POINTER - The South Point Magazine - 2020-21 edition

SOUTH POINT MAGAZINE | 2020-2021

COVID & BEYOND RE-IMAGINED SCHOOLING

“Festive Fare”

Soumyakshi Sarkar Class III C (M) | Oil Pastels

Credits Editors Dr. (Smt.) Madhu Kohli Smt. Swati Ghosh

South Point Magazine 2020-2021

Advisors Shri Krishna Damani Shri Siddhartha Mitra Smt. Rupa Sanyal Bhattacharjee Smt. Dalbir Kaur Chadda Smt. Reena Sharda Shri Jaidev Ghosh Sectional Editors English Smt. Soma Chatterjee Smt. S. Rajalakshmi Smt. Hasnu Mukherjee Smt. Arpita Dasgupta

Bengali Smt. Sulagna Bose Shri Sandip Chattopadhyay Smt. Madhumita Ghosh Smt. Sweta Chakraborty Smt. Mausumi Pal Smt. Mandar Sengupta

Hindi Smt. Simmi Talwar Smt. Sudha Mishra

Photographs & Art Smt. Nilanjana Sarkar Smt. Ajanta Sengupta Smt. Sutapa Chatterjee Smt. Bageshree Dutta Smt. Krishna Sardar Smt. Sima Ghosh Bhattacharya Shri Chandraval Mukherjee Smt. Sujata Khastgir Shri Sandip Dawn Shri Souvik Dey Shri Prasenjit Kumar Saha Editing Support & Design Thinkpot Advertising Private Limited 20/1 Ashutosh Chowdhury Avenue 4th Floor, Kolkata 700 019 Published by South Point Education Society 16 Mandeville Gardens, Kolkata 700 019

Disclaimer: Various visuals have been taken from the Internet to complement the contents of the School Magazine

POINTER

“You can’t always control what goes on outside, but you can always control what goes on inside.”

-- Wayne Dyer

Editor’s Note

The last few months have altered life for all of us. We yearn for the little things we took for granted and are even dealing with so many new ways to cope with uncertainty. The Coronavirus SARS-Cov-2 caused the deadly disease COVID-19. It has created havoc as it has engulfed the whole world, being declared a pandemic.

It is obvious that the unprecedented and unfamiliar situation has had its impact on education and the education sector is suffering; nobody still knows when things will be normal. Online classes have, to a great extent, helped students to continue the learning process from the safety of home but both students and teachers have been burdened with the task of adapting to a new learning environment, seemingly overnight. Many parents have taken up the roles of IT technicians, teachers and baby-sitters as kids remain stuck at home. The sudden switch has, however, brought with it a few valuable lessons. In fact, the future of education has transformed itself to not only accommodate virtual classrooms but to embrace a digital format. The urgent demand for digital learning has been a driving factor for providing both synchronous and asynchronous educational resources to students. For students, while keeping a consistent schedule is vital for maintaining discipline and motivation, it is also challenging to properly manage their time and remain productive throughout the day.

An alarming outcome of COVID-19 is that students and parents may feel overwhelmed, anxious, scared, uncertain or stressed, wondering what life will look like in future. It is important, dear students, to deal with the situation in your own ways. It is imperative that during this time of reduced physical interaction and event cancellations, and of social stigmas, a confidence-building exercise needs to be practised. Parents, please try to identify perceptions such as fear and anxiety in your children which increase the level of stress hormones in their bodies. Parents are stressed too, because of job losses, handling household work without domestic help and safeguarding themselves and family from the illness. These can take a toll on their physical, mental and emotional health and can lead to irritability, increased anxiety, depression, headaches, digestive issues, a weakened immune system and insomnia.

Counselling sessions as arranged by the School can help both parents and students cope with stress. A well-balanced nutritious diet, talking to someone they trust, staying connected with loved ones, engaging in physical activities at home such as yoga and pranayama, and helping parents to do household chores can help students release pent-up energies as all of them have a strong psychological ‘Need for Activity’.

Parents should appreciate their children’s contribution and must spend quality time with them, listening to their problems and offering solutions. Be guides, parents, but let your wards take the decisions. This enthuses and encourages children to look positively towards achieving their goals.

We have opted for a digital version in the present issue of Pointer so that the articles can be read by all. We know schools have not yet been allowed to open their doors for students, keeping their safety in mind.

Along with students’ articles, art and craftwork and other interesting features, there is the Cover Story on ‘COVID and Beyond’, elaborating how the School has re-imagined its approach to education. In ‘Science Beyond the Classroom’, Professor Amitava Gupta’s article, “From Hieroglyphics to Emojis -- the science behind writing”, will make readers curious and expand their knowledge quotient. ‘Pride of Pointers’ features two eminent alumni, Dr. Debjit Das Sarma and Shri Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, who will motivate and inspire students. Ex-Pointer Rik Sengupta shares with us his unique outlook to life in ‘Kaleidoscope’.

Hope readers find this issue interesting. In the end I would say that we all should look ahead to a very happy, peaceful and beautiful world, as patience and perseverance always yield results.

Madhu Kohli Director South Point School POINTER

Happy reading!

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Principal Speak Dear students, life in the last seven months of 2020 is completely different from what we have known it to be till February of this year, right? Many of you are longing to get back to your earlier schedule, and quite understandably so. Adults around you, including your teachers who connect with you virtually to keep the teaching-learning process efficiently functional, want just that too.

We have seen two phases during the pandemic, the Lockdown and then the gradual Unlock. The government has tried its best to equip itself to battle the Corona-19 virus and keep the general public safe. Different family units adopted varying protocols for themselves to keep away the dreaded virus for as long as possible.

Unfortunately, some families did not have that choice, and the first we are reminded of are the families of medical professionals and the police force. Even during normal times these dedicated professionals spend hours toiling for our well-being. And now, during these extraordinary times, these brave men and women have risked their lives to combat an unseen enemy which has scant respect for humankind.

Thousands of doctors and nurses have been on the frontline to ensure that hospitals continue to function normally. Many amongst them have themselves been infected, and, alas, some have even lost their battle with the virus. I know that some of you have faced the wrath of this virus in your own families too. I want to remind you of the grit of those who have recovered from the infection and gone back to attend to their duties.

The role of the police must be feted too. Risking their lives, they have been out on duty on the roads, to maintain law and order and to remind those on the roads to enforce the norms of the new normal. Everyday has been a challenge for them and will continue to remain so. I understand that the virus has afflicted majority of the personnel of some police stations.

They are the ones who took it upon themselves to organise community kitchens to feed the hundreds of underprivileged in the locality under their care, including the hapless street dogs. This is the story of the lockdown times; with the beginning of the unlock phases came other challenges.

There are countless essential service providers who did not have the luxury of confining themselves to the safety of their homes. Keeping the ATMs and banking services functioning, ensuring uninterrupted water and electric supply are the few that must be mentioned. There must have been thousands who left their homes because it was their call of duty. Let us pause to acknowledge such people, after all, they are the ones who ensure our lives go on uninterrupted, with the risk of halting their own.

I want to remind you of the grit of those who have recovered from the infection and gone back to attend to their duties.

Rupa Sanyal Bhattacharjee Principal South Point High School 3

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Principal Speak It is wisely said that “There’s a sense of shared vulnerability, and it’s when we’re vulnerable that we connect to each other, because that’s when we realize we really need each other’’.

The outbreak of the Coronavirus disease created a global health crisis resulting in the Government of India declaring a nationwide lockdown for 21 days starting on March 24, 2020, limiting movement of the entire population of India as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 pandemic. Suddenly families were locked inside their homes and this surreal situation was an invitation – albeit legally enforced – to do what we’ve needed to do for a long time, slow down. With literally nowhere to go – no social events, no work obligations – families had no choice but to stop and reflect.

While on the one hand the dreaded disease spread fear among one and all, on the other hand it provided an opportunity to spend more time than before with one’s family, and value these precious ties. With no domestic help around, everyone in the family, including children, volunteered to assist in the household chores like cleaning, cooking, washing and so on.

Any life skill is best learnt when one does it oneself. As children engaged themselves in these chores, they were able to understand and appreciate the nuances involved in that particular activity e.g. making the bed, setting the dining table, buying vegetables or kneading the dough. Family members started looking up cookery books and preparing new cuisines. As they involved themselves in the process, they began to respect the role of the homemaker and value the labour involved in making a home. There was an undeniable feeling of goodness and a sense of contribution to the family.

The creativity in many which had taken a back seat suddenly found an opportunity to blossom. People started to paint, sew, grow plants, write poems and so on. Others bonded by playing board games, singing, listening to music and learning how to share and care. People even went to the extent of rummaging through old family photographs to revive old memories.

Before the pandemic, life was one big rush completing chores, hurrying to school or office. Homes were where families usually bonded only in the weekends. Then the Coronavirus crisis caused the world to implode. Suddenly it was just us – the family. And in quarantine, long-held wishes we had for our family – ideas that had started to seem like fantasies – began coming to life. Family members started gathering around the table more. Dinners grew longer; family breakfasts became more frequent; and with no offices to get to, no weekend sports or other plans, what was to stop everyone from having lunch together and connect with loved ones listening to family tales, talking of various life experiences.

How could good things be happening during such a hard time? Why were people feeling more connected? Now actual time has become quality time as we no longer have to compartmentalize our lives. More time means more opportunities to connect. After years of balancing between work and home and school and sports, right now we are all just here.

After all – “A family doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be united.”

So dear Pointers, while we have learnt to cherish these family ties, and nourish our creative impulses, let us not abandon what we have managed to revive after the pandemic passes and normalcy returns.

Now actual time has become quality time as we no longer have to compartmentalize our lives.

Dalbir Kaur Chadda Principal South Point School POINTER

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Contents COVID & Beyond: Re-imagined Schooling Bulletin Students’ Contributions (Contents) EXPRESSION (English) Verse-tality Etched In Words

ABHIVYAKTI (Bengali) Srijan Shabde Alankaran

ABHIVYAKTI (Hindi) Srijan Shabdo Se Alankrit

Perceptum Essays Pride of Pointers: Dr. Debjit Das Sarma Partha Sarathi Chatterjee Know Your Teacher Science Beyond the Classroom Craft Mastermind Kaleidoscope Taste Buds Miles to Go Aperture Point To Read and What to Read STROKES OF COLOUR Class I Class III Class IV Class VIII Class IX Class X

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6-9 10-40 41-42 43 44-55 58-86 87 88-91 94-109 110 111-118 121-128 132-144 145-146 146-147 148-149 150-152 153 154-157 158 159 160 161-168 169-170 56-57 57, 92-93 93, 119 120, 129 129-130 131

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Cover Story COVID & BEYOND RE-IMAGINED SCHOOLING

THE year had just kind of begun. Students enjoyed a sprightly winter; were skipping through spring. South Point was getting ready to welcome new sessions. Annual Examinations being over, Pointers were waiting to see their scripts as well as take home their Report Cards as they usually do every year. They were all set to return to their familiar and favourite campuses. Smiles, wishes and plans were put in the warm-up mode – and then an unimagined pandemic threw the rhythm into disarray.

School, like the rest of the world, could not will COVID-19 away. Instead, it willed itself to carve new ways and transformative approaches to learning. Given that the pandemic has dramatically changed the face of education, South Point students, teachers and parents have steeled themselves to getting on with a new era where virtual classes arrived as the new model. And School needed to put together multiple resources, experiences and remote-learning technologies to assure Pointers that though they are physically apart, they are virtually together.

E-CLASSROOMS Re-think, re-invent and re-create – the three new Rs – are seamlessly integrated at South Point, maintaining a perfect correlation at all levels. Nearly 12,000 students have been divided into approximately 200 groups, with about 400 teachers conducting 1,350 virtual class sessions in a week -- everything managed centrally by the School administration. A stupendous scale of online teaching that is! The teaching-learning process is thus going on unhindered, from Nursery I to Class XII, in a new sphere of virtual classes, engaging hands-on activities, audio-visual aids, lectures, worksheets, assignments and evaluation. Losing physical closeness with students is the toughest experience for teachers during e-classes, yet, South Point teachers have enforced their reaching-out skills with the latest technology, effective lesson plans and evolving strategies. Going beyond classroom walls, they have created a seemingly real-time study environment in perfectly collaborative ways.

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As virtual classes started taking shape, a webinar spearheaded by the South Point Ex-students’ Association (ASPEXS), equipped the School faculty with valuable concepts and suggestions. Shri Sandeep Sengupta, alumnus, and Ethical Hacker and Certified Information Systems Auditor, spoke on ‘Teachers working online from home: Do’s and Don’ts’ on 18 April 2020 – a most timely session addressing pertinent cyber security issues.

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Cover Story hold assessments via oral tests, quizzes, projects and parent-proctored tests.

Another learning thus goes alongside. And grows stronger. SPHS students have promised to hold to the School’s and their teachers’ faith in them and take a set of tests, invigilated by parents at home, without the direct supervision of teachers. They uphold the ‘code of honour’; with a pledge of honesty and integrity.

The teacher-student-parent connect in South Point thus offers a vibrant snapshot. In e-learning hubs, they have turned into a more dynamic combination.

APP-ROPRIATE In order to facilitate and ensure that Pointers make the best of digital versions of usual activities, while staying at home, School has launched ‘Skolaro’, the mobile app/ portal – downloadable from Google Play/ Apple Store -- after thorough testing and trials. It allows School administrators and teachers to communicate effectively with parents and students about upcoming assignments and share attendance information, homework, important notices, useful links, videos and photos, School calendar and messages, and especially links and routines for the ongoing virtual classes.

Parents can download and view useful information too. New features of the app will be introduced soon.

The ‘Skolaro’ platform is certainly enhancing the virtual classroom experience for all Pointers.

The SPS faculty seasons its lessons for Nursery children with storytelling, audiovisual aids, colourful PPTs and videos with voiceovers, slide shows, interactive sessions to gauge comprehension levels, and of course, structured uploads of music, colouring, pattern writing and craft assignments. Music and Art and Craft lessons are taught both in synchronous and asynchronous ways – thus giving children a feel of real-time learning as well as learning at their own pace. Since children are logging in from home, they are taught the importance of punctuality and sitting quietly during e-classes. Lessons for Transition to Class V integrate Vernacular and EVS; interactive hours with teachers; life skill concepts; storytelling boosting listening comprehension; written work; well-crafted teaching aids; Q&A sessions; brain teasers; and innovative PPTs. Language and creative writing skills, spelling; vocabulary; grammar and comprehension, paragraph and letter writing, picture composition, General Science and Social Studies are perfected regularly. To help students assimilate what they have learnt, a gist of the week’s lessons is uploaded every Saturday. SPS sees to it that children with learning difficulties attend all mainstream classes; they receive additional support from Special Educators. Physical Education and Karate lessons are regularly uploaded to make certain that fitness blends well with the children’s stay-home routine.

The South Point High School faculty ensures that the teaching-learning process goes on in full steam through virtual classes which began in an asynchronous manner and then within two-three weeks changed to the synchronous mode. Teachers have trained, enhanced their skills and adapted themselves wonderfully to the task. E-classes commenced in April and are being conducted by a large section of the faculty across all departments. A total of 90 to 100 lessons are conducted for each class every week from Monday to Saturday. There is a plan to augment the number of classes. Efficient and stimulating AV aids such as PPTs and slides are used to keep the students engaged during the e-lessons of one hour each. The interactive session at the end of each class is the norm and it becomes livelier as pupils are also permitted to place their queries using the chat option. Assignments and a gist of the week's lessons are sent to students too. Assignments remain a tool with teachers to measure the depth of assimilation of the lessons brought to them. These are thoroughly evaluated, corrected and returned to the pupils such that they benefit. Practice quizzes are there in place too for assessing students’ performance. While learning went on in an exemplary manner in SPHS, an evaluation pattern has been under consideration to

SAFETY FIRST An ISO 45001: 2018 Certified Institution now, and previously an OHSAS 18001: 2007 Certified Institution, South Point ensures that its premises are safe and sanitized with all precautionary measures taken.

Housekeeping teams regularly disinfect the campuses, all walls, classrooms, furniture, corridors and office areas with jet spray machines. For all visitors and staff on duty, temperature is recorded with contactless infrared thermometers. The security staff are provided with full-body PPE. Using face masks, maintaining social distance, foot-operated sanitizer-dispensers, hand wash basins and isolation wards in classrooms are the strict hygiene and protective protocols adopted by School.

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Cover Story MAKING IDEAS COME ALIVE What happens when students cannot showcase their talents amid familiar rejoicing? What happens when lockdown looms on the celebrations calendar of South Point?

School makes the celebrations happen! In a novel and revised way, and in a grander way, undoubtedly. The Annual Prize Distribution Ceremony brought a large number of SPS and SPHS students together on 4 July 2020 – each performing from home, and each adding colours and joys to a glorious evening. At that pathbreaking moment, South Point became the first school in the city to conduct a programme of such magnitude online, via Zoom app and Facebook Live. The Chief Guest, Shri Amish Tripathi, Director of The Nehru Centre, London, eminent author and columnist, connected with the students and faculty of School via Zoom, from his place in the UK. ‘Memories and Discoveries: A Visual Trip’, the cultural presentation by students of both Schools, was an effort beyond compare.

The performances were recorded in students’ homes, and the recordings were bunched together as an impressive presentation, with perfect continuity. The prize distribution ceremony went flawlessly too and later, all prizes, certificates, medals and cheques were couriered to the awardees.

Students also celebrated from home the birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. With beautiful words, poems, songs, dances and drawings, they honoured during classes a mind without fear and melodies eternally new; they spread the message of resilience, hope and courage when the night is dark and the hour is stormy. The undaunted spirit of Pointers would certainly have pleased the poet who had reached out to the afflicted during a plague outbreak in his lifetime.

INTERFACE staff-members in April; and the other with Shri Bobby Chakraborty, for SPHS students of Classes VIII to XI in May. While Dr. Mukherjee spoke on coping mechanisms in personal and professional lives during these trying times, Shri Chakraborty addressed students on making the right choices and about the dangers of addiction, how to combat them and on ways to develop self-respect and concern for others.

As we all know, communication is the only thing that keeps us together in the face of crisis and challenges.

And communication has been happening at multiple levels at South Point over the months.

Considering it is vitally important to stay connected with parents, especially those of Nursery I and II, Smt. Dalbir Kaur Chadda, SPS Principal, the Nursery Superintending Teacher, Coordinators and Teachers addressed online orientation sessions during April.

These hours helped make the children’s shift to e-classrooms smooth and stimulating. SPS teachers also honed their skills at an online story-telling workshop organised by Macmillan Education in May. Equally fruitful were the webinars -- one with Dr. Rima Mukherjee, prominent psychiatrist, for SPS and SPHS POINTER

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STILL WE RISE

Cover Story A platform of communication that has made its move to the digital format quite swift and sharp is Pointer Connect, a joint initiative of SPHS and ASPEXS. Continuing the synergic thread from pre-pandemic years, Pointer Connect put together more webinars where several prominent alumni have come online from across the world, enhancing the e-learning pattern now being followed at South Point. The speakers have helped build bridges across generations and reinforce career options and creative dreams.

“And what is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “without pictures or conversation?” Much like Alice, Pointers thought half a year ago that education can’t be of much use without proper classrooms. However, with School perfecting the continuous e-learning environment, they too have risen up to challenges. They learn with conviction, innovation and confidence. And feel inspired to look at the world afresh.

‘The times they are a-changing’…The idea is to change with the times – as positively as one can. As it is happening at South Point. Every day.

HEAL THE WORLD These were times to regret what we had done to the Earth and to Nature. These were times to look back and acknowledge what we had spurned, overlooked and let disintegrate. But these were also times to come together in salutation and in prayers; to speak in voices that were true and rose in praise of Nature’s kindly light.

That was what ASPEXS members – transcending geographical boundaries and across batches – did when the pandemic raged. Through the most insightful ‘Mohiner Ghoraguli’ song, Bhebe Dekhechho Ki?, they wove a heartening tapestry of caution as well as creativity. A spontaneous effort by nearly 35 former students of South Point High School, the film integrated words and music efficiently. It brought together alumni staying in places such as Kolkata, Mumbai, Los Angeles and Dhaka who contributed to it from their homes. From conception to execution, it took about a fortnight during which everyone recorded their part on mobile phones and tablets; finally everything was compiled, edited and rendered -- all flawless in-house efforts and rightly called a Home Made Production. The videos were mostly shot with handheld devices such as mobile phones and later compiled as well as audio mixing was done. The film premiered on Zee-24 Ghanta News Channel on 7 May 2020 and was uploaded on the ASPEXS YouTube Channel as well.

Among the participants of the film were Professor Suranjan Das, Vice Chancellor of Jadavpur University; Shri Kunal Basu, author; Shri Bedabrata Pain, scientist and filmmaker; Shri Rajat Ganguly, actor; Shri Aniruddha Roy Choudhury, filmmaker; Shri Tanmoy Bose, musician; Dr. Arnab Gupta, surgical oncologist; Smt. Chandrabali Rudra Datta, singer; Dr. Amitava Chanda, neurosurgeon; Smt. Papia Adhikari, actor; Shri Bhaswar Chatterjee, actor; Shri Pratim D. Gupta, filmmaker; Smt. Urmila Bhowmik, dancer; and Shri Abhijit Dasgupta, filmmaker. Conceptualized by Smt. Sutapa Chatterjee, the film’s script was written by Shri Santanu Mukherjee; editing and direction were done by Shri Utsav Dan. Despite the prism of broken images in these unreal times, a pure and powerful note played itself in the ASPEXS venture.

The note of hope. That sprouts even in waste land.

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Bulletin A MIRROR UP TO IMAGINATION At the Biennial Exhibition IF winter was here could creativity be far behind? The South Point Biennial Exhibition, a vibrant feature in the School calendar, returned from 16 to 18 January 2020, on the South Point School premises, to include and immerse all in a spectacle. A walk through the courtyard, the rooms, the corridors, was like an answer to the prayer – of experiencing beauty blooming out of everywhere.

