Teacher: Great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri Lokmanya Tilak, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore and many other patriots from various fields have made great sacrifices for the country. They have been extremely sensitive to the sufferings of the common people, their poverty, and the injustice done to the downtrodden. You all can form groups and work on projects on the leaders. After we decide on the groups and the leader, you are going to work on, you can go to the library and find out the material for the project. Some of you can draw portraits and pictures; some of you can compile the material and prepare it for the magazine with the help of your computer teacher. To begin with the project work, we may form the groups in the following manner:

Group 1, Group 2: Std VI: Sane Guruji, Acharya Vinobha Bhave, Lokmanya Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi.

Group 3, Group 2: Std VII: Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil.

Group 5, Group 2: Std VIII: Swami Vivekanand, Sant Dnyaneshwar, Sant Namdeo, Sant Gadge Maharaj.

After you have referred to the books with the help and guidance of the librarian and the history teacher, you will prepare the manuscript of the magazine, posters, charts and models, if possible. There will be an exhibition in the month of October. At that time, all the projects executed by you will be displayed for all our school children. Pupils of neighboring schools will be invited to see the exhibition.

Pupils: The idea is quite exciting. We can collect material from story books, text-books and newspaper cuttings. Teacher, how will we get time to read and collect material in the library? Have we to find time after school?

Teacher: Do not worry about that. You can use your library period. We will get the time table adjusted so that you get a library period every day.

Pupils: Will the teachers help us in distributing the work within our groups?

Teacher: We would like you to the planning and distribution of work as far as possible by yourselves, but if you have any difficulty, we are always there to help you, to give you guidance and enable you to tackle any problem you might face.

Pupils: Teacher, you said that the leaders were sensitive to the sufferings of the common people. Will you please give us some examples? These examples will help us to find out more about the leaders.

Teacher: Certainly, I will give you a few episodes from the lives of some of the leaders.

First Example:

Acharya Vinobh Bhave was the Styagrahi in Mahatma Gandhi’s Civil Disobedience Movement. The principle of simple living and high thinking of Mahatma Gandhi was the basis of the life at the ashram. The landless farmers were being exploited; so Vinobaji strove hard for the Bhoodan Movement to ensure that the tiller of the soil was made its owner.

Second Example:

Mahatma Gandhi stepped aboard a train one day; one of his shoes slipped off and landed on the track. He was unable to get it back as the train was moving. To the astonishment of his companions, Gandhi calmly took off the other shoe and threw it back, along the track, to land close to the first. Asked by a fellow passenger why he did so, Gandiji smiled and replied: “The poor man, who finds the shoe lying on the track, will now have a pair he can use.” (Excerpt from “Golden Bricks” by Dr.Madhuri Shah and Kallolini Hazarat.)

Bharat: When he was in South Africa, we see him in a suit, why did he start wearing only a loin cloth?

Teacher: He felt sorry for the poor people of India, who could not afford clothes to wear; so he gave up wearing we stem clothes and stared wearing only a loin cloth.

These examples show the care and concern our leaders had for the people of India and how sensitive they were to their feelings and problems. These are two examples but there are many more which you will be finding for yourselves as you read about these great leaders.

Tony: Near our house, there is a slum. In such a small area, about 100 families live. Some of the children work with their parents as rag pickers. They hardly have anything to eat. We often see them eating the leftovers give by people. There is so much we could do to help them but the problem is too great for one person.

Teacher: This is the reason why Swami Vivekanad admonished: “Elevate the masses without injuring their religion”. No doubt the problems are too many, but we can do whatever we can, when we see people in trouble. Guru Govind Singh said, “Service to Humanity is service to God”.

(The pupils were enlightened. The class dispersed and the pupils began to think about the project and discuss the plan of action.)

DISCUSSION POINTS:

(1) Many of our leaders were sensitive to the sufferings of the people. They worked hard to reduce their sufferings. They sacrificed their family life, their jobs, and almost everything, even their lives to fight for freedom.

(2) We should be sensitive to the beauty of Nature around us. We should be sensitive to the problems and misery of the people.