ARTICLES

UNIMAGINABLY IMAGINABLE

Hey! What’s that! Oh my god! I can see tiny stars twinkling just beside me! Oh! Is that planet Earth? Yes! The blue planet. So small it looks, even though it is a huge planet. It’s so scary as we are moving like a bullet shot from a gun having tremendous power. The cooling touch of the cold breeze is awesome. Now is the time to leave our spacecraft and enjoy the effect of gravity! Ah! We are going up and down, seems like we are in space! And just then a huge spacecraft comes at a great speed and we are crushed! Oh! Oh! Save us! We shout. And then everything disappears!

“Sir, how was it? Did you like it?” “What! Is it over?” “Yes, sir.” He removed the headset and the headphones and I said, “It was a fantabulous show! Oh my god!” How scary it was to move at a spectacular speed and reaching the space to see the mesmerising world down there on Earth! The people were looking so small and they were looking like twinkling stars! I have always wondered how the Earth looks from space since I was a child, but my dream has been fulfilled just because of one thing, where everything is virtual, but looks like reality, it is nothing more than “VIRTUAL REALITY!!!”

THE HAUNTED SHIP...

My uncle is a Naval Officer in Merchant Navy who told me an incident which has left me aghast.

One Navy Officer took charge of the ship as the chief officer of the ship. After taking charge he went to the navigational bridge for the morning, 4 a.m to 8 a.m, shift. His wife and a two year old child joined him at the bridge. The sea was calm and it was pitch dark. The officer told his wife to wait for sometime so that he could finish his task at hand. The wife took the child outside into the starboard wing. The starboard wing is the top most deck which is far above the sea level. While waiting for her husband she made the child sit on the railing. Unfortunately, the child fell overboard, into the sea. His mother, trying to save him, too fell overboard and both died. The next chief officer who joined and many more, began to call that ship as ‘HAUNTED’ because in the dark a lady and a child could be seen and their presence was felt by many. Fearing the presence of the ghost of a lady and a child, officers began to refuse to take charge of the haunted ship. As a result, that starboard wing has been sealed permanently but the same ship is still operational! That starboard wing has been completely sealed forever!!!

THE ELIXIR OF LIFE

“Hey, mom. No water!”

“What do you mean?” “No water to wash my hands either!” “What are we going to drink?”

And the headline in the newspaper says... Water gets extinct!

Are we waiting for this day?

Just imagine now that we are in a huge water crisis. Water has vanished. People are dying of thirst. What will we do?

Now do you understand our terrible future, where no child will be able to drink water, no way would be available to quench our thirst, people would start dying and finally we humans would be doomed.

It’s very important for us to realise this fact that water is our life. No water, means no life. The matter of concern is to understand the importance of water. We should save every drop of water. I know it seems difficult because we need to look forward to our basic daily needs also. But at least, if each one of us decides to use water judiciously then our future generations will not be deprived of water, otherwise with the passage of time, humans would become extinct converting earth from a blue planet to a dry land.

There are some countries in the world, at present that are facing a huge shortage of water. At least have pity on the poor people residing in those countries who are barely surviving with limited water that is available to them. Water is God’s precious gift. What does a single drop of water ask for? It simply requests you not to waste it. It’s completely your choice that you can change India’s future from a country that has to live without water to a country that saves water and does not intend to waste even a single drop of water. We need to change our today by saving water, to preserve our future. Water is a valuable gift. Drink it, Save it and Love it to the core...

WAKE UP CALL

I could sense the doctors say that start the procedures, quick, he’s going away! They began to give me life saving shocks and they said, “again, again, again...” And all the voices in the OT opted for a pause and The terrifying sound of the machine was heard! One doctor covered my head with the white sheet and murmured that he is no more! I left FOR MY heavenly abode. I could hear everything clearly but was not able to respond, and everything disappeared!

I instantly heard someone saying, “Wake up, you are getting late for school!” I opened my trembling eyes with happiness followed by piercing guilt. I was digesting this frightening reality that it was just a dream but that small dream of mine drastically changed my perception of living my life!

