Indo-Pak Peace Project Through Education
(31st August 2010-4th September 2010)
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31 August 2010
We reached Wagha at around 9am and after immigration and custom crossed the border at 9:50 am. The principal and teachers of millennium school with Sir Shankar Musafar warmly welcomed us with flowers. In the millennium school, Amritsar we introduced ourselves and were pleased to meet them all. The students arranged a program "zara yaad karo kurbani" based on Independence Day. The choir sang a beautiful song. The play was based on the autobiography of Baghat Singh the freedom fighter.
After the performances I interacted with the millennium school students. They asked me different questions about the Pakistani culture and religion. The students raised questions about women rights and education system of Pakistan. They also asked me to write their names in Urdu.
The interaction was very interesting and most of the misunderstandings of the students were removed. Later we get a little time to have the tour of the school. The thing I liked the most about the education system of the school was then smart classed. It is the technology used for teaching students. Their whole syllabus is online and use different softwares to make education fun. I also found a group different classes for small children. The first class in “I am ready” in which students do whatever the want to like reading, watching videos, playing or just sitting and watching. The second class is “I can do wonders” in which the students do what they have never done before, doing or performing amazing things eg.10 students on one cycle. The third one is “I, me, myself and my friends” in this class they make friends, learn about each others and work in groups.
In the afternoon we had lunch in the hotel and interacted with Sir Shankar. He told us about his work and education and we also discussed the Indian culture. The last event of the day was to leave for Delhi. We went to Delhi through train and during our journey I made a new friend though she was not young. I taught her how to make friendship bands with ribbon and she made one for me. We reached Delhi around 11pm and went to the guest house of Noida on a school bus.
1st September 2010
We all went to the millennium school, Noida. There they welcomed us traditionally ...had “Aarrti” giving us bracelets and cards. Then we all met some of the teachers and the principal. They also arranged a welcome program for us which included some traditional and other dances, a funny skit about the Indo-Pak relations and including the history. The name of their program was "Ümeed". After the entertainment there was a press conference. The Indian television news reporters asked us different questions about our visit to India and the new experiences, the expectations and the thoughts about India before coming here. They also tried to make conflicts by asking about the government system of India and Pakistan and talking about the Kashmir issue. 
After the press conference it was the time to interact with the students. I went to different classes and in the junior section I also asked some questions from to students about Pakistan and the ones who gave correct answers were awarded with small gifts. I also got a chance to talk to the students of grade 8th the most senior class of the school. The students asked me different questions about the subjects I study or the school offers. They liked talking about the culture and the landscapes of Pakistan. I also asked them about their subjects and the education and examination system. We disused our project assignment about the freedom fighter s and the interviews. I talked about my school activities and the youth exchange study program (YES). We had a small discussion about the history books of both the countries as these talk more about nationalism. Interacting with students was a great way to know more about the Indian students, education and their feelings about us.
In the after noon after having the lunch at school we went to “Teen morti bhavan” which is also known as Nehru's house. The millennium school students also went with us and I got to know more about them and made some really good friends. The guide told us all about Nehru's life and his love for the children. The house is now converted into a museum. After the tour we painted T-shirts and exchanged them with the other students. I painted a shirt for Ms. Yasmeen and she did the same for me. 
In the end we went to rotatory tower where we had dinner. On the 25th floor of this tower there was a globe like structure which is arranged for eating, this globe rotates slowly and we can see the whole Delhi as it moves. During our dinner we had a great time with our new friend and the millennium school music teacher.
2nd September 2010
I learned a lot about comics because three very talented teachers worked with us and taught us how to make comics strips . We had a comic workshop which was very interesting. First of all we drew whatever we wanted and displayed them for others to watch and observe. Then they taught us how to make different faces and expressions by using only Ö"and "T". It was a very interesting, fun and easy to make different expressions. The next activity was to make partner and draw his or her face. My partner was Kanishk. I drew his portrait and he drew mine which was quite funny. After doing a lot of drawing we discussed what comics are? What are the characteristics and the rules of making comics. The most important for a comic is the story so first we wrote a story and divided it into four parts. Then we drew according to our story and also added some captions as well as dialogues and the interesting pictures. The topic of my comic was "where are the saris?' I enjoyed making the comics and learned a totally new thing.
