City students deliver ‘peace’ punch to Rain God’s watery plans

Students from 18 schools in the city braved a heavy downpour to stage a brilliant display of art installations under a tree in the vicinity of Maharaja Fatehsinh Museum. They were part of a Peace Awareness Initiative Display conducted by a new city learning centre, Aura. The theme was ‘One For Peace on Gandhi Jayanti’. There was no contest or audience. Yet, indomitable spirit and courage reigned supreme, as the children stayed put, undeterred by the rain.

Aneri Patel (11) from New Era School said: “My classmates and I had come across a story, in a workshop conducted by Aura few months ago, on a certain Sadako Sasaki, who died of leukaemia due to radiation from Hiroshima bombing. She had absolute faith in the origami concept, which states that a sick person can recover completely by making a thousand paper cranes. Sadako made 644 cranes, but died before she could reach thousand. Touched by her faith, a group completed the number and carried out a fund raising campaign in Japan to erect a Children Peace Monument.”

Jagruti Gala, the founder of Aura, said, “It was after we received positive feedback from the students during an origami workshop that we decided to conduct this daylong event.”

The verve of the students was infectious after the workshop. They came up with some interesting lines such as ‘Shape of peace is a straight line’ and ‘Peace is when our intelligence is not measured by exams’, said Jignasha Pandya, another member of Aura.

The display had posters with inspirational messages like ‘In the world full of peace, every one will live with ease’ on them. Students sang songs like Yaad Taari Nahi Re Bhulay and Amare Rehu Gandhi Bapu from a small podium. The display was watched by the members of the erstwhile royal family of Baroda.