kisholoy March 2021

Digital Kisholoy A monthly magazine of Ananda Mandir youth group

March, 2021

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: Articles: Anooshka Sen (age 8), Auroni Sen (age 11), Ruhani Sarkar (age 12), Priyansh Das (age 12), Shama Dinesh (age 20) Drawing: cover - Anooshka Sen (age 8); inside- Myra Dua (age 4), Prisha Chatterjee (age 7)

Editorial: Dipak K. Sarkar, Utpal Sengupta, Sudipta Bhanja Choudhury Magazine Composer: Dipak K. Sarkar For information about the Kisholoy – contact Dipak K. Sarkar via email (Dipakksarkar@hotmail.com).

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My fish By- Anooshka Sen (age 8)

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Picture gallery Drawing of Myra Dua (age 4)

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Reaching the top of the mountain is hard but we

feel so proud once we have reached and uphold the flag

Drawing by Prisha Chatterjee (age 7) 5

Saturn -The Sixth Planet in Our Solar System By - Anooshka Sen (age 8) Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun, and is positioned between Jupiter and Uranus. Saturn is 925.67 million miles away from the Sun and it takes 1hour 29 minutes and 19 seconds for sunlight to reach Saturn. Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system after Jupiter and is recognized by its beautiful rings. It is named after the roman god of wealth and agriculture.

A day in Saturn is 10 hours and 42 Earth minutes and it takes Saturn 29 Earth years to orbit the Sun. Saturn is not the only planet with rings but it surely has the most beautiful rings. Saturn rings are made of groups of tiny ringlets that are made of chunks of ice and rocks.

Like Jupiter, Saturn is also a gas giant made mostly of Hydrogen and Helium but unlike Jupiter, Saturn has a dense core of metals like iron and nickel surrounded by rocky materials. On top of the dense core there is a layer of liquid metallic hydrogen. On top of this liquid metallic hydrogen there is a layer of liquid hydrogen surrounded by a layer of gaseous hydrogen. The outer layer of the planet is blanketed with clouds.

Saturn’s distance from the sun makes it outer layer much colder and the colder temperature allows the formation of ammonia-ice clouds in its atmosphere.

Saturn’s yellowish white color comes from this ammonia-ice cloud. Saturn’s atmosphere contains 96.3% of hydrogen and 3.25% of helium with trace amounts of ammonia, methane, ethane, propane and other elements.

Saturn has 82 moons and 53 of these moons are officially confirmed and named. Other 29 moons are awaiting confirmation of discovery and naming.

Saturn has hundreds of moonlets ranging in size from 40 meters to 500 meters in diameter. Titan is Saturn’s largest moon and the only moon in our solar system, with an atmosphere similar to that of Earth. Scientists believe that

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Titan has the possibility of sustaining life. NASA’s mission Dragonfly is planning to send a rover to Titan and collect ground data. It is planned to land on Titan in 2034.

Images source: www. nasa.gov Reference: Reference: https://www.nasa.gov/saturn

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A COVID Vacation By - Auroni Sen (age 10) During the recent pandemic, my family and I traveled to Florida to go to Universal Studios for Thanksgiving break. It was a very different experience from when we went there before the pandemic. We were a little nervous about it since we didn’t know how safe it would be, but we were pleasantly surprised.

It started when we got to the airport. We went to a local small airport that only had one gate !

We had never used that airport before. We boarded the plane and everything seemed normal, except everyone was wearing masks. The flight attendants gave out sanitizer and encouraged everyone to keep their masks on. The flight was not long, it was only three hours, so we didn’t use the bathroom and stayed in our seats for the entire flight. After we got off the plane, we exited the airport and took a rented car to our hotel. It was nice to feel the warmth of the sun and shed off our winter wear.

The hotel had COVID restrictions, including no room service and no housekeeping. In spite of the special cleaning that the hotel had done, my mother got to work immediately. She had her own disinfectant wipes with which she wiped down the entire place. All the pots and pans, dishes and silverware were loaded into the dishwasher before we could use them. Finally we had to stop her from washing the sheets in the washer which was provided in our room ! We liked the hotel room and couldn’t wait to go to the theme park.

The first day we went to Universal was a Thursday. There was a crowd of people there, all wearing their masks. We went on a few rides and noticed that before and after every ride, the people who were controlling the rides would give sanitizer to everyone. The lines were longer than I had expected. This was because the people were having to clean all the seats after each person left. The entire park was super clean, and there were people everywhere reminding you to keep your mask on and to be careful. They even had separate areas for people who needed to sit down somewhere and take their masks off. They were called "mask rest areas". It wasn’t super crowded, but it was Thursday and most people come to theme parks on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

We walked to our car, then drove to our hotel for the night. We had stopped at a grocery store on our way home to get bread, milk, eggs, fruit, etc. for breakfast the next day. My mother tried to keep our meals indoors in our hotel room, in order to minimize taking our masks off outdoors.

