Shishukunj

This and That and Some Titbits

By Tanya Rajani, Class IX B

You don’t have to worry about tricks and cheats. People fall into their own pits. Believe in the existence, the existence above. the existence of the Lord makes sure that no good remains unacknowledged, and no bad escapes punishment.

It is simplicity that builds beauty. Wisdom is the power to savour the life. As Emma Goldman once said ‘I’d rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck’. Know the power of simplicity. Believe that joy comes from plainness and you’ll sooner live a happy life because when your journey of life is about to end, you won’t remember the posh cars or the luxurious couches that you own but you’ll rejoice the cup of tea that you had with your loved ones.

Examination

By Vinamra Chhabra, Class VIII E

During an examination,
We have to write about transpiration,
Or some complicated reaction.
It always gives us tension
And lots of frustration.
And in 3 hrs duration
I never get satisfaction,
With the answer that I mention,
For which I never get commendation
Seems I’ll stay in the same class for a long duration!

विदेश में रह रहे बेटे का माँ को लिखा भावपूर्ण पत्र

ध्रुव खुराना, कक्षा ११वीं F

आदरणीय माताजी,

चरण स्पर्श

मैं यहाँ ठीक हूँ | आशा करता हूँ कि आप भी वहाँ सकुशल होंगी | यहाँ हर पल आप ही की याद में गुज़र रहा है | क्या करूँ काम भी तो ज़रूरी है, नहीं तो कब का वापस घर लौट आता |

आप ही के आशीर्वाद से हर एक क्षण सफल हो सका है | मैं आज जो भी हूँ, जिस भी मुकाम पर हूँ, सब आप ही की देन है | आपकी वह बचपन की डांट और सीख ने मुझे सही राह पर चलना सिखाया | हर रात आप ही की तस्वीर देखता हूँ और वह पल याद आ जाते हैं जब आप की गोद में सर रख कर सोता था | मन में बस यही सवाल उठता है की क्या काम इतना ज़रूरी है की माँ से दूर रहना पड़ रहा है?

जब भी मैं आपसे फोन पर बात करता हूँ, एक अजीब सी दूरी महसूस होती है | आपने मुझे तौर-तरीकों की, दुनिया की इतनी समझ दी है कि आज में इस स्वार्थी दुनिया में भी लोगों का सामना कर पाता हूँ | मैं अपनी बचपन की यादों से ओत-प्रोत हो जाता हूँ | वह दिन याद आता है जब आप मुझे छोड़ने आईं थी | ओह! याद आते हैं वे दिन जब मैं खाना नहीं खाता था और आप मेरे पीछे-पीछे दौड़ा करती थीं | वह पल जब मैं आपके आँचल में खेलता था, वह ख़ुशी जब मैं आपकी उम्मीदों पर खरा उतरता था और आप सर पर हाथ फेरती थीं | वह समय जब मेरी गलती पर लोग हँसते थे पर आपने मुझे सहारा दिया |

आपके बिना यहाँ सूना-सूना लगता है | आज जब मैं देखता हूँ किसी माँ को अपने बच्चे को गोद में खिलाते हुए, तो आपकी याद आती है | आप सोच रही होंगी की मैं इतना भावुक क्यों हो रहा हूँ | पर माँ, जुदाई के बाद मुझे आपकी अहमियत समझ आ गयी है | आज भी मेरी नज़र आपको ढूंढती है, हर वास्तु में, हर जगह पे, हर कोने में, परन्तु मैं यह जानता हूँ कि आप सदैव मेरे साथ मेरे दिल में रहोगी| अपना दुःख व्यक्त करने के लिए दो पंक्तियाँ कहना चाहूँगा

महसूस करता हूँ जब मैं अकेला

करता हूँ, तुम्हारे सहारे की मांग

चाहता हूँ मेरे पास आ जाओ

सातों समंदर को उल्लांघ

आपका प्रिय पुत्र

ध्रुव

Dear Diary

By Vinisha Shrimal, Class XII A

Dear diary,

Every day I put on a happy face

I smile I laugh

Pretend everything is okay

When really I’m crying inside.

To everybody who asks about me

I say, “I am fine. Thank you.”

But, every time I’ve said this

I didn’t mean it even once.

It seemed like no one noticed

Maybe they don’t need an answer

They just ask for the sake of asking.

I look at my childhood photographs

Smiling and crying.

My smile, was angelic.

I could imagine the laughter

Sometimes hear it too,

Even the cry, was not from heart.

But there was something, I realized

One thing in common

I cried coz I wanted something

A stupid kid wanted a stupid toy

A stupid girl wanted a stupid answer.

I’ve tried to live up the laughter

I’ve tried poetry, down to novels, songs

And alas, this diary.

However, I can’t find an answer

To what is wrong, when nothing is right.

I crushed papers, walked on stones

Sung rather screamed on top of my voice

Assuming everybody cares,

But everybody is too busy to care.

My mind, wanders through thoughts

Of who might I be.

Who is this girl in the mirror?

Who am I?

I feel alone in this big-big world

I wish there had been someone to listen to me

Who wouldn’t judge me.

As for people,

There’s nobody to be believed

So they believe lies,

Same I do- sometimes

I just don’t know how to make it right.

I shall pray to god,

But I m convinced no-one is listening.

Yet, there is something I achieved

No one knows of tears that flowed (now dried)

No one knows of things I’m holding back (the forever secrets)

No one knows I am tired….

I must believe

I am still happy as I am

“Yes, I am fine.”

