Through the medium of this letter, I, Kabir Nanda wish to pay my homage to my school at Baru Sahib – the Akal Academy, where I spent the most crucial years of my schooling whilst receiving my 10th & 12th grade education.
To quickly introduce myself – I belong to Chandigarh and I am currently working with KPMG in the IT advisory as a consultant with the responsibility of looking after company audits; I cleared my 12th in 2009 from Baru Sahib with a score of 85% before completing my Engineering in Computer Science from Chitkara University in Badi.
My father is into computer education business running a publishing house while my mother contributes to the business through her writing; ever since I was a child(in 5th standard) my father would often visit Baru Sahib for promotion of books & ever since then we had a desire for sending myself to Baru Sahib Akal Academy for Schooling – but this couldn’t happen until my 9th grade schooling due to feasibility issues. Fortunately, even though for a couple of years, I was finally admitted there for my 10th grade schooling.
At Baru Sahib, the experience was sensitizing; the environment was free of distractions, it helped students develop immense focus & with focus came the discipline; I still remember how it affected my performance, I scored a record breaking 92 in Hindi during my 10th board examination, which still remains a record supposedly. I could easily sense & compare the difference, the difference between all those years of city schooling to what I was getting now at Baru Sahib – just about everything was contributing towards quality of education at Baru Sahib, be it the distraction free environment; the spirituality factor; or the carefully mastered routines that students are made to follow.
Besides all of the above, I still remember No Pocket-Money Concept – I know it sounds a bit awkward, but if you ask any of the students including myself, it was a blessing in disguise, it too helped us to be focused & disciplined; the concept would only allow us to shop once every month with an assigned budget during a picnic that was organized by the academy; no random buying was allowed otherwise.
Another reason for me writing this letter has been some amount of criticism that I too have come across on certain occasions; more often than usual, people do show their negative concerns about disciplined regime followed at the Academy, so to all fellow students & anyone who wishes to know the real fact – the truth is that anyone who has been or is at the academy loves being there, there’s absolutely no parallel to the environment being offered there for the students. I would recommend it to everyone & would tell everyone there to enjoy the exclusivity which they really going to miss once they pass out.
As of now, I am planning to do my masters from abroad after gaining some work experience for a while. In the distant future, I am inspired from Baru Sahib to open up an old age home for neglected parents because I feel with the growing urbanization & modernization this problem has been increasing manifolds.
~Love & Regards Kabir Nanda.