creative Arts)

A LIFE OF SACRIFICE IS THE PINNACLE OF ART AND IS FULL OF TRUE JOY. - MAHATMA GANDHI

For the students, Of the students, By the students

Just a quick update really..

So excited about the elections coming up this Saturday for the Head Boy and the choosing of the House Captains by the students.

The students, the teachers, the admin staff and the hostel staff all are now appropriately grouped into four houses: Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram and Suharadam. More on the House structure in our future updates.

Looking forward to this Saturday and all those to follow during the year. To witness the endeavour of our dear students, their team-spirit, sportsmanship, big-heartedness yet keen competitiveness and a lot more.

Stay tuned for updates on this front!

Hold back now as we take off...

Key to Success

Success is an inevitable aspect of human life, but it’s a bitter truth of life that not everyone gets success. The ladder of success has only three steps. If a person climbs these three steps, definitely he will get success.

1^st Step: Set your Goal. To achieve something, first we have to define what we want to achieve. Before starting the car you must have to define your destination, this is the first step to get successful, define your target. Write down your goal on a piece of paper. First thing is to write down the goal you want to achieve without putting any limitations.

2^nd Step: Visualize your Goal every day, whenever you get time think about your goal, think how you will achieve it, think what you will do after achieving it. Don’t put any limitation as you don’t have to pay to visualize it. The best way to visualize is to stick your goal on soft board so you can see it every day every time.

3^rd Step: Take consistent actions every day to achieve your goal. Rome wasn’t built in a day; if you want to climb 1000 steps you have to start with one and you have to climb one by one. You cannot climb 1000 steps at a time.

As Robin Sharma rightly said, “Success is created through the performance of a few small daily disciplines that stack up over time to produce achievements for beyond anything you could have ever planned for.”

“सम्मान”

सुना न हो सफ़र सत्कार का, आगे और ज़माना भी है।

सम्मान देते-देते भूल न जाना, एक दिन सम्मान हमे पाना भी है।।

“सम्मान”

ये कोइ उपहार नहीं जो किसी के हाथ में दिया जाए।
ना ये उधार लिया जाए, ना भाड़े पे चलाया जाए,
ना छिना जाए, ना चुराया जाए,
जब होठों से भी ना उगला जाए, तो आंखों से जताया जाए,
ये तो बस कुछ ऐसा है कि, साँसों में समाया जाए।।

देख वीरों के शौर्य को, जब इतने से भी दिल ना भरें तो,
जज़्बातों से तने सीनों पर पराक्रम पदक लगाए जाएँ।

गिनती के ये साढ़े तीन अक्षर, हर मांगें साक्षर और निरक्षर,
सब बीमार तीन अनार, सम्मान आदर और सत्कार।।

संप को सम्मान है,
सुह्रद को सत्कार है,
एकता को आदर है,
पर इन सबसे भी पहले आत्मा को सम्मान है,
क्योंकि आत्मा की सराहना, आत्मा की सेवा, और आत्मा का सम्मान,
बस! यही आत्मीयता का दूसरा नाम है,
बस! यही आत्मीयता का दूसरा नाम है।।

- पुष्पक एम. जोशी

Let’s tickle their sixth sense

Much has been written and said about CCE, but one can gist fully call it a bleach on the tint as nothing has been more prolific, more articulate and more complete in exploring and unraveling all the dimensions of implementing it in our school.

I think that under the influence of the CCE, a child can bloom into the flower spreading fragrance, enticing humanity and live by it. Though with condensed and crystalized training which did away with and sticks to the bare essentials; We are to put it in the right context and to make it palatable to our students. This ‘all inclusive’ style can lead them to evolve spontaneously and comprehend the phenomenon,we call life.

The ten day training session or I would rather call it a conference for its being interactive, finally ended with the initiation of new methods into the fold of the last day, I find it contrary to popular belief about the CCE being a time consuming methods , it is seemingly like a part of daily routine for AVM teachers. A holistic approach of teaching which might help the students to face the situation when they are bog down by all sort of limitations in their daily life. Onto this flush of information I am much excited about literary and creative skills where developing aesthetic senses is much talked about (not much to the extend I would like)

In this context,there was a question which was rightly thought upon and discussed by one of our teachers about students using music as stress buster, with CCE in the air, now little Rahul or Anmol will not wonder at the story of Tansen who sang Megh Mulhar and the rain descended and when he sang rag Deepak lamps burst into light ,but for me and for us the thought provoking point is that how sincerely and imperatively we can sensitize them to the nature around to perceive it not as a resource but as a fellow existence (the environment or the surroundings in a broader perspective) why can’t we instill such feelings in them that they ( our student ) find the nature as a companion? If so happens, he would definitely take care of the environment or remain responsible or rather committed to preserve it for next generation.

I enjoyed the session as it had got much of interaction and discussion on its very native wellspring. Now we can have tangible measures to record aggressive concentration or passive slump of a child but I am happier with the fact that CCE includes awakening of aesthetic senses in a child, hope you give this idea a kick start as an alchemy of transforming the future , if you are agree with me.

Written by - Seema Madam

Are we ready to become role models?

Few days back I came across a good quote on parenting which goes something like this, “If you want to see how good or bad you have lived just look at your child.” There isn’t much difference when it comes to parenting and teaching especially when you are a teacher in a residential school. This quote actually got me thinking deep.

In a sense I think students are nothing but a reflection of their teachers. Young Students always model themselves on others around them. As they grow up their dreams become more reasonable and realistic, but when they are young they always want to become someone from whom they are fascinated. When I was a young student in school, I always wanted to become very good in math like my math teacher. I was fascinated the way my Hindi teacher used to tell us the intriguing stories and wished one day I could tell stories like him. In short I wanted to become very confident, smart, humble and so many other things which I thought my teachers were. I also even imitated their walk, the way they talked. I may even have learned so many things from my teachers without me knowing consciously.

In India if we ask any young boy what they want to become, couple names that will surely dominate are Sachin Tendulkar and M S Dhoni. No price for guessing those two names. But then we always complain about not finding a genuine fast bowler. No child (may be very few) will tell you that they want to become a fast bowler growing up. Reason being they never seen a bowler who could become a role model.

You must be thinking why am I talking about cricket? Because I think in both the cases; academics and sports students need role models. Students always learn and inspired from immediate surroundings. If I am a teacher who reaches 1 minute late in the class I have no right to expect my students to be on time. Their sub conscious minds notice it and put it into action. If I don’t have seriousness and focus in my teaching, my students will not have that in them. If I am not sincere in my daily routine I should expect the same in my students. If I don’t have respect for my students, students will not have respect for me as well as for others.

If I keep pointing out their negative points not only they will be discouraged but they will also start finding negative points in others. On the other side if I am very positive, enthusiastic and optimist in my nature and in my work ethic, I will be able to transfer that enthusiasm and positive energy to my students. Meaning if I want my students to be the best I will have to become super best (I know there is no such word "super best" but you get what I am trying to say right?:))

Bottom line is that I have to become a role model for my students. I cannot teach them something that I am not.