'What if..."

You wake up one day and realise that things aren’t meant to be this way. You are eagerly waiting for something to change. You wake up one day and realise that you no more want to be the brick in the wall. You want to get out of this ‘loop’. You want to go places. You want to BE someone. So you start thinking. What if I could be a new person? What if I could be the one to do things out of the blue? What if I could actually make a difference? What if I was the superhero for the country? What if I NEVER wake up feeling like a normal person and wake up feeling like a new person every day? What if….

We all feel like this most of the time.  Don’t we!  But why is it that most of us are unable to convert that ‘what if I was’ into ‘I am’?  It really makes me curious that even though we have the ability, we have the knowledge, we have the resources, yet nothing seems to happen. All I want to say that if we put in a little efforts and go that extra mile, I think that our ‘what ifs’ will actually turn to reality. Even if one person gives it a thought, I think it would make a great difference.

It’s just a thought that popped into my head that I should be working on. Hoping that somebody, somewhere might be giving it that extra thought, no? 

Prayers for Paris

"Imagine all the people Living life in peace...."
-John Lennon
I have no words for the recent attacks on Paris. I might just say that devastating is just an understatement. Humanity, peace, mercy are all just words in a dictionary today.
I may not know the true motive behind these attacks but I don't think that any of their motives can actually be justified. Killing people on such a large scale can never be justified. And that too on the basis of religion? Never!
At times the devil within us overpowers the better part of us. One person starts it all, and the others wake the devil within them. Some are even forced to do so! And once that devil is out, the humanity in the world is lost. This results in the unfortunate events such as 9/11, 26/11, and now 13/11.
However, it is truly heart warming that in such critical situations, people all over the world, belonging to all religions come together and make a move. Since the attacks the world has literally crashed the social media with their thoughts and prayers. And not just the social media, but also there are protests and shout outs all over the world almost every hour of every day. If we all come together and DO something, it does make a difference after all.
I hope we all kill the devil within us and let the better part of us overpower the devil. I hope one day, this world is a better place to live... for every human.... I hope there is peace. I hope.

#prayforparis

Inspiration for my Art

Art is a form of depicting the world around you as how you really are and what your personality is. People draw and paint to achieve inner happiness. They draw when they are happy, sad, depressed, angry. It makes them feel better and gives them some chance for hope. People get inspired from various things-be it a tree or an artifact- they get so attached to it that they think about it and put it down on their canvas. I'm one of those "people". I love drawing and painting. Even I draw to achieve that Inner happiness. I draw when I am happy or sad. Or when I get inspired...

One of My Recent Drawings

My inspiration for my art is my teacher and my family. My teacher - my guru - has taught me everything that I know about drawing today. It's because of her extra efforts that I achieved an 'A' Grade in elementary and achieved many prizes. It's because of her that people appreciate me for what I do. I don't know how to thank her for this.

Family is the best place to 'show off' your talents. You are who you are with the family. They keep protecting you and they never deny to appreciate whatever you've done. They are my inspirations. Whenever I take up my book and pencil but don't know what to draw, my mother simply says-".. draw whatever you are thinking right now. Or draw me-I'm so beautiful!..." She's the one that gives me the idea for drawing anything. Even when we go through any picnic spot she persuades me to draw one drawing of the scenery over there. My father- is a lover as well as a critic of my art. He tells me wherever I'm wrong and always corrects me. It's because of him that my drawing gets that touch of finishing and beauty. I am very grateful to him for that. And last but not the least,-my twin brother. He always tells me to take up the drawing sheet and draw instead of taking the iPad and watching YouTube! He also sometimes takes ME to be his teacher in drawing. A few days before the art exams he's like... "Akanksha please please help me..". He's that kind of person who's very encouraging all the time and surely appreciates my art. I like him for this.

Art is that thing in my life that makes me who I am. It gives me the power to face and show everyone who I am. I want this to continue till the the end and that it should keep inspiring me.
My life and the people in it are my inspiration for art. I am thankful to them. 

A Brutal Crime against the future of our own country

Recently in my school, we have been working on the ISA project with our partner school in UK. For this, the teachers have been giving us projects and speeches to prepare on Child Labour. This project has been an eye opener for me, as I came to know more about this serious issue faced by our nation. 

I personally feel that child labour is the most horrible crime one can commit. Young Children are made to work day and night for a meal a day. This mostly happens because the father in the family becomes jobless and hence the child is made to drop out from school and is made to work elsewhere to increase the economic status of the family. Poverty is the root cause for all this. Children are very innocent and delicate. They can be fooled easily and hence rich and wealthy people take them away for years and years telling them that they will be getting gifts and goodies. They do not understand what they are put into; they just have to do it so that the family survives. We always say that children are the apple of each ones eyes. But what kind of apple of our eyes are we making them? By making them work? I feel that this is very wrong.Their lives and their childhoods are put at stake just to fulfill the needs of some greedy people who make them work. India is home to 12.6 million child labourers. Out of these, 120,000 are indulged in hazardous work. 20% of the country is indulged in child labour. 

          There is  however one question that arises in my mind through all this- if the economic status of our nation rises, won't the amount of child labour decrease?

