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Transcript:

Jai Hind children,
Welcome to the first edition of Aviral’s digital version.

2020 has been a unique year for us. None of us expected it to be the way it has turned out, but there are huge life lessons to be learnt from this particular year. I’m going to talk about three things.

The first one is a short story. It is a story that a friend of mine told me— who’s an educationist. 
As with your teachers, this teacher was taking her class and asked her students to switch on their cameras so that she could see where exactly they were. In one particular case, she saw a very unique background that this girl had. There were some sculptures at the back. She turned around and asked her and the girl said, “Ma’am, I’m sitting in a temple. Reason being that there is no internet connection in my home and this is the only place where there is strong signal. So it’s possible for me to attend all the lectures.” The teacher could see that she was sweating, that she was hot and so she said, “Kalai,”—that was her name, “Why don’t you go and sit in some shade?” 
Kalai said, “No, ma’am. If I just move an inch, then the signal goes or it’s weak. Therefore, I don’t have the option of moving around. But you don’t worry, I’m perfectly alright.” And when my friend was telling me this story, I realised that we sit at home with two Internet connections sometimes, a couple of dongles to ensure seamless connectivity and we still end up cribbing. Plus, “it’s too hot,” “it’s too cold,” we crib all the time. And here was this one particular child who was not hot or bothered at all because she wanted to learn.

One lesson we’ve all learnt from 2020 is that this year is all about grit, it’s about courage, it’s about resilience. An year when thousands refused to give up and emerged much stronger. So if it’s one life lesson that 2020 has taught us, it’s gratitude.

The second is about family and friends. Family and friends are the most important part of your lives. Treasure the good times, treasure the laughter, treasure the memory, but most importantly, treasure the people that you have around you. 

And last, but not the least- life is too short. Grudges are a waste of personal happiness. Laugh when you can, apologise when you should and let go of what you can. Take chances, give everything and have no regrets. Life is too short to be unhappy. You have to take the good with the bad. Smile when you can, love what you have got and always remember what you had.
Always forgive, but never forget. Learn from your mistakes, but never regret.
People change and things go wrong, 
but always remember that life goes on.

Have a great year ahead and god bless all of you.