The same day I met a very famous personality Dr. Krishna kumar. He is the former director of NCERT. During our introductions he talked to us about our experience in India, our schools, and he also told us about his experience in Lahore grammar school, Lahore. We had a small discussion on the nuclear bombs and their useful purposes as “Indra Gandhi” told that these bombs are made to make the land fertile. It was not true. As we were talking about the technology he said “technology takes away the freedom to talk". We also discussed about the similarities of India and Pakistan and he gave us home work to search in which things India is better then Pakistan or Pakistan is better then India. The session ended on the topic that what is difference between nation and people. 
In the evening all the students with some teachers went to the local market known as “Atta market” for shopping. For the dinner we went to the Great India Place (GIP) which was a great and huge mall. During our way back to the school we had a lot of fun in the bus singing songs and asking riddles.
3rd September 2010
In the morning we displayed chart paper about our school and the flood disaster on the soft board. Later we had the most interesting workshop with Sir Dean Jyoti (DJ) who is a member of ESD. First after the introduction we played a number game in which he says one number and we had to make a group of the same number. Then there was a solo animal game in which three members participates. One calls any person and tells him/her an animal's name and the students around him have to do acting of that animal. Then there was a poem "as I walk" we danced and made new friends while singing the song. It was like an energizer. The last activity of this workshop was very relaxing and exciting. It was meditation game we closed our eyes and thought on what he was saying, thinking what we are? What we have done or doing for our friends and family? What is the real goal of our life? And many more. We meditated for about 15 minutes and then drew or wrote what we thought or our feelings and in the end we shared with each other.
The second workshop of the day was with Sir Shankar musafar. We started by writing letters to our pen friends and telling them about myself and hobbies. Then we shared some letters and talked about what most of us has wrote in our letter like name, about family, hobbies, likes and dislikes etc. then we discussed that what are the fixed identities and the changeable identities. The identity which we get from our parents, our name, and date of birth, place, and nationality are fixed because these are not controlled by us these are the ones we have gotten already. The identities like animal lover, musician, painter, friendly etc are the identities we can changed because these are the ones we have chosen these changes as we grow or what we are interested in doing. This workshop was all about identities and I know that what things of myself I should be proud of. These should not be the ones given to me by my family but these should be the one I have achieved of worked on.
The third workshop of the day was with sir Anil Sethi. He is a very intelligent personality. The topic of the discussion was nation and nationalism. He talked about that why we are proud of being Pakistani or Hindustani? Why we give more importance to our country not our city or the province. Why country is important? The students gave answers but he was not totally convinced. There was a question that what makes the country so important? So I finally gave the answer "people” which convinced him and our discussion continued on. He also talked about the difference between people and citizen. People are common but the citizens are those who participate in country's development. They have a right to participate in country's affairs. He said that "the laws/constitution unites people and makes a country'. Our discussion ended on talking about different types of nationalism like civic nationalism, ethnic nationalism and religion nationalism. The civic nationalism is the better nation.
After attending the workshop we left to the station to catch the Shatabdi Express. We were little late but fortunately didn't miss the train. We reached Amritsar at 10; 30pm.
4th September 2010
I was a little sad to leave my friends and was missing them a lot. After having our breakfast we had a session with Prof Anil Sethi talking what we will be doing that day . He explained in detail all about sikhs and Sikhism and the Golden Temple. We went to the Golden Temple and had a great experience.Experience of visiting a holy place of another religion was unique in its self . We had prashad.We later went to the Jallian walla bagh and found it very interesting because it related to the shared history. I also felt very sad for the deaths of so many people when we went close to the well area. 
The way Prof Anil explained everything developed our interest in the shared history was remarkable. He is wonderful in explaining things and made history so interesting . Later we went to the Kappra market to do some shopping on a cycle rickshaw was another experience . we dont have cycle rickshaws in Lahore. The markets were the same as in old Lahore. In the end it was time to leave and come back so we left for the border around 12 and finally entered Pakistan after long waiting at the customs which took 2 hours.
Warda Shakoor
