Shishukunj

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!

Lionel Messi

A sketch by Aditya Agarwal, Class XI F

Art by Aditya Agarwal, Class XI F

Question Paper

A poem by Ms. Abhilasha Umahiya, Educator

‘How was the question paper Sam?’
Asked an anxious mother.
‘I hope it went off well,
Or is it the other way?’

Mama, when I received it in hand,
It looked crisp and easy.
So I tore off the seal,
And at once got down busy.

When I tried to write the answers,
A strange thing occured.
I did not remember more than a line,
Of whichever question I preferred.

It was prepared by someone,
A magician or my foe.
For all those lessons I did not learn,
How would anyone know?

Luckily, a fairly good part of it,
I answered without restrictions.
But that shrewd invigilator said,
Those weren’t questions.
They were instructions!

One shouldn’t go where
One gets humiliation and pain.
So don’t put me, my dear mom,
In this ordeal again.

ज़िन्दगी एक सुहाना सफ़र

ध्रुव खुराना, कक्षा ११वीं F

ज़िन्दगी कोई कार्य नहीं है जिसे हम करने का इंतज़ार कर रहे हैं | कोई खेल नहीं जिसे हम मौज के लिए खेलें; कोई किताब नहीं जिसे खोलकर पढ़ के सीख लें | बल्कि ज़िन्दगी तो वो सफ़र है जिसे हम हर एक क्षण जी रहे हैं|

हम अपनी ज़िन्दगी को एक बहुत ही कठिन सफ़र समझते हैं | परन्तु यह केवल एक सोच है| हम ऐसी बातों से प्रभावित होकर खुद अपनी परेशानियाँ बाधा लेते हैं| हम अपनी ही बातों और अपने ही विचारों में खो जाते हैं| प्रश्न ये उठता है कि ज़िन्दगी कैसे जी जाती है? इस प्रश्न का एकमात्र उत्तर है, ज़िन्दगी दिल खोलकर जी जाती है, पूरा सौ प्रतिशत देकर जी जाती है| हम यह कैसे कर सकते हैं, मैं इसी बात पर रोशनी डालना चाहूँगा|

ज़िन्दगी का सबसे महत्वपूर्ण और सबसे बड़ा सच जिससे सफलता मिलती है वह है अंतरात्मा की ख़ुशी| यही सच्ची ख़ुशी है| यह न तो पैसों से मिल सकती है और न ही किसे वास्तु से| यह अपना मुकाम हासिल करने पर ही मिल सकती है|

Art by Dhruv Khurana, Class XI F

दूसरी जो सबसे महत्वपूर्ण चीज़ है वह है समय| समय को इस तरह भी समझाया जा सकता है कि अगर ज़िन्दगी गाड़ी है तो समय पहिया जिसके बिना आप आगे नहीं बढ़ सकते| इसी कारण जो समय बर्बाद करता है, समय उसे बर्बाद कर देता है|

तीसरी चीज़ है आत्मनियंत्रण | अपने मन को काबू रखना | जिसने अपने मन को काबू में रखना सीख लिया, वह कुछ भी कर सकता है|

हम मनुष्य अपने आप को बहुत कमज़ोर समझते हैं| ये केवल हमारी कल्पना है | हमारी अंतर-आत्मा की शक्ति असीम है| इसी कारण हमें कभी भी अपनी काबिलियत पर शक नहीं करना चाहिए|

हम अपने जीवन अनुशासन से नहीं जीते; उसूलों के साथ नहीं जीते; अपने लक्ष्य के प्रति समर्पित नहीं होते| सफलता के लिए जी-जान लगानी पड़ती है| साथ ही अन्दर से हार न मानाने वाला दृढ-निश्चय, आत्म-सम्मान से भरा हुआ और सदैव बिना फल का सोचे मेहनत करने वाला चरित्र चाहिए| तभी सच्ची ख़ुशी मिल सकती है|

अपने लिए जियो, खुद पर भरोसा रखो, अपने आप जीत तुम्हारे क़दमों में होगी|

A New Beginning

A Poem by Vinisha Shrimal, Class XII A

Alone I stand before the sea,
The sloshing waves washed me.
Foot prints gone from the sandy shore,
Leave no signs like it showed before.

I slowly turned around,
It’s a new beginning I found.
All the worries, all the sadness,
Let it be washed away,
Let it be given back to yesterday.

Look up and look down,
The sky looks one with the ground.
Treasured memories will always stay,
Yes! Hardtimes are faded away.

Just a little kindness

A poem by Apoorv Kohli, Class VIII C

Little words of kindness

How they cheer the heart!

What a word of gladness,

Will a smile impart.

Little acts of kindness

Nothing do they cost.

Yet, when they are wanting,

Life’s best charm is lost.

Little thoughts of kindness

Richest gems on Earth,

Though they seem as trifles,

But priceless is their worth.

Category: Blog