• 12
  Oct 2026

• THE BRAVEST HEARTS

  
  

  Suhani Surana | International School

The bravest hearts
Have the brightest smiles,
The hardest lives,
And yet somehow, leave an imprint so deep in your heart
That you can’t stop thinking about how unfair life can be.
Friendship’s Day has always held a very special place in my heart, a day where you celebrate the people who make your life a little better simply by being in it. Laughter, smiles, gossip, countless pictures and endless memories. A day where you tie bracelets around your friends’ wrists, grateful to have them in your life. Yet, this Friendship’s Day touched my heart in a completely different way.

What started as an ordinary project to spread smiles among children ended with all of us leaving the hospital with heavy hearts, tears in our eyes and a silent wish to stay just a little longer.

Walking into the hospital, I wasn’t sure what to expect. We had prepared games and activities, hoping that, even for a few hours, we could help them forget about the difficulties they were going through and simply have fun.

But there was something I never expected to happen.

Somewhere during the session, as we helped them make bracelets for one another, paint, draw and colour, I realised that something as small as spending a few hours with them could mean so much. Their smiles when we gave them gifts, the joy on their faces as we painted together, and that little spark in their eyes whenever we praised their work left an imprint on my heart that I know I will carry for a long time.

Who knew that, in a world where we are constantly chasing validation, attention and likes on social media, there are still people who find happiness in the simplest moments? People who laugh, play and smile without worrying about what comes next.

We often think of friendship as something that is built over years—a bond formed by someone who has seen you laugh and cry, someone who has shared the ups and downs of your life. Yet that day, I experienced a different kind of friendship.

A friendship that taught me something I will never forget.

A friendship that began with a bracelet, a painting or a simple smile, and somehow made me want to sit beside them for just a little while longer—not out of sympathy, but out of genuine admiration.

Because sometimes, the people who have been given the hardest lives carry the brightest smiles.

What began as a simple mission to spread smiles became an experience that left a much deeper smile in all of us, a reminder that sometimes, we go somewhere thinking we are there to make a difference, only to realise that the people we came to help have changed something inside us instead.

• International School