Shishukunj

My Dad – My Hero

Hridhima Tyagi, Class IX B

(For her dad on his fortieth birthday!)

With hair like silk, black and grey,

Or specks of white, no one can say.

With eyes like a whirl of an endless hole,

Dark and deep, smoky like coal.

Flecked here and there with red and gold,

Filled with stories, told – untold.

With a perfect nose, blood–red lips,

Hidden shining teeth like an eclipse.

With cheeks that are filled with a lovely glow,

Of kisses from the loved, white skin like snow.

The cheeks that are dandy and puffed with a smile,

A smile that makes worries forgotten in piles.

With shoulders that are very presumptuous and bold,

Which seem promising till an age very old.

The shoulders that follow a majestic chest,

A chest that has tensed heads to rest.

A chest that is the medicine for all troubles,

A chest that pops the anxiety – filled bubbles.

A chest that protects a golden heart,

Leave the gold! A platinum part!

A heart that can never bring sorrow,

A heart that assures a fresh tomorrow.

A heart that is so humble and kind,

A heart which is impossible to find.

A heart filled with a love to bind,

With a healthy body, a healthy mind.

The chest that is connected with big, strong arms,

Arms that can never – ever cause harm.

Arms that are so lofty and gentle,

Arms that can be trusted with concerns to handle.

The upper body rested on thin, fragile legs,

Legs as long as Daddy – Long – Legs!

With knees that were once forever blue,

From falling off cycles and…. I haven’t a clue!

With feet that often tap to beats,

With feet that often jump on feats.

All these things together spell out my dad,

A dad no one has ever had.

A dad who is my hero forever,

A dad so lovable, he makes hearts tremor.

A dad who never lets his family down,

A dad whose sight vanishes frowns.

A dad who is better than the rest,

A dad who is simply the BEST!

The ‘Me’

Mansi Choudhary, Class X A

Whenever Lord Ram was asked about his encounter with Ravan, he would always reply, “I didn’t kill him, his ‘ME’ killed him.”

‘ME’ is our worst enemy. When a person only thinks about himself, he becomes self-centred. He only tries to see his benefit and becomes calculative and tries to demean his competitors. As an ardent disciple of ‘ME’, he begins to see himself as superior to everyone. True, as an opportunist, who is determined to gain profit at any cost, he also makes rare and desultory efforts to do good to others.

However, such a person forgets that he is digging a pit for himself. What he sees as a decisive victory of profits is actually a clear failure. A selfish person doesn’t have the capacity to win a race but he only knows how to ensure that others lose. In all, a selfish person, possessed by the ‘ME’, is the world’s greatest coward.

Learning

Art by Class XII

Should Law be Based on Morality?

Tanishka Goswami, Class XI C

In simple words, morality constitutes the principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong intentions, behaviours, decisions and actions. Morality is undoubtedly necessary for the sustenance of a peaceful society. But can the laws of the land be based on morality alone?

Please note that an action which is moral in one society, may be considered immoral in another society. For instance, divorce is considered morally acceptable in the US but not in our homeland.

‘Because every law springs from a system of values and beliefs, every law is an instance of legislating Morality’. Thus, law and morality are intimately connected. Both regulate the conduct of an individual in a society. It is the duty of the state to formulate laws which elevate and promote the moral standard of the people. In ancient India, the term ‘Dharma’ represented both morality as well as law.

But, there exists a major difference between law and morality – ‘Laws regulate external human conduct whereas morality mainly regulates internal conduct or conscience.’

That brings us to the striking question – Should law be based on morality?

There can be two views on this. If we consider certain issues such as laws for women in Saudi Arabia: women cannot drive, cannot move freely without a male companion and so on. They are immoral but legal. Considering these laws, we could argue that laws need to be based on morals.

But let us look at another aspect where something that might be argued as morally appropriate cannot be given a legal basis. Consider the ‘Panama Papers’ case. No doubt, the hacking of information for the purpose of the expose was righteous. But that doesn’t mean hacking be made legal. If it is, I believe a day would come when there would be no secrets left! Crimes would soar with people committing various crimes and justifying them as ethical.

Similarly, abortion is an immoral act. If a law based on this moral perspective, declares it illegal, that cannot be an assurance of abolition of this act. Some of the lowest abortion rates are in places where abortion is legal!

Thus, morality can be the ideal in whose light laws need to be developed. The law on the other hand gives the most morally optimal results that can be achieved. Morality can and should influence laws. But, very essentially, morality should not act as a substitute for laws.

Friends, are they?

Tanishka Goswami, Class XI C

Law and morality, go hand in hand,

Striding peacefully to a harmonious land.

But one question turns out to be an obstacle in their way,

“Are you truly friends?” it tries to say.

“Yes,” said morality. “Law is my closest mate”,

“An amicable society exists, because both of us cooperate.”

As they continue their journey, happy and bright,

Another question comes checking their might.

“Who is more puissant amongst you two?”

“It’s me,” said law. “Well, what did you construe?”

“It’s me,” argued morality, “due to whom you did originate,”

“Without my existence, you wouldn’t have been so great.”

In this way continued a heated contest,

With both of them claiming, “I am the mightiest!”

A wise person on the way was asked this question,

His magical reply lit them up with satisfaction.

“Both of you are equivalent in strength and ability,

It is for your coordination that there exists societal civility.”

Law and Morality, they cheered and celebrated,

Each other’s significance, they realized and appreciated.

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!

Category: Blog

My Dad – My Hero

Hridhima Tyagi, Class IX B

The ‘Me’

Mansi Choudhary, Class X A

Learning

Art by Class XII

Should Law be Based on Morality?

Tanishka Goswami, Class XI C

Friends, are they?

Tanishka Goswami, Class XI C

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

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