SECTION A
Essay
125 marks
A grateful mind is very beautiful.
WRITE IN
90 min
1,000–1,200 words
Reading the topic
The topic says gratitude makes the mind beautiful, meaning it adds inner grace, calm and generosity. The deeper reading is that gratitude is a way of seeing: it shifts attention from what is missing to what has been received, links the self to family, society and nature, and underpins trust, reciprocity and public spirit.
ThesisGratitude beautifies the mind because it replaces entitlement with awareness of dependence, and that awareness quietly strengthens personal well-being, social trust and civic duty.
Dimensions to cover
- 1Psychology: deliberately noting blessings has been linked in studies to better mood and life satisfaction, so gratitude is a trainable mental habit
- 2Family: acknowledging the unpaid care work of mothers and elders turns invisible labour into recognised contribution
- 3Society: gratitude toward farmers, sanitation workers and soldiers builds solidarity across class and caste lines
- 4Governance: a civil servant who sees office as a trust given by citizens is less likely to treat power as personal entitlement
- 5Environment: gratitude to rivers, forests and soil, common in Indian traditions, supports a restraint-based ethic of consumption
- 6Ethics: gratitude must be discerning, since blind loyalty to a benefactor can push a person toward injustice
Counter-view
- Critics say preaching gratitude can make the poor accept injustice and thank the powerful for crumbs. The essay should separate gratitude from servility, arguing that true gratitude coexists with a demand for rights and is owed to people, not to unfair systems
Open and close
- Open: Begin with a retired schoolteacher who receives a handwritten letter from a former student, now a district collector, thanking her for a scolding thirty years ago
- Close: End by showing that a grateful mind is beautiful because it sees itself as part of a web of giving, and so naturally gives back
Where marks usually go
- Writing a sermon on saying 'thank you' politely, without exploring gratitude as a way of perceiving life
- Ignoring the dark side where gratitude becomes servility or blind loyalty
- Equating 'beautiful' with physical appearance or happiness only, missing moral and social beauty
Examples that fit
- DataIn controlled studies, participants who kept weekly gratitude lists reported higher well-being than those who listed hassles, showing gratitude shapes the mind measurably.Emmons and McCullough, 'Counting Blessings Versus Burdens', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2003)
- LiteratureThe Thirukkural devotes a whole chapter to gratitude, teaching that help given in time, however small, is greater than the world itself.Thirukkural, Chapter 11, Tiruvalluvar
- StoryKarna stays loyal to Duryodhana out of gratitude for being honoured, yet this loyalty binds him to an unjust cause, showing gratitude needs moral judgement.Mahabharata, attributed to Vyasa
- ThinkerCicero called gratitude not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all the others, placing it at the root of moral life.Pro Plancio, Marcus Tullius Cicero