Dr.K.M. Cherian

Founder Chairman

Foreword

It is indeed a stimulating experience to watch ‘The Study’ evolve with time, sending out confident, successful, intellectuals with good values each year. I am content with the fact that the future generation, journeying through the portal of ‘The Study’, is entrusted in capable and safe hands.

I am reminded of a story by Leo Tolstoy which caught my attention and I wish to share it with you.

A Peasant named Pahom wanted to make his living through farming but did not have sufficient farm land to realize his dreams. He was introduced to the Bashkirs, who were simple-minded people who owned a huge amount of land. Pahom visited them to take as much of their land for as low a price as he could negotiate. Their offer was very unusual: for a sum of one thousand rubles, Pahom could walk around as large an area as he wanted, starting at daybreak, marking his route with a spade along the way. If he reached his starting point by sunset that day, the entire area of land his route enclosed would be his, but if he did not reach his starting point he would lose his money and receive no land. He was delighted as he believed that he could cover a great distance and had chanced upon the bargain of a lifetime.

He stayed out as late as possible, marking out land until just before the sun set. Towards the end, he realized that he was far from the starting point and ran back as fast as he could to the waiting Bashkirs. He finally arrived at the starting point just as the sun set. The Bashkirs cheered his good fortune, but exhausted from the run, Pahom dropped dead. He was buried in an ordinary grave only six feet long, thus ironically answering the question posed in the title of the story “How Much Land Does a Man Need?”

Happiness consists not in having much, but in being content with little.

I believe that to be content doesn’t mean you don’t desire more. It means you are thankful for what you have and patient for what is to come. May you be content in materialistic needs and amass a great wealth of knowledge during these happy schooling years.