The Dilemma of Space Science

By Kaustav Dey, Class XI F

Many people believe that our country is wasting too much money and man-power into space missions and exploration and that it is useless to invest so much money when half the population of the country barely earns a living. They say that it would be much beneficial to invest the same money to eradicate poverty and educate the poor. What people tend to forget is, poverty can only be removed with the help of science and technology.

Space exploration develops a fascination and interest for science better than anything else. When our Mars orbiter reached Mars, the excitement and euphoria in our country was such that was never recorded before. The technology gained from a space mission has no parallel and it is the new technology that young India wants the most.

A fall to climb

By Aura Pandey, Class X A

She sat with half her body on the boulder staring at the mountains. How different the same scene had felt when she had last been here three years back! How every chilling gush of wind that went past her seemed to invite her towards the mountains and more eagerly each time. Mountains forever married to serenity had made her divorce with her own peace.

Today, the same sight couldn’t do any more than just dig up the old memories that she had learnt – if not to overcome, then just to put aside. Would she ever be able to forget that day? The day she didn’t just lose her legs, but also was robbed of her peace of mind and peace with her mother.

The memories of her first trekking experience with her mother were also still fresh in her mind. The first mountain they climbed together, the trekking shoes her mother gifted her on her birthday. Oh! How she wished for those days to return. But her crutches, hard against her hands always threw her back into reality. Living with her mother reminded her not only of the pleasant memories but also her harsh reality. This made it all the more difficult for her to face her disability. Not a single day had passed between her mother and her in peace since that day.

She never understood ‘why does that woman never give up on her?’ She had made it very clear that she didn’t wish to live with her, but she not only didn’t leave but also made her accompany her on all treks. Doesn’t she realize how it hurts her? She looked at herself again with disgust and desperation. She thought she would escape the limitation of the crutches that chained her spirit and flesh to a never-ending slavery and jump into the ad infinitum of the valley. She did not believe in the ‘healing power of the mountains’ – nonsense of her mother.

A non-living stone on a lifeless boulder – that’s what she is. No more. She moved dangerously close to the cliff and decided to plunge.

One last look ahe cast at their mountains… Oh! They did seem so alluring. They won’t in a moment. She would not take the pain any more. Off she jumped, letting herself fall into the chasm of death.

She felt the free fall but no fear of death. It was so thrilling that she thought she would want to repeat it over and over again. The thought itself was so powerful that she began looking for something to cling to in order to check her fall.

As the fall gained perilous speed, she seemed to become more alert and alive. Her shoulders rubbed against the stone wall of the cliff and moments later she found herself hanging from a crevice. Each cell in her was burning ecstatically. With great difficulty she climbed her way back… to find her mother waiting for her beside her crutches. She took her in her arms and said, “I knew you wouldn’t give up. I just knew you wouldn’t die, at least not by jumping off a cliff. I love you my darling. I believe in you.”

She too held on to her mother and let her tears wash away the pain of three years.

Be the miracle!

By Anshul Shrivastava, Class XI F

From a breathtaking football game to a perilous incident, the mutual noun that describes the unexpected recovery would be ‘a miracle’. Homo sapiens have a very interesting tendency to crave the elusive. To give something inexplicable a seemingly logical and legitimate explanation, they call it a miracle.

The religious texts, all of them, speak of this as the supreme authority of God. We have forgotten that the main substance, that the only power, which can perform these acts is the one within each one of us.

Getting up from the dark and leading the people of your country, with just a stick in your hand, is a miracle. Indeed, for every mother, her child is a miracle.

Miracles abound all around us, by our efforts we can synthesize miracles. The required ingredients are pure determination, high hopes, diligence and belief.

Don’t wait for the miracle to happen. Be the change! Optimism is a faith. To hear your personal calling, you require compassion for yourself and for others. Let go of guilt and fear. It’s only when it’s dark enough, you can see the stars!

I Will Fly

A poem by Suyash Agrawal, Class XI F

Inspired by a poem by Jalaluddin Rumi, the 13th century Sufi poet, as translated by Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.

I am born with potential …
I am born with enthusiasm …
I am born with ideas …
I am born with dreams …
I am born with trust …
I am born with confidence …

I want to be myself …
When I come across obstacles
I want to struggle …
I will …

I am born with wings …
So, I am not meant for crawling …
I have wings, I will fly, I will fly and fly …

Some musings

Some random thoughts from Shreya Khandelwal, Class IX B

No one has a lock to success but everyone has a key to it. Its only use is to have success open to you.

Only a clear mindset can take you closer to your goal.

Problems are many, but solution the same – to be calm and positive in your life and to have faith in God and to deal with your problems.

Clouds are indicators of rain
Comedy of laughter
Lights of Diwali

Your write-ups are forever but your thoughts are there only for some time. So write them down.

That Assignment

A poem by Avitej Iyer, Class VIII B

There are pens and paper cluttered on my desk,
The assignment has to be submitted by ‘morrow at the best.
We have to write a really good poem,
I just have trouble with doing it at home.
All these words cluttered up in my head,
Instead of making them rhyme, I better be in bed.
And after having an awsome dinner,
I still certainly don’t feel like a winner.
All thoughts aside, the poem is still pending,
The broken words my brain is mending.
And then I refer a thesaurus,
I open it, and oh! the horrors.
There are synonyms up and down the page,
All these words put me into a daze.
I thought about giving up hope,
And then I saw an envelope.
It was just lying there, on my bed,
I opened it, and then I read.
It was a story of a footballer and it ended with a kick,
Then I thought to myself, “Why don’t I make this my topic?”
The words automatically started coming to my head,
When I finished, I looked at it and was pretty impressed.
The next day at school, I kept it on my teacher’s desk.
When I saw my marks, my poem had been adjudged the best!