           It probably could. The economy will rise if more and more people get educated and get employed. They will get to know about the right and wrong things happening around. Hence children will start getting educated. It will indeed be a great change. Even the government is taking efforts towards solving this problem. It has introduced RTE- Right To Education. RTE makes it compulsory for all children to get free primary and secondary education till the age of 14. Hence, there was one more law brought in- No child should be allowed to work below the age of 14. Despite all these rules, there are still some backward thinking people who make children work vigorously. There are a lot of NGOs also working against child labour. Bachpan Bachao Andolan, Talaash Association and many more NGOs are working hard. 

What can the children of our age do?

Actually when I think about it, we are the only ones who can actually DO something about this issue. We can arrange rallies and launch andolans against this crime. We can write letters to the government about how we feel about this problem and how it affects us. Also, most importantly, we can take up the stand to educate at least one such child and give him a better life. So my friends, it is us and only us who can save these precious diamonds  and make this world a WAY better place to live in!!

We do not understand the scars that put them in agony,

We do not understand their need for a nice, warm bed,

The children that are starving, scarred and sore, 

The children that are beaten, bruised and lives are torn, 

They need your help,

They need your love,

So please help them and show them your love,
and BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE!!!!!!

The Cricket Fever in India ……

Cricket- cricket- cricket…….!   I can’t count the number of people who literally worship cricket. It is the most famous and most played sport in India. India’s national sport is hockey, but now it looks like in a few years, cricket will be as good as the national sport of this country.

One of those who - as I said- worship cricket and follow it, is my own twin brother. He’s mad behind it and has an ambition to become a cricket player too. In his free time- either he does balling practise, batting practise or play something with the ball. Sometimes he even carries the ball while we are going out. But, I’ve never seen anybody like him who has detailed information of every match that was ever played. He writes a blog on cricket too. That is really worth appreciating!

People go crazy when especially during big tournaments like the World Cup or the IPL. When India won the World Cup in 2011, my family and I had gone to celebrate the victory, to Naturals ice cream parlour. There was already such a crowd there that people had come till the road! People in countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan are also crazy about cricket.

Children and adults alike play cricket in some or the other way all over India. Mumbai's Gully Cricket is famous. This is played in all those small gullies where it is impossible even for cars to go. They break a lot of glass doors and windows, but they enjoy their game. I have even seen cricket tournaments in small compounds. And not just in gullies, but also in big societies, children play cricket. Shops are making a lot of money with the number of bats, balls and cricket kits they sell. My brother also plays very good cricket and has joined a club for it. Sometimes he also tells me to play with him. They have built separate grounds just to play cricket, and no other sport.

Cricket is appreciated a lot in Mumbai. If people cannot play the game, they just watch it and enjoy.  They wear t-shirts, those fake curly colourful hair, paint their faces, and what not! But, they enjoy the time of their lives while watching it.

Cricket is really worshiped in India! No wonder my brother has a blog on cricket named "Religion Called Cricket".

Our Participation in the Society

Just a few weeks back, I had a group activity in school regarding our Civics textbook. We were supposed to do a Role play on “Our Participation in the Society”.  First, we had to identify a local problem affecting the society and show how the problem could be solved by people’s participation. We showed this through a skit. We took a problem that the buildings of a colony were very old and were about to collapse. The skit showed how people could solve this problem by going to Government officials together. It was a nice idea. What if this really happened….

If our area or colony is facing a major problem – like the gutters dirty or the roads are not clean - we just say “That’s such a dirty road. Don’t go from there. It smells.”

Do WE ever do anything about it? Do we at least pick up the litter that we have thrown?   Instead of just leaving the roads and gutters smelling like that, we could participate in the problem and help solve it. We – the common people – can come together and go to government authorities who are responsible for the problem. If there is no response from the Government, people can come together and arrange a peaceful rally. We can also include the media if we want to. There are chances that the problem could be solved then.

Even the Government has taken initiative to help common people in such situations. It has introduced what is called the “Right to Information” (RTI).  For this, we have to fill a particular form and ask for the information that we need and post it to RTI department. After a few days, we get the information that we wanted. Though not many people are aware of this, but it is quite a successful initiative. Due to this, the people’s participation increases. Through RTI, common people can question various government departments and agencies and push them to solve our problems.

With this, we – common people- can bring about a great change in the society. All we have to do is take initiative to solve the problem, and things aren’t that hard then!

Pollutionless Diwali

Just recently, Diwali -  the festival of lights, which delights us all was celebrated. We all bring loads and loads of crackers and burst them on the roads.  We light many diyas and make our house very bright and colorful... We all meet our relatives and have loads of fun  and receive gifts from them.

But, do we even think how much damage we cause to the environment?  Do we know how these crackers are made?  We better start thinking about all this,  because we never know! As of now we are paying for food and water. After some years we will have to start paying for getting oxygen too!!!

 Due to the smoke which comes out of the crackers, air pollution is caused. Such high pollution ends up in Global Warming and  makes holes in the ozone layer.  It can cause breathing problems as well.

The factories where they produce these crackers employ little children to make the crackers.  These children not only suffer from harmful diseases but also miss education.  They should be playing with these crackers, and not make it.

Fire crackers cause noise pollution too. There are many old people and new born children staying in our society. Their eardrums are very weak. The eardrums can burst because of the loud noises. We must take care of that too.

If we want to buy some crackers, we can at least buy those which make no noise and buy them in limited quantity. This year even I celebrated a noiseless  short and sweet Diwali   And you know what? I felt much much better!!

I have specially written this blog  for the children like me and the youngsters  of our generation. If we will not take any action, then who will????