Au service de la langue (Serving the language)

French language and culture are said to portray love and indeed it is really lovely to be a part of anything French (not to mention French food!). This was the most unusual CAS activity I ever undertook in every aspect. I am studying Hindi as my second language in IBDP and given the indigenous inclination many students have opted for the same.  However our school just like any other IB school offers other language Bs. This time the French day celebration was supposed to be organized by the IB students but unfortunately there was only one candidate for French in IBDP – my class mate Shradha. She was really falling alone of organizing the event. Therefore our French teacher Ms Varsha approached my help. She asked me if I could organize and conduct the French Day event. I had studied French during my Cambridge Checkpoint course but it had been quite a long time since I left it. Nevertheless, I saw it as a really wonderful challenge.  I asked my coordinator Ms Vijayalaxmi and she consented by saying that this was a service not only to a group of students who wished to express the language they had learned but to the entire French culture itself. Thus, with that thought in mind I decided to accept this challenge helping the French Day celebration. 

Suddenly my class mate Rucha Verma also expressed her wish to contribute to this service. I was really amazed to see her audacity since she was a student of Hindi as well and had never learned French. I felt that she was more confident she could do it than me. This positive approached not only helped her in co-hosting the event with me but also encouraged me to pull it off. I realised that the characteristics and attitude which she had motivated all of us involved in the event. I believe it is something which we all need to do to work in adverse conditions. However, this event needed more than just motivation.

I was supposed to speak French that matched the level of the French students and at the same time sustained the dignity of French language and culture. The French celebrate is day by the name Bastille Day and it is one of the most scenic events in France. Although I had agreed to contribute to this event when I thought over it after going home I was forced to ask myself if what I was doing was ethical. There would have been no question if I were helping an English, Hindi or even Marathi event but I wasn’t learning French officially nor did I have proper knowledge of it. In such a circumstance would it be moral to host a show and organise it? I had this sense of injustice lingering in my mind and I had to remove it. I thought that if I could get my French as good as at least the students then I won’t be doing anything unfair. However, I did not have much time, certainly not to take French lessons. I researched the internet for some brief resources on French and practiced speaking it as authentically as possible. However I felt that it wasn’t possible entirely be authentic about what I was doing.

I had to communicate fluently in French in order to conduct the program and although the prompts could be prepared prior to the event I need to be ready to improvise. I wasn’t really sure how I would do that if situations demanded. I was a little nervous at first but as the program got going I became easier and more relaxing. I became more confident about hosting in French.

I felt that this activity made me a better human since I was serving a language which was not known to me. I believe this is sort of altruism we are expected to develop and I was really glad that I got and opportunity to be a part of such a wonderful experience. 

Embracing Environment

Our environment, the world in which we live and work, is a mirror of our attitudes and expectations.

                                                                               Earl Nightingale

We all know that it is requisite to conserve our environment. Therefore, from time to time it is vital to revitalize our ecofriendly mind. Every organisation must responsibly contribute to saving the environment. We the IBDP students of Nagpur thereby decided to organize a 4 day program commemorating environmental conservation as a CAS activity.

We approached our coordinator for consent and planned out the outline of our program. Ms. Vijayalaxmi divided us into three groups of two and assigned each group with a theme. Here is how we organized it:

Day/Date	Topic	Student in charges	Venue
Day 1 7/7/14 Monday	My Planet My Home.	Shraddha Wakode & Kaustubh Murmare	Multipurpose Room
Day 2 8/7/14 Tuesday	How are we affecting our planet?	Jaidev Pahade  & Shafqat Syed	Multipurpose Room
Day 3 9/7/14 Wednesday	Recycling: Why? How? Recycling Resolution	Himanshu Halve & Rucha Verma	Amphitheatre
Day 4 10/7/14 Thursday	Tree Plantation.	DP-2	Gardening Area

I and Rucha also took up the responsibility of making display board poster, play cards and

On the first day Shradha introduced some of the many ways in which humans influence natural earth processes and shed light on the geological and biological alterations caused by humans. I helped her with making a slideshow presentation and contributed the program by sharing a thought for the day to ponder upon.

