the times we are living in it portrays exactly what the country is witnessing today and that makes such initiatives so important says anil kumar makkena of infotech one of the over dozen it offi ces that have played host to silver oaks teams performance in recent times of the fi ve very articulated presented mantras makkena feels swaraj is the need of the hour we have to first start taking pride in being an indian only thatll help us stay rooted to our traditions and not constantly push us towards aping the west he bluntly puts at cognizant susheel swain on the other hand believes that given the materialistic aspirations of society today lessons in staying honest and fair satyagraha is what must be imparted repeatedly sadly people talk and forget about these principles too soon so we need to keep going over them again and again thats exactly what these children are doing and thats highly commendable says swain reiterating what his next generation is impressively aware of people might not change their habits at once some people might not change at all that however does not mean we do not talk about it or make an effort to disseminate these principles he adds but while it remains to be seen if these tongue and cheek scripts screened at cultural spaces like lamakaan too are effective enough to impact a generation beyond the impressionablemindsphase it clearly seems to have done some good to its young crusaders i am very organized now and have learned to balance studies and play says mrunalini d of class x even as std vi student akshaya b says she doesnt need an extra push anymore to complete her homework in time as for teachers they cant stop gushing about just how calm and violence free the campus is even conflicts between students and their behaviour towards their teachers have changed remarkably ever since we started to practice these mantras shares rachna sharma head of senior school adding on a lighter note this is the first school that i have been associated with where children to do not have nicknames for their teachers and this comes from the fact that they realise it is better to walk up to us to discuss a problem rather than grumble over it behind our backs even if small thats definitely an assuring step forward in the right direction