Kisholoy - May 2024

Digital Kisholoy

Kisholoy is produced by youth members of Ananda Mandir The articles, drawing or photographs of this magazine are copyrighted and should not be reproduced in any other forms without the consents of the owners.

We would like to acknowledge the contributions of the followings:

Drawing: cover - Prajeet Das (age 11)

Articles: Asha Kuriyan, Anooshka Sen, Ujaan Majumder, Maya Stoker, Shama Dinesh

Drawing: Prajeet Das, Anooshka Sen, Sharanya Mukherjee, Ahiri Majumder, Jahar Bose

Editors: Utpal Sengupta, Dipak K. Sarkar, Sudipta Choudhury

Magazine Composer: Dipak K. Sarkar

For information about the Kisholoy – contact Dipak K. Sarkar via email (Dipakksarkar@hotmail.com).

By- Anooshka Sen (age 11)

By- Anooshka Sen (age 11)

By- Sharanya Mukherjee (age 14)

By-Ahiri Majumder (age 7)

By- Prajeet Das (age 11)

Hide And Seek

By-Asha Kuriyan (age 10)

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, huh hooh! 5 Minutes! Yelled my mom. Uh oh! I have to stay. I don't want to leave. What should I do? Hmmmmm! I wrinkled my forehead in thought. I know that if I don't leave properly my mom won't let us come back here. OHHHH. I have an idea! I will signal for Eliza and Ashish to come and we will hide ! At first we were a little bit scared and worried because we thought that we would never make it back home but we did it.

Tap, tap, tap, went my footsteps gently tapping the hard cement. I had just signaled for my friends to come with me. "We should hide," I told them. "YES!" screamed my friends. We crawled behind a big tall bush. I showed them a hole in the bush. "We can hide here," I said. "Sure," they agreed. "Shhhh," I pointed at the parents. "They might hear us!" I warned them. Eliza gulped and nodded. I quickly took their hands and quietly crouched down. I was sweating by then because it was pretty hot summer day at the playground.

"Okay, let's crawl in! I'll go first. Ashish, you go second, Eliza, you go third," I ordered. I got on my hands and knees and crawled in. The ground was dusty and rough. "Ashish, your turn!" I called. I helped my brother through by taking his hands. "I'll go through the second hole now so you can help Eliza," I advised Ashish. "Uh that's fine with me," said Ashish. "Come in Eliza," he called. The second hole was tight. Eliza tried to shimmy through but her hair got caught on a prickly branch. "Oh no!" we whispered. Me and Ashish pushed the bush aside while Eliza squeezed through. "I MADE IT!" she shouted. It was pretty hard, but she finally made it through. By now I was pushed against the prickly bush.

"Well, now what do we do?" questioned Eliza and Ashish. "Wait, I guess," I answered, sounding bored. We waited for a minute before Eliza whispered, "I'm bored." Me and my brother suggested some eye-spy but Eliza reminded us that all that we can see is bush and sky and nothing else. So we chatted for a while until we heard..."Where are they?... Asha...Ashish, huh?. ELIZA! Hmmmm? OHHHH!" We saw Eliza's dad's shoes coming toward the bush. "He must have heard us giggle," I said. "Shhh," whispered Eliza and Ashish. Uh oh. Eliza's dad had found us.

My time hiding with Eliza and Ashish was really super fun! I hope we can play hide and seek that intense again. I'm sure I will have more hide and seek experiences, but probably never as good as this one!!!!!!!!

Hearing loss from headphones

By- Anooshka Sen (age 11)

Headphones and earbuds have changed the lives of people around the world. They are loved everywhere, but headphones and earbuds can potentially be the cause of hearing loss, worldwide. You can save your hearing before it is too late by setting daily limits on volume and time to yourself.

Hearing loss from headphones around the world

Over 2.5 billion people have experienced hearing loss worldwide and of that 2.5 billion people, 5.2 million Americans have suffered from hearing loss from this cause. Experts say 1 out of 5 teens will experience hearing loss. The rate of hearing loss from this cause has gone up by 30% from 20 years ago.

Signs of hearing loss

Hearing loss doesn’t come with obvious warning signs, it goes away slowly. The feeling of your ear being plugged. Watch tv or listen to music at a higher volume. Difficulty hearing in noisy places. Hearing muffled sounds, ringing and buzzing in your ears. Having someone constantly repeat what they're saying to understand clearly. If you are experiencing these signs, don’t lose hope. You can still save your hearing for a little longer.

