THE INDOMITABLE HUMAN SPIRIT

Does God play dice with the universe? According to Professor Stephen Hawking, a world renowned physicist; not only does He play dice with universe but is an inveterate gambler. Taking this statement to its logical conclusion and applying it to our everyday world it is then possible to explain the anomalies which we see all around us. 

All living beings are an integral part of this universe, formed from the remnants of dying stars. A throw of the die would seem to explain whether you are born a pauper or with a silver spoon in your mouth; whether you are born completely healthy or with a life threatening genetic defect. The latter applies to my good friend Gaurav who was tragically born with a progressive genetic disorder also known as “Friedreich’s ataxia”. This disorder suddenly and without warning surfaced when he was just 30 years old. 

I first met Gaurav through the IAYP program at a noble institution for the physically and mentally challenged. It was heart wrenching to see a young and spirited soul trapped in a progressively degenerating body – a genetic defect that was slowly yet inevitably curving his spine and wasting away his body. I was told that this disorder did not have a cure yet. 
           
We struck up a close bond and his demeanor towards me was that of an elder brother. On my weekly visits to see Gaurav I would perform physiotherapy on him under a doctor’s supervision. Even though Gaurav knows the full extent of his condition and the inevitable conclusion, yet he remains cheerful and hopeful despite the daunting odds. Such was his indomitable spirit that I instantly became a fan of him. 
         
Gaurav is a movie buff and is  interested in  anything to do with Bollywood. On my weekly visits we would share our life experiences with each other. He would even give me tips on some of  my science subjects since he holds a Bachelor of Science degree. At times I download movies and songs for him which he plays on his mobile phone. 
           
I pray to God that by some miracle he would become better. But I also have another perspective on this matter. People like Gaurav have been randomly chosen in the process sparing us. They are the shining beacons of every nation. Let us count our blessings and spare them a thought – perhaps even whisper a little prayer for them. As playback singer Phil Collins succinctly put it, “Oh! think twice, its just another day for you and me in paradise...”
           
Jai Sahni
Modern School, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi

Ankit Durga representing 11th International Award Forum, Malta as Youth Delegate

Ankit is a Gold Award Holder and has volunteered with the National Award Authority for over a year.  He has been a student of The Doon School Dehradun and Delhi University. As a volunteer, Ankit worked in the communications team and helped design various branding manuals and training packs that were used subsequently. He also represented IAYP, India at the Asia Pacific Youth Water Forum, 2010 in Singapore. Having graduated from college, he now works as a brand consultant with a leading lifestyle media firm in Delhi. He will be participating as the Youth Delegate at the 11^th International Award Forum to be held at Malta in November. 

70 School Students bag Global Awards for Service to Humanity

Seventy students from Olcott Memorial School in the city received international award for young people (Duke of Edinburgh's award) for their service to humanity.These students received silver medals from Paul Sellers, director (South India), British Council.

They worked on four different areas, skills, service, physical recreation & adventurous journey each given equal weightage and opportunity for the holistic wellbeing of the participant.

Mr Sellers said the team which received the award seemed to be highly motivated and the award would drive them to achieve push their motivation to ace the next level.

S. Malathi, a class 12 student, who received the silver award said she got involved in beach cleaning and turtle walk, besides creating awareness to pave way for ambulance on roads. “These activities fetched me the award and I aspire to better to get the gold award soon,“ she said.

RSIS Ladakh- Residential Project By Prachi Kotia, Gold Awardee, The Daly College, Indore

The long awaited day had finally come to an end with my departure from school on 7^th July 2012 to RSIS Ladakh. I met all the other participants from all the corners of the world in Delhi and also our leader Mr. Matt Hall.

We reached Leh in 9^th July and stayed in the hotel Ladakh Residency for 3 days. During our stay we visited Shanti Stupa, a magnificent white stupa with Buddha’s images on it, the next day we took a 2 hrs drive to Alchi Monastery which is 11000 years old and the last was the shopping day. On 12^th we left our luxurious hotel and headed towards Thiksay, a small town in Leh. As soon as we reached Thiksay we visited The Lamdon School, Thiksay. Place where we were going to work.  We were welcomed warmly by the school staff. After the school we took the path which took us to our campsite.  We had a beautiful campsite which was next to the river. It included 7 tents, 1 common area and a dining area. The most challenging task was to use toilets and bathroom but later on we became used to it. For bathing we had to go the river which was beautiful experience. Every day we used to have 3 work session of 2 hrs each. After the 3^rd work session it used to be our bathing time and then at 7:00 pm it used to be our dinner time. We were divided in 4 groups. Each group used to have a domestic day where instead of going to work site they used to clean the campsite including toilets, then they used to go to the school where they used to teach students and do creative activities.  Every day we used to play some games organized by the domestic group.

At the worksite we used to make piles of bricks, put mud, we also made a huge wall by putting huge granite rocks; we used to go to the brick factory where we used to load the bricks in the tractor. Besides this we also got the opportunity to see the great Dalai Lama. We also visited Pangong Lake, which is a beautiful lake. On our way to Pangong we visited world’s 3^rd highest restaurant and also had a bowl of Maggie. We visited Monasteries, Praying Flags and even Indus River. Soon our building started taking up shapes, and we realized it was time to say goodbye to kids and to Thiksay.        

                                                                    

On 26^th we took a drive to Shang from where we started our trek to Shanh Po, we crossed rivers and reached our campsite situated at the height of 4350m above sea level. We had our cook team with us which used to cook best food! Next day we continued our trek to shangla. It was the toughest day, we walked for 8hrs and reached mathu phu situated at the height of 4500m.