My dear readers, without much ado I will straight away come to my point. Every brain across the globe thinks that, “I have time”. Understanding that time is imperative, is the burning need of the hour for each and every individual. ‘Tomorrow’, ‘Day after tomorrow’, etc are all the synonyms of ‘Never’. Whatever has to be done, it has to be done today. If anyone has committed any mistake in the past, sincere apologies, you can’t retrieve your annoying past. You can only regret, rain your eyes, introspect and analyse that why did you do that and can further waste your precious time on the irrepairable loss. THERE IS NO POINT CRYING OVER THE SPILT MILK. The action you have taken cannot be undone in any way. Every individual must understand that the tremendously fruitful future is still in our hands. We can carve our future as per our wishes. Erase your past, write your future and colour your present. Each and everyone on this planet has certain dreams to achieve in his or her life. If we aim for hundred percent then it’s peremptory to burn the midnight oil to achieve the targeted goal. If we ought to become something ‘tomorrow’, we have to learn from our frivolous mistakes of our ‘past’, and put up the courage and efforts ‘today’, to reap the benefits of a fruitful tree ‘tomorrow’. Today’s hard work is tomorrow’s contentment.

Time never waits for anyone. Grab it before it grabs you. You need to pave your way, your way. Everyone must learn to respect and obey time so that time respects and obeys you equally in the future. Every clock on earth will run in the same manner, sun and moon will show their presence when it’S their time, seasons will keep on changing according to their time, it depends totally upon us that whether the future generations will remember us about the exemplary efforts put in by us at the right time or we will close our eyes forever and go away from this planet discontented as we never respected time and always said, “I will do it tomorrow...”! We all are here for a very short period of time AND TIME IS FLYING US BY. We must do it today or regret it later. It’S a race against time for every person. The countdown against your priceless time has begun...

Best of luck!

A Letter To The Most Precious Star In The Sky...

Dear dadu,

I really feel sad and lonely without you. What are you doing there, up in the sky? Mom and dad say that you are still with us. You have become the brightest star and keep watching us from heaven. But dadu, when all my friends talk about their grandfathers, tears fill up my eyes and I stare at the brightest star in the sky, and with heavy heart, I tell them that you’ve become a star. Dadu, dadi also says that good people live with God and become a star. Dadu, kindly convey God that even I intend to live with you. You are ‘my’ grandfather. So, you should be living with us.

Dadu, the big box of shuttlecocks you’d bought for me is still with me but I don’t use them. If they get spoilt, then? I’ve even preserved your spectacles and I make a point that no one touches them.

Dadu, if I’m audible to you and my voice of tears is reaching till the heaven, then please call me once like you used to call me for each bite from your food- “Aaja mera rajubeta...”

Love you dadu, from the bottom of my heart. Mom says that you will not reply back but I know you will. Dadu, please...

Yours rajubeta

Souhard Rattan

-A Flashback

The Final Runway Of Life...

“Welcome aboard... Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is your captain speaking. We’ll be flying from a beautiful world to heaven. The ‘last breath’ engines are roaring in their full bloom. The ATC Yama has given us the clearance for take-off and we are on the final runway of life. If we still don’t leave inhuman behaviour and bad habits, then we are proceeding for a massive full stop. We don’t understand that what is the actual essence of life and the speed of our age is increasing. Now, we are at the max stage and we just left the ground. Oh! We are crushed by a massive collision with another aircraft! We are no more on this planet! We have left for heavenly abode and are gaining altitude. Now,we have reached at that height from where we can only see the expressionless blue sky. No work to do. No enjoyment. Just sit idol and keep staring the earth, and regret that we too could have enjoyed life. We instantly have a look down there on earth. Different kinds of people are seen. Some are relishing the true taste of life while hardworking, while some are just wasting their precious moments of life by fighting with each other and punishing themselves while putting a comma on their life, and gradually it will turn into a full stop. Just like we have done in our past life. They actually don’t understand that life is a priceless gift given by God and they should live every moment to its fullest. No one knows what the next moment is going to be and whether we are there to witness it or not, what the future holds and when will the final flight will take-off from the main runway of life. Let’s try to make this world a better place to live in where there’s hatred, let us sow love. It’s my advice to my beloved readers that live every single moment of life as it doesn’t offer a retake. Once the final aircraft of life takes-off, it will never ever land again...

IMPOSSIBLE REALITY

On 16 August, 2018, we went to a mall to relish our dinner. When I sat in the car, I looked at the sky and I could see a red star. I didn’t bat an eyelid and didn’t think for a millisecond and hopped into the car. We initiated our journey till the mall. While mom was on the driving seat and dad was talking to her, I went into my deep thoughts. While my parents were busy talking, I looked at the dark black sky. There weren’t any stars except one red star beside the moon. This time, I thought that what could it be!