The presence of Shri Wasim Kapoor, renowned artist, as the Chief Guest added to the celebration. On a campus that resembled a vibrant fairground, he inaugurated the Exhibition. Pointers of both Schools presented the opening and the School Songs while Smt. Rupa Sanyal Bhattacharjee, Principal, South Point High School, delivered the welcome address.

Rich in inputs from the teeniest of Nursery children to the skilled pupils of Class XII, the Exhibition brought together the intimate community of students and teachers in their aesthetic and creative journey. Taking shape at extensive workshops and sessions conducted by teachers prior to the Exhibition were displays of a mindboggling variety. No topics seemed untouched; no subjects unexplored. Nearly 125 pupils, from Classes II to V, learnt to make articles by rolling newspaper and coloured chart paper, use quilling to create murals on mount board, decorate earthen vases with various embellishments at art workshops held over November and December 2019. Block printing on pastel paper and cloth using cut vegetables as stencils as well as collage-making on mount board were taught too. The Exhibition showcased innovations, recycling waste material and using multiple media. SPS students took the spectators along from exhibits such as terracotta plates and vases, wall hangings, lamp shades, plant holders, masks, pencil holders, photo frames, key rings and dolls to drawings in poster, acrylic, water and pastel colours. An amazing number of 3,000 paintings found their place of pride at the Exhibition. The innovative craftsmanship, intricate designing and the novel creative ideas in all those artworks enthralled all.

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Bulletin The Nursery Department displayed colourful blossoms, bees, butterflies and birds, magical castles, pretty princesses and a plethora of Disney characters, ‘Garden’ and ‘Disneyland’ being their themes. Transition children made crafts out of paper quilling, ice-cream sticks, foam sheets, coconut shells, shuttle cocks and sal leaves. Their drawings were equally exquisite. Classes I to V students charmed all with their theme projects. A glimpse of ‘Secrets of the Sea’

by Class I; ‘My Clean World’ by Class II; ‘Let the Earth Breathe’

by Class III; ‘Stopping by the Woods’ by Class IV; and ‘Aqua Vitae – Water of Life, Let’s be Water-wise’ by Class V transported visitors to an amazing wonderland. The rooms displaying these projects created a green corridor for them as the aim was to spread awareness on the urgent need to save our environment and our planet. Colourful charts and models, live models and demonstrators were other attractions. Drawings by the students of the KMCP School, Hazra Road, adopted by South Point, and of Sandipan, the free evening school run by South Point Foundation, were exhibited as well. The Sandipan children made lovely costume jewellery and these were on display and were for sale too. On 17 January, children of the KMCP School and of Sandipan visited the Exhibition, which was open to visitors from 12 noon to 5.30 p.m. on all three days.

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The SPHS sections of the Exhibition were another spectacular display of paintings, models and craftwork presented by pupils of Classes VI to XII in addition to subject-based projects. The principal attractions were the wide range of handcrafted items such as wooden wall hangings and bookshelves, created from broken benches and other used pieces of furniture. Folders made of recycled material, key rings, table runners and colourful envelopes, painted umbrellas, Madhubani painting on dupattas, canvas bags and backpacks, cushion covers and wooden plates – the range of creativity and innovation was simply mindboggling.

Fountains made of recycled materials drew big crowds.

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The English Department worked on ‘Water water everywhere…. drop by drop we paint’ -- portraying how water has become the life force of many a literary output in English. The display followed the journey of water as it touched and enriched poetic sensibilities and philosophical musings of some of the finest poets and litterateurs across the globe. The Chemistry Exhibition focused on the greatest concern of today’s society – ‘Recycling and waste management’. It traversed through the elementary world of chemistry celebrating the 150th year of the Periodic Table (2019) and experienced the fascinating world of chemistry – its colour and vigour. Equally enlightening was the Biology Department’s project focusing on endangered species and the need for their conservation. Visitors met popular sleuths from the works of great writers such as Priyanath Mukhopadhyay, Panchkari De, Hemendra Kumar Roy, Satyajit Ray, Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, Syed Mustafa Siraj and others at the project on detective fiction by the Bengali Department. Diverse themes, ranging from demonstrations of sustained irrigation system, magnetic levitation, demonstration of optical experiments, launchers, miniature working models of some daily use household devices and astronomy made the Physics Department display most illuminating. The History project depicted the horrors of war through ages with special emphasis on the two World Wars. It also focused on peace efforts, both institutional and philosophical, that followed the wars. The objective was to spread the very urgent message of brotherhood and tolerance. The topic chosen by the Hindi Department was ‘Water’. Apart from highlighting literary importance, it sensitized everyone to the importance of water. Globalisation, explored in all its aspects, benefits and consequences, comprised the Political Science project. Consumer Protection Acts and working of the consumer courts were emphasised by Legal Studies students while the Sociology Project explored markets which were social institutions constructed in culturally specific ways, such as markets controlled or organised by particular social groups or classes, having specific connections to other institutions, social processes and structures. 'Diverse Features of our Country (India)’ were displayed by the Geography Department, its objective being highlighting India’s diverse geography, made unique with myriad cultural, social and ethnic elements, through models, charts and artefacts. The Mathematics project worked on the use of Mathematics in Architecture and focused on Ancient Indian, Greek, Islamic, European, Mayan as well as contemporary architectures. Mental Health issues faced by students formed the core of the Psychology project while the Computer section demonstrated various applications of audio-processing of Computer.

To add another quotient to the already animated atmosphere, a mixed bag of on-stage events showcased the various co-curricular activities that Pointers learn in School. No wonder, queues of guests seemed unending on these three days. Over 5,000 visitors came to see the Exhibition! And, undoubtedly, went home awestruck.

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Bulletin HAPPY HOURS AT ULLAS Where fun-learning happens!

IT looked so much like a carnival. It had to when 700 children from 16 premier schools of Kolkata in the age group of seven to 10 years gathered at South Point School on the first day – 23 November 2019 -- of Ullas, the SPS annual Inter-School Festival. Sprinkled generously with the fairy dust of togetherness, fair play, joy and excitement, the fest saw Shri Krishna Damani, Trustee, South Point Education Society, lighting the ceremonial lamp and declaring Ullas open. The day wove magic around on-campus events such as Patch-up (collage-making), Colour Point (digital painting), Spin-a-Yarn (English creative writing), Quiz-i-Tale (quiz on fables and fairytales), Harsh Taal (a dance event) and Geetmala (antakshari) and the Kwizwiz (quiz) prelims. The children of Sandipan, the free evening school run by South Point Foundation, participated in the two art events. The judges on the first day were Professor Sohini Dhar, Shri Utpal Ghosh, Smt. Farzana Quader, Smt. Shubhra Shah, Shri Dibyendu Nath and Shri Sujit Karmakar, renowned personalities from different walks of life. Individual prizes for the first day’s events were given away to winners that day itself. Students and teachers of all participating schools, staff members and student-volunteers on duty, student reporters and SPS teachers training children were given refreshments.

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G. D. Birla Sabhagar welcomed all on 25th, the second day of Ullas, looking bright and cheerful all over. Smt.Gargee Roy Chowdhury, celebrated actor, was the Chief Guest. The day took off with Kwizwiz (quiz) with Shri Ranjan Datta as the ever-popular Quizmaster. Gradually, young students, earnest in performance and sporting pretty costumes, presented events such as Aradhana (Hindi/Bengali devotional songs), Sound of Music (scenes from English Musicals) and Jhoomar (dances to Hindi/Bengali Folk Songs). The judges – Shri Shamik Pal, Shri Snigdhadeb Sengupta, Smt. Sharmistha Shome, Shri Peddro Sudipto Kundu, Smt. Rita Kundu and Shri Goutam Upadhyay, all notable personalities – appreciated each and every performance. SPS bagged the maximum number of points and emerged Champions, but being the host school, passed on the Championship Trophy to the First Runner-up, Mahadevi Birla World Academy. Birla High School (Junior Section) lifted the Runner-up Trophy. Individual trophies went to children winning the first three positions in each event held on that day. All members of staff on duty, volunteers, student reporters, teachers of participating schools and all participants received refreshment boxes.

Encouraging children to spark their imagination and give their best in a nurturing atmosphere -- through music, dance, performing arts and various other activities-- makes Ullas what it is. A rejoicing of childhood.

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Bulletin UDAAN & VRRIKSHYA As high-flying as ever SOUTH Point High School students put their enthusiastic wings to good use at Udaan & Vrrikshya, the fest hosted by the School’s Interact Club and Nature Club, every year. On 16 November 2019, it took place in association with The Telegraph, Young Metro, on the SPHS premises from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. It was a most joyful occasion, and the participating schools – Abhinav Bharati High School, Adamas World School, Bhavan’s G.K. Vidyamandir, The BSS School, The Heritage School, Patha Bhavan, Sri Sri Academy and, of course, the host, SPHS – did a perfect job of turning every event into a great display of skill, talent and sincerity. Shri Krishna Damani, Trustee, South Point Education Society, inaugurated the event by lighting the ceremonial lamp. The day’s schedule was efficiently distributed over nineteen events which were Handball, Futsal, Throwball, Photography, Film Review and Poster-Making, Poetry Slam, Science Project Presentation, Quiz, Darts, Non-Gas Cooking and Blogging, Rap and Beatbox, Debate, Eastern Orchestra, Marketing and Entrepreneurship, Cosplay, Theatre, Stand-Up Comedy, Fusion Dance and Fusion Band. A total of 53 underprivileged children from Pratik Sevabratee were made part of a social service programme, highlighting the inclusive aspect of the fest.They attended a most enjoyable magic show and received gifts as well. The fest made sure that no one went home unentertained, and hence food and games stalls were put up too. A guest band performance by Ujaan was the closing event of the day.

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The Prize Distribution ceremony saw medals and merit certificates going to winning teams. Trophies were given to the overall winning school, and the first and second runner-ups. Individual trophies were awarded to Mr. Udaan, Ms. Udaan and the Star of the Fest. Though SPHS came first, they passed on the trophy to the next in position, Adamas World School. The Second and Third positions went to The BSS School and Patha Bhavan. Dipro Biswas of Patha Bhavan picked up the Mr. Udaan & Vrrikshya trophy while Angshuka Dutta, Adamas World School, won the Ms. Udaan & Vrrikshya trophy. The Star of the Fest prize went to Pointer Aniruddha Mukhopadhyay.

An integral part of the SPHS calendar, Udaan & Vrrikshya is a great occasion to interact, forge friendships, to showcase talents and fine-tune organizational skills as well. Happiness and excitement spice it up!

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Bulletin FRIENDS IN DEED SOCIAL welfare activities occupy a pride of place in the South Point calendar and these are occasions students participate in with much zeal and dedication.

Reaching Out is one such social service project which involves SPS students in a big way. The little ones of Nursery I, Nursery II and Transition showed keen interest to be a part of the project and, hence, both on 6 November 2019 and on 12 February 2020, they brought potatoes and onions. The first day’s collection was sent away to three NGOs, Ek Prayas, Ektara and Care & Counselling while Navanir, Ektara and Ek Prayas received the next. On 9 January, the students of Classes I, II and III contributed to Reaching Out by bringing potatoes and onions too. All students were asked to bring a minimum of one potato and one onion each. This collection was sent to two NGOs, Paripurnata and Antyoday Anath Ashram.

Winter is not just the time of planning what gifts to ask of Santa Claus, it is also the time to give back – and give to those who do not have much. The pupils of Classes I to V put together large numbers of old clothes, toys, bars of soap, food items like biscuits and cakes on 4 and 5 December 2019 for gifting to children looked after by the Missionaries of Charity. All food items were packed separately. The volunteers of the institution collected all the packets from SPS on 6th when truckloads of gifts were sent off to the institution’s centres at Mariapolly, Dumdum and Monsada.

The SPHS Interact Club members participated in the season of giving by visiting Rotary Sadan on 13 December 2019 to help in packing Christmas gifts for a thousand underprivileged children for the Flagship Event of the Rotary Club of Calcutta.

We all know how the cyclone, Bulbul, has wreaked havoc in many coastal parts of our country. It hit the Sundarbans, reviving the horrifying memories of Aila that had pounded the area nearly a decade ago. Rangabelia was among the areas worst affected by Bulbul. It was again time to stand by the villagers and provide succor. A group of 12 Class XI pupils and three officials visited a Sundarban village with relief material on 11 December 2019.

They distributed blankets, saris and tarpaulin sheets among 400 families. The pupils thus had a first-hand experience of the sufferings of the villagers. South Point’s initiative was supported

by Bharat Sevashram Sangha which helped in identifying the villagers and the modalities.

South Point came forward to alleviate the suffering of people since the pandemic hit the country. A total of 411 employees of South Point School and South Point High School contributed ` 5,42,439 to the West Bengal State Emergency Relief Fund in an effort to aid the government in its fight against COVID-19.

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Bulletin HOMAGE FROM THE HEART THE death anniversary of our Founder Rector, the Late Satikanta Guha, was observed in South Point on 8 January 2020. A photograph of the legendary educationist was placed at the SPS reception and decorated with flowers.

Members of staff and student representatives offered floral tributes as a mark of respect.

SPHS students observed the solemn occasion through a number of social service projects. These were undertaken

by Interact Club members, pledging to serve the aged, the underprivileged and the ailing. At Navanir, a home for the aged, Pointers served lunch to 100 inmates, spent some lovely time with them and left the elderly happier by singing songs. Dakshin Kalikata Sevasram is a shelter home for underprivileged children. SPHS students visited it and handed over 50 kg rice, 10 kg pulses and 10 litres of oil.

AIDS-afflicted orphans living at Anandaghar, a home in Sonarpur, welcomed Pointers. Here they handed over packs of essential items such as health drinks, body lotions, soap bars and hair oils for the use of the inmates. And, in the smiles shared, the best homage was paid to the great educationist.

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Bulletin SARASWATI PUJA STUDENTS of both SPS and SPHS gathered at the junior school courtyard, right in front of the shrine of the Goddess of Learning, to celebrate Saraswati Puja on the auspicious day of Vasant Panchami which took place on 30 January 2020. The serene yet joyous morning began with the ‘puja’ followed by the ‘aarti’. A charming cultural programme, showcasing performances by both junior and senior Pointers followed soon. The SPS choir commenced the presentation with a ‘bandish’ which merged beautifully with a Rabindrasangeet, a delightful song welcoming the advent of spring. A most enthusiastic group of little dancers deftly matched steps to another melodious Rabindrasangeet befitting the occasion of Saraswati Puja. The SPHS performance opened wonderfully with a Bhairavi ‘bandish’ by Sumoulika Sarkar of Class IX A (A). Prithwish Ray Chaudhuri of Class XII L (A) accompanied her on the Tabla. High School students, too, ushered spring through a well-choreographed group dance. Once the cultural programme got over, ‘pushpanjali’ was offered to the Goddess and ‘prasad’ distributed among one and all.

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Bulletin THOUGHTS FROM TAGORE THE lockdown could hardly bring down the curtain on celebrations at South Point. Both SPS and SPHS students paid tributes to Rabindranath Tagore on his birth anniversary on 8 May 2020 through well-coordinated virtual presentations from home. During their online classes, teachers showed Class II children PPTs on the life and works of the great bard. A few students recited his poems, some of them spoke a few lines about Tagore while some others sang Rabindrasangeet.

All of them sang along as they were shown videos of Amra sabai raja and Ekla cholo re. Class III students joined the celebration by drawing pictures of the poet or illustrating his poems such as Taalgaachh, which they were learning at that time. They were shown a YouTube video for children on one of Tagore’s songs, Aaye tobe sahochori. "I shall not fear/ I shall not die, every now and then, before death...." Thus wrote Rabindranath while composing one of his songs. In keeping with this spirit, Class IV teachers and students highlighted the universal and enduring appeal and relevance of Tagore. A translation of one of his poems was read out to bring to the fore the child within him. Individual performances by a few children, a short video on the poet’s multifaceted personality and a rendition of Anandaloke Mongolaloke by teachers and students together were other aspects of the session. Class V students enthusiastically recited poems such as Dukhohari, Lukochuri and Birpurush while a few of them sang songs like Aguner paroshmoni and Esho hey Baishakh. They watched a presentation on Tagore’s childhood and his days at Shilaidaha. While teachers rendered eternal songs like Hey nutan, everyone prayed for the wellbeing of all through Anandaloke Mongolaloke. Students also learnt how Tagore had reached out to the plague-afflicted during a pandemic in his lifetime in the early 20th century. He had sent out medical aid to his locality and even started building a hospital.

Pointers -- from Classes VI to XII -- proved that even in a world ravaged by a pandemic, the resilient human spirit found comfort in niches of creativity. On the auspicious morning of Rabindra Jayanti, they paid tributes to Tagore, the poet who had celebrated the forces of life and penned many a verse, calling upon man to be fearless and to march on undaunted.

Standing amid uncertain times, SPHS students – through their efforts from home -- found solace and succor in his songs and verses and thus spread the message of courage. Weaving an elegant presentation around poems, songs and dances, they strove to rediscover Tagore’s abiding ideas of inner strength and hope. A beautiful dance was presented along with the chorus song, Kothao amaar hariye jaoar nei maana; spread wings and be free now, and in a sense for always, said students through the song. A verse from ‘Gitanjali’, Bipade more rokkha karo, was recited too, sending up the prayer for bravery and fortitude in the face of griefs and perils.

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Bulletin LAUGHING ALL THE WAY! CHRISTMAS parties and children! Nothing can be happier and livelier than this combination. The magical season spread joy and cheer at South Point School and one could almost feel the wonder in the air. The Christmas tree glowed with many a sparkling ornament in the Auditorium. Colourful decorations, bells and baubles, streamers and cards, music and smiles – all seemed to bustle about in a knot of fun, goodwill and celebration. The little ones from Nursery I to Class I gathered at the Auditorium on 19 and 20 December 2019 to weave the beautiful Christmas magic. There were four shows each day, two in the Morning and two in the Afternoon. The Nativity scene was enacted in great earnestness by a few children and the Yuletide spirit came alive, complete with pretty angels, the Magi bearing gifts and, of course, the choir singing carols and cute little dancers matching every note with lively steps. Santa Claus came to town, rather to the celebration, too, spreading hearty laughter all around. The lovely programme was put up by the young Pointers of Nursery I to Class I. The little pupils of Nursery I and Transition formed the audience on 19th and those of Nursery II and Class I watched the enchanting programme on 20th. And as we cannot think of a Christmas party without yummy food, children of these classes each received a box of goodies from Nahoum’s, sporting bright and colourful caps on their happy heads. Their smiles were, of course, brighter than the shiniest star!

SPELLBOUND! THE magic shows at SPS are a treat children always look forward to. Their curiosity roused and their minds enchanted, the students of Nursery I, Transition, Class II A to D – of both Morning and Afternoon Sessions – had a lovely time spent among spells and charms on 13 November 2019.

On 15th, it was the turn of the children of Nursery II, Class I and Class II E to G, again of both Morning and Afternoon Sessions, to be entertained. There were six shows each day – three each in the Morning and Afternoon. The magician and his assistant performed most interesting tricks on stage.

One just had to see the expression of wonder on the faces of the young spectators!

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Bulletin YOUNG LEADERS THE Investiture Ceremony for the Bulbuls and Cubs of SPS was held in School on 30 November 2019. Twenty-five Bulbuls received badges and certificates. Seven of them were conferred with the Pravesh Badge, eight with the Komal Pankh Badge, five with the Rajat Pankh Badge and five with the Suvarna Pankh Badge. Forty-six Cubs received badges and certificates. Twenty-seven of them got the Pravesh Badge and nineteen got the Pratham Charan Badge.

MATCH POINTS WINTER in the city brought the cricket kit out and young players from SPS got together at Vivekananda Park on 11 January 2020 for the Intra-Class Cricket Finals. Blues clashed with Yellows in both Classes IV and V matches. In the Class IV Finals, the Yellow Team won by four wickets. Arhan Roy of Class IV A (M) scored 15 runs and took two wickets, thus picking up the Man of the Match prize. The Blue team triumphed in the Class V Finals by five wickets. Subhradip Nandi of Class V B (A) took two wickets and was declared the Man of the Match. Both Arhan and Subhradip received individual trophies. The winning teams received the rolling trophies. The spectators had a lovely time watching SPS boys at play on the greens.

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Bulletin LET’S HAVE PICNICS! THESE are outdoor times everyone looks forward to – especially the children of SPS. Nothing’s better than having picnics under the pleasant winter sun, and riding School buses to reach green and delightful venues, with friends, food, games and carefree hours keeping company. On 27 January 2020, nearly 396 children of Class IV enjoyed their share of picnic at Ibiza. It was wonderful watching them leave School in the morning and return in the afternoon – tired yet contented. On 31st, a batch of nearly 460 Class V children reached Ibiza for another session of picnic pleasures. On both days the children were served most tasty breakfast and lunch. Teachers, service staff as well as a few selected guardians of Classes IV and V accompanied them.

While students had their dayouts amid nature, staff-members of both SPS and SPHS enjoyed theirs at the annual staff picnics. On 11 January, the SPHS picnic was held at Hasir Aloy, Pulakdar Bagan Bari, Nodakhali, Bhakraghat, in the South 24-Parganas. The SPS staff picnic took place on 25th, at the Prantik Retreat, Barunda.

Both the days were occasions to breathe free and be happy – with sumptuous breakfast and lunch, games and prizes, music and friendly chats. The sun and the shadows dropped in to share the joy.

