MYP Children’s Day 14 November 2017 Maheshwar Trip Student Reflections

On the occasion of Children’s Day, the school planned a trip to a place of historical significance – Maheshwar (near Indore). As the preparations for the trip were on, on this chilly winter morning, the excitement among the students was palpable.

There were many questions in my mind about the place we were going to visit. Since most of my best friends were going on the trip, and they told me that the amusement increases with friends around, I decided to go along.

As it is said that “The journey is more important than the destination”, our journey to Maheshwar by bus truly proved to be a great time. From munching to dancing to eating, playing different games added to our excitement for the picnic. The mood was already built.

We got down from the bus and entered the beautiful Narmada Retreat Resort which had a lush green surrounding. We headed towards the Maheshwar Fort which is grand and made of basalt stone. There were many Shiva temples inside and outside the Fort. The view was mesmerizing.

The Narmada River flowing by glittered with the sunshine falling on it, which gave us a lot of opportunities to capture this beautiful sight with our cameras. I learned many things about Devi Ahilyabai’s shivlings. Apparently, everyday, about 1,000 shivlings were made by Ahilyabai’s saints. I got to know the history about the Fort and its religious significance.

I was so tired by the time I reached the resort that I went to the dining area and quickly had the delicious lunch. Then I played for a while with my friends in the garden area of the resort.

The much awaited part of the picnic was the boat ride from Maheshwar to Sahastradhara. We sailed smoothly towards the place and reached a rocky area which had a beautiful waterfall where crystal-clear water was flowing. I really wished I could have stayed there a little longer but, as the clock was ticking, we had to reach the resort and travel back to Indore.

Everyone was drained out and so was I; still, we continued to have our fun in the bus. The picnic was a mix of fun and gaining knowledge.

It gave me an opportunity to develop my IB Learner profile of being a Risk-Taker since I edged towards the waterfall due to its beauty. I was also Principled and conscientious throughout the trip since I followed the rules communicated to us by teachers. I was a thinker as well because I thought about the environment, appreciated its beauty and understood the need to save it.

– Sarthak Rathi

On the occasion of Children’s Day, 14th November, the school took the MYP to Maheshwar. It was a 2 and ½ hour drive. The school booked a few buses for the journey. My class, 6th, and 8th class were in one bus.

Maheshwar is a small town situated in Madhya Pradesh. We got dropped off outside a resort named ‘Narmada Retreats ‘.

We had to walk straight from there to see a big Lord Shiva temple. While we walked towards the temple, we saw the lengthy Narmada river. Standing and seeing the view of the river was the most mesmerizing thing. The way it was flowing was amazing and people boating in the river was really exciting. After visiting the temple, we decided to click some group pictures and of the scenery. 

Then we visited another temple of Lord Shiva, and there we saw a lot of baby and mother goats, we saw people selling famous things of Maheshwar which people were buying.

After seeing the beautiful temples, we were tired and very hungry. We walked back to the resort and served ourselves some food. My friend Dhwani and I ate in one plate - butter paneer and naan. The food was very yummy.

Then we looked forward to have some fun in the resort. Along with playing, we explored the resort, dipped our feet in the pool, and clicked pictures with my besties. My friends and I had a load of FUN. 

After spending some peaceful time at the resort, we went to see the Narmada waterfall which was the most amazing part of the trip. We went there by going on a motorboat which was fun. When we reached the area, there was a path of rocks which I decided to walk on. After clicking pictures and seeing the waterfall, we went back to our boats and then to our buses. A sad thing which I observed was there were Muharram monuments which were disposed as garbage in the river. Then, we got off the boats carefully and walked back to our buses. This trip was a memorable one.

The IB learner profiles I developed are risk-taker, reflective, inquirer, caring and open-minded. I developed risk-taker when I decided to walk on the rocks even when I would get hurt. Next, I developed open-minded as I wanted to explore the culture of my state, Madhya Pradesh. Then, I developed reflective when I reflected upon the trip. I developed inquirer when I asked about the history of Maheshwar to our guide. Lastly, I developed caring when we gave our uneaten food to the needy people. Then the ATL skills - social skills developed because I collaborated and explored Maheshwar in a group. I also developed communication skills because I got to communicate with the whole MYP.

– Bhumika Moolchandani

On 14th November 2017, my school planned a field trip to Maheshwar, a small village-like town, in Madhya Pradesh. It is at a distance of about two and a half hour. It was the Children’s Day. The entire MYP (MYP 1 to 5) went on the trip.

Being in MYP2 felt a little grown up and amazing, although we weren’t able to take on responsibilities, nor did we have much interaction with our juniors. During the bus journey we were continuously dancing, singing, chit-chatting, and eating. 

First, we visited the banks of the Narmada river and visited a fort-like temple of Lord Shiva. The history of the temple and many other temples there fascinated us. All over the area were little baby goats and mother goats. When we first started walking along the banks of the river we were happy and felt like we would conquer the world, but when we reached the actual place we were tired out.

As we waited for the other group, we took either pictures for the photography contest being held by our school or selfies. We, along with our motivational teachers, climbed up the stairs and the slope like inclines and visited the place.