With the passage of time, we reached the mall and parked the vehicle. My brain and eyes were continuously chatting with each other while seeing the red star and thinking that what could it be. Once more while entering the premises, I happened to look at the star and dad spotted a little girl seeing the sky through her mobile. I forgot about the star, had a fantastic evening filled with fun and followed by a lavish dinner. After the hearty meal, we began to walk. After a hectic but a wonderful experience, we reached home at midnight. As a daily affair with us, dad and I went out for a stroll.

This time, dad showed me the enticing red star. How would have I told him that from evening my brain is at work to unleash the mystery of that star. Now, I wasn’t at rest. I instantly told my father to wait for me till I bring my iPad. That star was looking so enticing to my eyes that I could not have waited further to know that what exactly it is! I brought my tab and opened my astronomy app. The time I pointed my device towards that bright red star, I could not believe my eyes... I was shocked and my hands were trembling with fear. I wanted to shout at the top of my voice and tell every soul to come out from the dreams and leave the bed and see this! According to the GPS and accurate information gathered by my app, that bright red star was nothing more than the red planet! Viewing Mars from naked eyes was an absolute mesmerising experience for me and it gave me immense pleasure! Dad, too, was overjoyed to spot a planet about 65 crores km away from earth! I ran to my house and brought mom to show her, that she could not have ever imagined. I saw her smile when her eyes were glued to Mars. We showed it to the walkers and they were on the verge of a heart attack. I filled up my tab’s memory by clicking over thousand photographs and videos! There’s a saying that it is extremely dangerous for the eyes to have a sight of Mars from naked eyes. After some time, our eyes got red and water started coming out from them. Eventually, they came back to normalcy. How could have I missed the golden opportunity! I saw it at about 12:40 AM, on 17 August, 2018.

I had no interest in astronomy, but because of this rare opportunity, I gave another wing to my dreams to become an astrophysicist one day! When I was sighting Mars, I was telling myself that today I’m viewing you, Mars, from earth, but that day isn’t too far when I’ll actually keep my foot on your surface and see a bright blue star at the sky...

TECHADAMICS

Technology is the magical key to knockdown the lockdown by serving a buffet of online platforms for virtual learning. By taking a plunge into different online portals, distant learning has turned a new leaf into the education industry.

Nowadays, technology has overcome all the provocations with its increasing usage especially in the field of academics. The most imperious question that pops up in the mind is that how has technology taken a prodigious command over students’ future?

Over the glorious years, an instantaneous rise has been monitored in each and every educational institute present on the blue planet. Children are now able to grasp all the topics ventilated in the ongoing class, much more productively. Studying for them now holds a captivating and an intrinsic segment of their lives. This breathtaking accomplishment for all the educational authorities was in its nascent stage until they continued clinging on to redundant system of following all those obsolete practices of teaching to the physically present students, as most of the students were mentally absent to attend dull and lifeless class, full of monotony. With the involvement of technology in academics, an unprecedented rise in the attentiveness and meteoric comprehension skills was contemplated. All the modern forms of teaching which are committed to producing fruitful results include, teaching via edu-comp, e-learning and education-related numerous applications followed by a plethora of educational softwares, which all the curious minds adore to the core and are much more than captivating for the techno-hungry kids. The audio-visual techniques prove to be an exhilarating push to their prolific career ahead.

The overwhelming concept of digital learning demarcates itself from all those antiquated approaches of teaching and carry an amalgamation of innovative and contemporary techniques of teaching, which prove to be an invigorating way of enlightening the curious minds, in a gratifying way. Blending technology with academics has not only proven to be remunerative for the future of our Samaritans, but has also been propitious for the ones responsible behind corroborated building of the future of our youth, the teachers. Our nation builders are also bestowed with a millennium opportunity to expand their horizons and cross the circumference of their imaginations.

If a student requires an appropriate answer for his question at the graveyard hour, it’s indecent to disturb the teacher. Here, technology proves to be a boon with a click of a button doing the needful. Without much ado, the student can grab his mobile or tablet and dive into the world of internet to unravel the solution to his problem. Technology proves to be a magnificent platform to conserve the priceless time of a pupil’s life.

