Mbangwa was stating the obvious but his grandson Harishchandra couldn’t gather his wits around why his grandpapa was so sentimental about the next flight. After all, Harish had seen his grandpapa leave several times in the last 8 years. This was one vivid memory he was sure of, unlike the stories of his birth planet which were told and re-told several times by his parents all through his growing years.
It had been 9 years since Harish had left the divine planet or The Blue Beauty as his mother would like to call planet Earth. There was almost a sense of reverence when his parents addressed her. He could never understand the respect and almost personifying characters which his parents would use to embellish her when they told him of their childhood. They called her a Goddess, Bhumi Devi, giver of life. For Harish, the orange dust cloud he grew up under, only seemed natural and his bio-suit was skin as natural as the one he would wash under the shower. But it was now time to get going…
Harish was 2 when their parents decided to make the move. It was all the rage. Immigration had taken an all-new paradigm shift. Settlement on a different planet was as natural a choice as with a country. But the elders, one of whom was Harish’s grandpapa, hadn’t lost all hope. He worked for the Aotearoa-heal initiative – an international body set up to redesign human livelihood on earth, grounds up with no compromises, with a deeper understanding of ecology, and holding it at the center of every decision they made. Things were heading south all along and the political class was all too busy trying to grab and hold on to power, quoting ideology, religion, race or whatever caught their fancy to divide people; as long as they sat on the iron throne. Things that needed to happen to heal the planet were either an unattractive subject or an impediment to their perceived notions of economic growth… until now.
The pressures on urban infrastructure were too massive to be discounted. It was now hurting the rich and the powerful. Disappearing lakes, depreciating groundwater levels due to unregulated construction, air pollution due to lack of reliable, quality mass transport systems, solid waste management becoming a complete urban self-made nightmare was all too visible and couldn’t be dismissed. Every aspect of urban growth needed a rethink.
This was only a piece of the puzzle.
Problems of an aspirational rural population were almost always the last and the least cared for. Lack of accessibility to financing or of localized innovations, transplanted solutions which neither took into account the cultural dynamic nor the local know-how, was failing miserably. While they had the lowest carbon footprint, they were the ones paying the most for the collective failures of the rest of the affluent population.
2025 was a breakthrough year. Humans had found a way to reach 66% efficiency from the abysmal 27% and this, with 100% recycled solar panels. Decentralized off-grid power was going to become a reality. Microfinance companies worked alongside nuclear and solar startups to enable farm landowners to migrate to renewable energy-powered tools to boost farm productivity. Thanks to the bush fires, dairy farming was economically unviable. The next 5 years saw a massive decrease in dependence on beef and pivoting towards other sustainable forms of animal protein in chicken and pigs, thereby relinquishing large parcels of farmland back to forestry.
With better tech in composting toilets, becoming accessible, human waste to fertilizer was no more a distant dream but had become a defacto process in every household. This was one space where the right tone of public policy had succeeded. Advancements in AI had made farm-to-plate carbon footprint a fraction compared to the pre-pandemic levels. Reliable rapid mass transport systems coupled with emission-free mopeds for last-mile connectivity were having a dramatic impact on urban air pollution.
The planet was healing faster than most models predicted. Public policy guidelines, incentives, checks, and balances from the framework highlighted in the Aotearoa-heal initiative were finally having their effect. Sanctions on global trade and all forms of multilateral co-operations were under stress if nations failed to meet these guidelines.
Not every industry was shining. Though the inter-planetary settlement was now a reality, the airline industry still refused to innovate. The imposition of the Aotearoa-heal initiative meant that air travel had reached 200 times the price of the pre-pandemic levels. An industry already in decline, this made the few surviving airlines struggle, and yet they remained stubborn, shunning innovation.
The pandemic was not all gloom. It required an event like this to jolt the most dominant species on this planet to stop plundering and use its evolutionary superior intellect to join hands to solve problems that they had cultivated. 2023 saw the birth of the Aotearoa-heal pledge and this planet hasn’t been the same ever since. It required every nation to depart from a ‘you’ and ‘I’ to move towards an ‘us’ to save Mother Earth.
This moment for Mbangwa was unreal and overwhelming. As he held his grandson’s hand, the memory of every journey he had made for the last 8 years, those lectures and debates, and endless hours of coercion, all came gushing back. This was his last flight. His faith in humanity reimposed.