Too loud for your ears

Habits of putting headphones or earbuds

to enjoy your audio can put your hearing at risk. Following the 60/60 rule can help save hearing for long. By putting your volume at 60% or lower is a good volume for your ears. Using headphones instead of earbuds can also be helpful. Earbuds go deep into your ear making it too loud. A lot of headsets go up to 120 decibels which is equivalent to a rock concert. Many gamers listen to noise levels up to 120 decibels on a daily basis. When you are in a loud environment and are trying to listen to music, you tend to blast the volume off on high. Noisecanceling headphones can also help you lower the volume. Headphones like this canceling outside noises so you can put your music on a lower volume but still hear it.

Too long for your ears

Listening to music for too long can also be harmful to your ears as well. Experts say to limit your time of using earbuds or headphones for 30 minutes every day. Doing this will give your ears a break and more time to save your hearing. Loud blast music can be harmful, stop it before it's too late.

Save your hearing

Your ears are very sensitive, and we should do everything we can to save our hearing. Setting limits on volume like the 60/60 rule and time like the 30 minutes rule can really help save your hearing for longer.

In conclusion, hearing loss from headphones is something we should prevent. Setting daily limits like 60/60 and the 30-minute rule will make a difference, your ears will be thankful. If you know anybody going through this same problem, feel free to share solutions. Let's hope the cause of hearing loss from headphones goes down.

REFERENCES: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/do-headphones-cause-hearing-loss#summary https://osteopathic.org/what-is-osteopathic-medicine/headphones-hearing-loss/ Image sourcehttps://stock.adobe.com/

The Ghost Friend

By- Ujaan Majumder (age 12)

Note from the Author

This was a perfect story of a friendship between a ghost and a human.

Chapter 1

One day when Rita was returning home from school she heard a noise. The noise was coming from a bush.

Rita went to investigate. When she saw what was there she screamed in fright.

There was a ghost boy, crying. When he heard Rita scream he stopped crying and raised his head.

Rita stopped screaming and told the ghost why was it crying. The ghost boy told her that he was feeling very lonely and wanted friends. Rita also had no friends at school so she said “I will be your friend, do not cry”. “But I do not know your name”. The ghost said “My name is Jerry. Soon Jerry and Rita became friends.

Chapter 2

One night Rita could not sleep. She wanted to walk outside. She crept outside through the back door so her parents could not see her going out. She began to walk when she heard a noise behind her. She turned around to see Jerry. He asked her what she was up to. Rita told Jerry that she could not sleep.

After hearing Rita’s explanation Jerry thought for a while and said “Come with me Rita. I will show you something”.

He said some magic words and a secret door opened. He told Rita to go inside the portal.

When Rita entered the portal, she looked around her. She was amazed to see what was inside.

There were hills covered with ice cream and rivers filled with chocolate and the trees had golden fruits. There were many little flowers in different colours. Rita was amazed. She waited for Jerry to enter the portal. After he entered he muttered some magical words and the portal closed. Then he turned around and asked Rita,”Do you like it here”.

Rita replied that she really loved that place and now she was also feeling sleepy. She did not even know when she had returned to her room and there was Jerry waiting for her in her room.

Jerry told Rita that tommorrow was a school day and he knew that Rita would go to school but he also wanted to go with her.

Rita said “You can come. As you are invisible to everybody except for me, nobody would even see you.”

Chapter 3

The next day at school Rita entered her classroom with Jerry in her bag. She sat on her bench and waited for the teacher to come into the classroom. When the teacher came the whole class stood up to say ‘Good Morning’. That day, Rita’s first period was Mathematics.

The maths teacher wrote a question on the board.

The question was:What is 234 into 11?

She told the class ‘Who can solve this multiplication question? Whoever will give the correct answer will get 2 more multiplication questions. Ah,yes

Rita.Can you answer my question?

‘Yes mam’ said Rita. She told Jerry to help her.

Jerry told her that this was a question on the distributive property of multiplication.

It was actually 234 x {10+1}.

Rita got up and went to the board. She took a chalk and started writing: 234 x [10+1]

{234 x 10} + {234 x 1}

2340+234 =2574

‘And… THAT’S THE CORRECT ANSWER’ said the teacher.

‘Ok now 2 more questions’.

She took the chalk from Rita and wrote the second question:What is 25 x 11?

Rita said ‘275?’

‘CORRECT’ said the maths teacher.

‘Last question’: What is 25 x 25 = ? ‘625’.

‘Very good.’

After some time the school bell rang.

Chapter 4

After all the classes of the day when Rita and Jerry were walking and well, floating back home. Rita said ‘Thank you Jerry for helping me and teaching me a new concept.

Jerry looked at her with sad eyes. He said ‘Rita, do you know what a ghost does?’

‘No!’

After humans die they turn into ghosts. They cannot leave the Earth unless they do something nice for somebody. I did a lot for you, Rita. I have to go to meet my parents. Goodbye, Rita’.