Our hotel room was a full service apartment with a kitchen.

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For me the most exciting thing when I woke up every morning was the "cup of coffee". I love coffee. Being 11 years old, I am not allowed to have coffee regularly, but it was an exception since we were on vacation. The hotel provided the rooms with Starbucks coffee sachets and the fresh aroma of brewing coffee made a sweet start to my day.

The next day was Friday. We started our day by waking up late and having a sumptuous breakfast on our balcony. The first thing we noticed when we got to the entrance of the park was the huge line of cars. It took a long time for us to get to the ticket window to enter the park. The person at the window told us that the park was closed and at full capacity, since 11:00 A.M. We decided to come back later in the day, around 6 P.M. We drove around Orlando and walked on the streets. We came back to the park at 6 pm, but we still couldn’t get in because the park was at full capacity. We were actually quite happy to not have been there in that huge crowd. It gave us an opportunity to explore Orlando.

We didn’t have any trouble getting in the park the following two days because we went there early before the parks closed due to full capacity. We were surprised at how many people were there every day, but we also were pleasantly surprised at the services that the park provided, especially considering the recent pandemic.

After getting back home, we quarantined for 10 days like good citizens. All of us were safe and did not contract any infection. This goes to show that if one follows the rules, it is possible to stay safe.

This was a much needed break for our family. It was certainly a unique experience !

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A Stroll in the Paradise By - Ruhani Sarkar (age 12) “Imagination will take you everywhere”, that’s what Albert Einstein said. Yes, in my imagination I could see paradise- the angel’s garden. As I walked over the fluffy, snowy, white cotton-ball clouds, the pearl-crusted gate welcomed me to paradise. It was spring, and the place was full of colorful flowers - rose, lotus, hibiscus, jasmine- name any of them, it was there. The fantastic fragrance of the flowers filled up the air. The garden was covered with soft green grass spread like a velvet carpet. I sat on the grass and it felt as soft as a small kitten’s fur. Then, out of nowhere, there were kittens, puppies, and fawns licking me everywhere. It felt so good. The intoxicating aroma of fruits hanging from the branches of trees blessed my nose. A warm breeze kissed my cheek as I walked on the bank of the river of pure honey and milk. I realized that this must be the holy river of the Jannat as described in the Quran. In the middle of the river, there was a massive lotus where goddess Saraswati was sitting and playing her veena while goddess Hathor was dancing in perfect harmony. On the boats of white clouds, some angels were playing 8

flutes. The sweet chirping of the nightingales was floating in the air in sync. The whole place enthralled me with its celestial beauty and the symphony brought tears to my eyes.

As I continued my strolling, I saw the handsome god Apollo sitting under a cherry tree and reciting poetry. The branches of the tree, heavily laden with beautiful cherry flowers, bowed to pay respect to the great god of poetry, music, and dance. In one corner, a white saree-clad old nun was feeding a baby while other kids were sitting on her lap. The divine smile on her face lit up the whole area. Beside an apple tree, there was a huge crowd of people- full of different colors, hugging each other and having a gala time.

There were people busy constructing a house made of gold bricks. They looked very happy and content. Paradise was not a place where people always danced and sang, but, they valued work too. There was a rainbow passing from one end to the other mesmerizing the whole place with its vibrant vibgyor colors. In one corner, there was a forest that attracted me when its lush verdant leaves started to sway with the wind. As I walked, I saw Lord Krishna playing his flute to his beloved, Radha. Some peacocks were dancing with all fervor as if they were to please the god. All of a sudden, the place started to vibrate with a thundering voice. I followed the sound and saw the sweetest thing ever, sweeter than candy. A little boy was sitting on a swing covered with white daisies, and an old giant playing with him. Both of them were laughing with extreme happiness. I remembered that he must be the selfish giant whom Jesus brought to paradise. I closed my eyes and felt the divine love between the giant and Jesus himself.

Suddenly, I felt enormous tranquility and peace and wondered why I felt like this. As I walked, I saw that, in a corner, there was a little boy, who was meditating. It was little Buddha. I asked him, “Why are you meditating?” He replied, “I am ready to reincarnate in the human world and try to make the world a better place.” Can’t we make such a real paradise here, on earth? I often wonder if we can do it by trying to make the world a better place by spreading not hatred, but love. In John Lennon’s words, “You may say I'm a dreamer,” but I believe that “I'm not the only one/ I hope someday you'll join us/ And the world will live as one.” Let’s join hands and try to make the world a beautiful place “where all the people /Living life in peace.”