Day 3 we continued walking westwards towards mathola, we reached our campsite which was next to the river and got the opportunity to bathe in it, it was quite an experience as the water was of melted glacier! We left for mankarmo to rumbach which is at the height of 4000m. On that we had to walk for 8hrs we soon reached our campsite and spent our last night by sleeping under the stars. Next day we walked down the hill and soon we saw our transport waiting for us. It was mixed feelings as we were happy that we successfully completed our trek and also sad that soon we were going  to leave.        

                                         

We reached our hotel and spent the rest of the bathing and writing about our secret buddies. The next day our very last day we did shopping and in the night we had an award ceremony where we were given badges and titles. We thanked our guide Chitha and our cook team for their all time support and delicious food.

One of the most important things which I have gained is friends. After spending almost half a month, now we are completely attached to each other, there is a special bond that we share.  We share those memories, which we are going to cherish our whole life.

There has been a change in me as now I am more confident, full of courage and more independent person with lot of dreams and wishes to fulfill.

I would like to thank our Principal Ku. Sumer Singh, Vice Principal Mr. Rajan Potty and Ms. Sarita Badhwar for believing in me and giving me this opportunity, and letting me see the other side of the world.

Click for more photos

Prachi Kotia

AWARD JOURNEY- DOWN THE MEMORY LANE

By Avi Bhargava, Bronze Awardee,

Ansal Institute of Technology, Gurgaon

“There is no satisfaction that can compare with looking back across the years and finding you’ve grown in self-control, judgment, generosity, and unselfishness.”

– Ella Wheeler Wilcox

This is something what I also felt after completing the International Award for Young People, better known as IAYP. It was a moment of pride for me when I received the award from the university’s Honourable vice chancellor, Dr. Raj Singh.

Journey of this award has been exciting and at the same time a great learning experience as well. It started off as a dream, had never thought that I’ll be able to complete it successfully.

 Looking back through the journey, I remember the day when I filled the form for the same. I had never thought of doing this award. I had loads of things going in my mind when I was asked to be a part of the award journey. I was inspired by the presentation of this award delivered to us in our college by National Director, IAYP. It came to me as a surprise when Pratibha ma’am gave me the form with my name already filled in it, implying she put all her belief in me that I would be able to complete the award journey. This sweet gesture of belief acted as a spark and lit the way through this award.

I still cherish the first service I rendered as a volunteer on 28 of December 2011, at the ASOP workshop. It was a briefing and training workshop for the award participants. As a volunteer, my job was to make them acquainted with their award journey, about which we all were puzzled. So through this workshop many of our queries regarding the award were clarified. We played many team building games and took part in various activities. By the end of the day the faith in completion of the award became more concrete. The next day I got to know that I was appointed as the award head for our center and then I could see a leader in me. It took me immense pleasure to share what I learnt in the workshop with my batch mates and also to guide them how they could complete their award.

It took me pride to convince others that they can also be a part of this award. The IAYP team at AIT took loads of efforts to make others realise that they had the potential of achieving something and I was happy being one of the team mates.

As it’s rightly said that the service begins at home. Similarly mine began with my college library. Earlier, in the library we kept on searching for books and sometimes it became a tedious job locating them. Now, after managing the library we are equipped enough to help others in locating the books.

Another experience which I would like to share is the waste paper management wherein I along with fellow award participants helped the teachers to get rid of the waste papers and to manage their written materials. It was so much fun, managing these things. It involved a lot may jobs like taking paper piles from one room to other, handing over the waste pages to the recycler, depositing the one side printed papers in the library and a lot more. The work was also rewarded with the blessings of our teachers and sweet smiles on their faces. Later, our mobile phones beeped with the thank you notes. Similarly it was a great learning experience at the Rapid Walk 2012 and at the National Conference held in the college.

All this that has been mentioned above, I did as a part of the service section. Moving on to the skill section I chose cooking. This took me to the world of flavours and mouth watering smell of various dishes. I learnt how to prepare a variety of cuisines and even perfected a couple of them. It feels great when I make people taste the food that I cooked and then when they praise me, I feel even more elated.

Another section is the physical recreation wherein I chose to dance. It was a great experience too. I learnt many new moves and also choreographed many songs.

The section closest to my heart is the adventure trip to Rishikesh. Before I went for the trip I just knew a few people in college and only a few were there who knew me. But, after the trip every corner of the college had some or the other familiar face to exchange smile with. This is what I will cherish the most as a part of the award. On the trip we faced many challenges from choosing tents to all sorts of activities like rafting, rock climbing rappelling, trekking and many more. But each of these made us bold and strong enough to face the real challenges in life. At the start of the trip, I promised one thing to myself that I won’t say no to anything over a period of those two days and I was successful in a way that I was among the first few to try each of the activity. Another incident worth mentioning is, when I slipped in the water trek. Though, I was very upset that I could not enjoy, but when I saw all the people around, who were strangers a couple of days back, worried about me and taking helping me to recover well, consequently it took me no time to cheer for and smile with them. Whenever I think of this trip, I am refreshed with the beautiful memories along with a crystal clear view of Rishikesh so much so that I feel that I am there again. The scenic beauty of the place was panoramic –the vibrant flora and lush green hills are worthy of praises. It felt as if I was in the world of my dreams. The sound of the Ganges water so clear still rings my ears sometimes. Seriously it was an amazing, learning and fun filled experience.

With this award I have learnt a lot and have emerged as a good leader, a cook and even a dancer and it wouldn’t be wrong even if I would say I have discovered myself.

“There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.”

– Aldous Huxley