AMITY brings US to India

Amity International School plays host to three NSLI-Y (National Security Language Initiative for Youth) Scholarship holders from the US Department of State, to study Hindi in India, organized by Amity Education Resource Centre in co-operation with AFS- India. The students currently studying at AIS Pushp Vihar, share their experience that creates everlasting relationship between the nations

Eyal Indra Hanfling, Walt Whitman High School, Bethesda MD

Breaking barriers
Last week, I stood on a stage in front of over 2000 people, singing songs in Hindi, reciting dialogues and dancing for over an hour. Last year, I never could have imagined that I would be spending November of my junior year of high school at Amity International School, Pushp Vihar in India under the guidance of respected Dr Amita Chauhan Ma’am who has nurtured talent in me as well as my fellow “Amitians.” For the past five months, I have been living with an Indian host family, the Bhandari’s, who treat me like their very own son.
By learning Hindi, I am not only strengthening economic and diplomatic bonds between India and the US, I am also breaking language barriers to help clear cultural miscommunications. My role as an American exchange student may appear trivial in the vast bureaucracy of the US State Department; but I know for a fact that the conversations I have with other students, opinions I share with my host family, and stereotypes that I break are shaping the perception Indians have of America. Some days when I sit in class with our brilliant and very patient Hindi teacher, Bhavna Ma’am, I can’t get a feeling of amazement out of my head - amazement that while the rest of my peers are busy taking challenging courses at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, MD, I am faced with an even harder task.
Every week, I teach students at Amitasha, another noble undertaking of Dr Chauhan, which gives education to underprivileged girls in New Delhi. I speak in my broken Hindi to them saying, “Me America se hoon, lekin abhi, me Bharat me reheta hoon.”
Programs like NSLI-Y and schools like Amity are helping India and America to coexist peacefully and I am proud to be a part of them.

Harriet Lindeman, Kingston High School, NY

Hues of warmth
This morning, as I sat gazing out of the windows of my school bus on the way to school, sights that once would have been unfamiliar met my eyes...cows roaming through crowded alleys and men standing behind makeshift stalls pouring steaming cups of chai, perfect to provide warmth on a chilly January morning in New Delhi, India. As the school bus came to a halt, children of all ages piled out, wearing uniforms with the colourful Amity logo emblazoned on their chest. Amity International School has reached beyond the goal of educating India’s next generation, extending its welcoming arms to invite the youth of other nations into its wonderful community. Leaders such as Dr (Mrs) Amita Chauhan, Amity’s beloved Chairperson Ma’am, have taken the effort to open the doors of the school to youngsters such as me, eager to explore a new culture and language.
Over the five months that I have spent in India so far, I have again and again encountered the remarkable hospitality and warmth of India, and the beautiful reception granted to guests. When I arrived in India, I was excited and thrilled to be in such an exotic country, but also inwardly terrified...would a land so new, so far away from New York, ever truly be home? I need not have been frightened, for between a loving and open host family and the support from Amity, the transition was smooth and rewarding.
As my knowledge of Hindi grows, so does my understanding of Indian culture, and most importantly, the people that surround me.
As I live in India, day by day, I know that I am not only dissolving barriers and forming bonds that will affect me for the rest of my life, but that I am a small piece of something that is much larger.

Megan K. Flory, Lawrence High School, Lawrence KS

So far yet so near
Every year when my high school hosts exchange students from Germany, the Czech Republic, Paraguay and sometimes even Norway, I remember thinking, “Dang! Those kids are brave. I can’t imagine leaving my family and friends for an entire year to go to a place I’ve never been.” I had no idea I’d be doing just that. Today, my fellow Americans and I take Hindi classes for about 3 – 4 hours a day. We also take classes in Physics, Indian dance, Indian music (I’m learning the sitar), art and clay modeling, Indian History, and we’ve also learned to type in Hindi (which is no small feat, believe me). We volunteer at a place called Amitasha, which is a school for underprivileged girls. We go there every Monday to the kindergarten and teach them songs like “Hum Honge Kamyab.”
In India, I have seen a lot and done a lot. I’ve been to Taj Mahal, Lotus Temple and numerous Hindu temples, shopped in all the local markets, and traveled all around Delhi by myself in a rickshaw. I’ve even taken the SAT and ACT in preparation for college in America next year. I’ve shared experiences with people and been in situations that never would have happened in America. Being in a new country with new friends gives you a whole new outlook, a whole new perspective. Being an exchange student gives teenagers a chance to live a different life, a chance to leave their comfort zone and travel to a new world. They live with host families and go to school and make friends. They create ties and bonds across the world, relationship that can never be broken. It’s not only a breathtaking experience for the student, but also for their teachers, friends, host family and anyone who talks to them. The exchange has changed my life, and I’m only halfway done.

Reform

The liar’s punishment is not in the least that he is not believed but that he cannot believe anyone else.

Dr Amita Chauhan, Chairperson

George Bernard Shaw Punishments are often perceived as one of the harshest means of rectification or perhaps, teaching a lesson. But, they are not all that callous as they are thought to be. Most of us have learnt some of the most important lessons of life, by the way of punishments. They teach us the right thing or lesson, even though the hard way.
However, punishments may not always be the adequate rectification tool. Sometimes, they can backfire, leaving one bitter than learned or a little enlightened. The end result of the punishment giving process depends a lot on the method chosen and its implementation.
Punishments that deploy the rod or any other form of physical abuse, for that matter, leave the child with anything but a lesson. Has ruthlessness ever lead to reform? Perhaps not. It only leaves scope for anguish or bitterness, not giving the child enough reason to not make the same mistake again. A punishment if used constructively, can work as a corrective measure. And for that it is important that we punish with the intent to reform and not to commensurate. Remember, the idea to punish is to teach the child a lesson for life that will help him/her become a better human being and not someone who nurses bitter memories or lessons.
After all, punishments are a part of growing up and the learning process.

Why Punish?

Vira Sharma, Managing Editor
We have all experienced some or the other form of Punishment in our lives. And we love to narrate them to our little ones at every possible occasion. We take pride in the lessons learnt and believe that the same when applied to the ‘Y’ kids, will reap similar results. Nah! It’s time to wake up. Shake up. And introduce the new punishment mantras with some innovative tadka.
And so, let’s once again talk of this beaten-to-death topic - Punishment - imposed on us by our elders at home or school that often leaves an indelible mark on us. Do they? Last month, I was at my niece’s house watching her struggle with the homework of her kindergarten son. “If you don’t study, you will grow up to be a sweeper,” she reprimanded her son, pointing at the sweeper who was mopping the floor. The son raised his head, gave a glance to the sweeper and buried his head into his books again. Five minutes of struggling with books, he looked at his mother and announced, “I can’t study. I am ready to be a sweeper.” Numbed by the reply, the mother lost her patience and forced the child into the books, only to complete the given task, crying and howling.
Punishment without the intended objective of reformation is meaningless. It’s true that, what a mere stare from your parents can do will not be achieved even by the severest of caning. While it’s important to feel the punishment to be able to not repeat the same, it’s equally difficult for the punisher to find the right punishment that would get him/her the desired results. In a way, both (punisher and punished) experience the pressure of the punishment. So, why bother and go through this ordeal at all? Think it over!