the man behind the 'mahatma'

[Kiran Bir Sethi]

hi - my grade 7 students have embarked on a journey of 'uncovering' the 'man behind the mahatma'....looking at different points of view and wanting to continue the legacy of 'gandhi' - but without the 'halo' as it were. if anyone would like to join in and share your views, it would be wonderful!!

[Kavya]

Hi!
Here we are on a journey where we are finding out more about Mr. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. There was a lot more to his life than just 'ok - he lead satyagrahas and got India to freedom'. Let's ask ourselves - WAS IT JUST HIM??? What about the others??? He was JUST A MAN - like us - a Human. Think about it... what more was there to a thin frail man like him?? He has also MADE MISTAKES - Like every other HUMAN! It's a good idea to THINK AND QUESTION before JUST BELIEVING!
Kavya
Grade-7
Riverside School (Kiran ma'am ROX!)

[Kiran Bir Sethi]

hey kavya - this really is a good idea - let us put this discussion up for all to read and contribute to. and you are right - he was just human after all! such fun!

[Clayborne Carson]

Hi Kavya,
I definitely agree that Gandhi was a human being who did great things but also had limitations and made mistakes, just like Martin Luther King, Jr. This is important for us to recognize, but a perfect person is not a good role model for imperfect people like us.
Clay

[Kavya]

Hi all!
As an update for what we have done for getting children aware about the 'Man Behind the Mahatma' through interesting mean - We have written draft letters to the owner of 'Amar Chitra Katha' a book publishing company. We hope to be sending the actual letter tomorrow and get a reply soon. We can't wait to get started!
-Kavya

[Pooja Yadav]

Respected readers,

This is the letter on behalf of GRADE 7- Riverside to give you all the information on our project with AMAR CHITRA KATHA.

The strength of our class is 21. Talking about the class, we have all kinds of students in our class. Some management experts, some creative, some having the quality of multi- tasking and some IT experts!!! We are being accompanied and guided by our class teachers Tripti ma'am and Shradha ma'am and of course, Kiran ma'am.

RELEVANCE and UNDERSTANDING:

We have tried to learn about Gandhi from different angles. We read about his life, the points of views of people who were associated with him, of people who had ideological differences and even the point of view of the man who assassinated him. We visited Gandhi Ashram; talked to the people who propagate Gandhian philosophy and met students from abroad who were inspired by Gandhi's legacies and were doing their own study on Gandhi.

We all are aware that these days, there is more need of awareness of the GANDHIAN PRINCIPLES and we feel that they are RELEVANT and the children- our " Next Generation" should be following them. Mostly, all the children know about MAHATMA GANDHI but here, in the GANDHI SERIES, we are going to make visible "THE MAN BEHIND THE MAHATMA" in a FUN way of LEARNING.

There is an essential difference between the book we are going to create, and the many books on Gandhi that are available in the market. We have started this idea of By the Children, For the Children as we- children know very well how to put across the subject matter in such a way that it interests other children. The children will be the target audience for the book.

PLAN OF ACTION:

We wanted to know what the children want to know about Gandhi. That is why we conducted a survey and we found out that the adolescents want THE GANDHI SERIES to be INFORMATIVE as well as ENTERTAINING. We wanted to include information about Gandhiji which not many people are aware of. We have tabulated our findings from the survey and narrowed down to aspect of his life which we want to cover- "Gandhi as a CHILD" (The early years of M. K. Gandhi's life).
To make the series ENTERTAINING, we would like to make something like a Log book with different activities on each page (eg. video cd, games, letters, comic strips...). The series has to be INVOLVING which would be done by putting in a quiz or a game.

This is our action plan but we would also like to know what you think about our idea and how it could be further developed on.

Awaiting replies....

THANK YOU,
Grade 7, Riverside School

[Sarvodaya Prasad]

A wonderful effort. I will be glad to meet and interact with the students. I am in Ahmedabad from September 30 to October 4 at Gujarat Vidyapith. Please Contact : Prasad: 9440402277

[Kavya]

hi sir,
we shall call you at the soonest and it will be an honor and a pleasure to meet you.
Thank you for taking interest!!!
-Grade - 7
Riverside School

[Pooja Yadav]

ya sure kavya, remember we both r supposed to call him up???
n so we will do it on monday- in the break time in school
right???

[Kiran Bir Sethi]

both you and kavya call mr prasad tomorrow and not monday - let us plan to meet on tuesday??
kiran mam

[Kiran Bir Sethi]

kavya - now put up the new posting about turning the series into a website and talk about the survey you all have been doing....

k

[Audarya]

i already told about our site.

gr8 audarya

[Kiran Bir Sethi]

dear mr prasad - please expect a call from my students tomorrow - and do visit our school on tuesday? what time will suit you??
cheers kiran
do visit our website - www.schoolriverside.com and www.aproch.org