A session with Mehr Brar for Class VI
Students of Shikshantar had a very interesting session with Mehar Brar who is the author of the book 'Worldness'. Most exciting was the fact that she is an ex-student of Shikshantar. Mehar is a powerhouse of creativity, as she excels in writing, drawing and dancing. As a writer her ideas flow dynamically, much like a river that never stands still. Also, she is an artist with a box of crayons, her illustrations (in the book Worldness) are the product of colourful and playful processes of self-expression.
She shared her journey as an author and how her book 'Worldness' came into being. The word 'worldness' encompasses the world that surrounds us, the environment that we live in, humans we interact with and everything that we connect with. She read a couple of poems from the book which built an instant connect with Class VI. She shared that it was when she was in Grade VI, she fostered the idea of writing. Writing poems was a release of expression. She shared that creativity is a process of exploration and discovery, akin to embarking on an adventurous journey into the unknown. She just penned down her thoughts as and when they flooded her mind, before she forgets it. Later, she went back to her writing and reframed them in a more rhyming way.
She also encouraged children by telling them to enjoy their work at that moment. As there is no small work or less work. When you grow up you don't do big work, you just do different work. So unleash your creativity and fuel your passion and let the pen flow on a sheet of paper like a river that charts its course through the unknown terrain.
She thanked her teachers of Shikshantar who mentored her, corrected and refined her, and encouraged her to write and draw. She remembers how Anandi didi used to be over critical about her writing, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it helped her metamorphosed her from a caterpillar into a vibrant butterfly. Without their guidance she would not have been an author at such a young age. She also expressed her gratitude towards Shikshantar for providing her a platform to flourish and express herself freely. Only when she moved to Parkland School in USA which is a purely academic and competition oriented school, she realised how much freedom do the children of Shikshantar get, to express themselves and how much importance is given to creativity.
She ended her speech by saying, "Just as a tiny seed holds the potential for a mighty tree, creativity holds the power to transform ideas into greatness."
Later her teachers also shared fond memories of her as a student. Indeed an insightful session for Grade VI.