CARPE DIEM!

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”- The Dead Poets’ Society

Very few would be there who wouldn’t recognize these beautiful lines or doesn’t know the meaning of Carpe diem! Carpe Diem – a phrase by Roman poet Horace states to seize the moment and live the life to fullest. And what if there is such unique family that’s a living example of all that has been written till now?

A unique family of Creative minds in Ahmedabad – The Brahmbhatts’ are the living examples of living life with poetry, culture, and art. Father Jignesh Brahmbhatt, a painter with excellence at par, also a writer and Mother Shraddha Brahmbhatt – a Kathak dancer, decided to not to keep their children, Pankhi Brahmbhatt and Pari Brahmbhatt, in school. Both the parents are from the education sector and still opted for alternative studying or home studying. Parents took a bold decision of not keeping their kids in the rat race of present schooling system.

Jignesh Brahmbhatt wanted his little girls to live the life, enjoy the childhood and learn actual things which are important for life and not just mugging up things. Parents made sure that the little girls are not losing any of their basic studies. Father used to teach kids about Maths and Science while the literature and language part was taken care of by mother. They used to study just 3 hours a day yet completed a whole year curriculum in just 6 months. Things get better after this. Not only they finished the curriculum at home but simultaneously they were mastering arts like painting, singing, writing and dancing. They are trained Kathak dancers and now assist their mother in teaching Kathak to other people. Not only this but at a tender age both the girls got a 700+ pages fiction novel published to their names in 2018 and are planning a sequel for it.

: Pankhi Brahmbhatt

: Talented girls

: Girls showing their Kathak skills

: Pari Brahmbhatt

They did their own painting exhibition with scintillating paintings of their own. They have their own Youtube channel where they do melodious song covers playing the guitar by themselves and singing the songs. Girls have given exam for Rock and Pop for Trinity College of Music.

A must take-away for all of us is the open mindset parents had for kids. Father taught about sex education to girls with all the details and consequences regarding the same. Parents have even given them the freedom to choose a single partner, multiple partners or same-sex partners too but, with a word of caution to know what they are doing. He gave them the confidence that no matter what they will always have their father’s back.

The elder girl is now going to appear for the external 12^th exam to enter into mainstream courses. Both the girls are intended to study in Faculty of Arts or literature field for their graduate studies.

When asked what made the parents took such bold step Shraddha Brahmbhatt stated that “Jignesh always wanted this and has scribbled in his diary also that he will never send his kids to school. I will say the curriculum and timings of the schools made us think that our girls will not have time to learn the extracurriculars. And we don’t think our kids are lacking somewhere they have gained all the necessary knowledge”

When asked about the same to girls they replied “We never questioned and regretted this decision. We have enjoyed our childhood and learned a lot of things. We will continue to do so.”

Such an inspiring family has given us a very strong and subtle message that ‘If the backbone is strong everything works perfect’ Strong support system such as these creative parents made sure to give the best individuals out to the world and that too with some ‘hatke’ methodology of studies.

Parents need to learn that their kids are a flower to blossom: more the care, more it blossoms. More the pressure it frowns upon. Parents need to understand the importance of their children’s childhood and make them realize the importance of life doesn’t lie in the school textbooks but the experiences of life which will help them in future.