Mahatma Gandhi’s words, “We must become the change we want to see in the world” is unquestionably relevant in the contemporary scenario as the youth of this vibrant nation, the future, who carve out their ideas in the present are provided with an opportunity to express their thoughts and opinions so as to bring about a significant change in the world, which they visualize and dream of and one day they can transform those dreams into reality.
Model United Nations, also known as Model UN or MUN, is an extracurricular activity commenced as a Club in CMR NPS and Ekya Schools, in which students typically role-play delegates to the United Nations and simulate UN committees. Preparing and participating in a MUN helps students develop leadership skills, research, writing, public speaking, and problem-solving skills. Moreover, coming up with solutions acceptable to majorities of the representatives also inculcates skills of negotiation, conflict resolution, and cooperation.
The Club activities kick-started in the month of July and culminated in December. Students of grades 6 - 9 enthusiastically participated in the various activities conducted in which they involved themselves in developing their worldly knowledge, confidence, public speaking, writing, and analytical skills. The activities included country research, country portfolio, opening speech, delegate speech, preparing research on topics that led to discussions and debates by making use of the break-out rooms. This enabled students to explore and express themselves in a diplomatic and dextrous manner, empowering them to vocalize their opinions and deliberate on various issues of the world, which are of urgent and grave concern.
The pinnacle of this activity was the MUN session conducted by their Club mentors on December 8th, 2021. The Topic for the Security Council Session was
‘Refugees have to be provided with citizenship in the country of their choice”. Children chose to be Delegates of the USA, UK, France, China, Russia, India, Norway, Mexico, Kenya, Ireland and Vietnam. Discussions and deliberations led them to come to a unanimous Resolution that Refugees should be trained in various skills and should be provided with an opportunity to prove themselves capable to adapt to their new environment and given the chance to choose for themselves whether to go back to their native country or apply for citizenship status. The session ended on a positive note where all the delegates were extremely content with their Resolution.
The participants were delighted and joyful to be a part of the MUN club and desire to take part in the club activities during the upcoming academic year.
Hello and welcome into the stationery world of Moti, the belan! Yep, I’m a rolling pin! Now, have you ever given it a thought - what are the different ways we use belans in our lives? No? Well, I’ve recently come to find out that I might actually be useful in many more ways than you would’ve ever anticipated me to be, let me show you how. Here comes Mrs. Malhotra, she seems to be thinking about what to make for breakfast today. I really hope it’s not rotis or parathas, I really don’t want to work today; and there goes my luck. This is Moti, reporting for duty! Although I must say, Mrs. Malhotra makes pretty tasty aloo parathas. Sometimes I wish I could be a human too. Alas, fate is what can't be changed.
Oh, what do we have here? What a beautiful belan! I think I’m going to go up to her and ask if we can become friends- Wait, wait, wait! Someone’s picking me up! Looks like Mr. Malhotra just woke up for his morning brush. But what helps is a rolling pin when it comes to things outside the kitchen anyway, right? That’s where you’re wrong. Let’s see how. Mr. Malhotra puts the last of his toothpaste on the table and starts rolling me over it, aiming to place the last bit of his toothpaste on the toothbrush. “What a waste it would be to open a new pack of Colgate when we still have some left!” he exclaims. My word - ‘just another one of Mr. Malhotra’s money-saving techniques’. Finally, Mr. Malhotra grunts as he successfully rolls out that last ounce of remaining toothpaste onto his toothbrush. Phew, that was some hard work!
To guess my final use of today let me share with you, a quote; “Then Sister Aquinata abandoned the nonviolent methods and produced a rolling pin from somewhere” - Mary Robinette Kowal
‘Tick-tock’, I heard the time pass on its own. Romi, the Malhotras’ son had come back home from school, and guess what - He was getting a good scolding from his mother! ‘Why’, you ask? The teacher had called up the Malhotras and told them about Romi’s marks which were rather poor. Turns out, Romi had been lying to his parents that the results hadn’t come out yet. Nothing to be worried about, after a few scoldings and beatings here and there Romi was prone to get a good dinner as consolation, more like compensation. Mrs. Malhotra picked me up and lashed out at Romi. Romi started crying. But of course, they had Pizza for dinner! I smiled to myself thinking about the family I serve, although they might never really appreciate me. I try my best every day; and honestly, I think I have a pretty good life, don’t you think?
What do you think my next essay should be on? “Justice to belans”, perhaps. Well, I guess we’ll cross the bridge when we come to it! ~Moti, the belan
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