The author reciting the poem at the Indian Cultural Center (ICC) on 10th January, 2020 (Credit: ICC staff members)

During the winter break, I had been preparing for the Hindi Diwas (Hindi Day) which is an annual event celebrated in the Indian cultural centre (ICC) (LO #3). This year’s Hindi Diwas occurred on the 10th of January and for this event, I, along with my peer Shivani, decided to recite a poem. The poem that I chose to recite is written by the author Bhavani Prasad Mishra and is called Satpura ke ghane jungle. The poem is around 100 lines long, and since I was quite busy studying for mock exams, I decided to start memorizing the poem right from the starting of the break. I realized that it would be much easier if I learnt each stanza separately, and since there are only nine stanzas in the poem, I decided to learn one stanza every day (LO #5). With the help of my mother, I was able to memorize the poem within a week, and I made sure that I would recite the whole poem at least once every day (LO #4). While the poem may seem really long, the language of the poem was not that difficult, and I did not have a hard time memorizing it (LO #1), except in some places where I was often confused. Due to this reason, I made a print out of the poem so that I would not forget the lines on the stage. Since it was my first time reciting a poem in front of an audience, I was quite nervous, but to be honest, I had a fun time(LO #2).