Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition: Bronze Award Winner by Aashritha,13, Kolkata

We are delighted to share that 13-year old Aashritha from Bangalore, a published writer at Bookosmia has won a Bronze Award in the Junior category (for age Under 14) at the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition for 2024, conducted by the Royal Commonwealth Society. The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition, the world’s oldest international writing competition for schools, started in 1883 and sees thousands of participants across 55+countries every year. Last year 34,000 entries were received and hundreds of judges took 2-3 months to select a handful of winners across Gold, Silver and Bronze prizes. Do leave your comments to encourage this promising young writer achieving this stunning milestone at the global stage.

Topic: Write a dialogue between yourself and a grandparent about resilience and hope. What can you share with the older generation, and what can you learn from them?

I have learnt
In the days after war,
In the days of strife,

On the days peace seemed to be afar,
How did you go on with life?
How did you manage to survive?
How did you manage to live,
And not just be alive?
Every time I see your face

I wonder
If I were in your place

Would I be able to not get pulled asunder?

How do I understand?
How you thrived,

When your very existence was banned?

“Well, child,” you say

“Whatever happened we sought the positives

Enjoying the light of the day
Looking past the negatives

It must indeed be difficult for you to comprehend
The struggles we underwent as
Our motherland we tried to defend.”
But now, dear grandfather
We must learn to protect
Our minds from the slander
That people effect

Our interests, our emotions
Our morals, Our thinking
Our values, Our notions

You faced the prospect of losing your liberty

Of losing your factions

Just as we face the prospect of our beliefs under pillory
Of not having freedom of speech or action
Oh dear grandfather I feel so grateful
So thankful and in awe

That you helped make sure I could, today, be free and joyful
Thank you for all the things you went through

For the way you took them up, not as burdens but responsibilities
Things that have been experienced by more than a few
And how you taught me to smile while performing my duties
So you see grandfather, you have taught me so much
Just in relating your stories of the past

—

This was the poem that I brought home one day to show my grandfather. I had written it for an Independence day contest in school.I still remember how, as a
10 year old, I sat at his feet while he sat in his big, wooden, wicker chair with his thick glasses, reading the poem. How, slowly, his eyes filled with tears and
that day, he spent just a little longer playing with me.

O dear grandfather, it is only now I realised the immense impact your every word had on me. I now understand the value of having a smile on your face despite everything. The impact that a simple smile has on people, the hope it stirs and the resolve it lends.

Your words uttered more than 3 years ago have a new light, a new value now.  We were going through a revolution of the people back then. Now too, a revolution is happening: a revolution of the mind. People are in more need of stability and resilience than ever as the ever changing world picks up an  even faster pace.

You taught me that. You taught me all of these wonderful qualities that shape me as a person today. I can only hope that I have made as much of an impact on you as you have on me, my dearest grandfather.

But the change that we are going through now is quite similar to the one you were going through earlier: borders changing, mistrust, responsibilities and rights given to people who may be too old or too young for them.

This combined with the fact that history is cyclical leads me to believe more than ever that we must learn from the past, use it in our present and use it to
anticipate the future.

The way you held strong and endured is one of my biggest inspirations to keep pushing through whenever situations get tough. I hope the way  I have adapted to this world by using your example is enough to honour your legacy.

I hope wherever you are today, you look at me whenever I handle a tricky situation well, whenever I get through a difficult day with a smile on my face, whenever I get someone to see the light in a situation they previously thought hopeless, you recognise that it was not me, but in fact you, acting through me, that affected all these changes. You were a star, grandfather. You burnt short and fast in my  lifetime, but you shone bright.

I will cherish every interaction I got to have with you that taught me how to be strong, buoyant, adaptable and flexible (or so I would like to hope). If not for me, I have learnt to be secure for others’ sake. I have learnt the power of collective hope and the way it can improve so many lives.
I have learnt. My Grandfather, my Thathu. I have learnt.

Word count: 726

The young writer Aashritha Suryaprakash, is also a published author at Bookosmia. Pick up her stunning book Mahabharata- Unheard Voices | A collection of stories that is now in schools for recommended reading. Packed with wisdom,  compassion and intrigue, this exquisitely written book by 13-year-old prodigy Aashritha Surya Prakash, complemented with outstanding illustrations by Pooja Saklani, shows us through this age-old epic just how important it is to listen to someone’s story before judging them. Read a little about the theme of the book-

Some say the Kurukshetra war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas would never have happened if not for a few flawed characters – vengeful Ashwatthama, meek Uttaraa, cold-blooded Shakuni, callous Gandhari and biased Vidura. But who decides who is good and who is not?

How can we judge the actions of a person whose real story we do not know?  “With this book, I aim to show that nobody is completely bad or good. However, life isn’t like that. We have different shades to our personalities,” says the young author.

Mahabharata- Unheard Voices | A collection of stories