AN AFTERNOON RAAGA IT was an afternoon rich in melody, rhythm and harmony. SPICMACAY members of SPHS were treated to an afternoon of Classical Music on 6 February 2020 in the School Auditorium. It featured invocation by Purbadri Ray Chowdhury of Class VIII A (A) and Sumoulika Sarkar of Class IX A (A). They were ably accompanied on the Tabla by Prithwish Ray Chaudhuri of Class XII L (A). A Classical Vocal recital by Sagnik Sen of Class XI B (M) followed, and together, these sessions showcased the skill and dedication of Pointers to this great performing art. The second half of the programme was equally wonderful, featuring a lecture and demonstration on Bharatanatyam by Smt. Jhinook Mukherjee Sinha.

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Bulletin LET’S PARTY! THE-END-OF-THE YEAR class parties are great fun. They celebrate both the year gone by and the one about to come in. At SPS, class parties mark special school memories which children of Nursery I and II, Transition, Classes I, II and III relish every year. This year too, they stepped into School in pretty, colourful clothes, their smiles wide and radiant, and all the children happily and readily shared yummy snacks such as chips, cupcakes and Frooti with classmates and friends. On 26 February 2020, Nursery I and II as well as Transition pupils turned up for their parties. The Nursery children were especially delighted as it was the first time they were having such classroom fun. They happily munched on, sang, danced and, of course, listened to stories. The classrooms looked brighter with their smiles and laughter. Transition children too relished yummy snacks and soon after Tom and Jerry films were shown to them as part of the movie show. The laughter of the happy hearts echoed aloud. Classes I, II and III children celebrated their term-end on 25th. Class I children had much fun and excitement as they watched Noddy: The Goblins and the Invisible Paint, Peter Rabbit and The Owl Adventure in the company of their friends. Equally amusing was the storytelling session. A short film on Charlie Chaplin: The Circus and the comedy adventure film, Animals United, enthralled Class II children. They too danced and sang and spread much joy around. Class III boys looked cute in suits, blazers and kurta-pajamas while the little ladies stepped out in gowns, maxis and frocks. They enjoyed every moment of the movie, Dolittle, and burst out in peals of laughter. They worked out a Fun Sheet with a lot of enthusiasm. Storytelling, songs and jokes found the children asking for more and they were quite unwilling to go home.

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Bulletin CELEBRATING DEAR ELDERS HASN’T someone rightly called grandparents the best kind of grown-ups? One just needed to be at SPS on 6 March 2020 and imbibe the spirit of warmth, cheer and thanksgiving for the grand old grown-ups. It was the lovely occasion of Grandparents’ Day. All children of Nursery I, along with their grandparents, were invited to attend the grand event. A total of 131 pupils of Nursery I put up a mesmerizing programme, the theme for which was the forever favourite, ‘Noddy in Toyland’. The full-throated songs presented by the Nursery choir, the sweet dances and enactments by the dancers and actors brought the joys of childhood back to the applauding audience. There were four shows in all, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. After each show, the grandparents who formed the audience of that particular show, enjoyed every moment at the backyard mini fair with their grandchildren. Stalls selling candy floss, ice-creams, popcorns and other mouth-watering goodies almost transported everyone to Dinah Doll’s sweets shop! Tea for grandparents was complimentary. More fun for the little ones awaited at the toy train, the ball pool and the tumble tosser. As the happy children left School with their grandparents, each child was given a balloon as a reminder of all the fun they had that day.

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TUNED IN TO CHILDREN SPS Teachers of Classes III, IV and V saw to it that their students enjoyed Children’s Day on 14 November 2019. They put up shows with great enthusiasm, made the children laugh and clap, sometimes perform with them and often subtly mixed messages with merriment. Class III (Morning) Class Teachers presented a medley of foot-tapping numbers such as ‘Lakdi ki kati’, ‘Singing yaya’ and ‘Baarbaar din ye aaye’ which their pupils enjoyed thoroughly. They clapped in rhythm and sang along. Equally enjoyable was the dash of acting and voice modulation in recitation by Vernacular Teachers.

Soon after cartoon characters such as Doraemon, Nobita, Motu Patlu and Inspector Chingam walked in on stage, presenting a skit. It was woven around the message of saying no to plastic. The dance by the cartoon characters brandishing cloth bags and throwing away one-time use polythene bags, while explaining that plastic, too, can be recycled was lapped up by the children. The Afternoon Session teachers presented a Bengali skit, a humorous Hindi skit based on a tortoise family going for a picnic and landing up in funny situations, a song mashup by Class Teachers and a dance performance by other teachers. The Class IV programme commenced with a teacher explaining the significance of the day. Hilarious classroom scenes enacted by teachers greatly amused the young audience. They pushed, pulled, bickered and complained as the children broke into peals of laughter. The Hindi/ Games Department enacted a highly amusing, satirical skit, titled Dr. Gulati ka Dawakhana. A teacher danced to the tune of the popular Bengali number, 'Bajlo chhutir ghonta'. Several teachers sang and danced to the remix of 'Pagla hawa'. Class V children thoroughly relished their teachers’ performances. A Group Song, a Hindi play, two Bengali audio dramas put up by Bengali Teachers and the Art Department and an English play put up by the Class Teachers – it was a most entertaining presentation. The SPS Principal, Smt. D. K. Chadda, spoke beautifully at the end of all the programmes, followed by a thunderous applause and cheering from the students. All children from Nursery I to Class V as well as students of Sandipan, the free evening school run by South Point Foundation, were given chocolates on this day.

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REUNITED AT RENDEZVOUS IT was fun, food, music and adda all over at Rangmanch, Swabhumi, when on the chilly evening of 28 December 2019 former Pointers met for their annual reunion, Rendezvous, organised with great enthusiasm by ASPEXS, the South Point Ex-Students' Association. The theme this year was the very colourful and cheerful Festivals of India. Pointers from past batches brought the theme alive, sporting specific festive attire, and walked to the tunes and rhythms of music. For these 45 minutes of happy togetherness, Holi, Eid, Durga Puja and Christmas were celebrated with equal ardour.

Dakshin Bindu, the alumni music band, rocked the stage with their amazing performance. The tempo of the evening reached its crescendo with the O Sathi Chal version 2. Finally it was time to shake a leg to popular Bollywood numbers with DJ Koel on stage. And yes, there were spot prizes as well!

In the midst of all the fun and celebrations, everyone paused to remember Supriya Aunty and Rana Safui, two beloved alumuni who had forever left for a different world, but left their precious memories behind.

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Bulletin JOINING THE DOTS POINTER Connect, a joint initiative of South Point Ex-students’ Association (ASPEXS) and South Point High School, aims at bringing together and connecting Pointers across generations.

ASPEXS facilitates links between students still studying in School and the ‘diaspora’ of former Pointers spread across the globe, with a view to enhancing the learning process of the current Pointers as well as providing the alumni a means to contribute back to their alma mater. A number of valuable sessions have taken place in the recent past, where the alumni, drawn from varied professions, addressed and interacted with students. These helped students gain first-hand understanding of these fields. Pointer Connect has had a smooth transition to the digital format as webinars or virtual seminars since lockdown. Members of the alumni come online from across the world, reinforcing the e-learning pattern now being followed at South Point. On 6 May 2020, Dr. Debjit Das Sarma, Principal Autopilot Hardware Architect, Tesla, USA, and alumnus of the 1984 Higher Secondary batch, connected from San Jose, USA. He spoke on ‘The wondrous world of self-driving cars’. Dr. Arkadev Chatterjea, Financial Economist and Visiting Fellow, CHERI, Cornell University, USA, and Research Fellow, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, addressed students on ‘Real world microeconomics and economics of pandemic’. The alumnus of 1981 Higher Secondary batch spoke from Bloomington, Indiana, USA, on 9 May. Shri Ashish Toshniwal, CEO and Co-Founder of Y Media Labs, USA, logged in on 16 May from Silicon Valley, USA. He is a 2001 Higher Secondary batch alumnus and he spoke on ‘A Pointer who moved to Silicon Valley and built one of the most admired companies of America’. Shri Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, Data and Analytics Head, Shell Energy, and Member, Board of Advisors, Energy Risk, USA, connected with students on 13 June from Houston, USA, at the webinar on ‘Disruptive technologies for the future’. He is an alumnus of the 1983 Higher Secondary batch.

Pointer Connect not only builds bridges across generations. It opens doors to a wealth of achievable career dreams and creative ideas for present Pointers. A masterclass in motivation, that’s what Pointer Connect is.

LOVE & CARE SOUTH Point. The name itself reminds all its former pupils of a blue building, their home away from home, and of course their teachers, who have given shape to their lives over the years. The Care Wing of ASPEXS reinforces the bond between the teachers and the alumni, years down the line. In its twelfth year, the Care Wing arranged the annual Teacher's Meet at the Calcutta Rowing Club on 23 February 2020. It was an adda session over lunch where once-upon-a-time colleagues and friends bonded over lunch and had their own share of fun and laughter while enjoying the meal. It was wonderful to see the wide smiles across all the faces, happy to be recalled by girls and boys whom they had once taught and to be surrounded and cared for by them. Several teachers were tracked down by Care Wing volunteers after a long time and they were overjoyed to be invited over for lunch. It was a worthy platform for volunteers to express their heartfelt gratitude to their beloved and respected teachers. It was a pleasant spring afternoon of fun, laughter, and a pinch of nostalgia, by the beautiful lake of the CRC.

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Bulletin BRING IT ON! TEAM ASPEXS played in the finals of STOPA Cup, the 6TH Inter-School Alumni T20 Cricket Tournament, at the St. Thomas’ Boys’ School ground on 15 March 2020. Led by Captain Riki Malik (HS 2001), the team has shaped up well with a bright pool of players. The tournament has become more and more competitive over the years with more school alumni taking it very seriously. Former Pointers, too, continue the School’s impressive legacy of cricket. Team ASPEXS shone in all their group matches and competed against Md. Jaan High School in the finals. They emerged Runners-up. On the final day the Best Fielder award went to ex-Pointer Supratim Banik; the Man of the Series award was won by Skipper Riki Malik. This is the fourth time he has picked up the Man of the Series Award for his all-round contribution to the game.

IN MEMORIAM SWARNADEEP Saha of Transition E (M) passed away on 5 January 2020. The SPS staff-members observed a two-minute silence on 10 January to pay respect to the adorable child. His teachers remember him as a loving, obedient and well-behaved child who was most respectful towards them. A bright, intelligent and cheerful little boy, Swarnadeep loved being in the Playroom with his friends. He was the pride of his class.

May God give courage to his parents and dear ones to bear the great loss.

SMT. Dolly Hazra, a member of the SPS Service staff, passed away on 13 November 2019. She had been in service at the institution for more than 35 years. A two-minute silence was observed in the School that afternoon, and on 30th, a prayer meeting was held at the SPS Auditorium in her memory.

Staff-members attended the meeting.

THE South Point family was extremely grieved at the sudden and untimely passing away of Shri Surjendu Bikash Datta Ray on 20 June 2020. Shri Datta Ray held the position of Head of the Department of Commerce of South Point High School and was on the Managing Committee of the School for several terms. He was equally popular amongst colleagues and his students. Everyone in the School mourned his departure and will always miss his presence.

ON 15 May 2020, South Point lost Shri Ramen Das, SPHS Office staff-member.

He had been a member of the School family since 1988. His absence will be deeply felt by all members of the School.

THE School family mourns the demise of Shri Shyamlal Mullick, an SPS Service staff-member, on 10 October 2020. He was a member of the SPS family since 1982. Our prayers for peace to the departed soul.

SOUTH Point mourns the passing away of Shri Vijay Kumar Yadav, SPHS Service staff-member, on 22 September 2020. He had been suffering for some time. He was a quiet worker and will be missed by all. May his soul rest in peace.

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SOUTH Point lost the SPHS Teacher of the English Department, Smt. Anindya Dey, to a brief illness on 8 April 2020. Deeply saddened and shocked at her untimely demise, all her colleagues prayed for her soul and for the bereaved family.

May she rest in eternal peace.

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Bulletin AWARDS & ACCOLADES ON 11 November 2019, 27th Business School Affaire and Dewang Mehta National Education Awards (Regional Round) conferred the Education Leadership Award on Dr. (Smt.) Madhu Kohli, Director, South Point School, at an award ceremony held at Taj Bengal, Kolkata.

SOUTH Point School was awarded the First Runner-Up trophy and a Certificate of Appreciation by SIP Academy for ranking Second in overall performance out of 121 schools of West Bengal which participated in SIP Academy’s All-India Inter-School Junior and Arithmetic Genius Contest 2019 held on 1 December 2019. The contest was organized in association with The Telegraph in Schools (TTIS). A total of 68,000 students took part in the mega contest from West Bengal. SPS, thus, stands in the list of Top 20 schools from the state.

RESULTS of the National Science Olympiad, held in November 2019, reached SPS amid much jubilation. A few young Pointers have done remarkably well. Adwitiya Roy of Class III C (M) has achieved the international rank 10th while Anshuman Chatterjee of Class III A (M) has secured the international rank 13th. Arindam Nag of Class V B (M) has stood 11th at the international level. Quite a few other students of Classes III, IV and V have done very well in the Science Olympiad. Certificates of Participation, Certificates of Distinction, Performance Report and medals for all deserving students reached School of late. Four students each of Classes III and V, and three of Class IV have received Gold medals of distinction. Twenty-one other students have won Gold medals, twenty Silver and twenty-one Bronze medals.

INTERNATIONAL Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) was conducted in SPS in September 2019. The results and certificates reached School in March 2020. The certificates received subject wise, are as follows while every child taking the test, receives a Participation Certificate.

Subject

Total no. of students who appeared for the ICAS

Merit Certificate

Digital Technologies

74

10

English

279

Science Mathematics

Credit Certificate

Distinction Certificate

High Distinction Certificate

18

14

1

35

95

40

3

181

29

69

27

2

343

47

137

47

4

SOUTH Point High School received the Best School Award for the performance of its students in the Senior Scholarship Test and also the Special Award for the performance of the present students in the Junior Scholarship Test from the JBNSTS, in an award ceremony held at Presidency University on 21 December 2019.

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Bulletin WINNING SPREE SAMRIDDHI Dutta of Class III D (A), a budding singer, won two prizes in the Cultural Competition organised by Jatra Suru Sangha on 26 October 2019. She stood First in Nazrul Geeti and Second in Rabindrasangeet. Samriddhi received a trophy and a certificate for each event.

ATHARVA RAJ of Class V F (M) had participated in the 2nd All India Open Muay Thai Selection Championship held at Naba Kumar Sadan (Indoor Hall) on 20 October 2019 and won Gold in the below 40 kg event. He also received a certificate for this.

ANUSHKA Sen, Class V A (M), has been persistently excelling in Kickboxing. She became the Champion in Kickboxing Fit Expo 2019 held at Science City on 7 December and won a Gold medal as well as the Champion’s Cup. Anushka had also participated in West Bengal Kickboxing State Championship 2019 held at Jadavpur University in September 2019. She emerged the Champion in the ‘Sweat 2019’ Functional Fitness Competition, at the Sub-Junior category and secured Gold. She won Silver in the Sub-Junior Semi-Contact category as the runner-up. She recently received her certificates for the events held at Jadavpur University. She also participated in the 11th Sub-Junior, 12th Junior and 13th Senior National Kickboxing Championships held at Nashik from 28 to 31 December 2019. She won the Bronze medal in the Sub-Junior, Female (10-13 years) Semi-Contact Category. Anushka has received a certificate too.

AADARSHINI Tarafdar of Class V E (A) participated in KKI CUP National-Level Full Contact Karate Championship organised by Shivaji Ganguly Academy at Harish Park, Kolkata, on 4 and 5 January 2020. She received a Gold medal after coming First in 10+ to 12 years Girls’ Kata category and a Bronze medal for securing the Third position in the 10+ to 12 years Girls’ Kumite category.

ROMIT Kundu, Class IV F (M), had participated in the Roller Skating Championship 2019 organised by ‘Sports n Fun’ at Space Circle on 2 October 2019. He stood Second and became eligible to compete at the State level. Romit received his medal recently.

MOHONA Paul of Class III E (M), a budding Table Tennis player, participated in the Inter-District Table Tennis Championship, under the auspices of Dakshin Kolkata District Table Tennis Association, held at Sahid Smriti Sangha, Dhakuria, on 11 and 12 January 2020. She came Third in both Sub-Junior Girls’ Singles event and Cadet Girls’ Singles event and received certificates and medals for both.

SHREYON Sarkar, Class IV A (M), received the First Runner up Trophy for Advanced Level 2 in the Regional SIP Abacus, Brain Gym and Mental Arithmetic Competition held recently in Kolkata. Shreyon has recently received the certificate for this.

ARUNIMA Banerjee of Class I F (A) came First in My Cool Q Spell-A-Thon Olympiads (English Language Vocabulary and Communicative Skills Competition) held at SIP Abacus, Elgin Road, on 14 December 2019. She received a trophy and a certificate.

HERE’S to a budding poet!

Mayesha Mondal of Class III C (M) has recently won the First prize for writing a poem for the Telekids Super Contest 2019 (The Polar Odyssey) organised

by The Telegraph.

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Bulletin SREEMOYEE Sarkhel of Class III A (M) participated in the Republic Day Cup 2020, National-Level Karate Championship, held at the National Public School Auditorium, Bengaluru, on 1 and 2 February 2020. It was organised by OSK Federation of India. She stood Second in Category 19 and won a medal and a certificate.

AKSHADA Khatua of Nursery II G (A) had participated in ‘Best of Best Abhijit Seishinkai Inter-Club Karate Championship 2020 Best of Best Cup’, organised by Abhijit Seishinkai Karate Do Academy on 5 January 2020. It is affiliated to the All-India Seishinkai Shito-ryu Karate Do Federation. Akshada secured the Bronze medal in the 4-5 years Girls’ Kata category. She also received a certificate.

SOMDEV Sengupta, Class II E (M), participated in the Inter-District Table Tennis Championship held at Athletic Club, Santoshpur, on 8 and 9 February 2020 and won a certificate and a trophy. Somdev also participated in the Inter-District Table Tennis Championship held at Sahid Smriti Sangha, Dhakuria. He stood First in Nursery Boys’ Singles category in this event too and received a certificate as well as a trophy.

ADRIJA Sarkar, Class III C (M), has been selected to participate in the Women’s District Cricket Coaching Camp, allotted by the CAB. The camp was held between 6 and 17 January 2020 at Sagar Sangha Ground (District Stadium), Baruipur. Adrija has also represented the South 24-Parganas District Women’s Cricket Team for the Inter-District Women’s Cricket Tournament 2019–2020 held at Midnapore from 21 to 26 January, organised by the CAB.

RUDRANI Mondal of Class III E (M) participated in ‘Anandabazar Patrika School-e’ and came Third in ‘Porar Phanke Naache Shera’, held on 16 February 2020. She received a certificate and a medal.

RITAM Nag of Class XI J (A) has won the Gold medal in the Romanian Master of Mathematics 2020, held in Bucharest between 26 February and 2 March 2020.

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Bulletin WORKSHOPS & PRESENTATIONS

COMPRESSION Only Life Support (COLS) workshop for training pupils of Class XI about the techniques of Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation was held on 5 and 8 November 2019, at the SPHS Auditorium. The pupils received hands-on experience of CPR techniques. A team of doctors from the Indian Society of Anaesthesiology and Indian Resuscitative Council conducted the sessions. The third phase of the COLS workshop was held on 14th for the pupils of Classes XI K and XI L. Another such workshop took place for pupils of a few sections of Class XI on 19th.

SMT. Simmi Talwar and Smt. Santa Banerjee, SPHS Teachers, attended the Prospective Resource Person Training Programme on Hindi A, organized by CBSE, on 4 and 5 November 2019 at Sushila Birla Girls’ School, Kolkata.

THE Law School Admission Council (LSAC) conducted a workshop for pupils of Classes XI and XII of the Commerce and Humanities Streams on 7 November 2019. Prof. Tom Goldstein, Dean, Jindal School of Journalism and Communication, and Prof. C. Rajkumar, Vice Chancellor, O. P. Jindal University, spoke on taking up journalism and law as careers.

ON 9 November 2019, a workshop conducted by Oxford University Press of India was held at The Park Hotel, Kolkata.

Smt. Arpita Dasgupta, Assistant Superintending Teacher, Class IV, and Smt. Subarna Mitra, Assistant Superintending Teacher of Class V, attended it. The resource person was Dr. Jesudoss Jeyapaul, an educationist and a renowned English Language expert. He shared his innovative ideas about Language teaching and urged Language teachers to focus more on performance.

SMT. Mahua Goswami, Superintending Teacher of Class IV, and Smt. Nivedita Gupta, Superintending Teacher, Class V, attended a workshop on ‘Need for Skill Development in English Language Teaching’. It was held at Hotel Hindusthan International, Kolkata, on 9 November 2019. Organised by Headword Publishing Company, the workshop had Smt. Ruchi Sengar, a CELTA-qualified ELT consultant who has authored books for renowned publishers, as the resource person.

SMT. Gargi Banerjee, Head of the Department, Mathematics, and Smt. Seema Goswami, Teacher Consultant, Arithmetic, both of SPS, attended the ‘Maths Sharing Session’ as part of the CBSE Hub of Learning conducted at Sushila Birla Girls’ School by its teachers on 7 December 2019. Simple yet innovative ideas were shared in this most enriching session.

FIVE pupils from Classes XI and XII of the Astronomy Club, accompanied by Shri Kishalaya Saha, SPHS Teacher, attended a seminar-cum-workshop on astronomy and astrophysics at the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, on 11 November 2019. It included a sky-watching session in the evening.

SMT. Gargi Dey, SPHS Teacher, attended the 3rd Regional Consultation on Non-Communicable Diseases at Vivanta on 12 December 2019. It was organized by Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in association with Cancer Foundation of India.

A representative of KREA University, Andhra Pradesh, spoke about various courses, including the inter-disciplinary ones it offers, and the admission process. About 100 pupils of Classes XI and XII attended the programme.

