Good Schools of India
Joy of Learning Weekly #45
Thank you for reading our weekly posts. As I write my last post this year, in the middle of my travels and rumination, here is my bit of poetry!
Life is a reflection
A point of inflexion
It is for you to define
And refine
It is all mine to mine!
#JoyOfLearning
Wishing you all the best as you find your path and have a wonderful year ahead! #HappyNewYear2026
Embracing Personal Communication Over Texts
Ratna discussed her book “Unfiltered: The Little Things,” which explores Indian quirkiness through short articles. She read an excerpt about her experience with emojis, highlighting her initial misunderstanding of their meanings. Ratna expressed her preference for personal Communication over WhatsApp groups, criticising the trend of sending generic messages without warmth or depth. She emphasised the importance of meaningful connections and the value of longer, more thoughtful messages #BrewingKnowledge.
Ratna Manucha, a writer, poet, and educationist, expressed her honour and nostalgia at returning to The English Book Depot, where her family's five generations have shopped for books. She shared fond memories of the store's staff and her long-standing connection to the place, which inspired her to attend their first hybrid meet-and-greet event. Despite personal challenges, including her granddaughter Tara's illness caused by pollution, Ratna was eager to engage with the audience and discuss her journey as a writer and educator.
In Waiting Faces
At The English Book Depot, the shelf-mates spend most of their day waiting. I call them shelf-mates because they have been here for years—long enough to know the shelves by memory, recognise which books sell without being asked, and sense whether someone walking in is a serious reader or just passing time. Their familiarity with the store is not written anywhere, but it shows in how quickly they locate books and answer questions.
Sneha, our Intern at The English Book Depot
Books Of The Week
Gaur Gopal Das, India’s most-followed monk with over 25 million followers and 2.5 billion
video views, brings you a book unlike anything he has ever written before.
Most of us spend our lives chasing our dreams - happiness, love, good health, financial freedom, security and more.
- But can we really have it all?
You Can Have It All is Gaur Gopal Das's most personal and profound narrative yet, a captivating book that presents a transformative and radical path for those of us caught between ambition and fulfilment, between striving and being. Marked by his iconic humour, deep empathy, and gentle wisdom, it urges us to understand how perspective shapes our reality, to learn to recognise and overcome our blind spots, and to develop the self-compassion we need to navigate this beautiful, complicated thing we call life better.
The Path Forward: Self-Acceptance & Contribution
Read And Lead: Masterclass 2026: Reading from the book The Courage To Be Disliked by Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi, with Sandeep Dutt.
Discuss Adlerian psychology concepts from The Courage to Be Disliked.
Key Takeaways
Horizontal Relationships: Establish relationships as equals to foster trust and shared responsibility, replacing vertical hierarchies that create dependency and enable responsibility-shirking.
Worth on the Level of Being: Value people for their existence, not just their actions. This mindset enables gratitude for all, including newborns and the bedridden, and provides a foundation for self-worth.
Self-Acceptance vs. Self-Affirmation: Accept your current self (e.g., a 60% score) as a starting point for improvement, rather than using false positivity (self-affirmation) that can lead to a superiority complex.
Courage to Be Disliked: Overcome self-consciousness and the fear of judgment by acting authentically. This courage is the key to building genuine relationships and achieving happiness.
Making Mistakes And Learning
The teachers at Arthur Foot Academy are speaking slowly during our reading sessions. There are voices in every classroom. We need more listeners. This brings me to a very heartwarming session with Ms Ratna Manucha, our dear author from Dehradun. In an impromptu conversation, we discussed that we have more writers in our community than readers. There are more stories in every classroom, but fewer listeners who are asking questions. Questions that stir us from within.
We are making small attempts with our due share of mistakes, but we are.
Learning Forward Saturday
The session focused primarily on storytelling and using stories as a medium for teaching. Meenakshi Ma'am opened the session by explaining the need to use stories and outlined how teachers could prompt students to tell/write them.
Brinda Ma’am then gave the teachers a task. They were trained to use personification, imagine being any non-human, and weave a story. Each teacher narrated their creation. There was then a discussion on how to create a storyboard in class. It could be an individual storyboard or a collective class storyboard.
The teachers were excited to try the collaborative story-building activity.
Neelashi Mangal, Good Schools Alliance
The Teachers Academy
Established by Learning Forward India, an affiliate of Learning Forward, the organisation’s mission is to foster a culture of trust and learning within educational institutions by empowering teachers as catalysts for transformation.
Teaching of Guru Nanak - Sunbeam Gramin School
Guru Nanak Dev Ji was a great saint and reformer. His life and teachings inspire us to be kind, truthful, and respectful towards everyone.
Swati Tripathi
गुरु नानक देव जी की जीवन-गाथा पर आधारित यह श्रृंखला केवल एक प्रस्तुति नहीं, बल्कि आत्मचिंतन की यात्रा रही। इसने मुझे यह गहराई से समझाया कि सच्चा धर्म बाहरी आडंबर में नहीं, बल्कि प्रेम, सेवा, समानता और मानवता में निहित है। गुरु हमें सही दिशा दिखाते हैं, ताकि हम अपने भीतर झाँक सकें। यह अनुभव मेरे लिए भावनात्मक, प्रेरणादायक और एक शिक्षक के रूप में स्वयं को बेहतर बनाने वाला रहा।
न मंदिर में, न मस्जिद में,
ईश्वर बसता है हर एक दिल में।
गुरु नानक जी ने राह दिखाई,
मानवता ही सबसे बड़ी सच्चाई।
सेवा में शक्ति, प्रेम में प्रकाश,
यही जीवन का सच्चा आकाश।
रवि प्रकाश
My Good School
“Ringing in the last Sunday of the year with a bang! 🎉 We wrapped up the year with an incredible double-header at The YES workshop!
First, we had the amazing Kartik Bajori share his insights on the art of Communication. 🗣️ It was an engaging session that left us all feeling inspired and empowered!
Next, we cosied up with Brinda Ghosh for a delightful book reading session of the classic ‘My Family and Other Animals’. 📖 It was a heartwarming way to wind down and get lost in the world of words.
Thanks to everyone who joined us for this special double session! 🙏 Here’s to reflecting on the year gone by and looking forward to new adventures in the new year! 🎉 #TheYESWorkshop #Communication #BookReading #MyFamilyAndOtherAnimals”