Round Square is a worldwide network of innovative schools in 40 countries across five continents. Round Square has a holistic approach to IDEALS-which include internationalism, democracy, environment, adventure, leadership and service. I was one of the delegates for the regional young Round Square aged 11-13 in the Emerald Heights School, Indore in Madhya Pradesh. Our topics were Environment and Adventure, therefore the themes Dare, Dream, discover and Action, Adventure, Adrenaline. We embarked for a journey filled which was going to withhold an extravaganza of adventurous activities, creativity boosters, and engaging workshops that would benefit us for a lifetime. After a swift flight, we arrived at our destination, a quiet and small city, Indore. My expectations were blown away, with the grand sight of a giant campus, and some absolutely top-notch architecture. We were heartily welcomed with food, bags, bottles, caps and other goodies that would smoothen our stay. As we walked towards our boarding, I set eyes on Football pitches, basketball courts, Futsal pitches and swimming pools. It really was the great deal. I got my first look at our dormitories of 10 beds, and they seemed comfortable and I was quite exhausted after that day and I slept like a baby. The first official day started with a bang as after breakfast, the opening ceremony was hoisted where all the schools were introduced. Then we were helped to an extremely inspiring speech by who else but Capt. Naveen Gulia, one of the great personalities of India. An adventure seeker, he was suffered with a life threatening injury while in the army. Most doctors said the most he would achieve in life was pulling his own wheelchair. But he did not let the blow be fatal. He did not give up. He kept on pursuing his dreams and barging right through the obstacles in his life. He went on to create specially designed cars, break driving world records, and his thrill for adventure never stopped. I was also impressed by his excellent command over language, both English and Hindi. Next, we set off to the conference room, where our barazza session was held, where or group discussed how the motivating life story impacted us and how our thought processes were cranked. After lunch, we had a creative workshop where we had limited time to create public art using just one material-paper and then they were to assess our creativity, and our out of the box display of art about the theme"Lungs of our city". In the Evening, we travelled to a landmark of Indore, Nakrili Dhani, here it brought out a cultural portrayal of a village in Rajasthan with games, shows, rides and what I most enjoyed was the traditional food, which was scrumptious, and settled my rumbling stomach. An arduous but productive day, filled with events. The day after was quite different. We were expected to reach a semi-resort called Flames of Forest. We hit the road in the morning and reached just before noon after about a 2 hour journey. We checked into our rooms, and they were brilliant, commodious and plush with proper AC's and beds. We then went to a small factory which is brilliant in its own right. 25 years old, Kumbaya produces purses, bedsheets and clothes. But what's so special is that at the time it started, women didn't have good jobs and wages. Kumbaya wanted to put a stop to that, and they hired a lot of women, and fought against women discrimination. Antagonists tried to stop them by burning it down, but they kept on going. And now, to make the environment better, they also make clothes of waste fabric and bags out of newspaper. Recycling is a main part of Kumbaya. After lunch, we had creative activities of creating the same paper bags and a collage out of magazines on Eco-Tourism. We then had a night trek in the vast expanse of the forest. Following our pitch-black hike, next morning the adventure activities were superb and extremely fun, with a commando course of tough obstacle courses. Then we also went zip lining in the mountains, an activity that I enjoy a whole lot, as I seized the view sliding down. Then we reached back to the school, where we got ready for our cultural evening, where each school would perform a dance, song or play, with the lights shining, we performed an elegant and adventurous dance. But the end was just the best. In the principal's bungalow, a huge dinner was held with some lip-smacking food, and a DJ night, where we danced ourselves off straight to midnight. What an event! I couldn't believe what all we had accomplished in just a matter of 3 days. Round Square was unbelievable!
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