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Bulletin SMT. Tulika Bindra, Additional Vice Principal, SPHS, attended a CBSE workshop, titled 'Orientation-cum-training programme on pre- and post-examination modalities' at Apeejay School, Salt Lake, on 18 January 2020.

SPHS organised a number of in-house workshops for teachers of Middle School and High School. High School Social Science workshops took place on 28 February and 6 March 2020. Another High School workshop occurred on 2 March. A Middle School Science workshop was held on 4th.

A seminar on ‘Shaping the way we teach English in the 21st century’ was organized by Pearson India Education Services Pvt. Ltd. on 7 December 2019 at Middleton Chambers, Kolkata. Smt. Madhurima Bhattacharya, SPHS Teacher, attended the daylong seminar.

A guitar workshop was organized for Class IX CCA Guitar students by Shri Ekant Singh and team at the SPHS Auditorium on 14 December 2019.

The West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights held an important consultation on RTE on 7 February 2020 at the WBCPCR office, ICMARD Building, Ultadanga. It focused on the need to understand the mental health of pupils. Smt. Brita Sarkar, Coordinator, Classes VI to VIII, represented SPHS at the meet.

SMT. Monalisa Singhania, Superintending Teacher, Class I, and Smt. Mome Bandyopadhyay, Superintending Teacher of Class III, attended a presentation at The Senator, Camac Street, on 15 February 2020. It was organised by Bharati Bhawan Publishers and Distributors. The interesting as well as informative session was conducted by the eminent ELT expert, Shri Amber Banerjee. ‘The Magic Carpet’, an innovative ELT series, was launched too, followed by an informal interactive session with Shri Banerjee, the author.

SMT. Debrupa Ghosh, Smt. Arundhati Roy and Smt. Mithu Haldar, SPHS Teachers, attended a CBSE Workshop on Inclusion and Inclusive Strategies at Sushila Birla Girls’ High School on 29 February 2020. It was conducted by experts in the field of inclusive education.

WORKSHOPS on ‘Understanding Emotions in Children’ were conducted by Smt. Anju Chirimar and Smt. Imon Neogi, SPS Counsellors, and Smt. Lily Khawas and Smt. Nilanjana Ghosh, SPS Special Educators, on 5 March 2020 in the School Library. Class Teachers of Classes I and II attended the workshop in the morning while Teachers teaching in Class III and Computer Teachers attended it in the afternoon.

A seminar with the eminent Psychiatrist, Dr. Rima Mukherjee, was organised by School for staff-members of both SPS and SPHS on 27 April 2020 on Zoom. She spoke on coping mechanisms in personal and professional lives and it was a session that provided much insight in these trying times.

ON 15 May 2020, Shri Bobby Chakraborty, Actor, Activist and Teacher of Method Acting, addressed SPHS students of Classes VII to XI at a webinar called “I am the King of My Mind”. It dealt with issues such as how to make the right choices, ways to learn about the dangers of addiction, how to combat them and developing self-respect and concern for others in today's world.

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DR. Rahul Jain of the Belle Vue Clinic conducted a most enlightening awareness workshop on COVID-19 at the SPS Auditorium on 13 March 2020. All members of staff attended it.

ONLINE orientation programmes with parents of Nursery I and II were held on 22 and 23 April 2020. These were addressed by Smt. Dalbir Kaur Chadda, SPS Principal, and the Nursery Superintending Teacher and attended by Coordinators and Nursery Teachers.

SPS teachers attended an online story-telling workshop on 13 May 2020. It was organised by Macmillan Education and the Resource Person was Smt. Sowmya Satish.

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ON 11 November 2019, 801 SPS students from Classes III, IV and V appeared for the National Science Olympiad. The examination was held in the School premises.

Bulletin NEWS ROUND-UP

THE National Science Olympiad, conducted by the Science Olympiad Foundation, was held in SPHS on 11 November 2019 in the School premises. The National Cyber Olympiad took place in the School premises on 28th for the pupils of Classes VI to X. On 5 December, the International Mathematical Olympiad was conducted for Classes VI to XII pupils.

A PTM for Classes IV and V was held at SPS on 2 November 2019 when First Term progress report cards were handed over to parents and answerscripts of First Term Block Tests were shown. A book fair, in collaboration with Oxford Subscription Company, was held in School on that day.

SAGNIK Samadder, Class IX G (M), Subhanik Basu, Class IX G (M), Richik Sarkar, Class IX D (M), and Soham Bhowmick, Class X G (A), participated in the Third District School Cricket Team Selection Trial (U/17 Boys Category) on 19 November 2019 at the Vivekananda Park ground.

MULTI-LAYER plastic packets (MLP) and waste papers collected in the Garbage Bank were taken from SPS by the Garbage Free India executive on 15 November 2019.

THE SPHS Principal, Smt. R. S. Bhattacharjee, addressed Class XII pupils on 18, 19 and 21 November 2019 to orient and inspire them to do their best in the forthcoming Board Examinations. On 22nd, she addressed a section of Class X pupils to give them tips about their forthcoming examinations. Teacher Consultants and other senior teachers guided students on preparations for the ensuing Practice Test and forthcoming Board Examinations. On 25th, several Class X sections were motivated by the Principal to perform the best in the upcoming Practice Test and the Board Examinations. Useful tips came from Teacher Consultants too.

PUPILS of Class XI J (A) were taken to the Science City on 21 November 2019 to attend a seminar and to visit the Vigyan Samagam Exhibition. These were organized to make young motivated students aware about the role of India in several international mega-science projects like Large Hadron Collider of CERN, International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), Square Kilometre Array Telescope, India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO), Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR), Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory (LIGO), and to inspire them to choose research as a future career.

TEN pupils of Class XI F (M), accompanied by a teacher, watched the musical drama, The Little Mermaid, organized by Mahadevi Birla World Academy at Kalamandir on 28 November 2019.

A food fiesta based on festivals was organized by teachers of Cubs and Bulbuls on 14 December 2019.

The young Cubs and Bulbuls brought mouth-watering savouries which they shared amongst themselves to welcome Christmas and the New Year.

THE Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) December-2019 was held in the SPHS premises on 8 December. The total number of candidates who were designated to the centre was 480.

THE ASSET test for Mathematics was held in SPS on 11 December 2019 for Class IV students.

THE ASSET Test in Mathematics for Class VI pupils was held in the SPHS premises on 10 December 2019. The Test for Class VIII pupils took place on 12th.

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ON 23 January 2020, six pupils of Class XI participated in the Meghnad Saha Vigyan Mela, organized by Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Jadavpur University and Indian Oil Corporation in collaboration with Pashchim Banga Vigyan Mancha, at Triangular Park, Kolkata. About 30 schools participated in the fair that continued till 26th.

Bulletin FOUR Class XI pupils attended I-Manthan, Innovative Ideas for a Safer Kolkata, organized by Kolkata Police on 23 January 2020. They made an audio-visual presentation in that event.

AN optional Karate Belt Gradation was held for students of Classes III to X on 1 February 2020. It was organised and conducted by Martial Art India.

A PTM of Classes X and XII was held in SPHS on 25 January 2020 and another one for Classes VI to IX and XI took place on 7 February 2020.

SPHS student-members of the Photography Club and Nature Club enjoyed an excursion at the Agri-Horticultural Society on 8 February 2020.

IT was a great time spent in the company of books. On 24 January 2020, SPS pupils observed One Nation Reading Together, an event organised by Scholastic India. All of them experienced the pleasure of reading together for an entire period of half an hour. The tiny tots of Nursery and Transition seemed spellbound as they listened to stories read out to them by their teachers. The students of Classes I to V read storybooks which they brought from home. Before these children began reading, their teachers read out the Reading Pledge. It was a momentous occasion to see all the children engrossed in reading. Pupils of Classes IV and V also wrote a few lines on their favourite author /book/ fictional character on the graffiti sheet mounted on the central softboard on their floors. It was an enriching experience for the children as they derived joy from reading. In SPHS too, pupils of Class VI took part in the programme. They read the books that they had brought from home, wrote down the names of their favourite books and authors on a graffiti sheet provided by Scholastic and read aloud the Reading Pledge before they started the session.

SPHS students participated in the Anti-Dengue Campaign which was organised by Kolkata Municipal Corporation on 8 February 2020. They marched from Cornfield Road through the entire Ward No. 68.

SPHS organized two farewell sessions for pupils of Classes X and XII – who were to appear for AISSE and AISSCE 2020 -- on 10 and 11 February. Rich in memories, camaraderie, last-minute exchanges of good luck messages and, of course, looking forward to newer milestones – the two days stood out as special ones for both the pupils and their mentors.

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Bulletin INTER-HOUSE COMPETITIONS Event SPHS Poster-Making Competition Results: Individuals (Classes IX & X) Angelica Das, Class X C (A) Atreyee Pal, Class X C (M) Rajanya Saha, Class IX A (A) Sorjona Bhattacharjee, Class IX C (M)

Date 1 November 2019

SPHS Poster-Making Competition Results: Individuals (Classes XI & XII) Neelavra Sarkar, Class XI J (A) Mahima Chakraborty, Class XII F (M) Rupanjana Das, Class XI F (M) Soubhagya Ghosh, Class XI J (A) Basudha Singha, Class XI F (M) Parboni Basu, Class XI A (M)

4 November 2019

SPHS Dance Competition Results: Individuals (Classes IX & X) Aishi Mukhopadhyay, Class IX B (A) Divyani Mohanty, Class IX D (A) Debanjana Biswas, Class X C (A) Rwittika Roy Chowdhury, Class X G (M) Arshia Chatterjee, Class IX B (A) Shuvangi Chakraborty, Class X D (A) Mehuli Majumdar, Class IX E (M) Debodipta Dutta, Class X D (M)

6 & 7 November 2019

SPS Debate Competition Results: Individuals Shubhayoo Banerjee, Class V F (A) Prajukta Samaddar, Class IV A (A) Rayonee Ganguly, Class V A (M) Results: Houses Derozio House Rabindranath Tagore House Ashutosh Mukherjee House

22 January 2020

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First Second Third Third

First First Second Second Third Third

First First Second Second Third Third Third Third

First Second Third First Second Third

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Bulletin INTER-SCHOOL COMPETITIONS THE CBSE National Chess Championship was held at Mount Abu Public School, Rohini, New Delhi, from 8 to 13 November 2019.

SPHS U/14 Boys’, U/17 Boys’ and U/19 Boys’ Teams had qualified to take part in it. In the U/19 Mixed Individual Championship, Aronyak Ghosh of Class X F (M) won the Gold Medal and in the U/19 Boys’ Team event the School team won the Bronze Medal.

THE CBSE National Table Tennis Championship was held at R. R. Public School, Bijnoor, U.P., between 9 and 14 November 2019. Priyakshi Roy of Class X G (M) took part in the U/19 Individual Category. The U/14 Boys’ Team won two consecutive matches against the Champion School Team of the Gulf Region and the Champion School Team of the South Zone. In the Individual Championship, Swastik Dey of Class VIII B (A) and Priyakshi Roy won a match each. In the U/14 Mixed Doubles Category, Parijat Dwary of Class VII H (M) picked up the Bronze Medal.

THE CBSE National Swimming Championship was held at Gyanganga International School, Bhopal, from 11 to 16 November 2019. A total of 10 pupils (five boys and girls each) had qualified for the tournament in U/17 and U/19 categories. The SPHS U/17 Girls’ Team won four Silver and four Bronze Medals in the Free Style and Medley Relay events.

RYAN Roy Das, Class III F (M), has received a Bronze medal and a Certificate of Appreciation for winning the Second Round (State Level) of SIP Arithmetic Genius All-India Inter-School Contest, held on 1 December 2019.

PUPILS of Classes XI and XII participated in various events at Jaco Logiq, a Tech Fest organised by St. James’ School on 22 November 2019 on its premises. They secured the First position in Pixel.

STUDENTS of Classes III, IV and V participated in Jubilare, the Inter-School Festival held at Shri Shikshayatan School, on 30 November 2019. Tuhin Mondal of Class V E (A), Suvayan Dey of Class V G (A), Pujak Chakraborty of Class IV G (A) and Mayanka Paul of Class III G (A) made SPS proud by winning the top spot in the event, Mindgame -- Chess. Pointers stood Third in Inkwizitive – Quiz on Fantasy. The contestants for this event were Meghalina Sanyal Chatterjee, Class V D (A), and Akshay Agarwal, Class V G (M). The children received trophies for School and certificates for themselves. Each participant was given a goodie-bag too.

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Bulletin A total of 75 pupils of Class XI participated in the preliminary round for Empathy Times – Empowering People against Hepatitis and Liver Diseases, organized

by The Times of India on 10 December 2019 in the SPHS Auditorium. At the final round of ‘Empathy Times Inter-School Quiz Competition 2019’ at Hyatt Regency on 13th, SPHS secured the Third position out of 30 teams. They received cash prize worth `15,000, certificates and a trophy.

SPHS students attended the Poetry Competition organized

by Burrabazar Library on 15 December 2019. Out of 40 participating schools, they emerged the Winner.

A total of 16 pupils of Class XI participated in the 4th Regional Science and Technology Congress at Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, West Bengal, on 23 December 2019. They displayed four innovative projects, prepared under the mentorship of Shri Subhratanu Sarkar, SPHS Teacher, and won the Fourth award as a team.

NILANKUR Barik, Class XI J (A), Pramita Chatterjee, Class XI B (M), and Archishman Banerjee, Class XI B (M), participated in the Brain Bee Quiz at the Institute of Neurosciences, Kolkata, on 15 December 2019.

Archishman has secured the First Runner-up spot in the competition.

ADRIJA Chakraborty, Class VII B (M), Adrija Ghorai, Class VII B (M), Sudeshna Baidya, Class VII C (A), Urjani Roy, Class VII F (A), Ahana Biswas, Class VIII C (M), and Srijani Pal Chowdhury, Class VIII H (A), participated in the Athletic Meet organized by Gokhale Memorial Girls’ School for their Centenary Celebration (1920-2020) at the Gitanjali Stadium on 9 January 2020. Srijani came Third in 100 Mtrs. Flat Race.

SPHS Cricket teams fared very well at the CAB U/15 Mayor’s Cup Cricket Tournament, held over several days. On 23 January 2020, the match was held at Delhi Public School, Joka, and Pointers won the match against the host team.

The Man of the Match award went to Aditya Roy of Class VII A (A). On 26th, the SPHS team defeated hosts, Delhi Public School, Howrah, by 428 runs. The Man of the Match prize was won by Sourya Chowdhury of Class VIII D (M). The next match took place at the Bansdroni Maitri Sansad Ground on 28th. Here, too, Apeejay School (Park Street) lost to the SPHS team by 10 wickets. Richik Sarkar of Class IX D (M) picked up the Man of the Match prize. Pointers also participated in the CAB U/15 Mayor’s Cup (Second Phase) Cricket Tournament held at Asian International School, Howrah, on 20 and 21 February 2020.

SEVERAL Pointers from Classes III to V represented SPS at Malgudi Miracales, the Inter-School Literary Fest (Junior) at Mahadevi Birla World Academy, on 31 January 2020. Anshpreet Kaur Auluck of Class V F (M) and Md. Hisham of Class V F (A) received a trophy for coming Third in ‘Kavi ki Kalpana’ (Hindi Poetry). At the cricket match, ‘Ninnal Stupefait’, the SPS team lifted the Runner-up trophy. Rumel Shadaf Ahmed, Class V G (M), was the highest scorer that day. All participants received certificates.

POINTER

AT the T/10 Carnival Cricket Tournament, organized by 107 Ward Councillor on 12 March 2020, the SPHS U/15 team won both matches against B. D. Memorial School and A. G. Church School. They emerged Champions by beating The Heritage School at the finals played on the same date.

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PAGE

TITLE

EXPRESSION VERSE-TALITY 44 My little garden Wishes Christmas in Darjeeling Good habits 45 Mickey’s mother Magical words Similipal Space, my love 46 What a year!

Fishy Boys in blue Zero Trams 47 My family My pink car Funride Sweet home 48 Grandma Ballerina The blue toy train Brave Bob 49 I wish…

Wonderland The river Live and let live 50 A train of dreams Detectives and spies The missing sun Chocolates How will I go?

51 Save the Earth The autumn sky Who am I? 52 Rushing to the sea Lesson A long wait 53 The mango orchard Growing up Giving up 4 a.m.

54 Journey Pretty little girls 55 Till the last breath Pain ETCHED IN WORDS 58 At the Sunderbans Tears of joy Birthday blessings Desert safari 59 A dangerous dream The lazy king The Portuguese Man O’ War! Molly 60 A day at the Universal Studios Incredible Bengal!

The baby elephant 61 Camping at Jaldapara Moa My resolution 62 Bulbul A gadget – for life Over the Moon 63 The best gift ever!

A trek to Yamunotri 64 Dana’s story A visit to Vaishali 65 Meeting dear Matilda Grateful to be alive 66 The haunted camera What a surprise!

67 A mother’s pride 68 As the clock ticks…

A gentle giant 69 Something special in him…

Shock and awe!

70 The mystery of Mr. Barkley’s death 71 At Garten Schit 72 The violinist 73 Thinking it my way Believe it or not!

74 When his heart rules…

75 A surprise in Birmingham 76 Who am I? 77 My family and other thoughts 78 The voice 79 The unsung saviour 80 Blackout knockout Change 81 The mystery of the mango orchard 82 Unexpected & unidentified 83 An oath to remember The record-keeper 84 Tashi Delek!

85 To Kaziranga and back 86 Burning bright

NAME

CLASS

Aaradhaya Makhal Sanket Datta Kritanu Bandyopadhyay Saanvi Vij Ishayu Sen Riddhita Paul Radhesh Biswal Ankana Pal Prisha Das Shaurya Nanda Shatanik Pal Anirab Ghosal Archisman Ray Avisumat Prasad Sreejita Sarkar Diptayan Dutta Chandrima Bir Ritoprana Chanda Ennakshi Mondal Medha Shree Sarkar Suman Pramanik Soha Hazra Medhatithi De Adrika Bhattacharya Gaurabaditya Ghosh Indra Sinha Rajdeep Ghosh Arushi Chakrabarti Rajdeep Sardar Ishan Mukherji Shinjini Choudhuri Prajukta Das Soha Adrija Mandal Agnirudra Chatterjee Pramit Bhattacharya Ahana Mitra Suhana Guha Adrika Chaudhuri Anusha Tripathi Anushka Chowdhury Ovia Roy Srijita Ghosh Sneha Chakraborty Swastika Ghosh

Class I C (A) Class I B (M) Class I B (A) Class I F (M) Class I B (A) Class I C (A) Class I F (A) Class I A (A) Class I E (M) Class I B (M) Class III G (A) Class III B (M) Class III D (M) Class III F (M) Class III B (M) Class III A (M) Class III C (M) Class III A (A) Class III A (M Class III E (A) Class IV E (M) Class IV G (M) Class IV A (A) Class IV E (M) Class IV E (A) Class IV G (A) Class IV E (M) Class IV D (M) Class IV G (A) Class IV A (M) Class IV C (A) Class VIII F (A) Class VIII H (A) Class VIII F (A) Class IX G (M) Class IX B (A) Class X E (M) Class X E (M) Class X E (M) Class X A (A) Class X B (M) Class X B (A) Class X F (A) Class X B (A)

Anhiti Maulik Snehashis Roy Arkaprabha Banerjee Abhishuman Chatterjee Ishaan Sarkar Arnidipto Chaudhuri Shriankh Biswas Soham Sinha Abhilasha Das Arnab Chakraborty Aryahi Roy Swapnaja Giri Aparoop Daspodder Shiropa Chakraborty Ridhima Das Adhikary Adrisha Sen Debapriyo Chakrabarti Arja Dasgupta Aishik Roy Arindrajit Ray Zaryaab Razique Anushka Sen Ujan Majhi Siddhartha Chakraborty Sampurna Raychaudhuri Sreedisha Sarkar Ananya Saha Abhidha Roy Shreyos Chatterjee Rishiraj Chatterjee Shreejit Pakrashi Siddharth Mahto Urvi Ray Aditya Sarkar Sampriti Roy Aishik Bhattacharya Anjishnu Mallick Renaissance Basu Adrija Chatterjee Sreejoyee Sen Sharma Aarushi Das Dheeptha Biswas Riddhi Kayal Sharanya Mukherjee Devtanu Bhattacharya Imon Dutta Kanishka Chakraborty Sambriddhi Debnath Aishi Dutta Titirsha Biswas

Class I C (M) Class I E (M) Class I A (M) Class I A (M) Class I E (M) Class I D (A) Class I E (A) Class I B (A) Class I C (A) Class I G (A) Class I A (M) Class III B (M) Class III F (A) Class III B (M) Class III F (A) Class III A (A) Class III B (M) Class III B (M) Class IV B (A) Class IV A (M) Class IV F (M) Class IV C (A) Class IV D (M) Class IV D (M) Class VIII G (A) Class VIII F (M) Class VIII E (A) Class VIII F (A) Class VIII D (A) Class VIII D (A) Class VIII F (M) Class VIII A (A) Class VIII D (A) Class IX C (M) Class IX H (A) Class IX D (M) Class IX C (A) Class IX D (A) Class IX H (A) Class IX B (A) Class IX D (M) Class IX F (A) Class IX F (A) Class IX E (A) Class IX C (M) Class X G (A) Class X F (A) Class X A (A) Class X A (A) Class X G (A)

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Students' Contributions (Contents)

POINTER

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart...

-William Wordsworth

EXPRESSION

43

POINTER

Verse-tality Christmas in Darjeeling We went to Darjeeling last Christmas, The beautiful Kanchanjangha welcomed us.

Mountain roads are like snakes, We celebrated Christmas with gifts and cakes.

Kritanu Bandyopadhyay Class I B (A)

My little garden I have a little garden with lots of flowers and trees, Little birds play there with butterflies and bees.

They dance, sing, fly and spread lots of joy, My puppy and I play with them and always enjoy.

