Shishukunj

Morality’s Place in Law

Pious Khemka, Class XI A

‘Morals’ and ‘Laws’ are two distinct concepts in my outlook. A law is a rule or a system of rules, that a particular natural or scientific phenomenon always occurs if certain conditions are present. Likewise, human laws direct us to act in a certain manner in certain specific conditions. Morals on the other hand pertain to the principle of right and wrong behavior.

I would like to discuss this in the light of ‘Ethical Relativism’. Ethical Relativism is the doctrine that there are no absolute truths in ethics and that what is morally right or wrong varies from person to person and from society to society. What’s more, it can even change with the passage of time. Herodotus, the Greek Historian observed that different societies have different customs and that each person thinks his own society’s customs to be the best.

Thus, if I say that practices such as polygamy and honour killing are right within a society, they are so only for that society. If these are considered wrong in another society, then it is wrong for that society.

There is no such thing as ‘really’ right or universally acceptable. In a country like India, where we accommodate such diversity, making laws on the basis of morals of a certain society would be disastrous indeed.

Circumstances also affect the determination of what is moral. For instance, whether it is morally permissible to enter a house, depends on whether one is the owner, a guest or a burglar!

As a consequence, there is no way to justify any moral principle as valid for all people and all societies at all times.

So, if morals are not universal, then how can a law be based on them. If they do, then laws would also have the same tendency to evaporate as soon as the thinking of people changes around to a different thought. In my opinion, morals and laws should be parallel and never intersecting.

Birds

By Praneat Data, VIII D

The Naughty Boy

Anirudh Malpani, Class X A

The boy was brought to my clinic in an unconscious state. I had just started my career as a dentist and somehow I was never fond of young patients. If I did like some, this experience totally changed my view.

The boy and his mother reached my clinic at around 10.30 am. Before meeting me, the nurse used to examine the patients. She told me that the boy was in extreme pain and one of his premolars was fully black and his mother wanted it removed.

The boy was not ready to come to me but somehow the nurse and his mother made him sit on the chair. But the boy picked up a pair of tweezers and pricked the nurse and ran away. Somehow we caught him and forced him to sit. That’s when my assistant told me that I had an important call and so I had to go to attend the call.

After I had finished talking, when I returned to the room, I could not believe my eyes. The mother was locked in the washroom and the nurse tied to the chair with my gloves. When the boy saw me enter, he ran to escape me but slipped and fell. His mouth started bleeding profusely. It took me a while to get everything back in order.

As luck would have it, the black tooth that had to be extracted had come off. On closer examination, I found that the tooth appeared to be in good condition. It had in fact been coloured black. We all looked at the boy. Amidst tears, he finally admitted the truth. He had a test in school that day and to avoid going to school he had struck upon a brilliant plan. He painted his tooth black and lied that he had a tooth ache. Perhaps he lied a little too well!

A Childhood Mischief

Aadrika Bhargava, Class X A

Whenever I ask my parents about the mischiefs done by me during my childhood, they always tell me about an incident when I was three years old. For my 3^rd birthday, my grandparents gifted me a blue tricycle which became very dear to me. Whenever I was left alone, I used to go near the stairs and throw my tricycle down saying I was going to the petrol pump to fill petrol in it.

I live in a joint family. My uncles and aunts who lived downstairs used to get very angry at me about this but they never scolded me. They considered it an act of innocence and now everyone gets to laugh at me about this. Some memories of my childhood, including this one, would never fade from memory.

Selvi Kataria, Class X A

I was in Junior KG. It was the second last day of the session. My younger brother and I were playing in the house. I climbed up the telephone table to get a chocolate from the glass shelf above. I don’t know what struck me, but I started opening and shutting the glass door rapidly. It suddenly cracked and glass pieces fell all over the floor. One shard even cut my forehead, just about the eye. Luckily, my brother wasn’t hurt. The next day itself, my grandfather got all the glass shelves changed. After all, his granddaughter was hurt!

Realization

Nakul Goel, Class XI B

My friend Bunny and I were exhausted. We had attended a four hour long tuition. We wanted to go home. Bunny took his phone out and started typing on it. My phone beeped. Bunny had sent me a message.

It said, ‘Hey!’

‘How are you?’ I replied.

‘I am tired.’

‘What are you up to right now?’

‘I am standing right next to you!’

I looked at him and acted surprised. We loved playing this game.

‘Coming over for a movie?’

‘Ok’

When we reached home, Bunny and I had a fight. Our fights were also online, usually on Whatsapp or Facebook.

He texted, ‘I want to watch Batman.’

‘Forget it. I am watching Spiderman.’

The fight went on for a while and then we eventually decided to watch Wall-E.

During the movie, Bunny sent me a text

‘These people are unbelievable. They spend their entire day looking at screens and do nothing productive. They don’t even talk to each other directly.’

I was about to type a reply when I looked at Bunny. He was also staring at me.

We both dropped our phone. Shocked!

From the Diary of a Mirror

Vartika Jain, Class X D

Friday

April 29, 2016

9:00 pm

After observing the family members of this house for a few days, I am astonished at the way humans behave and also seem to change over time. The children of the house are not bothered about their real character. They have become obsessed with their physical appearance and spend hours in front of me. The parents of the house have, however, started understanding the importance of real character and need me only at certain times. But if you ask me, it is the grandparents who are the best. They do not bother themselves much with their appearance and they are the ones who truly value the inner beauty in themselves. They understand my pain of reflecting everything day and night and are generous not to overload me or interrupt me in my meditations of the opposite wall. I can only show the physical appearance of people but the real mirrors are those who can make you realize what you are as a person in your real life.

