Morning Assembly & Eating in India

Here are the other two pieces that were written by my students. Aparna is in class 8 and Anushree Roy is in class 7.

Our Morning Assembly
By Aparna Sarwade (the girl on the right)

Every morning each and every student of all the schools is very much eager to attend school. We students of Kendriya Vidyalaya Kanchanbagh are some among them. After entering the school, we leave our bags and lunch boxes in our classrooms and move in a straight line to the playground. Each and every student gathers at the playground and stands in a row. We have two rows for each class, one for the girls and another for the boys. We all stand according to our heights. Every class has a student monitor who is responsible for the discipline of our class. The class monitor looks whether we stand in a straight row.

Students who sing well stand on the dais and they are called our chorus group. Other students play instruments like tabla, congo, harmonium, and synthesizer. A few in-charge teachers along with the principal sir stand on the dais with the choir group.

We start our morning assembly sharp at 8:30 a.m. We start our morning assembly with a prayer in Sanskrit which means:

"Oh God! Lead me from the unreal to the real
from darkness to light
from death to immortality
Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti, hi!"

Here Shanti means peace. After the end of our prayer we have a silence for about a minute. Then we have our pledge. A student will say the pledge in English, Hindi, or Sanskrit, and all the other students repeat after him. We hold our right arms straight out parallel with the ground during the pledge.

One student presents the thought for the day along with its meaning. Then we sing a song in Hindi called Vidyalaya Geet. This song on the whole means that students of Kendriya Vidyalaya will make India feel proud. Then two students say the daily news. After the news, we have our special item where students exhibit their talents. Different students are given opportunities to recite poems or stories. They ask us a quiz or sometimes say some interesting facts.

Then we have the community song which could be in one of many languages like Marathi, Hindi, Kanada, or Gujarathi. Then we celebrate the Birthdays of students. The students are given a Birthday card, chocolates and a blessing from the principal sir and their class teachers. Then our principal says a few words regarding discipline and other school activities. At last we sing our national anthem, which we feel proud to sing. We stand with our arms at our sides and our hands in fists.

Then we leave our playground by moving in the same lines to our classrooms. In this way we start our day with such a beautiful assembly which makes our day go smoothly.

Eating in India
By Anushree Roy (the girl in the middle)

India is a country in which every day the sun rises, every day flowers bloom, and every day people as usual get up and go to their work. But even though India is the same as some other countries, it is one in millions. I feel very proud and happy as I am also a part of this exciting country. Wanna know about my experience? OK! Come with me.

I live in Hyderabad city, which is located in Andhra Pradesh, a state of India. I come from a very simple family. My mother is very fond of cooking. She is a very good cook too. She learns many types of dishes from the people of different states and she also makes her own experimental dishes. I am also an expert in EATING food. I like the food that my mother makes, especially the ones that are her own experimental dishes. Here’s one for you. It’s very quick and easy but very tasty, and it is in the list of my favorites. The recipe goes like this:

Palak Poories (spinach poories)
2 cups chopped spinach
2 cups wheat flour
2 tsp. sesame seeds
oil as needed
2 tsp. curd (plain, whole-milk yogurt)
salt to taste
2-3 green chilies
3-4 garlic flakes

Method:
Place the chopped spinach in a bowl and steam it.
Chop the green chilies and then add both the green chilies and the garlic flakes to the steamed spinach and then grind them in a mixer and make a paste.
Pour the wheat flour in another bowl and add salt and sesame seeds one by one and mix them.
Add two teaspoons of oil and curd to the mixture and mix well.
Add the paste and make a tight dough by mixing all the things nicely.
Keep the dough aside for two hours so that it becomes a little harder.
Now make small balls out of the dough, roll them and deep fry them in a deep frying pan.
Serve hot with ketchup.

So how did you like the recipe? Isn’t it tasty? Please do try them.

I go to school by bus every day. The bus stand is located nearby our house. I reach the bus stand by 8 a.m. Then I wait for the bus there with my mother. I don’t think that anyone would like to wait for anything, but I do like to wait for the bus. This is because a tiffin center (small restaurant) is located by the side of the bus stand. The preparation of the food starts there in the early morning at 4 a.m. I have already told you that I am very fond of eating food. That’s why I like to stand in front of the bus stand and wait for the bus so that I can take in the beautiful smells coming out of the restaurant. The essence of the food made there really refreshes me as it contains the beautiful smells of the freshly made breakfast and the hot and sweet spices mixed in the food.