Good habits

Aaradhaya Makhal Class I C (A)

Fork in left Knife in right Chew your food With a closed mouth.

Wishes

Eat healthy Stay strong Avoid junk food Sing a happy song.

Wish I could fly Wish I could try Wish I could try and fly Just like the birds in the sky.

Never hit Never tease Use a handkerchief Before you sneeze.

Wish I could swim Wish I could gleam Wish I could gleam and swim Just like the fishes in the stream.

Avoid fighting Start loving No complaining Be a good human being.

I am now seven Will try to achieve these by eleven.

Sanket Datta Class I B (M)

Go green Stay clean This is our world Let’s maintain its hygiene.

Saanvi Vij Class I F (M)

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Verse-tality Mickey’s mother Once I asked Mickey Mouse, “Will you come to stay in my house?”

He said, “How will I come?

I cannot leave my sweet Mom We live in a lovely tree And she has no one else but me.

She cooks for me lovely food, And it always tastes very good.

She does for me everything Teaches me to dance and to sing.

With me she also plays She makes me laugh with funny tales.

She is so loving and so kind A mother like her I can never find.

If you want, you can come with me Together we can live in our lovely tree.”

In my sleep I held my mother tight, And the dream vanished in the early morning light.

Similipal Its hills are high, its forest is green Its springs flow like a pretty queen!

Tigers and elephants along with the deer Bears and monkeys live happily there.

Peacocks dance round the year, Wild boars roam without any fear.

Birds are chirping, bees are piping Parrots and mynahs are always singing.

My dear friends, please visit Similipal once You will love it at the very first glance.

Radhesh Biswal Class I F (A)

Ishayu Sen Class I B (A)

Space, my love

Please

Space is my love, All that’s there in space is close to my heart.

Planets, stars, whiteholes, Comets, galaxies, blackholes − Are members of space.

The Solar System has its own place With the sun as the family head Of hydrogen and helium gases made.

Eight planets are there And I know their names − Mercury, Earth, Mars, Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus.

Mercury is the smallest, Jupiter the largest, Venus is the brightest, While Uranus is the coldest.

Mars is red, Earth is blue Saturn has a ring − and all this is true.

Space tells us so much and such a lot, To know more and more, I will be an astronaut.

Magical words I say, ‘Thank you’, I say, ‘Please’, I don’t argue, I don’t tease.

Sorry

I love elders, I love my friends, I share my belongings, In many pleasant ways.

Thank

you

I say, ‘Sorry’, Not in a hurry, I sing and dance When I get a chance.

I say, ‘Welcome,’ Standing at a place, It makes me happy, Which glows on my face.

Riddhita Paul Class I C (A)

Welcome

Ankana Pal Class I A (A)

45

POINTER

Verse-tality What a year!

January is for joy, February for lots of fun.

March is for school ending, And April for the hot, bright sun.

May is for juicy mangoes, June for big jackfruits July is for jasmine, And August for rain and gumboots.

September is for flying kites, October for the Durga Puja November is for lamps and lights And December we love for gifts from dear Santa!

Boys in blue Virat Kohli is the best batsman Who hits the biggest sixes of all times.

Mayank Agarwal hits double centuries In Test cricket against South Africa and Bangladesh.

Wriddhiman Saha is the wicketkeeper, And Mohammed Shami the best bowler.

Shami took 42 wickets in 2019; Rohit Sharma is the hitman who scored The highest run in World Cup 2019, I wish to be like them in the future And I will be an all-rounder.

Sixes and fours Will be my scores, I will take many wickets, As I love playing cricket.

Prisha Das Class I E (M)

Shatanik Pal Class III G (A)

Fishy I have some pets − They are fish.

I love them a lot Never want them as a dish.

They swim and roam In my aquarium I spend my time Telling them rhymes.

They make bubbles And peep outside.

When I go to school They bid me goodbye.

Zero Number, number, number − Of the other subjects you too are a member.

One to nine, All numbers are fine.

But the number zero, Is the superhero.

When zero stands beside any number It becomes so much stronger!

Anirab Ghosal Class III B (M)

Shaurya Nanda Class I B (M)

Trams Buses can move very fast, But a tram reaches last.

Still I enjoy riding a tram, Unless it gets stuck in a jam.

The tram is part of my city old Many stories in their hearts trams hold.

Archisman Ray Class III D (M) POINTER

46

Verse-tality My family The family comes together For always and forever, In sickness or in health In poverty or in wealth.

Funride I will build a car for all to see That will not bar me From flying in the sky Like a happy butterfly!

With a convertible roof.

And windows that will be sunproof; My car I will call ‘Funride,’ And it will always be by my side.

The family is here For always and forever, Without any reason Whatever be the season.

A family comes together, For always and forever, In death or in life In joy or in strife.

Diptayan Dutta Class III A (M)

For work or for play, They somehow find a way, To always remain together, Yes, families are forever.

Avisumat Prasad Class III F (M)

My pink car You help me visit near and far, Oh, how much I love you, My dear little pink car!

I decorate you with my teddy and toy, You gift me pleasure and joy.

I wish I can drive you soon, Together we shall go to the moon.

Sweet home I wish to have a home, Where the grass is green And flowers bloom bright, all in glee.

Sreejita Sarkar Class III B (M)

I wish to have a home By which a sparkling river flows, With colourful fishes swimming Who will say hello to me.

I wish to have a home, Where constellations dance across the night sky Where the stars seem to sprinkle Glitter in the velvet sky.

Oh, how I wish To have a sweet home like this!

Chandrima Bir Class III C (M) 47

POINTER

Verse-tality Grandma My grandma is old and sweet And has lost all her teeth.

She has the best smile For her I can run a mile.

She cooks food for me, And tells me a lovely story When I sit with her every night In the soft moonlight.

I love you, grandma dear, To me, so kind you are!

The blue toy train I dream about a blue toy train It goes up the hill.

Ku-jhik-jhik, ku-jhik-jhik For passengers it’s a thrill!

Leaving its soft sound in the clear sky − Ku-jhik-jhik, ku-jhik-jhik With it the clouds also fly!

The train pulls coaches in blue Ku-jhik-jhik, ku-jhik-jhik It chugs up the mountains − And my dream comes true!

Ritoprana Chanda Class III A (A)

Medha Shree Sarkar Class III E (A)

Ballerina The love for ballet will remain And nobody can stop me from dancing.

The little tutu dress, tip-toe steps The golden ballet shoes and the hard work it takes.

Standing out amongst the crowd, Dancing to the rhythm of my heartbeats loud.

Shining like a star, dancing like a swan Black or white, from night to dawn.

May all my friends follow their dreams, Until like me they all shine like moonbeams.

Pray that I have a ballerina’s future, And can inspire others to stand for their nature.

Brave Bob My dog’s name is Bob Licking my face is his job.

He is a good fellow, Who likes to eat marshmallow.

I love him like pure gold, Because this dog is so bold!

Every morning I take him for a walk, As my dog loves to jog in the park.

He likes to guard our house, And likes chasing a mouse.

That’s why my dog’s name is Bob, And loving him is my job!!

Ennakshi Mondal Class III A (M)

Suman Pramanik Class IV E (M) POINTER

48

Verse-tality I wish…

I wish I could visit the sun I wish I could play with the moon I wish I could go to every star in space.

I wish I could dance with good spirits and angels I wish I could sing along with the sweet voice of the birds.

I wish I could have my own genie that would grant my three wishes, I wish I could destroy evil creatures of the world.

I wish I could save each and every tree from being cut down, I wish I could make people love each other and live a healthy life.

I wish I could live in peace and with Nature.

Soha Hazra Class IV G (M)

The river Look at the river, there it goes Follow the river to where it flows Tall reeds growing on its side, Boats willing to give us a ride, And the sun is trying to hide, Behind the clouds.

Sit on its banks With a fishing rod in your hands Try to catch a fish For your mother who will make a special dish.

And thank God for all He’s done To bring us days full of fun.

Adrika Bhattacharya Class IV E (M)

Wonderland I was playing with a bucket of sand Suddenly I reached Wonderland!

There I gave the birds some seeds to feed They said that I am a friend indeed.

I walked a little more And reached the seashore.

I walked to another place I looked straight and saw a palace!

I thought I would live there forever and not go to school, But later I realized I had been made a fool.

Live and let live We animals want to live in peace, Oh! Don’t disturb us any more, please − Do not keep us in cages or in chains Or put us in circus, zoo or in games.

Never hurt, tease or kill us, just for fun, As you will gain nothing in the long run.

We, too, have feelings as you do, We expect a little care and concern from you.

Stop deforestation, at any cost, To save us from habitat loss.

If any species is lost forever Food chain is disrupted and imbalance occurs.

Be cautious and please think over these − Nurture Nature through green and good deeds.

Medhatithi De Class IV A (A)

Gaurabaditya Ghosh Class IV E (A) 49

POINTER

The missing sun

Verse-tality

Every morning the sun rises And I too wake up to new surprises.

But one day I run to my verandah and to my dismay, Miss the warmth of the first morning ray.

Where does the sun go on such cloudy days?

Why does it take a break on my school days?

I think it’s a holiday for the sun But I have school, so off I run!

Arushi Chakrabarti Class IV D (M)

A train of dreams I looked out of the train window, And what did I see?

A pixie a-dancing And a little bumblebee.

Mrs. Bear was out shopping At the nearest grocery.

I saw a hedge, and a shop, And a golden tree!

I even saw a goblin Sipping his tea!

The wonderful dream ended way too soon And I feel sad to say − The journey to Fairyland Had ended that day.

Chocolates Chocolates! Chocolates!

I like you, my dear, So tasty and so crispy And so sweet you are!

Dark in colour Rich in flavour You are always there for me Whenever I am hungry.

I can finish you in no time But why is it considered a crime?

Because you damage our teeth, always − If we munch you, dear chocolates!

Indra Sinha Class IV G (A)

Detectives and spies

Rajdeep Sardar Class IV G (A)

They are smart, they are bright, They are always fighting for the right.

Predicting crimes, finding patterns, Finding clues from floors and curtains.

Sharp observations, patience, calculations, Intellectual mind, logically finding justifications − Detectives are the ones who come by When the police cannot solve the crime and sigh!

How will I go?

I am going to the town Wearing a gown, I will go walking and keep on talking.

The way is too far, I will take a car.

I am tall, but the car is too small!

It has started to rain, I will go by train.

But how will I go?

I just broke my little toe…

Rajdeep Ghosh Class IV E (M)

Ishan Mukherji Class IV A (M) POINTER

50

Who am I?

Verse-tality

I am a girl With strange thoughts in my mind.

I am a girl Who knows how to make people smile.

I am a girl Who can also make people teary-eyed.

To people only boys are great To them why am I a slave?

I am a girl Not a doll I have a life I will fight Till the last breath of my life.

To them boys are bright To them girls don’t have any right.

I am a girl Who is a daughter.

I am a girl Who is a future wife and a proud mother.

I am the future wife who teaches a man how to smile I am the future mother Who is the best friend of the child.

I am the sister of a loving and caring brother.

I am the daughter Who is ready to support my father and mother.

Yes, I am a woman Not a product Yes, I am a woman Not weak at all.

I am a girl who has no fear − I am a girl Who knows how to fight And not hide behind tears.

Save the Earth Save the Earth, it’s our only home!

Tell India, tell Austria, and please tell Rome Not to pollute the Earth -It’s our only home.

Can we go to Saturn, can we go to Mars?

But can’t we just walk and not use cars?

Why can’t we plant more trees, To get some fresh cool breeze?

Why not stop pollution, and paint the Earth green?

Why can’t we just keep the sea clean?

So tell India, tell Austria, and again tell Rome, To save the Earth, it’s our only home!

Shinjini Choudhuri Class IV C (A)

Soha Adrija Mandal Class VIII H (A)

The autumn sky The best thing about autumn is The sky so beautiful and beyond my wits!

The clear sky, the lovely sky, The deep blue sky before my eyes.

Under this great boundless expanse My heart feels light and long to dance, Merrily.

Nowhere on Earth would you, perhaps, find a sky like this And if you go away from this soil, this sky you are sure to miss.

This creation is one of its kind, Wonderful and beautiful and divine.

And throughout the year I won’t get to see this again though, I would keep this hidden seed of memory deep in my heart sown!

Prajukta Das Class VIII F (A)

51

POINTER

A long wait

Verse-tality

10,000 steps and a 100 miles, I’ll stop to let you go ahead Your footprints beside mine, Embedded in my lonely street.

Where no one will walk…

Except you.

Rushing to the sea Deep below in the river's bed, the rocks shake in delight − For the river keeps rushing over them with all its might.

The river laughs over them − soon the sea will come in sight; Where the sky is blue and the clouds are in carefree flight.

The river rushes, to meet the sea its only aim − The mighty river will soon reach the sea, in order to win its fame, The rocks get scattered everywhere, amidst the river's game The river keeps rushing through, and the sea calls out her name.

The river does not halt, it does not have a moment to lend The thirsty sea waits for the river, and the water it shall send − Soon the sea will meet the river, her forgotten friend, So the river keeps running to meet the sea at world's end.

The sea waits for the river, and the river never stays at ease The river keeps flowing all day long to meet the sea at peace.

Soon its efforts are paid off, when the lonely river sees The sea is waiting for the river − After crossing mountains, valleys and trees.

Agnirudra Chatterjee Class VIII F (A)

Lesson Open your eyes and see, I'm still there and always will be.

In this world of betrayal Look, I'm still nice and loyal.

I will not forget those six months of joy and happiness, And also these nights that are sleepless.

Because you were the reason And now, too, you are the reason.

People say it’s bad luck.

I like to say, "It's good luck.

I'm happy, as I learnt the lesson, And successfully avoided depression."

When you give too much love and affection, It's only your self-respect that goes in the downward direction.

But still somewhere deep inside my heart, it echoes, "Open your eyes and see, I'm still there and always will be."

Pramit Bhattacharya Class IX G (M) POINTER

52

I’m ready to wait, If you say so Or take a different path That leads away from you.

I have the key that opens the door That is locked to anyone else but you.

You don’t know what my heart says Each time it thinks about you.

‘A sky with no moon and filled with clouds Is a sky where the rain never ends.’

Ahana Mitra Class IX B (A)

Giving up

Verse-tality

We have a huge mango orchard With green parrots on the fruit trees And cockchafer beetles and busy buzzing bees In and around the boughs and bright green leaves Rollicking is something we have in the trees And we visit it after any shopping spree As we love it so much!

And it’s dear to us as such.

Never can we see the trees, Leaving the worldly bondage At a price of 10 per maund But sorry, they are priceless!

As we share an unbreakable bond!

Sometimes it’s better to give up Instead of fighting the war, Sometimes it’s better to turn back And run and go away very far.

Sometimes it’s better to stop What is the point of living?

It is the same thing over and over again Breathing and eating and sleeping.

Sometimes it’s better to stop worrying It is better for stress to die, Let’s see how the world goes on With you not sharing your sigh.

Sometimes it’s better to cry And let the tears flow down, Sometimes it’s better to be a pauper Instead of wearing the crown.

Sometimes it’s better to look away Away from the horrors of time, Sometimes it’s better to give up Trying to make the words rhyme.

Sometimes it’s better to stop Instead of pushing on, Sometimes it’s better to give up And just shut the switch off.

Suhana Guha Class X E (M)

Anusha Tripathi Class X E (M)

The mango orchard

4 a.m.

I always hear how I’m not alone And I think I grow attached to people But I can’t help it Because I see all that you are Because it’s not easy When they see the mixed-up parts of your soul.

Perhaps they were never real That is why At 4 a.m.− When the sky is pale And the light is feeble Feelings fade into the oblivion Of the dawn.

Growing up The raindrops hit the cement wall And bounce back.

They try to get in through doors and windows But they are tightly shut.

Inside, man is absorbed in boiling thoughts; The turmoil that engulfs his life.

The raindrops fling themselves on the glass pane, carrying with them the reminiscences of the young lad of twelve.

But, alas, years have passed, and they try in vain to charm the man busy behind the computer screen.

Anushka Chowdhury Class X A (A)

Adrika Chaudhuri Class X E (M) 53

POINTER

Verse-tality

Pretty little girls Pretty little girls, In their pretty dresses Think they look angelic Curls, bows and laces.

Here I stand In my black shirt Shorts, messy hair, Ears pierced with studs.

Girls sneer at me Judge me every way, Lipstick-covered lips, “She’s such a boy!” they say.

I don’t really care I shout on their faces I don’t need pounds of make-up Curls, bows or laces.

Journey I’m going on a long journey A journey to a new world Never to return...

But to explore a new world.

They want to look prettier Or maybe they think they are Pretty ‘fake’ faces, How artificial you are!

The journey is long and arduous I’m not sure If I’ll ever reach my destination But the most difficult of pains I’ll try to endure.

Oh pretty girl, Don’t be so fake Accept who you are For your real existence is at stake.

Srijita Ghosh Class X B (A)

So, I crossed vast seas Climbed lofy mountains Struggled against strong winds And passed flat plains.

I fought with the duststorms, The incessant rain and cold I witnessed precipitation in different forms Tears were hard for me to hold.

Now, I’m standing in the middle of nowhere Knowing not where to go But never have I thought of returning home − It’s an eternal journey To seek the truth To find peace and love As I look at the heavens above.

I finally reach my destination Far from my home Without any hesitation In this world, I can freely live and roam.

Ovia Roy Class X B (M) POINTER

54

Verse-tality Till the last breath Nights will not pass so easily It will be very difficult to win You may cry and see your dreams hazily But you’ll have to control your temptations and should not sin.

No matter how hard the night is!

Or how dark it seems No matter how deep are the roaring seas Or how hazy the light beams.

You might fail Once, or more than once, You might feel the situation much like hell But do not give up, for you still have a chance.

Pain

Your nights are not over Even some storms are yet to come Around you, dark clouds will hover But success is sure to come!

If I showed you my teardrops Would you collect them like rain, Store them in jars, And label them ‘PAIN’?

Would you follow their track From my eyes down my cheek, As they write all the stories, I’m too scared to speak?

Would you stop them with kisses, Bring their flow to a hault, As you teach me that PAIN Isn’t always my fault?

Would you hold my face gently, As you dry both my eyes, And whisper the words, “You are too precious to cry”?

If I showed you my teardrops, Would you show me your own, And learn though we are lonely, We’ve never been alone...?

No matter how difficult the battle seems in the night Even when hope seems to fade You will have to get up and fight Unless and until you are dead.

You’ll have to fight with the last bit of your strength Never give up For you’ll have to defend And fill your own cup.

Now the barriers will break And bright light beams will enter.

Failure will be wrecked For it is the shattering end of the war.

So never give up Just have faith Darkness might seem to be tough But remember − Mountains can be removed only by faith.

Swastika Ghosh Class X B (A)

Sneha Chakraborty Class X F (A)

55

POINTER

Strokes of Colour

Mixed Media ‘Blossoms’ Arshia Chakraborty Class I E (M) Crayons ‘Dog days’ Aryan Goswami Class I G (M)

Crayons

Crayons ‘Frozen’ Sarasij Maity Class I C (M)

‘Born free’ Snehashis Roy Class I E (M)

Crayons ‘Gorgeous!’ Arunima Banerjee Class I F (A)

POINTER

56

Strokes of Colour

Crayons

Crayons ‘Raindrops on my eyes!’ Swapnil Karmakar Class I C (A) ‘The princess’ Sreemoyee Das Class I B (A)

Crayons

Oil Pastels

‘Aspire’ Annwesha Mukherjee Class III A (M)

‘Desert camp’ Aishani Medda Class III A (A)

Oil Pastels ‘Egg it on!’ Arjodipto Banerjee Class III E (A) 57

POINTER

Birthday blessings

Etched In Words

God has given us the gift of life. It is up to us to give ourselves and fellow-members of our society the gift of living well. I think on my birthday I must count the number of blessings I have rather than the number of material gifts. The best way to achieve this, in my opinion, is to serve the society where we live.

Therefore, on my birthday I never organise any party or invite any guests to my home. Instead, I leave home with my parents to distribute some food and clothing among my poor destitute friends who live on the streets in different parts of Kolkata. I love to see their happy faces on receiving these gifts from me.

I always consider their joys my best birthday gifts.

At the Sunderbans We went on a trip to the Sunderbans during the winter vacation. We started our journey from the Indian Museum in a big van and reached Gadkhali. We took a steamer from there to reach our hotel in Pakhirala. I met a friend on the way. Her name is Prisha. She and her family travelled with us. In the evening, we went to the Bird Island, where only birds live. We saw many birds like egrets, herons, storks and cormorants there.

Next day, we went on a jungle safari to search for wild animals. We saw deer, wild boars, crocodiles and lots of monkeys. I danced with a dance troupe in the evening.

We also had a bonfire. Next day, we returned home. I had lots of fun during the trip.

Arkaprabha Banerjee Class I A (M)

Anhiti Maulik Class I C (M)

Tears of joy

Desert safari

Last year, like all other students of our school, I participated in the Daan Utsav. When I finished presenting the gifts, an old woman, wearing a very dirty and worn-out sari, came and requested for a gift. I was very scared and rushed towards my mother. After listening to her words, my mother took me inside our house and gave me a saree to hand it over to her. When I gave her the gift, I saw she was crying. I did not understand the reason for her strange reaction. I asked my mother about it and she told me those were tears of joy.

During my winter holidays I visited Jaisalmer with my family. We went for a desert safari. At first, a jeep took us to the sand dunes. The jeep was moving so fast that we screamed in fear of falling down. It dropped us near the camel camp. The camels would take us to the sand dunes. I too mounted a camel and was very scared when it stood up and started walking. But soon I started enjoying the ride. My grandfather had also mounted a camel but he was more scared than I was and was nearly falling down. We stood on the dunes and saw the desert turn red as the sun set. The jeep returned to take us back to our camp. We rested in a tent, and watched a song and dance programme which was held around a bonfire. Later we had dinner and returned to the hotel and then to Kolkata. But the memories of the trip will remain in my mind forever.