Fusing technology with academics not only intensifies one’s attentiveness, but even makes the student register the entire information which gets imprinted in his grey cells. It makes it an effortless exercise to make the learner catch hold of the topic being taught in the virtual classroom, much more competently. It’s simply because, the exuberant methodology of teaching via a monitor screen, compels learning to be unmistakably riveting for the mentee as he’s taught by implementing the sole objective of teaching and illustrations with pictures on the screen.

Researchers have authenticated that pictorial learning guarantees promising results as the student is able to retain the topic for a longer period of time. The implementation of technology in educational institutes makes learning more meaningful and productive.

Making use of technology in academics assists students to collaborate with their fellow classmates through numerous applications and has proven to be an asset for teaching to be friendly and work in groups for the young minds as it has shortened the gap in between a teacher and the taught making interactivity a better than the best learning experience for distance learning. It has enhanced the relationship among the facilitators and the learners. Technology has been found helpful for the educators as they can share virtual homework tasks, tests and assignments based on the level of understanding of the student. In this efficacious way, it bestows the student with an ability to slowly and gradually hit the milestones and keep on climbing steps towards perfection.

E-classes, which are face-to-face, give the comfort of learning from home and the teachers can upload online tests to introspect and analyze the students’ performance according to their learning caliber. This gives a fair chance to academically below average students and facilitates the teacher to work one-on-one with students and proliferates their learning capabilities. Learning from the screen not only abbreviates time, but also provides a helping hand in conserving paper by saving trees and maintaining a human-intervention-free ecological balance.

An enormous decline in the behavioral and classroom management issues has even been observed, due to the combination of technology with academics and commencement of e-learning facilities. This monstrous problem has vanquished as the children are much more eager to learn and they now make it a point to maintain silence and study with a boisterous feeling. The increasing enthusiasm of learning, by employing technology to do the task, has been scrutinized to be flavorsome for the disobedient and indiscipline students as well, because technological gadgets used for teaching, have proven to be enough to grab all the eyeballs and accelerate their attention power in an amusing way. They are now much more eager and look forward to studying as the teaching environment in the classroom has drastically changed the perception of technology.

Technology has even given a boost to confidence and communication skills of the pupils. Children now interact with others smartly, with confidence. It has also aided the introverts to bring out their real potential from within. It has even allowed more than a billion hands to download e-books and read them from the comfort of their couches.

While technology has granted such convenient assistance to the user, it comes with some thistles as the saying goes, ‘A rose is always accompanied by thorns’. Making use of too many gadgets can prove to have a negative impact on one’s all round development. It makes the user a couch potato with no physical activity at all and acts as a barrier between humans and Mother Nature. It has the power to adversely affect the eyesight of the learner and make him prone to various illnesses, which are caused by platitudinous use of technology. It can cost you heavily on your eyesight which is God’s gift and isn’t sold in the markets. Spending only the requisite amount of time on gadgets by being extra precarious, can certainly be a prudent step on the student’s part.

Technology is a modern prerequisite of humankind, created for the sake of humanity and if used constructively, it promises spectacular returns and an abundance of genius minds can be produced from the field of academics.

Innocent Souls Often Become Easy Targets

It was a sunny day full of fun and frolic. We all stood aghast to spot a strange flying object over our heads. We started guessing... All the minds present there were engrossed to unravel the mystery of that flying object. Even the eyes were busy chatting with the brain that what could it be! In a flash of a second, someone yelled at my back, “Don’t go near it... It’s gonna blast!” The immediate isolation which took place at that spot due to the flabbergasting statement gave that strange man the most waited chance to grab our attention at that graveyard hour. The entire crowd gathered in the premises, a late in the day, rushed out, resulting in stampede, making that place a deserted zone. Me and my other two friends were enough to become easy targets! Yup! That weird-looking man, wearing an unusual outfit with sharp eyes, giving suspicious looks, engaged himself in gobbling all the moolah, after snatching mine and my friends’ wallets as his other three helpers, wearing a black mask, held us tightly, making it easy for the silent killer to do his job efficiently. In the next few moments, they hopped into their car which was waiting for them and one of the persons sitting inside the four wheeler, was secretly controlling the flying object which was unmistakably a drone! The entire prodigious plan would have never been accomplished without the mastermind’s existence in the car.

Regrettably, me and my friends were left with empty pockets to go back home and endure the lecture of our nurturing souls which could have been avoided. I’m sure that all the unnatural creatures who were a bit soft in their heads, would have partied hard with all our hard earned funds.