All of us sang the "Jana Gana Mana.." in chorus everyday for around fourteen years, albeit groggy and half-asleep. Do you remember the national anthem fully now or do you stumble after the first couple of lines and fill in the blanks with words that sound kind of similar until the familiar "Jai Hai" is shouted?
If you are among the latter, worry no more; because, the students at The Akanksha Foundation will teach you the national anthem along with the meaning this Independence Day.
The video, titled "A for Anthem" was posted by The Akanksha Foundation on their official YouTube channel on 13 August and has over 18,270 hits. "A for Anthem" begins with the rhetorical message "Did you know that 9 out of 10 people in our country do not know the meaning of the National Anthem?" as a school bell goes off in the background.
A group of four students says hello to the viewers and one of them says, "We know, you know, how to sing our National Anthem. But do you know its meaning? No, na? We'll teach you."
Another smarty invites us to follow them as they turn around. After some visuals of a typical classroom before assembly, someone shushes in the background before the National Anthem begins.
Students lined up display the meaning of each word as they are sung, in innovative and fun ways. For example, for "Bharatha Bhagya Vidhata" a floral carpet with the word "GOD" was displayed and two students bearing India's map with the wording "Of India's Destiny" written over it, stepped towards the carpet.
For "Punjab, Sindh Gujarat Maratha.." Students carrying a paper train walked by, with each bogie named after each region. As the children sang, "Thava Shubha Name Jage," the words "WE PRAY" were displayed using lit candlesticks in a dark classroom.
And finally, students standing in three rows lifted orange, white and green (three colours in the national flag) balloons that spelled out "victory" as each of the three "Jai hai" were shouted in passion and patriotism.
The video ends with the message, "We have taught you something that you didn't know. But there are hundreds and thousands of things that we don't know. Can you come and teach us?"
"Come, be our teacher."
"Log on to www.akanksha.org"
The Akanksha Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that provides high-quality education to children coming from lower economic backgrounds. Akanksha helps these children maximise their potential and transform their lives by providing supplemental education and initiating school reforms through The School Project.
Currently, Akanksha has 15 centers and 15 schools in Mumbai and Pune that caters to the educational needs of around 4600 children.
To join The Akanksha Foundation, click here and to make any donation towards their venture, click here.