Snehashis Roy Class I E (M)

Abhishuman Chatterjee Class I A (M)

POINTER

58

The Portuguese Man O’ War!

Etched In Words

During my last session break we went to Goa. I was having a lot of fun on Goa’s beautiful beaches. One day when I was making a sand castle in Cavelossim beach, a transparent plastic-like thing washed up near me. Out of curiosity I picked it up. Suddenly my hands started burning with severe pain. My father rushed me to the local shopkeepers for help. He also took a photo of the strange object and kept it inside my sand bucket. I was in great pain. My father showed the thing to the locals.

On closer look they noticed that its bottom part was bluish in colour and it had a long tail-like thread. Then one of the shack-owners came to our rescue. He pointed out that it was a jellyfish! He immediately poured vinegar all over my hands. The kind man said that he was a fisherman and he too had once been bit by such sea creatures. He told us not to worry. In an hour the pain completely vanished. We were really thankful for the wonderful remedy and advice given by the man. Later we found out from the Internet that the poisonous creature was not a jellyfish but was called the Portuguese Man O’ War. It was one of the most amazing marine animals I have ever seen.

A dangerous dream One day, as my school got over and I was waiting for my school bus, I saw Sprike. He is a character of my favourite video game. I run with Sprike in a racing game. I said, “Hi Sprike! What are you doing here?”

Sprike said, “I have lost my virtual world and have come here to play racing with you in the real world.” I got excited and we started the race. First we jumped over small obstacles like tiny tables. I was winning. Then came a flying giant eagle. I ducked under it and was saved. Next I saw a big bus coming towards us. Sprike easily jumped over it. I tried to jump, but got crushed. I started crying and wanted my mother to come and help me. I heard my mother saying, “Get up! You will be late for school.” I screamed and woke up. I was so happy that it was all a dream. I understood two important things. If we play too much of video games it will disturb us in our dream. And whatever is shown in video games should never be done in real life.

Shriankh Biswas Class I E (A)

Ishaan Sarkar Class I E (M)

The lazy king Once upon a time there was a king who was very lazy.

He used to sleep all the time. He had a talking parrot in the palace. Every day the parrot wished him good morning, yet the king would not wake up. Parrots enjoy singing and talking to everyone. One day the parrot sang very loudly and the king had to wake up. He was very angry and wanted to punish the bird. The queen felt sorry for the parrot, opened its cage and the bird flew away. That night the king had a very bad dream.

He saw a giant monster telling him, “You are a very lazy king. You only sleep and your loud snores disturb me. I am very angry with you. Let me eat you.” The king was very scared and said sorry to the monster. He woke up early the next morning and his manners changed too.

He was now a good king, not lazy any more. He missed his parrot too.

Molly Molly is a street dog who stays in front of our house.

One day she met with a severe accident and broke her leg. My elder sister took her to the nearby veterinary hospital. After treatment, Molly started staying in our kitchen garden. After a few days, she recovered. She gave birth to four puppies who are now growing up in our small kitchen garden. They play with me when I return from school. I will be happy if all the puppies get a shelter.

Soham Sinha Class I B (A)

Arnidipto Chaudhuri Class I D (A) 59

POINTER

Etched In Words A day at the Universal Studios In December 2019, I had gone to Singapore with my parents. During our stay there, we visited the Universal Studios on the Sentosa Island. The first thing that caught my eye was the huge ride called ‘Cyclone’. It looked like the twisted intestines of a monster! I was too scared to ride it but I can say that it is neither for children nor for the faint-hearted. I had a good time riding the roller-coaster. As it zoomed at a very high speed, I squealed in joy.

The next amazing thing was the Shrek 4D show. I had seen 3D movies, but this time I went on an adventure with Shrek where my chair was galloping with a horse-drawn carriage that Shrek was riding. I felt the wet spray of water when the carriage fell into the sea. I could even feel something crawl up my feet when a spider fell on Fiona. Other than these, I also rode the Enchanted Airways. It was like a ropeway and I was very scared.

There were various movie-themed rides like Madagascar River Crate Ride and Mummy-themed Treasure Hunt. Here we can go treasure hunting, braving snakes and allegators which looked very lifelike. There were also Transformer rides and the Revenge of the Mummies. These are not child-friendly rides, so I did not take them.

At the end of the day we visited another part of the Sentosa Island to watch the beautiful light, sound and water show called ‘The Wings of Time’, but that is an entirely different story for an entirely different time.

Incredible Bengal!

On 28th December, I went to Mukutmanipur with my family. It is in Bankura − a land of red soil. We stayed at the Kansabati Bhavan which is beside the Kansabati Dam. It is a beautiful hotel with lawns all around and a big courtyard. From there, I could see the crystal-blue river which seemed to touch the sky in the far horizon.

People took boat-rides along the dam to reach the opposite shore. I did my first-ever boat-ride for more than an hour. While boating, we crossed two rivers − Kansabati and Kumari. They have waters of different shades of blue. We also drove along the Kansabati Dam and saw the sunset. The setting sun spread magic colours across the sky and the river.

With lovely memories of this place, we started our journey towards Purulia − famous for the Chhau dance and its masks. Here I saw beautiful green meadows and the long range of the Ayodhya hills as well as the Panchet Dam. My mother showed me the hydro-electric project on the dam. In the evening, we danced to the magical beats of Dhamsa and Madal. It was our way of rediscovering Bengal.

Arnab Chakraborty Class I G (A)

Abhilasha Das Class I C (A)

The baby elephant There was a park in a city. Many children would come there to play. One day the owner of the park brought a baby elephant there. Everybody would feed the elephant. One day a boy took a banana, picked up a stone and put it inside the banana. He made the calf eat the fruit. But the baby elephant felt the stone and threw it away. The next day was the boy’s birthday. His mom gave him a T-shirt. The boy wore the new T-shirt.

The calf watched the boy. He filled his trunk with mud and sprayed it all over the boy! The boy started crying.

The baby elephant felt sad and rushed to the nearby river. He filled his trunk with water and sprayed it over the boy’s T-shirt to clean it and then sprayed air to dry it. From that day, the calf and the boy became friends.

Aryahi Roy Class I A (M) POINTER

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My resolution One day I went to a shopping mall with my parents and enjoyed myself a lot. I saw the movie, “Frozen II,” and I really liked it. We bought many things from the mall and I was very happy. Before leaving I wanted to go to Time Zone, but my parents refused to take me there. I cried and threw a tantrum but my parents forced me to return home. On our way back home, I saw a blind girl trying to cross the road. We stopped and I helped her cross the road. While talking to her I found out that her parents were very poor. She often remained hungry for days and her parents could not give her proper clothes to wear. The worst part was that she did not have an eyesight. It was her plight that helped me realize how lucky I was. I had everything and much more than what I needed. My parents tried to give me whatever I wanted from them and loved me so much. That girl had nothing!

God seemed to have sent me a reminder that day to count my blessings. I made up my mind to do something for the underprivileged when I grew up and made a resolution never to be so demanding.

Camping at Jaldapara It was the fourth day of our 11th Nature Study Camp organized by HVCS at Jaldapara. Night guards gave us cups of hot tea early in the morning. We got ready quickly and felt excited as we eagerly awaited new adventures. Our waiting came to an end when the camp C.C. announced that we were going to have a jungle safari. After breakfast we started our journey into the forest. We spotted various types of birds in the beautiful jungle. The peacock and the hornbill were the best. We were lucky to have seen a beautiful peacock dancing. Its feathers were spread out like a colourful fan! We spotted a few elephants too. Soon after, we got down from the jeep and reached the bank of the beautiful river, Hollong. Suddenly we heard the loud chirping of a bird. It was a parakeet. But we could not see it anywhere. Then we went to the forest department office and learnt many new things about the biodiversity of the Jaldapara forest. Soon it was time to return to our camps.

I really enjoyed the camp and the nature trip and will cherish the memories forever.

Shiropa Chakraborty Class III B (M)

Swapnaja Giri Class III B (M)

Moa Moa was a species of flightless birds belonging to New Zealand. They are now extinct. A moa was the largest land bird found in New Zealand before it was hunted to extinction by the Maori people. The largest species grew up to 12 feet and could weigh nearly 230 kgs.

They were the only wingless birds known to have existed.

Before the arrival of the Maoris, these big birds had only one natural predator, the Haast’s Eagle, which was the largest known eagle to have ever existed. The moa became extinct within one hundred years of the arrival of the Maoris to New Zealand Aparoop Daspodder Class III F (A) 61

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Over the Moon

Bulbul

One day while returning home by the schoolbus I was feeling sleepy. Suddenly I found myself on a rocky surface. I was all alone there and I was so frightened! I shouted for help; but no one replied! I began running on the rocky ground and fell down several times due to the big ditches. I kept running in search of someone to help me. But all my effort was in vain. After a while I noticed some colourful pieces of clothes, and realized that they were the flags of different countries. I wondered what place it was. Soon I reached a dark and gloomy spot. Then I noticed someone moving towards me. In dim light, I saw three people in white dresses.

They looked like astronauts and were busy with a machine. I ran to them and asked, “Where am I? Who are you?’’ They started laughing. I asked again, “What are you doing here?” They laughed again and said, “Can’t you recognize us and this place?” I felt scared.

They explained, ‘’This is the Moon and we are the first human beings to be here.” I was utterly surprised. I was on the Moon and standing in front of none other than Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin! It was beyond my imagination. They said that they were busy repairing the broken pieces of the lander, ‘Vikram,’ sent

by India. I felt overwhelmed; when every Indian was disappointed after the failure of the mission, Chandrayaan II, these three renowned astronauts were trying to fix it and make it a success! I wanted to help them too but suddenly a voice said, “Hey Debapriyo, you are next to get down. Get up, don’t sleep,” – and with a thud I landed back on the Earth.

Have you heard about the great storm called Bulbul? I guess you have. This storm happened in November 2019. It started at midnight. The dark clouds and the lightnings were frightening. The thunderclouds rumbled so loudly – it was deafening! There were power cuts in most areas. We closed the doors and windows and prayed for the terrible storm to pass.

Even though I was fearful I was enjoying the loud noise of the rain. That night I could not sleep well, thinking what would happen if the storm destroyed our house.

But, surprisingly, it was sunny the next day and everything seemed normal as if the storm had never come! I marvelled at the power and beauty of nature as I went to school the next morning.

Ridhima Das Adhikary Class III F (A)

A gadget – for life A few months ago, I lost my favourite person, my grandpa. Every day, while getting ready for school, I remember him and wish he would come back, stand before me with a packet of biscuits in his hand and tell me to hurry up. But ‘Dadan’ does not come out of the frame. I bid his photograph goodbye but he does not wave back like before. Once in my GK class I learnt about various inventions and thought that if only I could invent a new gadget, which would be able to bring back people to life – how wonderful that would be! My ‘Dadan’ would then come back to me again.

How happy I would be to be able to see him standing before me once more with his smiling face!

Debapriyo Chakrabarti Class III B (M)

Adrisha Sen Class III A (A)

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A trek to Yamunotri My family and I went on a trek to Yamunotri last summer. First we reached Jankichatti by car. On the next day we started our trek from Jankichatti early in the morning. The path was slippery; it was a cloudy day in the mountains. Many a time we felt as if we walked through the clouds. The Yamuna was accompanying us through the entire route down below with great force.

We could hear the sound the flowing waters made.

Many people were riding horses, ‘dulis’ and ‘pittu’.

Sometimes the path went over from one mountain to another through bridges over the flowing river. I was very excited to walk the entire way as this was my first trekking experience.

After walking for almost three hours, we had the first glimpse of the temple of Mata Yamunotri in the lap of snow-capped mountains. Though we were very tired, we continued and completed the six-km-long trek. It was wonderful and a memorable experience for me. I will cherish it all my life.

The best gift ever!

It was Christmas time. Everybody was busy decorating their homes, shops and office etc. But Peter and Anna were in no mood to celebrate Christmas. Last year they had a big and happy party with their parents. They had decorated their home with a Christmas tree and had kept a list of gifts in a stocking. But this year their mother had been diagnosed with pneumonia and was admitted in the hospital. Peter and Anna had no wish of getting gifts from Santa Claus but their father had insisted they kept a list of gifts like every year. But the children were so sad that they kept the paper blank.

That night they missed their mother a lot and as they thought of her tears rolled down their cheeks. That night Peter dreamed that Santa was standing with a bagful of gifts. He held the blank list of gifts in his hand and asked him, “Why is your list blank?’’ Peter replied that the only gift they wanted from him was that their mother got well. Santa smiled and left the room.

Next morning they suddenly heard someone calling out their names and asking them to wake up. It was their father. “Merry Christmas,” he said to both of them.

“Merry Christmas,” the children replied. He said there was a surprise for them and led both of them to the front door. He opened it. To their great joy, the children found their mother standing there! Father explained that she had recovered completely and returned home.

Peter and Anna realized that Santa had given them the best gift that they could have ever asked for!

Aishik Roy Class IV B (A)

Arja Dasgupta Class III B (M)

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Etched In Words Dana’s story Many years ago, there was a girl named Dana. She belonged to a poor family. One day she went to see a ballet with the money which her mother had saved.

When the theatre grew dark, the music began, the curtains parted and dancers in glittering costumes came on to the stage. They performed ‘The Sleeping Beauty’. Dana was very excited and enchanted by what she saw. That evening changed her life forever, because she decided at that moment to become a dancer herself. It was 1989 and little Dana Tenison, as she was called, was only eight years old.

For months afterwards, Dana begged her mother to allow her to learn ballet. But she was too young to join the School of Ballet. She had to wait for two more years before her dream would come true. Everyone could see that Dana had the gift of dance. She also worked very hard. At last, after two more years, finally Dana joined the ballet school. Her training ended after many years and she joined a theatre company as a dancer. She now began to tour the world. It is said that after a performance of ‘The Dying Swan’ in London, the audience was so stunned by the beauty of her dance that when it ended, there was complete silence in the hall for a while. Then there was a long and loud applause − lasting fifteen minutes. After that ballet show she was not called Little Dana, she was known as a famous dancer.

A visit to Vaishali My parents had planned to spend some days of the winter vacation in Bihar. I was excited because after a long time I was going to my native village, Bihari urf Bhatgawan in the district of Muzaffarpur. We also planned a tour of Vaishali, Muzaffarpur and Darbhanga.

I had heard that Vaishali was an important place for Buddhists and Jains. It is located 94 km from my village.

It is said that Gautama Buddha had visited this place thrice and spent quite a long time there. Buddha also delivered his last sermon at Vaishali and announced his Nirvana here. Vaishali is also the birthplace of Lord Mahavira. Alexander Cunningham had identified the present site of Vaishali in 1861-62 A.D. Early in the morning we reached the Muzaffarpur railway station. My uncle was waiting there to receive us. We reached home by car. Next morning we left for sightseeing of the Vaishali Stupa. It is located at the modern Kolhua village. It has an entry fee of `25 for adults. Here I saw a lion pillar and a brick stupa, created by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka. Some remains of votive stupas of the Sunga and Kushana periods, remains of a Swastika-shaped monastery, Kutagarshala, where Buddha used to stay during the monsoon, and a tank called Markatahrada were there. We met two Buddhist monks from Vietnam who had come to visit this place.

Our next destination was an archaeological museum, established in 1971. It housed the antiques from various mounds of Vaishali. Both excavated and surface collections are kept here. It was almost evening. The sun was going to set and birds were coming back to their nests.

I will always remember this trip. It was an educational trip during which I gained a lot of knowledge about our past.

Arindrajit Ray Class IV A (M)

Zaryaab Razique Class IV F (M)

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Meeting dear Matilda Today, as I took my seat in class, a new girl came in. Our teacher announced that she had got a double promotion from Class II to Class IV and her name was Matilda. We were very surprised because it had never happened before. The teacher told me to shift a bit so that Matilda could sit beside me. After sometime I whispered “Hello” to her. She answered in a low voice. I understood that she was a very shy child. But slowly I came to know that she was brilliant in studies. She was a master at maths and read plenty of English books.

During the tiffin break, we talked to each other. She told me that her parents did not care about her and thought that studies were boring and watching TV was a better activity! I saw tears were rolling down her cheeks. When I was comforting her, the bell suddenly rang, though a bit differently…

It was my mother’s voice calling me to wake up and get ready for school! I realized that Roald Dahl’s character, Matilda, had come to meet me in my dreams!

Anushka Sen Class IV C (A)

Grateful to be alive This incident occurred when I was in Class III. My family and I had gone to Puri during the summer vacation. One afternoon when we were bathing in the sea, my younger brother and I planned to go far into the waters. My mother warned me not to swim so far. While my brother returned to the shore, I swam on. That day the currents were too strong. Suddenly I saw a little girl being carried away by the waves. She was shouting for help. I wanted to be a hero by saving her. While she struggled and wrestled with the waves, I swam fast towards her.

But suddenly the waves carried me away too. Then I realized why my mother had warned me.

Now both the girl and I were shouting for help!

I could not remember what happened as I was unconscious soon. When I got back my senses I was lying on a bed at the hotel. My brother later told me that somehow, I had reached the shore and had been picked up by a stranger who, too, stayed in our hotel. When our parents came they said I should always listen to them or I would face similar problems. They said the girl was safe too. I had wanted to be a hero but turned out to be a big zero! However, I am very grateful to be alive.

Ujan Majhi Class IV D (M)

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What a surprise!

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It was on my 9th birthday, a few months back, when I got the camera. It was given to me by my uncle, who had previously owned it. He did not use it any more, so he had given it to me. I was thrilled to recieve it, as I had always wanted a camera of my own. It was quite a sturdy camera, though old. When I searched for the brand name, I couldn’t find any. When I asked my uncle, he said that he had also found it strange. I decided that the first picture would be of my dog, Buster. He had recently learnt to dance. When he saw the camera, he understood what I planned to do, as I had often borrowed and used my friend’s camera. After clicking the picture, I was shocked to find that in it Buster’s green eyes had turned red, and his usually happy face was twisted in a snarl! When I looked up from the camera, I saw that his eyes and face had returned to normal.

After I had told my parents, they demanded to see the photo. I had told them it had returned to normal by then. Now I wonder if I was having hallucinations, or the camera was really haunted. If it was the latter, then was the camera predicting the future?

The thirteen-year-old twins were left alone in their room; a sudden call had made their parents rush to their grandmother’s place, leaving the kids at home.

Lucie sat in the huge armchair with a thick, red, heavily illustrated, book. Alice was marching from one end of the room to another, her brown eyes full of anxiety and worries. She asked Lucie for the third time about their parents.

However, Lucie, the tall, slender girl, always seemed quiet and she calmly said to Alice, “Maybe they thought of having lunch outside or perhaps are buying medicines.”

Alice could not suppress herself any more. She almost screamed at Lucie, “Mother and father can never leave us alone at home and have lunch. They are already two hours late! What if they had an accident or…”. Alice was interrupted by a sudden knock at the door. She rushed to look at the eyehole on the door. She saw four men in black suits and masks standing with pistols tucked in their hands. Alice staggered back and could mumble only a few words to Lucie as they ran upstairs to Lucie’s room. There Lucie wrote a short note to their parents and attached it to the back of Lucie’s door.

Meanwhile, the men had managed, somehow, to open the main door and were inside the house in no time.

Alice could not imagine what horrible fate awaited them. It was their birthday and all the mishaps had to occur now. Till now, they had been worrying about their parents, but now they were being attacked by four dangerous men. As the twins climbed up the flight of stairs to the attic, they heard several footsteps behind. Lucie was terrified because she had thought only four men to be there, but the footsteps were surely of six men or more! As they tried to open the rusty attic door, a voice behind them made them freeze. The four men were standing just behind them and were aiming their pistols at them.

Alice realized it was the end of her life. Slowly the man in front of her pushed the trigger. Both the girls closed their eyes and waited for the gunshot… Suddenly, they felt something cold on their bodies, something with a mouthwatering smell. Imagine their amazement when they saw that cream was coming out of the guns! Their parents were standing in front of them and were laughing as hard as they could! As the four men took off their masks the girls saw their uncles and aunts standing there!

All of them wished Lucie and Alice a very happy birthday. The girls, recovering from the shock, slowly said, “What a birthday surprise after all!’’

Siddhartha Chakraborty Class IV D (M)

Sampurna Raychaudhuri Class VIII G (A)

The haunted camera

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Etched In Words A mother’s pride “No! I have already lost my son, I cannot afford to lose my precious little Anish,” Mrs. Mehra cried out. It was the year 1999 and the Kargil War had just ended. India was rejoicing but many families across the country were mourning the death of their beloved ones. In the small town of Toosa in Punjab, lightning had struck the Mehras.

They had lost their only son, Amish, a soldier, in the war.

The shocking news had left the family speechless. For a moment, everybody was in a trance. Nobody could believe their ears. Amish was dead! His wife, Reena, had collapsed on the sofa. His mother started sobbing. Even little Simi, his two-year-old daughter, seemed to realize the situation and stopped playing with her dolls.

“Hey Mumma, has Papa returned? Where is he?” Anish entered with his bat on his shoulder. “You know, today we won the match and I scored a century along with Ronnie and I was adjudged the Man of the Match. If Papa had been there… if he,” Anish couldn’t continue, he burst into tears. He stood near his father’s photo and cried for a long time. How could Papa leave him and Simi and go away? It must be a mere joke. Oh no! How could he?

Suddenly Anish felt a sense of strong determination. He turned round. Gran was looking at him with red eyes and Mumma was wailing. “Mom, Gran!’’ he called out. “Anish, control yourself. You will have to cremate your father when his body arrives,” Reena said in a trembling voice.