After the visit, we walked back to the resort to have some lunch. The resort we were staying at for our breaks was ‘Narmada Retreat’. The food was tasty .The lunch break’s duration was of 2 hours, which seemed like a long period of time; but time flew away like sand does from the fist as we dipped our feet in the pool, swung on the swings and clicked pictures. Soon after, we went for boating around the river and stopped by an abandoned shore of the river. While we were in the boat, we observed what pollution has done to the place with debris of the recent religious festival floating on the surface of the water.

In this trip we not only had fun but also brushed up our IB learner profiles which included inquirer as we asked questions to the guide and the teachers who were with us, and found answers by safely exploring. We also developed the IB learner profile caring as we gave some of our food that we brought from home to the needy. We not only developed our learner profiles but also ATL skills like self-management as we managed our priorities and implemented them in our trip and our social skill also improved as during the picnic we were not only interacted with our class or our group but with the whole MYP.

I would like to conclude that this trip was a blast and I look forward to such trips in the near future.

– Aarushi Pathak

The day before yesterday, in the morning, the MYP students visited Maheshwar. It was a wonderful trip which I enjoyed very much, and more-so as it was my first trip in this school. I made some new friends also. Our trip started from school in a bus, during which we enjoyed listening to songs, dancing and having a good time.

Soon, we reached the Maheshwar resort, ate snacks and then we moved to Maheshwar fort. The fort was very big and the scenery was awesome. We returned to the resort and had lunch, which was good.

After lunch, we went boating and went to a place where there was an amazing waterfall. We all took photos and videos and then moved back to the resort. There, we had snacks and, after an hour, returned to Indore.

I loved the trip. The most important thing about the trip was that I developed some of the ATL skills (communication and social) and IB learner profiles (Communicator and Caring).

– Ansh Bajaj

It was the 14th of November, on Children's Day, when all the children were excited to go to Maheshwar. On the way, the students and teachers played games like rapidfire, antakshari, and dumb charades in the bus. When we reached there, we all went to see the Narmada Ghat and everyone clicked pictures of the beautiful scenery as there was a photography competition announced earlier.

Over there, we all developed the IB learner profile knowledgeable as we all explored new things over by exploring the monuments. Afterwards, we reached the temple where we saw the Shivling and Jyotirling; we also saw a golden swing and the statue of Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar. Then, we returned to the resort to have our lunch. After lunch, we played football, listened to songs and talked to friends.

When everyone had finished their lunch, we went boating as everyone was interested. We were thinking that it would be boring; however, it was not, as we were actually allowed to propel the boats for a little while. We also took pictures from the boat of the beautiful effect of the sunrays on the water. As we reached the end of the river, we could see that the place was just full of rocks and wondered why we had gone there. As we got off the boat and travelled further, we saw a small waterfall. It was thrilling to hear the fall of the water, the colours that we could see in the water and the beauty of the place. 

Finally, we returned to the resort and started playing football again, as well as many games like catch out, chain, dog in the bone, etc. Before we all left for Indore, we all had snacks and also took some selfies together with friends and teachers. We were finally ready to leave for Indore, though nobody wanted to go back home.

But this was not the end of the fun, since we had lots of fun in the bus as well by watching a movie together, listening to horror stories and also singing together. This trip was amazing!

– Bhavesh Rochlani

We were ecstatic to find out that our school was taking us to Maheshwar, a place near Indore, for a one-day field trip as a gift for Children's Day. All of us were elated when we left school. The trip already promised to be a propitious one, due to the amount of amusement that we envisaged we would have.

Our first site to see was the 'Holkar Fort' which was majestic and looking at the historical building was captivating. After visiting the place where Devi Ahilyabai Holkar held her administrative headquarters, we went on a boat across the Narmada River.

When we reached the popular Narmada Ghat we were fascinated to see the much talked about stream. It's ironic that even though I love swimming, I was really scared of travelling in a boat. Hence, doing so was a huge challenge for me. 

It was a gripping experience and I learnt a lot of things there, and one of them being the IB learner profiles: communicator - when one is in a cooperative group all of us had to talk to each other and also to convey messages that played a huge role in achieving the profile; risk-taker - another learner profile which was prominent for me; for. though I was scared of a boat ride, I did go (Of course, clutching someone’s hand).

Surprisingly, I also used ATL skills like communication and self-management, especially as a group wherein one had to communicate as well as handle oneself appropriately.

I would say that, besides being a fun experience, it was also a monumental learning experience.

– Ananya Mimani

It was a bright cold day when the students started out on a trip to Maheshwar on Children's Day as a celebration. Everyone was excited about the trip.

Soon the day arrived and everyone met at school in the cold morning at 7:30 am. Then finally, all the students got into the bus and we started moving to Maheshwar. After 2 hours or so, we reached there and it was suddenly too hot.

We started to move ahead to see some places. There, we got into boats and went a little distance ahead to visit a stony area which had a beautiful river scene. Everyone was feeling like they should get into the water and swim. 

We also had our lunch in a resort where everyone played football, got on swings, etc. There was a pool there where everyone dipped their feet inside the water and felt a little cool. The time soon came when we had our snacks and finally moved back to Indore.

At last, everyone was so tired. But, it was an enjoyable and memorable trip. The ATL skill which we developed was Communication skills as we communicated with our friends. The IB learner profile which we used was Caring.

– Yogesh Rajani

Read a lovely introduction to Majestic Maheshwar.