A Laudable Award Ceremony for the ‘Ahimsa-End Gun Violence’ Interns
By Dr. Shailendra Palvia

The Award Ceremony and Celebration for Ahimsa Internship graduates was held at 2 PM on Saturday, August 5 at the Norcross Library Large Meeting Room. The potluck snacks during social hour at 3 PM were organized by the parents of all eight Interns. The parents felt really involved in the celebration. Just prior to the start of the ceremony, Dr. Shailendra Palvia administered the final examination with 15 multiple choice questions and graded the exams. All the Interns did exceedingly well.

The Awards Ceremony went very smoothly. Mr. Sunil Peramanu emceed the ceremony introducing Dr. Amod Sureka who narrated very briefly the history of the 3 months old organization. Then, Dr. Palvia who taught the course, went through power point presentation on the successful completion of the novel Ahimsa Internship.

The following seven assignments completed by the Interns in such a short time is really commendable: Comparative Analysis of Ahimsa Perspective in Buddhism and Sikhism; Presentation in class about main ideas in one of the five text books read; Preparing and asking one question to GA State House Representative Dr. Michelle Au on July 14; Watching with parents the movie Bowling for Columbine and writing a one page report; Term paper (two pages) on a selected topic; Submitting 2-3 Multiple Choice Questions from material covered in class; and Final examination just before the Celebration.
And the topics of the eight term papers speak volumes about the level of interest and comprehension by the Interns:

Impact of Gun Violence on different Communities in the USA by Bhavya Shah;
Non-Violence to Address the Epidemic of Gun Violence in America by Swasti Jain;
Breaking the Cycle of Incident, Prayers, and Anticipation by Arnav Jain;
The Economic Impact of Gun Violence on Public Health by Jainik Panchamiya;
Introducing Lessons on Ahimsa & Gun Violence Epidemic in Schools by Agamya Jain;
Nonviolent Movements and Their Impact on Gun Control by Kavya Turakhia;
History and Evolution of Mass Shootings in America by Simran Ahuja;
Introducing Lessons on Ahimsa & Addressing the Gun Violence Epidemic in Schools by Shrey Jain.
Each Intern was awarded the coveted certificate along with a bag as a gift. A sample of the Certificate is as follows.

Each Intern spoke about how he/she will use the knowledge gained to further the cause of reducing/ending gun violence through the philosophy on Ahimsa. Mrs. Vaisheshi Jalajam encouraged all Interns to remain engaged and continue to work towards curbing the gun violence menace in our country. Mr. Peramanu, Dr. Sureka and Mr. Nigam Turakhia (Kavya’s father) encouraged all Interns to try to start Ahimsa clubs in their respective school or college. The attendance at the celebration ranged from 9 years old nephew of Dr. Sureka to several grandparents around 80 years old. There were 40 people in attendance.   After the ceremony, all enjoyed the social hour with some snacks, ice cream, and tea brought by the parents of the Interns.





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