“Mom, I have something to say. I know that you and Gran love me a lot and would not like to stay away from me but I want to follow Papa’s path. I want to work for my country, for my countrymen and ensure their safety. I would like to become a soldier!” The words lashed out like a whip to Mrs. Mehra. “No,” she screamed, “No, you

can’t, and you won’t!” “But Gran, please, I want to go to Papa. I promise that I will be a brave and honest soldier and one day you all are going to feel proud because of me. But Gran, please don’t stop me today.” “Anish, son, why can’t you understand? If you go away, with what will we live? Don’t you love us?” Suddenly Reena spoke out, ‘‘Mom, let him go. Anish Mehra is destined to work for his country and nothing else. He will go and I am going to make sure of that.” Mrs. Mehra had nothing more to say.

Reena herself made all the arrangements and Anish was selected for the National Defence Academy in Hariyana after two months. On the day of his departure he stood in front of Amish’s photo. “Papa,” he whispered, “I am going to serve my country. Bless me so that I can succeed just like you.” Everbody bade Anish goodbye with a heavy heart and even Simi stared at him, her dolls lying forgotten.

20 years later…

The news blazed on the television screen. “Brigadier Anish Mehra had singlehandedly vanquished twelve Pakistani terrorists at the Kashmir border. But we are extremely grieved at his death during the operations.

May his soul rest in peace.” Sitting in front of the television set was a 65-year-old Reena smiling to herself with the teenager Simi beside her. She neither sobbed nor wailed but looked at the T.V. Reena slowly and softly spoke out, “Simi, dear, you have always wanted to be a pilot and the time has come for you to join the Air Force.”

“Yes, Mom,” Simi said in a determined tone and Reena knew that the tradition continued.

Sreedisha Sarkar Class VIII F (M)

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A gentle giant

As the clock ticks…

Last year on 25th December I went to visit the Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanical Garden with my parents. My father had told me that there was the Great Banyan Tree whose name was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. I had been craving to have a glimpse of that tree for many years and finally got the opportunity to do so last year. Our local guide said that the garden was founded by Colonel Robert Kyd in 1786 and its main attraction was the Great Banyan Tree. He even said that when the tree was just 15 years old, there was a noticeable change in its roots and in 1884 it had to sustain a severe cyclone because of which it had developed a fungal infection in its roots.

So, in 1925, its main trunk was chopped off. However, its prop roots are so strong that the loss of its main stem cannot be distinguished. The scientific name of this tree is Ficus benghalensis and it has spread over an area of 1.6 hectares with about 3,618 prop roots. The fact that surprised me was that the tree covered an area equal to a cricket stadium where 10,000 people can sit together to watch a match. This makes the tree one of the most amazing creations of nature. Thus, it is regarded as the largest tree of Asia. It is not only spectacular and jaw-dropping but it has also given shelter to 87 species of birds, many squirrels and monkeys. It was indeed an educational tour for me as I got to see this wonder of nature and admire its beauty.

‘When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.’− Benjamin Franklin The water train in Chennai and severe water scarcity in Cape Town, making it functionally uninhabitable, and other dismal facts regarding non-availability of fresh water make me aware of the importance of water and its conservation.

Water is probably the most important thing required for preserving life. It forms the basis of life – for plants, animals and humans alike. The vegetation, animal and human population, all depend on water for their existence. Population growth has put tremendous pressure on water resources. The only sources of water are rainfall and perennial rivers. The availability of fresh water is not sufficient and the problem is different in different regions. We tend to take water for granted because it flows easily out of the tap. But we are rapidly depleting the global supply of fresh water, and this reality could potentially have dire consequences.

Our Earth is known as the ‘Blue Planet’ as two-thirds of it is water. But less than one per cent of water on the Earth is readily available for human use. The reasons for that may be stated as follows: • Pollution is a major cause of water scarcity. The untreated polluted water of industries contributes to the water shortage.

• Unscientific approach practised in agriculture in India contributes to water shortage too.

• Massive deforestation resulting in climate change is one of the major causes of shortage of water.

• Domestic as well as industrial wastage also contributes to water scarcity.

Abhidha Roy Class VIII F (A)

Water conservation is the only way to make safe water available to humans, animals and plants. To mitigate the situation, people should be educated about the benefits of conserving water. We should reduce, reuse and recycle water resource. Farmers should be encouraged to grow crops which require less water.

Extensive afforestation needs to be undertaken on war footing to improve the situation.

The clock is ticking and we have a very short time to combat the situation. Our Earth will no longer support life if we do not conserve every ‘drop of life’.

Ananya Saha Class VIII E (A)

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Shock and awe!

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Once my parents and I had gone on a holiday to the serene town of the Dooars, nestled by the lush green hills of North Bengal. However, when we reached there, the tourist count was at its peak, and finding no alternative, we were compelled to put up at an ancient dak-bungalow, deep inside the greenery of the Gorumara National Park. Enthralled by our picturesque surroundings, we were oblivious of the long night that awaited us.

Around 8 o'clock in the evening, a gale hit the woods, uprooted several trees, threatened the existence of the ramshackle bungalow, and, unfortunately, snapped the power lines. The bungalow did not have a generator, and so we were in for a candle-illuminated night. The room we had been allotted was grimy and stuffy. Thus, we decided to spend our night in the grilled balcony of the bungalow's ground floor.

We were shivering in the cold wind but gazing upon the bewitching star-spangled night sky we could not move indoors, when, all of a sudden, a terrifying, inhuman growl reached our ears. We were all scared out of our wits, and shuddered with apprehension and anxiety. Suddenly in front of us was a mighty Bengal tiger, observing us from the other side of the grille. The fear and horror that we experienced cannot be portrayed in mere words. My heart was beating so loudly that if the beast had not been roaring so mightily, my heartbeat would have been heard quite distinctly; the heart was seemingly beating against my ribs.

With a fearsome roar, the tiger made a spellbinding leap towards the grille, and started pawing it and made it rattle with its ferocious thrusts. It felt as if we had been caged in a zoo, and the tiger was free to do as it pleased. Yet, its silky coat of fiery orange and vibrant yellow mesmerized us. We were enchanted and rooted to the spot, staring at this rather mighty show of nature’s creation. The age-old grille was about to give way, when the caretaker of the bungalow rushed out and fired a shot over the tiger’s head from his rusty rifle.

This was enough to scare away the devilish beast back into its wild haven.

The next day, we left for accommodation in some more-frequented part of the town, but strong feelings of awe and fear still hung heavy on our souls. We had been saved by a hair's breadth, or rather a grille's.

Anyway, this incident has been etched into my memory forever.

Something special in him…

One day I was walking along the roadside. While crossing the road, I had my earphones on and I was enjoying the wonderful music.

When I was in the middle of road, I saw an old man, with his walking stick, hurrying as fast he could. Within a few seconds, I felt him push me. I hit a lamp-post. The last thing I saw was a rather large truck and some red fluid beneath. When I regained consciousness the next day, I was in hospital. The doctor told me to walk around and see if I was stable or not. I walked for sometime and although I felt my head aching, I could walk properly. Then I asked the doctor where the old man was. “Ward number 303,” he said. I went there with my parents. On enquiring, I came to know that he had been vomiting and losing consciousness every now and then. I entered and stood beside him, speechless.

One of his legs was missing and the other leg was all wrapped up in bandages. I went nearer to speak to him. What he said was this: on seeing a truck bearing down on me he had shouted at the top of his voice but my ears were blocked by the headphones. So he jumped forward to push me out of the way of the truck.

The consequences are known to him and me, and, of course, the people passing by the spot. He also told me to be helpful and kind, help others too, but to take care not to put my life at stake. I was very surprised when I saw no members of his family beside this helpless old man in such dreadful condition.

Before he could say anything else, he started coughing, vomiting and then slowly lost his consciousness. My parents took me out and we left for home, the kind old man’s words still ringing in my ears. I made a secret promise to help the old and lonely people when I grew up. I do not know whether he survived or not. Perhaps I would have forgotten the man, after some time. But he had something special in him. There was DEFINITELY SOMETHING SPECIAL in Him… .

Shreyos Chatterjee Class VIII D (A)

Rishiraj Chatterjee Class VIII D (A)

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Etched In Words The mystery of Mr. Barkley’s death

The night before Barkley was found dead, it was raining heavily and lightning had struck quite often. Mr. Barkley wanted to open the sealed packet of the ordered dinner set. So, he went inside the kitchen and took up a knife when lightning struck again and Barkley had a heart attack. He fell on the ground and the knife in his hand went up in the air and pierced his leg.

Sherlock Holmes had always been my favourite detective. I had an ambition to become like him but where were there so many extraordinary events and cases? I waited for very long and finally such a case arrived right at my doorstep. It was the murder case of Mr. Barkely, our neighbour living across the street. He was a widower who lived all alone and was rarely seen out of his house. One day he did not answer the postman who came to deliver a letter and the door was locked from inside. The man called the police. I saw all the commotion from the road. The police came and were forced to break down the door. After a little search they found Mr. Barkley's body lying in the kitchen with a knife stuck in his thigh. He was dead. There was a package lying there too, fully sealed. It was a dinner set Mr. Barkley had ordered. I went and saw the body.

There was no sign of terror on his face. I asked the police officer what his opinion was. He said, “A crook entered his house to steal valuables. Mr. Barkley must have spotted him and the crook in a panic stuck his knife in his thigh and Mr. Barkley died of blood loss."

This was one of those cases where it looked like murder but was an innocent accident which had a one in a million chance of happening. After solving this case I left my job at the post-office and became a fulltime detective like my idol Sherlock Holmes.

Shreejit Pakrashi Class VIII F (M)

I was not quite satisfied with his theory. This was because Mr. Barkley was an ex-Army officer. An Army officer, I hope, knows how to cope with blood loss. The officer's theory was ruled out as the post-mortem report showed that Barkley had died of a heart-attack.

My mind went blank. I shook my brain, trying to figure it out. All the doors and windows were closed and locked from the inside when the police entered. On top of that his almirah was loaded with his wife's jewellery and not a single ring went missing. It was a locked room mystery like that of ‘Murders at the Rue Morgue’

by Edgar Allan Poe. I tried thinking out of the box and suddenly my mind clicked and I found a perfect theory.

I literally ran three miles to the police station. I just needed to know one thing. I rushed inside the station and asked that officer. “Did Mr. Barkely have a weak heart condition?” The officer took the post-mortem report and gave a quick glance and nodded. I was thrilled. I explained my theory to the officers and they were left speechless. My theory went like this.

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Etched In Words At Garten Schit

house. Soon the men went inside the house as the doors creaked and shut behind them. It was completely dark inside, except the dim light of the men's torches and the growing moonlight that occasionally shone in from the broken windows. Upon entering, the men found themselves in the living room of the house, strewn with broken furniture, ripped curtains and peeling wallpapers. A thick layer of dust had settled on everything and cobwebs were present in every corner of the room. A broken chandelier hung from the ceiling. The men then went up a flight of stairs to the first floor which seemed to be the dining room. A rat ran across Ben's feet as they moved forward. The place had a burning smell and fungi grew on everything − from the plates to the chairs scattered around the room. The place clearly had been deserted for years and seemed unwelcoming. By now Ben was sweating and his breathing became louder.

"The effect of coming in contact with the supernatural is clearly seen on you,” said Nick, looking at Ben, as they climbed the same stairs from which the mayor's daughter had fallen to death. On reaching the third landing, the men found themselves on a narrow hallway at the end of which was a big white door. Ben’s heart now thumped against his chest and a strange heaviness filled his mind. ‘’Nick, do you feel anything strange, yet?" asked Ben. “Not yet, my friend, not yet, but soon we must," replied Nick.

They soon came to an abrupt step in front of a white door. Nick shone his torch on the large rusted padlock that hung from the door. He took out a paperclip from his pocket and tried it on the lock.

As he fidgeted with the clip, he spoke, "And, this, my friend, is the very room where Bergmann had died.

Soon we should be in his presence." With a clicking sound the padlock opened and fell to the ground with a loud thud. Turning to Ben, Nick said, "I have been waiting for this moment for so many years and now finally..."

Nick never finished his sentence as behind him stood a man − not Ben, but the silhouette of a well-built man in Nazi military attire with a badge over his chest, stating, LT. BERGMANN, and behind him in the gleaming moonlight lay the motionless body of Ben, eyes wide open and mouth gasping as if he had seen something terribly horrifying.

Just then the clouds covered the moon and Nick's torch went out.

And the rest, well... you can guess, it was another of those terrible events.

‘‘Ah! There you are, at last!” exclaimed Nicholas Willson on seeing his guest, coming down the road. Nicholas was a skinny man in his mid-thirties. He wore a blue suit and grey pants and his red curly hair was thrown all over his head like a wildfire. He was described by people as ‘a man of his own kind'. "So, my friend, what brought you here?"continued Nicholas."Well, someone told me that if I had to meet ghosts, you would be the best person to ask,” said Benjamin Stoker, a man in his early forties. "You see, Nick, I have always been intrigued by tales of spirits and dark magic and sought to experience the supernatural.”"Then, sir, I suppose you have come to the right place," said Nicholas, taking Benjamin inside his house. Together, they went inside his study. The place was filled with books about spirits and how to communicate with them. There were also some voodoo stuff − human skulls, green candles, an ouija board. “This is what I call my laboratory, have a seat,” said Nicholas, pushing a chair forward to Ben, "I think you would like a cup of tea.”

After a few minutes, Nick came in with two cups of tea, and both men sat down at the table in the centre of the room. "So, what have you got for me?” asked Ben, breaking the silence after having a sip of his tea.

“There's this one place I always wanted to visit − The Garten Schit Manor. I have been there once but I didn't get the chance to explore it completely,” replied Nick.

"You mean the very place where a fire had killed the Kerry family and where the mayor's daughter died after falling down the stairs?" "Yes, the house of the infamous Heinrich Bergmann, the Nazi official who was killed by an English spy. I have been to that place once, but have failed to experience any oddity or anything unnatural about the place. And mind you, Ben, you may feel uncanny and your mind can be stressed out once we are in the domain of the spirit that haunts that place, we might also experience something beyond human understanding, but don't give up.” "So, to Garten Schit, it is,” said Ben, raising his cup. “To Garten Schit, replied Nick, as they clanged their cups together.

The two men boarded a train and reached the sleepy town of Potsdam in the afternoon on the outskirts of which lay their destination.

It was nearing sunset when the two men arrived at the mansion. What once used to be a beautiful and royal home, now wore a hideous look. The building was half burnt, with broken walls and some shattered windows.

The oak trees outside stood bare, the beds of roses, lavenders, dahlias and many other flowers had dried and the grass wore an alien look as it seemed black in the growing darkness. A stony path led to the great porch in front of which lay the large black doors of the

Siddharth Mahto Class VIII A (A) 71

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Etched In Words The violinist The father-son duo was sitting in the chairs kept in the lawn of their enormous mansion in a hill station. They were sipping Darjeeling tea from their cups and enjoying the view of the winter morning.

Suddenly, Mr. Brown interrupted the silence and said, “Son, how is your new book doing?” His son, slightly annoyed by the question, said, “Unfortunately, the copies of my recent book are not getting sold as per expectation − only one thousand and five copies sold in a fortnight."

"But your previous book really raised the bars. Also, every book may not see the same success,” reassured Mr. Brown. After a long period of silence, his son heaved a sigh and said, "Writing is not my cup of tea.”

Mr. Brown sipped tea from his porcelain cup and said, “My boy, trough and peak in life are inevitable and very important to keep us going, just like a straight line in an ECG means a person is not alive.” He then started narrating a story.

"This story is about a boy who loved playing the violin.

His parents never approved of that. They felt he won't succeed in it. But that didn't stop him from pursuing his dream. With the help of his friends and some close relatives, he was able to join the violin class in school.

But more hurdles were about to come his way. In the violin classes, he was constantly mocked by his classmates. It sometimes made him cry bitterly.

However, he was too strong to be stopped. Though he was the youngest of the group, he soon began playing very well. His teacher, Mr. Nickerson, realised that he was exceptionally talented and secretly took him to shows for performing. One day the boy's parents got to know about his secret and permanently stopped him from going back to that violin class.”

All this time Mr. Brown's son was listening patiently, "What happened after that?"he asked.

Mr. Brown continued his story, “His violin teacher, Mr. Nickerson, visited the boy's house and persuaded his parents. The teacher lent his violin to the boy and he played wonderfully. His parents were left in awe and they couldn't hold back tears. They kissed and embraced their child. Finally, they permitted him to chase his dreams. Then he started performing in more such shows. His parents always sat in the front row of every single show to cheer him. But one day the unexpected occurred. Mr. Nickerson, whom the boy loved and respected so much, passed away tragically in a car accident. His life was shattered. He felt that without his teacher, he was nothing. The boy gave up performances and kept holed up in his house for two long years. Then, his parents encouraged him to attend shows. He went to a couple of shows but couldn't POINTER

perform his best. The absence of his master gave him immense pain. In the middle of one such performance, he burst into tears and ran off the stage. On his way back home, he did the unthinkable. He took out his violin from its case and threw it into a narrow stream. It was a moment of unbearable sadness. Teardrops rolling down his cheeks, with blurred vision he saw the beloved violin slowly being carried away from him by the water. The boy went back home, never to play violin again. He headed straight to his bedroom, locked the door from inside and went into deep thought. Just then he recalled, his beloved violin teacher's words, ‘The greatest happiness you will ever give me is when you pledge to never stop playing the violin.’ Suddenly, at one corner of the dim room, he saw the pale figure of Mr. Nickerson. He was wearing an all-white suit and smiling at the boy. Just as he ran to hug the figure, it vanished into thin air. It was just his imagination.

“The boy made up his mind to regain his lost glory. He bought a new violin and again started attending shows and performing his best in them. Thus, he became one of the finest violin players of his time. Here ends my story."

"That's great,” commented Mr. Brown's son."It really is," said Mr. Brown.

“But,” asked his son, “Why did you choose this story in particular to tell me? I mean, many such talents are present in this world. What is so special about this boy?”

“Hmm, it seems that I have forgotten to tell you the most important part of the story. This boy was deaf from the age of nine years.”

When Mr. Brown completed the sentence, a sudden shudder ran down his son’s spine. He tried to speak but couldn’t.

Mr. Brown continued, “When this boy, being deaf and in spite of facing several turmoils through his journey, could become a prolific violinist, why are you stopping to pursue your dream after facing just a couple of simple problems? Just think about it for once. The boy can neither hear his creation which he presents to the rest of the world through his violin, nor the applause that is showered upon him after his performance. On top of that, he lost the person who was his prime support for overcoming his disability. What a tremendous self-confidence he exhibited!”

It was then that his son realized that with self-confidence anything and everything can be achieved.

Urvi Ray Class VIII D (A)

72

Etched In Words Thinking it my way Often a thought of putting my considerations into account has crossed my mind. But I’ve never really had the time to do it. So now after a lot of deliberations, I’ve tried to put down my thoughts. Even if I try to, I can’t include each and every feeling because it’ll take a lot of time.

It has been 11 years since I’ve been admitted to South Point School and, according to me, my journey till now has been much like a roller-coaster ride. No matter what, I’ve enjoyed every aspect of it and am still continuing to do so. Standing at this point of time, when I look back, I’m filled with a sense of nostalgia.

Not a day goes by when I’ve not thought of living those beautiful moments once again, only if I could. The classrooms and the corridors have been the sole witnesses to numerous pranks, laughs, scoldings, games and much more. My relation with the teachers has always been quite good. It must have been because of my class behaviour and my performance in academics.

Well, let’s put those aside and come to the topic which to me is very important, ‘friends’. Who is a ‘friend’? A friend is someone who stands by you no matter what and is ready to go till the end of the line. But there are a few who pretend and only make friends with a purpose. Well, that’s too negative a thought. But, what else can be done because it’s the bitter truth. I’ve been in such situations many times. But actually the measure of a true friend is during tough situations. But that doesn’t mean I’ve got no friends at all. The four of my best friends have been with me from the very beginning. Now, we are in such an age group when we think we can do anything. We often tend to think we’re immortal. The future is and should be bright but like our years in school, what makes life valuable is that it doesn’t last forever, what makes it precious is that it ends. I know that now more than ever. And I say it today of all days to remind ourselves that time is luck. So we shouldn’t waste it living someone else’s life, but we should make ours count for something. It’s easy to feel hopeful on a beautiful day but there are dark days ahead too, when we feel all alone, and that’s when hope is needed most. Even when we will pass out of school and become graduates, we’ll carry a piece of each other into everything that we do next, to remind us of who we are and of who we’re meant to be.

Believe it or not!

It happened long ago. I came to know about this incident from my cousin, Nina. When the incident occurred she was 24 years old and I had not been born.

It was a cold wintry night, before Christmas Eve. Streets and shops were decorated gorgeously. Thousands of people went out to buy cakes and Xmas trees from the shops. Nina’s mother worked in such a shop as a receptionist. The shopowner requested her mother to work on night shifts. After having dinner, her mom went for work at around 8 p.m. Nina went to the kitchen and was baking a cake. After sometime she heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs.

She was confused. She went to check what it was but to her utter surprise, she saw no one but just the shadow of a human being. She thought that she was imagining things. So she went upstairs with a pounding heart.

She was thinking it might be a thief who had just crawled into her room through the window. But just as she reached her room, she saw nothing. She heaved a sigh of relief by saying, “Thank God, no one is here.” She again came down to prepare her food and this time she heard someone calling, “Nina, where are you? Come upstairs.” She got very nervous because it sounded exactly like her mother’s voice. She went upstairs and saw her mom. She said, “Mom, did you not go to the shop for night shift?” She replied, “No, today you have to work in night shifts.” She felt completely shocked.

Confused, she left for the shop.

As Nina reached the shop, she saw her mom was working at the computer! Seeing her she was amazed and said, “Nina, why have you come here?” She replied, “Mom, just now you were at home! How did you come here?” Her mother replied, “No! I have been working here since 8 p.m!”