Train Ride

Ribhu Das Purkayastha, Class XI D

The dawn breaks out.

A new story is born

As the first station passes

And the train rattles on.

Screeeeech! Goes the train

As the train comes to a halt.

Some are seen laughing

And some with fists balled.

Porters who didn’t fare:

Some appear to be sorry

Others seem drowned

In deep melancholy.

People board with grief,

Some with courage.

Some seem weighed down

By tons of luggage.

Indomitable hawkers wade in

Hoping for a buy.

Whatever retort awaits them

They always give a try.

Sorrow is fed to winds as

Acquaintances are made:

Shrieks of laughter and

Chaos in the make.

The day begins to yawn

As the landscape slowly fades.

Slowly ticks the dinner closer

And slowly the tiffin raids.

I feel very bored as

The story is almost gone,

With everybody snoring

As the train rattles on.

Procrastinators

Shreya Gupta, Class XII D

“I think I still have some unfinished procrastinating to do from yesterday.”

I plead guilty for just one thing – my mastery over the art of postponing just about anything. Basically, waiting for the last minute to do any said job, just takes a minute and perhaps that’s when it is best done!

I am a perfectionist. Which is just a simple excuse for my habit to postpone any action that I might be expected to take. Procrastination is precisely why it took me over a year to give in my contribution to the blog. Not that I am busy or caught up in a million things. In fact, I am the most jobless (read ‘do not want to study’) person you will find.

But let me tell you, I may delay the hard work, but the final thing is on time. The only thing that has enabled me to write this article is that I am procrastinating some other stuff.

While delaying the Physics homework to complete the Harry Potter series might actually seem quite tempting but can’t help it if being promoted to Class XII has got me riding on an anti-procrastination wave.

PS: I’ll complete my article soon.

Epiphany

Shruti Biyani, Class X D

And there you lay on the bed

With a day in front almost dead

It is your time, to think about yourself

What good you did and what you are going to do

Because some has said ‘Life is just a race my child’.

Be strong, be fast

There is no place for the weak, the mild

You don’t know what you did unknowingly today

For your one word may have broken someone’s heart

But your one smile might have joined those gone apart.

In the future,

When you will be sitting with a newspaper on an armchair

With patchy skin and teeth just a pair

You are sure to realize

No history dates, no math formulae give you pleasure

But you will undoubtedly wonder

If… I had some memories to treasure

You are still a teenager

You still have time

Do mischiefs, but no harms, no crime

It’s your choice to mug up these lines like theory

Or enjoy them like a story

Let all sorrows be flushed from your mind

Much of the happiness you are yet to find

Maybe there is no fault in living with eyes closed

Remember but, you are each day a day nearer to death.

Toughest Leads to Loveliest

Hridhima Tyagi, Class IX B

The fire in my hand started to flicker,

And I, terrified, watched the trees whisper.

The wind howled, and took away the last of my light,

And I was left alone with the world’s darkest night.

I shivered with fright and the cold,

I didn’t have a single hand to hold.

The trees seemed enormous, the wind seemed scary,

The grass was damp, the night was eerie.

I had promised someone, and couldn’t go back,

The will in me had started to crack.

But despite the struggle, I carried on,

Hoping that after some time, the fear will be gone.

Toughest leads to loveliest?

Oh! I didn’t believe a word,

I thought it was rubbish,

It was all absurd.

The path was covered with ferns and thorns,

And though very carefully I paced,

A thorn in the bush pierced my foot,

And it left me standing in a daze.

The blood oozed out and I shrieked and yelped,

I shouted into the night for help,

Though knowing there’s no one I cried with pain,

And as if on cue it started to rain.

Nothing could have gone worse than that,

And I, I struggled to walk.

My inside was paining, my outside was drenched,

I trod on the wet grass and rocks.

Toughest leads to loveliest?

Oh! I didn’t believe a word,

I thought it was rubbish,

It was all absurd.

I was still walking,

God knows for how long,

When I saw the woods end,

And I burst happily into a song.

The last few metres brought a whoosh of energy,

Despite my pain I ran very quickly,

I reached the end of the woods and saw,

The sight that met my eyes left me in awe.

The rising sun behind the snow,

The peaks submerged in the lashing seas,

The waterfall as fresh as the sky,

The birds chirping on the greenest trees.

Toughest leads to loveliest?

Oh, it was not wrong,

Working hard always pays off,

Just keep your will strong….

Month: May 2016

Morality’s Place in Law

Pious Khemka, Class XI A

Birds

By Praneat Data, VIII D

The Naughty Boy

Anirudh Malpani, Class X A

A Childhood Mischief

Aadrika Bhargava, Class X A

Selvi Kataria, Class X A

Realization

Nakul Goel, Class XI B

From the Diary of a Mirror

Train Ride

Ribhu Das Purkayastha, Class XI D

Procrastinators

Shreya Gupta, Class XII D

Epiphany

Shruti Biyani, Class X D

Toughest Leads to Loveliest

Hridhima Tyagi, Class IX B

Site Map

Downloads

Contact Us