The mayor of Meerut, Mr. Harikant Ahluwalia, was accompanied by his wife Mrs. Anupama Ahluwalia. Future division members welcomed them with saplings and a copy of A Forum for Peace, a collection of SGI President Ikeda’s annual peace proposals. Also present at the event were the deans and faculty members of the Vidya Knowledge Park, including the dean of Student Affairs, Mr. Rohit Khokhar, and the dean of the Institute of Fashion Technology, Dr. Reema Varshney.
The welcome address was delivered by Dr. Purnima Gupta, BSG representative in Meerut. The BSG’s FD and YD members performed a vibrant dance to the song ‘Dawn of India’. The SGI film A Quiet Revolution was screened after the inaugural ceremony.
Impressed by the exhibition, the mayor said that youth are capable of accomplishing anything, but utilise barely a quarter of their unlimited abilities—all they need is firm resolve. While 90 percent of the citizens think only of the needs of their families, they should be awakened to issues in the world beyond their homes. That is why exhibitions such as Seeds of Hope should be shown to the masses. He hoped that the BSG would work towards educating children living in slums children and offered all necessary support in that endeavour. This is how the “seeds of hope” are sown.
The vote of thanks was delivered by Ms. Shama Bhargava.
Nearly 200 guests, including pupils from two schools, visited the exhibition on the first day. The children and their teachers enjoyed and appreciated the exhibition and the activity corner created for them.
Samarth Rajvanshi of 7th grade declared, “People throw plastic water bottles out of their car windows on highways. We can start with one step. There should be dustbins even on the roads.”
Eighth grade class teacher Anjali Bhat said she “loved” the exhibition, particularly the words of Mahatma Gandhi on the ‘You Can’ panel: You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.” She said, “I’ll try to implement the suggestions from the exhibition in my life, and the children will then automatically implement them their lives. That will have an impact on the children.”
The exhibition was on display till 20 January.