Field Trip – IMD
On November 25th,2019 Satkama students went to Indian Meteorological Department located in Begumpet, Hyderabad. Students were excited to know about the weather and climate. They felt very pleasant and calm by the greenery on the campus. Scientist Sri Murali Krishna sir explained about IMD and gave all the information about weather and climate. They measure the temperature, clouds, rainfall, wind speed, wind direction, humidity, pressure, and evaporation. They showed us the instruments that measure these. They were happy to learn and thankful to the scientists at IMD for spending their valuable time with us.
OUR TRIP TO SEVAGRAM
Rishikesh Joshi, Class X 2018-19
Namaste! I am very grateful to have this opportunity to express my feelings on my trip to Sevagram Ashram, Anandavan and Geetai Mandir. It was on 9th October, 8:40 PM, when my school mates and I gathered at the Secunderabad Railway Station to catch a train that reaches Sevagram. After we boarded the train, everyone fell asleep. We woke up at 5:45 AM and deboarded at 6:00 AM. Everyone was cheerful and excited about the trip. Each student showed zeal in exploring and learning facts and stories about Gandhiji. After a 15 minute bus ride, we reached the final residence of Gandhiji. We had reached Sevagram. We could feel the peaceful atmosphere. There, everyone had very peaceful vibrations which made us feel very nice and calm, as vibrations affect everyone. It was early in the morning, so without disturbing anyone, we silently gathered in our rooms and got ready for the day. At 7:30, we gathered to eat breakfast that was provided there. The food was cooked with a lot of love and each student could feel that. After we had our breakfast, we gathered at the Sevagram Ashram, where an instructor kindly explained the story of Gandhiji. Some of us had a difficulty in understanding as the instructor had explained in Hindi, but later on they caught on and were elated to know all the facts about Gandhiji. Later on, we were free to explore the whole Sevagram Ashram. We saw Gandhiji’s kuti, Kasturbaji’s kuti, and what not. We could learn new things while enjoying the beauty of nature. Different students had different thoughts about the place. Some felt patriotic, some felt just pure happiness, some felt welcomed, etc. I feel like all those thoughts are very true. I felt all those things. We also did some seva and cleaned up the place. All students showed a lot of enthusiasm in doing so too. We had a group discussion later on, where students expressed their feelings openly. I learnt that fun is not just being loud and doing what we want to, it means to learn about new things whilst being calm. Later at 1:00 PM, we had lunch. Later we took some rest for about an hour and a half. Later we went to Vinoba Bhave’s Ashram. Vinoba Shave was a very great man who cared for others a lot. He is the one who started the land donation act. He used to donate land to poor landless peasants so they could start to grow crops and live freely. We coincidentally met a Japanese monk who also, like us, prayed for world peace – but in a different way. He was very happy to see us and explained what he felt was the use of meditation. One sentence that he said that I can vividly remember is that “A certain energy is required to spiritually advance. That energy can be obtained by only one way that is meditation. This meditation can be done in various forms too.” I feel like this sentence cannot be more true. Just like that, the whole day had passed.
The next day, we woke up early and gathered at the Sevagram Ashram again. This time, we went there and prayed. We felt very peaceful and calm. We boarded a bus and headed to the Geetai Mandir. Some people might think that Geetai is a strange name. But it actually means that Vinoba Bhave’s mother could not understand the Bhagavad Geeta as it was in Sanskrit. So what Vinoba Shave did was, he translated the Geeta to Marathi for his mother and carved them on stone hedges. So, the syllable ‘Geeta’ refers to the the Bhagavad Geeta and the last syllable ‘aai’ refers to mother. We learnt some slokas from the Geeta which we could recognize by reading the meaning. All the hedges together formed a cow. By this, we can say that Vinoba Shave respected his mother’s wishes and did his best to make them true. Later on, we boarded the bus and headed to Anandavan. This place was established by BabaAmte. BabaAmte was a very brave man, who stood for the lepers, who were abandoned by their families due to various beliefs and superstitions. Even small children who had leprosy were abandoned by their parents, due to these beliefs that by just touching, the disease is transmitted. Such people were brought up by Baba Amte. He told everyone that leprosy is spread only through close contact for a long time. Baba Amte also brought up orphans, who later on grew up and are now independent. Anandawan is such a place where all lepers are brought up and taught to work because Baba believed that work is worship and it shouldn’t be avoided no matter what. I completely agree with Baba. Our instructor himself was an orphan who was brought up by Baba. We saw all the handlooms, power looms, wooden decorative, etc. in Anandawan. We felt very poignant for them, yet inspired to do work and to not give excuses. Over there, we saw Saba’s samadhi. We also got to see different animals over there, like ducks, emus, rabbits, guinea pigs, etc. Just like that, our trip was done.
We stopped at a simple place for dinner and reached Warora station at 8:00PM, to catch a train at 12:00AM, that brought us back to Hyderabad. I felt like it was a unique learning experience and I would recommend going to Sevagram Ashram.