On the second day Shafqat and Jaidev shared some information on the natural calamities and pollution and attempted to find a link between them. Jaidev explained some physical phenomena and the science behind it to make everyone more aware of the entire scenario. I contributed to the program by sharing some important news and information.

For the third day, the theme was Recycling. So I and Rucha decided to do something new and innovative. Most programs on environmental issues are one-sided. So we decided that we will have a higher percentage of audience participation and make it more of a discussion than a lecture. We had made the display boards earlier and now for our topic we decided to circulate info-sheets about reducing; reusing; recycling; plastic waste management; and aluminum waste disposal to all the students. We conducted a discussion based on this which was primarily handled by me. I knew I had the skills to improvise conversation which was vital in such discussions and I also knew that my co-host Rucha was uncomfortable with it. So I took the lead and successfully compared the discussion. Rucha on the other hand is really creative person, knowing that I asked her to adapt a pledge and a ‘mantra’ for our theme. She did a commendable job there. I believe knowing about myself and others help me put up a good show. Moreover, I learned that one cannot always single handedly orchestrate such events and program. Being aware of the strengths and weaknesses of self and others helps overcome the potential limitations.

The next day, we organized the tree plantation. All of us – Shafqat, Kaustubh, Jaidev, Shradha, Rucha and me – worked together to allocate each student of our school a suitable place to plant their saplings. We also planted our saplings and vowed to ensure its survival.

It was really difficult to conceptualize this program and then successfully carry it out, especially in the time of monsoon. Nevertheless, I and almost all my classmates showed appropriate perseverance. I was really happy to be a part of such an event as it open doors so many new things which I wouldn’t otherwise learn.

Rediscovering Independence

Celebrating independence of some or the other sort is our nature. We celebrate it because freedom is much liked by everyone. But there is a lot we must learn from independence, and certainly there is a lot to learn from independence. India’s Independence is celebrated throughout India. The tales if Indian Independence reverberates in every Indian’s heart. But there is another Independence act which is not only more inspiring but perhaps the most influential on the face earth. It was the independence act of the United Stated of America.

Along with my classmates and Ms Vijayalaxmi I planned to commemorate the Independence Day of USA on 4^th July. It was something unusual because we never celebrated some other country’s independence. We thought that it was worth doing so since it would be an activity which would serve the audience in a completely different way. I personally felt that all those countries who were once ruled by some other country celebrate their independence to express the joy of free will. USA got its Independence more than 200 years ago and is a country which has turned out to dominate the world.

It was really an amazing feeling. We collected information which required to share with the audience and ensured that out message was clear. The main motive behind undertaking this task was to tell others how a the sense of independence changes from culture to culture and how we can learn from the American beliefs in independence.  The main challenge however what to present this information is a manner with conserved the venerability of both the Indian and the American Independence Acts. I felt it was necessary to know about how the Americans think of their independence and how Indians do. Not that any of them is better than the other since everyone is entitled to their opinion but I thought that as IB students it was our ethical responsibility to encourage others to be unbiased and free of contaminated presumptions. This however needed to be done in a way which did not vent any unwanted controversy.

In a way, we wanted to present a new perspective to look at freedom. As we discussed in our program I myself realised a lot of interesting things. We do celebrate freedom but since our thinking is at times enslaved by the geographical distribution of freedom. In addition we have become slaved to freedom itself.  It is happening in many other countries around the world and we can only eliminate it by acting locally by spreading awareness. This is what we did. I and my co-host Shradha were the main speakers of the event. We explained how independence in USA is celebrated and how they value their freedom. I tried to force the audience to think of freedom as something which doesn’t belong to USA or India but is something which every individual on earth must keep in mind and cherish. It is only when we stop being slaves to freedom will we achieve it in true sense.

Independence and freedom if believing that we are not controlled by anyone but ourselves. Leashing ourselves and unleashing our potential is what freedom should be. While conveying these thoughts to the audience I my when into and introspecting mode where I tried to analyse if I myself for the same. And after a little thought I realised where I was right and where I needed to work more. This service to others in turn served me by provoking thought and increasing my awareness about myself.