‘So it’s goodbye then’, said Rita tearfully as Jerry was lifted into the sky. He turned around and saw his mother telling him to do one thing: Please come home with us.’

‘Goodbye, Rita’ said Jerry as he dissappeared through the sky.

Chapter 5

Rita looked at the sky for a moment. She was happy that her friend had found a good place to live.

She wished that Jerry would rest in peace. She turned back and walked away home. And from the sky Jerry waved at her and she waved back.

Better Than Fine

By- Maya Stoker (age 14)

‘How are you’? It’s a question we all hear at least once a day, right? But all of us, almost without fail, will answer with a just default, “good” or “fine”. Something like this happened to me the other day. I had seen my friend in class at school, and asked how she was. She nodded, replied with, “fine”. But then, just minutes later, I found her crying in the bathroom. I asked what was wrong, she explained, and then I asked, “Why didn’t you tell me before?”. She replied with, “I wasn’t sure how to.” It made me so sad to think that my friend was unsure of how to open up and talk to me about how she was really feeling. I wondered if maybe I could have done something different. If maybe, there was a way I could have better opened up the floor for her to connect with me and talk about how she really felt. That's what inspired the topic of this paper and what inspired me to ask the

question, why do we as humans struggle to generate and maintain basic human connections?

This emotional detachment is a result of many things in our modern society; such as, overreliance on social media, mental health struggles that lead to self-isolation like anxiety and depression, defective social skills and negative social experiences. But as humans, we need social connections. This need for social connections stems from basic survival skills. It was easier for our ancestors to survive in groups because larger groups allowed them to hunt larger prey, fend off larger predator and help to raise and care for one another’s young. These behaviors were so beneficial to humans as a species, that over time, due to natural selection, social connections became a crucial part of surviving. In today's society, social connections are still as essential to survival as food and water, but it also has many other benefits. Science has proven that connections with others increases longevity by 50%, increases immune function, leads to faster recovery from illness, and can lead to a longer, healthier life. Some illnesses social connections can help prevent, include heart diseases, strokes, dementia, depression, and anxiety. Social connections improve quality of sleep and promote healthy eating habits and physical activity. Along with this, social connections can provide a feeling of belonging and being loved and cared for. So, how can we fix this problem? How can we learn to stimulate connections with people in our lives and learn to build healthy relationships? This can start with changing what we say to each other; especially the questions we ask. “Instead of asking how was your day?”, we can ask more challenging questions like, “what was the best part of your day?” or “what's something you are proud of yourself for today?” These questions force people to think harder about the response they are giving and can open up opportunities for better communication. It is important to remember that for humans, there is no connection without communication; if you are not communicating well with others, your connection will suffer. Good communication is talking with others in an engaged way where you not only share your genuine feelings in a kind way but also actively listen. This baseline and respectful rule of communication goes for both easy, five minute conversations with a coworker, and more intense, deep and longer conversations with the people closest to us. Good communication is crucial for not just connections with others but also for building healthy relationships. Whether the relationship is familial, a friendship, lovers, or whatever else, it is critical that the communication involves honesty, trust, and respect. In relationships, showing we care is also important. Small and random acts of kindness can completely transform relationships along with expressing gratitude and spending quality time with the other. Random acts of kindness and gratitude can

often take form in similar ways that include making cards just because, cooking someone their favorite meal on a stressful day, sending flowers to a friend and just simply saying “thank you”. Another vital aspect of a healthy relationship is supporting one another. Taking the time to learn about others’ interest and hobbies is a great way to show you support what's valued by them. Showing up to important and special events in that person's life also shows you care about them and can help to build trust. All of these strategies for connections and relationships seem a lot easier when put together in a neat list, but they can be challenging at times. Learning to connect with others can be scary, uncomfortable, and difficult for so many reasons. But in the end, only communication and effort will bring us the real, true human connection that is crucial, not only for us to survive, but also for us to thrive. So, for both yourself and others, I challenge you to take the risk. Reach out to someone today, say thank y ou, have a small conversation with someone who looks lonely. Just make the effort to connect and see what happens and you may get an answer that's better than “fine”.

Growing Trepidation

By: Shama Dinesh (age 22)

Little crimes, insidious lies Disappear, hidden in the darkest nights Shame and grief rooted in the depths of your heart Unfathomable agony clawing you apart

The steady rise of the mindless noises unseen Does nothing to muffle the deafening screams Trembling hands pressed tightly over the ears Does nothing to douse the incomprehensible fears

Your reflection unrecognizable, dark and depraved No honour to preserve, no mercy to be spared Seeds of blasphemy planted in your soul, obscure Evil befalling upon the liars and the impure

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