05.12.2017
Exactly at around 9.15, the Chief-Guest Shri Rajendra Vora (a leading businessman and philanthropist from LA, USA) and his wife, Mrs. Sonal Vora entered into the Saraswati Hall to be a part of the 131st birth anniversary celebrations of Sheth Shri Nanjibhai Kalidas Mehta that coincided with the 81st Annual Programme of the Arya Kanya Gurukul. The cultural evening lasted for over 2.30 hrs with over 350 students participating in various events ranging from Solo-song to Group dancing.
As I had been given the privilege of welcoming these dignitaries, I took the occasion to recite one of the most famous poems from Tagore’s Gitanjali, that very beautifully sums up the vision of our founding father Sheth Shri Nanjibhai Kalidas Mehta:
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of Truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever widening thought and action;
Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.
The poem, in fact, sums up the philosophy of education.
81ST ANNUAL PROGRAMME OF ARYA KANYA GURUKUL