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The Best Way to Power Your House is Through Solar Power By - Priyansh Das (age 12) I believe that the best way to power up your house should be by using solar power because you are not using electricity and ruining the community by all of the power outages. You can use solar power and they won't shut down since it helps to conserve power in the morning and use it at night. One big

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thing is that on rainy days you can't have any power outages because the solar power is generated by the sun and the sun comes out even if it is cloudy or rainy. For the night time you will have electricity because the house has been taking up all the power through the day so everything is better for people to be around at night time. Also when using electricity you are going to lose power once in a while because of the rain or any other problems that we might be facing at that time. It is also something that will change for good and not come out bad because of all the power use will have left over after every day.

Firstly, it talks about how you are going to be able to save a lot of money. Plus the amount of savings is about 15,000 dollars per year off of using solar power. Besides the federal tax credit, solar panels increase property values while lowering utility bills. Compared to gas or electric heating systems, solar panels save you much more in the long-run. Your solar panel system can pay for itself in three years. Your solar power system will produce electricity during daylight hours and any excess electricity that is generated is fed back into the grid unless you have a solar battery or other location to divert the energy to. Your energy provider will credit you for the export of power and this credit helps offset your power bills. Firstly, the benefit of solar power reduces your power bill by around $400 per year per kW of solar, so if you install an 8kW solar system you can save up to around $3,400 a year, or $850 every quarterly bill.

Next, are you not going to lose power during the snowstorms because they collect power as when you are using it. These homes do not use electricity or natural gas. If you lived in a solar-powered home, everything in your home that needs electricity would use the sun's energy instead. Another good thing about solar energy is that it will never run out. Fossil fuels are fuels that have taken thousands of years to form. When they are used up, we will not be able to make more. Also, electricity used in solar powered homes is made by the sun. That means that the electricity does not cost money. A regular home must burn fuel for electricity. Fuel costs money.

These costs can be very high in areas that have very hot summers or very cold winters.

After that, they are much more useful than fuel which most people run on nowaday. But some places have more cloudy or rainy days than sunny ones.

For example, Arizona or California have more sunny days than Oregon or Washington, where it rains often. For these rainy, cloudy areas,there might not be enough sunlight to fully recharge the batteries. Solar panels take up lots of space. This can be a problem, especially in a small home.

Scientists are working to solve these problems so that more people can use solar power. That way, we can keep the Earth and its air clean for plants, animals and people. Some people think that solar power cannot be used when it is dark or on rainy days. This is not true. Solar energy is stored in

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special batteries. The batteries are used when the sun is not shining.

When the energy is used up, they can be recharged.

These are the main reasons why Solar power is better than fuel and all other sorts of ways to power up your house. The main reason is that they are more useful in about 5 to ten years from now and don;t turn off. Plus they are using less money by saving about (15,000) dollars. Plus you are using fossil fuels for fuel and that is something that is poison for all of us.

Some people think that solar power cannot be used when it is dark or on rainy days. This is not true. Solar energy is stored in special batteries.

The batteries are used when the sun is not shining. When the energy is used up, they can be recharged. Plus they are using relatively less money by saving about (15,000) dollars. Plus they are using fossil fuels for fuels and that is something that is poison for all of us.

Reference 1. https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/how-does-solar-work Reference 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power.

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Counting Down By - Shama Dinesh (age 20) I behold these people surrounding me Filled with youth, hope, and dreams uncontained Living in a world they solely witness Striving for triumph, their thirst for success unrelenting Yet I see standing silently behind I see them slowly losing time The wrinkles on their hands, the strained smiles they force The days they lose, pretending they are fine The frail buds that once blossomed into fierce flowers Now lay on the ground alone, wilting and fading I look into those eyes struggling to decipher The stories that remain buried within Eyes once filled with light and zeal Now stay dark, cold, and hollow As the life drains out, bitterness sets in An endless cycle of agony they feel trapped within Heart turns poisoned, compelled to resent The world and its souls, but none more than themselves I witness these struggles, failing to realize That soon enough I shall lay in a grave beside; A nameless death amongst the countless dead An exquisite corpse rotting beneath the living -

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Dark forest may look scary but within the trees there are rays of sun bringing in hope and happiness

Drawing by- Prisha Chatterjee (age - 7) 13