Uncle Vanya

REFLECTIONS BY YASHWARDHAN BANTHIA

CROSS -COUNTRY PRACTICE

The Cross Country competition is conducted in our school on a yearly basis in which, approximately 100 students from each category participate. As for me, I normally do not participate in such races as it is a tiring race involving the participant in covering a distance of 10 km outside the school campus, running on slopes of hills and through wilderness including brambly and thorny plants before finally entering the school premises. However, this year was different as I decided to take up the challenge of this race and I started working tirelessly in order to improve my stamina.

Initially, the early morning hours saw me on the track as I slowly progressed from running two rounds of the athletic track on a daily basis to ten rounds a week. This helped me improve my stamina greatly as I was committed and determined to achieve this aim. It made it trickier and a tougher course for me to succeed having pulled my hamstring once and an odd calf muscle injury caused a great deal of pain during the practice sessions. Despite this, nothing deterred me from what I wanted to achieve. Slowly the day of the event approached as I regained my fitness levels after taking rest for a couple of days.

It was an exciting experience to participate and give it all that I had, and my determination led me throughout the race as I ended up getting the 1st prize in the competition. My main aim however, was to increase my fitness and stamina levels and I was successful in achieving this. During the race, I had observed that there were shortcuts as there was a dense forest through which one could easily cover the distance of 3 kms by just running 1 km across this forest. A very famous saying by Orison Swett Marden, an American writer, suddenly came into my mind; it said, “We win half the battle when we make up our minds to take the world as we find it, including the thorns”, and with this, I kept moving forward as my chest thumped with a complete sense of pride.

I have realized that long-distance running is one of my strengths. I must try hard to become a good long-distance runner in the future.

Saturday, 31 March 2012

Collaboration Ethics Global Value

VISIT TO MERCY OLD AGE HOME-SECOND VISIT

This was my second visit to this mercy home. This brought back many joyous memories of my last visit, and I was filled with pride as we had promised these people a second visit. We were received very warmly, and their hospitality to share with us whatever they had, really touched my heart to its fullest. We danced and sang a couple of songs to