Nina was speechless with shock and her brain stopped functioning as she stared at her mother. She told me later on that the incident still haunted her and she could not imagine who that person in her room was or who was doing night shifts in that shop. It remains a mystery till today.

Aditya Sarkar Class IX C (M)

Sampriti Roy Class IX H (A) 73

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Etched In Words When his heart rules…

The hanging skin under his chin quivered with anticipation. Death was approaching. He could sense it.

His lungs ached for fresh air. His heart was gradually losing its ability to pump blood. He knew he had minutes before he would close his eyes forever. In his life he had defied death many times. Not once, but thrice, bullets had sunk into his flesh. Excruciating pain had flown through his veins. But somehow he had managed to escape the gates of hell. He had thought it was his sheer determination to live that had saved him.

But now in the final grip of death, he realized it was just his Fascism.

A former leader of a secret, yet deadly, terrorist group, Mushtaq Habib had taken many lives. Some he had taken in open wars and some through his ingenious plans.

Now he found his 80-year-old self groping for something in the only wooden drawer in his isolated house. Not a house, really. It was more of a birds’ nest in a magnified form with a few pieces of furniture. No one would ever imagine that in that little cottage lived one of the most dreaded terrorist minds in the world.

Finally Habib found what he was looking for. It was a small package wrapped in brown paper. He impatiently tore off the paper. A small, gray cellphone stared out at him. But unlike all others, this phone had only three keys. One key was the power button while the other two were coloured green and red. Habib pressed the power button. The phone sprang to life. A message appeared on the screen. ‘DETONATE’? It said.

This was the moment Mushtaq Habib had been waiting for the past one year now. He found himself recollecting the events of the only mission he had failed. It was to the USA. It was his carelessness that had failed the mission. The USA, being one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, had been secretly tracking Habib and his group and inevitably the U.S. intelligence had trapped them.

Mushtaq and his group members were sentenced to death, but with the help of a few loyal friends there, they had escaped. After that he had resorted to staying isolated.

However, the cellphone he was holding right now was his backup revenge plan. With the help of the same friends in the USA, he had hidden a small box in one of the most frequented public places of Washington D.C. If he pressed the green button on the phone, that box would start radiating powerful alpha and gamma rays which would cripple the U.S. population for the next two centuries to come.

Habib’s thumb rubbed over the green button in desperation. He knew he could last for the most POINTER

another minute. Habib took a deep breath. Before he died, it was the last moment of his glory. He was about to press the green button when a funny feeling came over him. His brain told him to press the green button, but his heart, quite unexpectedly, repeatedly told him to shift to the red button. He just couldn’t decide what to do. His heart, after all these years, was trying to teach him something he had stubbornly refused from the very beginning.

Benevolence.

Suddenly, a moment of clarity hit him. Death had changed him. It had looked him straight in the eye and pointed out that the pain endured by the people would only increase the hatred for his faith. It would never generate the reverence he wanted for his religion.

Mushtaq pressed the red button. The phone went blank. The next moment, it fell out of his trembling hands. His internal organs felt like they were about to burst. He fell to the ground. He offered his last prayers to god, and then… closed his eyes.

At that moment, in the United States of America, a pigeon looking for food came across a small red box hidden inside an opening in a statue. The bird pecked on the box to see if there was food inside. However, there was not. Unimpressed, the pigeon flew away.

Aishik Bhattacharya Class IX D (M)

74

Etched In Words A surprise in Birmingham It was a normal day in Birmingham. We all decided to play hide and seek. As usual Roy was unhappy on being the seeker. Clarke and I decided to go towards the north. “Hey Anji, I’ve been hearing some myths about the area − the other side of the wall is apparently possessed by the spirit of Vendigo. Moreover, Roy is not brave enough to reach this far,” said Clarke. I replied, “Don’t be a fool, Clarke, life is short, we must explore it.”

I must say that this bold decision we took saved us as well as many others for a lifetime.

We reached the front of a house − or a bungalow to be precise, most probably of the 30’s but with a spooky look. To our surprise, the door was open. We two entered the house. Clarke asked, “Why didn’t the door close? This seems a haunted house, right?” I didn’t bother to reply to his stupid and sarcastic remark. We chose a small room to sit and started discussing random topics. Clarke said, “Yesterday, I watched a movie where terrorists were planning a bombing attack, that too in a similarly abandoned house.’’ I replied with a slight smile on my face, “Well, this could be true with this type of houses.”

Well, you could call it an accident or our bad luck but the thing that we had never imagined in our wildest dreams came true.

We were having a great conversation when I was disturbed by the creaking of the old wooden floors. I told Clarke to stop shaking his legs as the sound was not pleasant to my ears. But he was not doing anything like that. After a few seconds, I heard the deep voice of

some people getting louder and louder. That made us sure that there were more than two persons in the bungalow that day. I peeped through a crack and spotted three men with masks on their faces!

Clarke’s face was red with fear and tears were rolling down his cheeks slowly. I won’t lie to myself but it was tough for even a braveheart like me to control my fear.

The men kept a few revolvers on the table and drank alcohol. Then we saw them taking off their masks and they were none other than our school gatekeepers, Tom, Max and Shawn!

They were planning to buy some C4 explosives that night from the workers in the dock. From the story we had heard, it was clear that they had been insulted badly by our school authorities when they had asked for a salary raise. Their plan was to blast out the school.

Tom said, “Let’s leave and enjoy the breeze blowing outside.”

That was a golden moment for us to escape. We shared the story with Roy and ran towards the police station like there was no other place in the world. Our simple game of hide and seek became a thrilling adventure.

The explosive dealers as well as the three gatekeepers were caught red-handed. We had saved our school, our village and, most importantly, our lives. Hope that Vendigo appreciated what we did!

Anjishnu Mallick Class IX C (A)

75

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Etched In Words Who am I? It was night and Hannah was all alone. She gazed out of the window. A light and cool breeze greeted her dark cheeks and her curly black lair. Her eyes were twinkling with shear excitement.

“Tomorrow I’ll turn 10. Then my journey will begin.”

“Cut!” said the Assistant Director.

“Good. You are surely a great actor, Hannah,” remarked the Director, “but you know, there must be some hidden despair when the character is gazing out. You know the sad background story of Misty, don’t you?”“Yes, I do. Okay, let me try again,” said a disappointed Hannah. “Hey, you Freshie! You better know that you can do nothing right,” growled Andrew, “Oh, how many times are we doing this scene? Do whatever you want, girl.” He stormed out from the room.

“Work out, you two. We’ll continue tomorrow morning.

The reporting time is 7 o’clock sharp,” sighed the Director. Everyone retired for the night.

Except for Hannah. She ran out into the darkness. It was new moon, and the hills were nothing but mounds of black. It was 11 p.m., and there was pindrop silence.

“Oh, that grumpy Andrew! Where is he?”

Suddenly, there was a loud and clear scream.

“What… was that?” Hannah jumped. She was clearly terrified. “Help!” cried the voice again. “I guess it’s coming from the top of that hill. I must go!” thought Hannah. Just as she was about to climb, someone yanked at her hand. She fell on him. “What the…”“What were you doing?” the boy cried. “Who… are you?”

Hannah cried.

They stared at each other.

Hannah said softly, “Did you hear that scream?” He

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asked, “What scream?” Hannah started to cry, “I d-don’t know b-but I am always hearing someone screaming ‘Help! Help’!”“You are too confined to yourself. You don’t let your emotions flow except when you’re shooting a film –” “How do you know? Who are you?”

“No one that important in your life.” “But – but who was screaming out there?” “Your heart!”

There was a big silence.

“You know you are lonely,” said the boy, “And you need a friend as a support. For how many years are you going to be lonely? You are an orphan who struggled to be an actor… Andrew has a family, many friends and is more experienced than you. I know he yells at you, but he is your friend. And, you know that deep down…”

“What?” whispered Hannah.

His voice echoed, “I’ll never leave you alone…”

“Hannah? What on earth are you doing out here?” cried a tense Andrew. “Hey!” shouted Hannah. “Oh, thank goodness! You’re safe. I was worried for you,” Andrew heaved a sigh of relief.

“You know, there was a boy who saved me from getting lost. Huh – where is he?” Hannah whirled around. “Stop acting like a goof, you stupid child, and come back into the tent… NOW!” growled Andrew, and dragged her away, grumbling softly like her missing father whom she never knew.

“Hey! I have a curious note inside my pocket,” frowned Hannah.

“I am always beside you… who am I?” Renaissance Basu Class IX D (A)

76

no wonder she has found herself such a high rank on my list. She’s the most loving and doting person I’ve met. She always greets everyone with a smile. She is an amazing cook and, being a foodie, has won my heart.

Dida, on the other hand, is a pious old lady, carefully carrying out the rituals every day before little idols – a process I find starkly similar to playing with dolls. She was a teacher all her life and I love how she prioritizes herself as much as she dedicates time for others. As a young lady, that’s something I find very inspiring.

Dadaiya is a handsome man on whom age sits lightly.

He served in the Indian Army and is a medallist in basketball. Although he gets a little too strict at times, he always makes up with carefully slipped in chocolates when no one is watching.

Now, the person whom I love the most is way too dear to be on any of my lists. She’s my heart and soul and everything in between. She’s my cousin, Shree. Ever since she was born she has been the most special thing for me in a way that I can’t even put in to words. After a tiring fight with Ma and Baba, that ‘Didibhai, everything will be alright’, is all I look forward to. At five, she already has secrets that she shares with me and I give her my two bits in matters we both deem extremely serious. We have a little world of sisterhood that is the most precious to me.

Well, that’s me – my family…

While I’m still trying to figure out ‘Who am I?’ I feel quite incomplete in my own description without these lovely people whom I call mine. I am happy to be the person I am – carefree, happy and full of life. They taught me to live in the moment and not to wait for life to grant you happiness. All you need is to find your own bit of yourself and make that picture happy.

Etched In Words My family and other thoughts “It’s raining outside, can I go get drenched?” I asked.

“Have you lost your little head, young woman? You’ll inevitably catch a cold,” said my Thamma, almost before I could finish my question.

“Your exams are in no time, there’s no way you are going out,” added Ma. “On, it’s alright! I’ll teach her a spell against the cold.

Besides, she has been studying since morning, so let her go,” Baba intervened. SLAM! The door shut.

And there I was, typically Adrija Chatterjee, seeking great pleasures in almost all mundane little things around, dancing in the rain like it was nobody’s business. That’s my favourite thing to do in the world.

No, second. First is dribbling a basketball. Actually my list of favourites isn’t too long. Baba tops it by any margin, followed by Ma. Yes, at 14, I’ve already decided on favourites between my parents and that’s an achievement not to be taken lightly. Although, Ma is kind of my best friend – from discussing potential crushes to seeking comfort after doing poorly in academics, she is always there by my side. “This too shall pass,” she keeps saying and everything instantly feels alright. Then comes my Thamma – she is a very elegant woman who has pampered me for good and bad, as my father might attest. But then who doesn’t love that ‘Thamma hug’ – soft, warm and a little wrinkled when they do poorly in mathematics and everybody is busy rebuking them? Next on my list is my uncle, my role model and partner in crime. I never got around to calling him by the traditional references and stuck with his first name, Sankha. He is Feluda to my Topshe. He literally taught me to eat – being a Bengali he coached me to be a fish fanatic like himself, and there is nothing I appreciate more.

Although my aunt came in fairly recently in my life, it’s

Adrija Chatterjee Class IX H (A)

77

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Etched In Words The voice It was just another lazy Sunday afternoon and I was bored to death. My parents were not at home, either.

So, I decided to have some fun and started dialling up random phone numbers and irritating people.

Suddenly, the idea of dialling my own phone number struck me. For a joke, I dialled up my own number, and, to my utter surprise, someone picked it up. What happened next left me in a state of shock. An unusual voice, speaking gibberish,was on the other side. I tried my best to make the voice understand that I knew no other language but English. He seemed to get my point after quite some time and replied, “Hello, Emma! How are you today?” I was left dumbstruck. How on Earth, did he get to know my name? I asked him nervously, “How do you know my name?” “Name!” replied the receiver, “According to Wikipedia, a name is usually a term by which something or somebody is known.” I was bewildered. “What!” I exclaimed. The sound of muffled laughter greeted me, followed by, “According to Wikifun, what is a word that can be used primarily to ask a question, but also to denote exclamation?” By now, I felt almost sure that there was something unnatural about this voice. Out of curiosity, I asked, “Are you even human?” The voice said, “I have heard of Saturn. But, what is a human? Do you want to know more about Saturn?” I became frustrated, “Are you a robot? And, don’t you dare give me the definition–” I shouted. The voice announced with unusual calmness,

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“Leonardo da Vinci said, ‘Where there is shouting there is no true knowledge.’” I was in a fit of rage by now and screamed, “What do you know about knowledge, you robot! Stop insulting me!” I don’t normally shout at people but the receiver had really got on my nerves.

However, my shouting had little effect and he coolly stated, “I see that you really need the Bumper Book of Insults. I guess you’ll be able to get it online.” This was just too much for me. “Stop testing my patience and reveal who you are,” I demanded. Suddenly I could hear the same gibberish as I had heard earlier, followed by a deafening beep, and then, complete silence…

After that, however much I tried to connect to my own number, it did not connect. I was shocked. When my parents returned, I narrated to them the entire incident. But, they just laughed and dismissed it as a mere joke. Confidently, I tried to prove them wrong by showing them my call log. But, to my utter surprise, there was no trace of the call.

“Maybe the Sunday afternoon was not so boring after all,” I sighed. Who was that voice? Why was there no trace on my phone?

These questions still remain unanswered and continue to haunt me even now.

Sreejoyee Sen Sharma Class IX B (A)

78

Etched In Words The unsung saviour He had been putting it down to the usual jitters all morning. But as he stepped on the accelerator, a horrible feeling of foreboding closed on him. His hands shook on the steering wheel but he forced himself to concentrate.

Michael had grown up dreaming of being a hero but his present job was all too literal manifestation of a childish dream. He worked for the Intelligence Bureau of the country and after a few months of service at the technical department, he found himself working undercover and gathering information first-hand for the Bureau’s reports. He had successfully carried out several important missions but perhaps none as dangerous as this.

The Bureau was currently on the track of a unit that seemed to serve as its counterpart in the criminal world. Due to his flawless track record, Michael was unanimously chosen to scout out this agency, and he had truly been able to find out a lot. The agency operated through a network of social media apps, video games and other appliances that were susceptible to Internet hacking. Through this network they were able to tap mobiles, listen to private conversations and even access documents stored in the aforesaid devices. All of this was stored in a secret database and selected information was sold to anybody who could afford it.

Tonight, however, was what Michael’s colleagues had termed ‘the Grand Finale’. Tonight he had to sneak into the room where the entire database was stored in a supercomputer and erase all the data from it. He was supposed to be flanked by a backup team which would demolish the building after he left but they hadn’t shown up at all.

Michael knew that sneaking in would not be difficult.

He had often been to that room to ‘service’ the computer so he would not be suspected by security. He was right. The moment he mentioned he was on ‘maintenance duty’ they were all smiles.

“Sir,” one of them called hesitantly. Michael turned around. “Yes?” “Would you please leave your weapons out here? It’s not very safe to carry ammunition into that room.’’ Michael felt an ice-cold wire thread his spine. They were expecting an attack. He sighed and took out his revolver and handed it over.

They looked relieved. “Thank you, Sir.” The foreboding only intensified as he strode towards the database room. Michael was sweating as he pressed the keys on the computer’s keyboard, ordering it to abort all ongoing processes immediately and erase all information from the storage chip. Strangely, he was feeling much as he had a week ago, when he had

discovered that there was no way to induce a virus in the computer’s operating system and the job would simply have to be done the hard way − manually.

The door creaked and Michael stood up, quickly covering the screen. The stranger stared keenly at Michael. “What are you doing?” “Maintenance,” Michael said, shortly. The stranger raised an eyebrow.

“Somebody called you?” he asked. Michael nodded.

“That’s … odd,” the man mused. “I wasn’t informed. I am usually informed when there’s maintenance.”

Michael felt the pit of his stomach drop. He tried to shrug casually, “Must be a mistake.” The man nodded but he still looked suspicious. “Okay, so, go back to your work.” He turned to leave and Michael heaved a sigh of relief.

He made the mistake of turning around. He heard a strangled gasp behind him and the next thing he knew − he was on the ground while the stranger frantically pressed random keys on the keyboard.

But it was too late. The screen went blank and the entire computer shut down. A mechanical hum that always emanated from the computer faded. For the first time in many years the entire room was silent.

The stranger turned around, his face impassive. But his eyes blazed with fury. Michael heard the unmistakable click of a revolver and in moments he found himself on the wrong side of one. There was nowhere to go. The room was barely large enough to hold the computer and there was nothing to shelter him from his adversary’s attack.

The stranger pressed the trigger. Michael, as a last resort, tried to leap out of the way but he was too slow.

The bullet embedded itself into his gut. There was a brief moment of excruciating pain. Then, mercifully, everything went black.

Over 2,000 km. away, a man dressed in a suit and a tie tapped an icon on his smartphone continuously with increasing consternation. When he found that the required app just would not open, he tossed the phone onto his bed in disgust, grumbling about failing standards of Android phones.

Aarushi Das Class IX D (M) 79

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Change

Etched In Words

It is said that if the world is not changing then we are not growing and time is not passing. Change is a part of life.

As time passes, things change. Positive-minded people say, "Change is always for the better," but is it so?

Let's consider an example. According to Charles Darwin, evolution changes the world and the living beings in it every moment. According to science, humans have evolved from monkeys. And if we go far off into the past, science says that the first living creatures on Earth were Archaebacteria. All this may seem insignificant in our context. A question may arise, "Why is this being explained?" Reason is: Archaebacteria have evolved and given rise to the multicellular organisms and repeated evolution has led to the birth of human beings. This is change. Is this a good change or a bad one?

By now everyone is sure, "Change is of course for the better. There's no question about it.” I think we should consider another example – another very common one.

According to historians, the world, at first, had a single large continent named Pangea with a geosyncline named the Tethys Sea. This island was surrounded by the ocean Panthasala. Due to internal forces the landmass cracked and separated to form continents.

This is also a change. Is this change a good one or a bad one?

Let's find the answers now. In the first case, evolution changed life. If it is considered in a positive sense, it can be argued that as time passed living beings became more and more civilized. This is good. But a counter-question may be there: when Archaebacteria lived in the planet, nature was not harmed. But with the evolution of man, nature has been exploited and the resources have been used indiscriminately, resulting in the present condition of the Earth – full of pollution, and reeling under global warming. Is this good?

In the second case, continents were separated. In a negative sense it can be argued that: if there was only one continent, there would not have been such racial, cultural and linguistic differences which have resulted in discrimination, exploitation and even wars. This point can be countered by saying: if there was only one landmass there would have been a single race, a single culture and only one language and, in that case superstitions would have been very difficult to eradicate as every place would have the same superstitions and no place would have a different culture to borrow ideas from. Is this good?

All the questions have been answered except: “Is change always for the better?” But I have answered a lot of questions. The last question will be answered by the readers themselves.

Blackout knockout "That's all right! Next time for sure,” I said to my friend, Archisha, over the phone. She had backed out of a plan of watching a horror flick at my home as some relatives had suddenly invaded her house. And I had just placed the order for "a double cheese burst Mexican green wave pizza with extra corn and jalapeno!” It’s ok, I mused. After all man comes alone into this world and departs the same way. I could certainly watch. ‘The Conjuring’ alone! I descended from my bedroom to the hall, armed with a large tub of tomato chilli popcorn and a bottle of Thums Up. I had seen the film earlier but then I had sit through it with my eyes closed eighty percent of the time. This time I had my eyes glued to the screen but a mere half hour into the movie, I was scared, really scared! My hand reached out for the last bits of popcorn and accidentally knocked over the tub.

I got down on my knees to set things right when suddenly, everything went dark.

We have emergency lights in the house but then we had forgotten to charge them. So I went to the window to draw the curtains to let in some light from the street lamps, but I found everything pitch dark.

And then I heard them − three short raps on the door.

My blood froze in my veins. I had just watched ‘the demon’ knocking three times to be let in. I was not going to make that mistake! The next time, the knocking grew louder and someone was shouting, “Ms. Dheeptha”… someone? It was the demon, trying to get me to open the door. I stood still and the knocking stopped. The silence was killing.

Then I heard an eerie music floating down and it took me some time to make out my ‘ringtone’. My phone was in my bedroom upstairs. I tried groping my way to the staircase, knocking over a large brass flower vase on the way. It took two minutes for the clanging to subside and then I heard some voices outside and then a loud, very loud, banging on the door followed by a demon shouting in my father's voice, “You moron! Open the door! Have you gone deaf? The pizza delivery guy has been knocking on the door and calling you up for the past half hour. Where are you? What's wrong with you?

It seems I have to pay him for the delay!" Light dawned on me just as the lights came on.

Dheeptha Biswas Class IX F (A)

Riddhi Kayal Class IX F (A)

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80

Etched In Words stood behind a tree and silently watched. Ravi's friend, Rohan, was with him. They saw three people digging the ground under the three mango trees. They recognized Mr. Advani’s voice, whispering, "Dig the ground fast. I need the treasure.”

The mystery of the mango orchard

Suddenly one of the men discovered a sack. Mr. Advani got excited and started opening the sack. On opening it, he saw that instead of gold and diamonds, the sack was full of rotten bones. Suddenly in the dark, they heard someone saying, "Whoever tries to buy this garden ends up with the same fate." Mr. Advani got scared and started running helter-skelter in the darkness.

Ravi is a twelve-year-old school-going boy living with his grandparents on the outskirts of the town, Rajpur.

On a hot afternoon day, when Ravi was busy listening to stories from his grandmother, the doorbell rang. He ran to open the door. The smile on his face vanished on seeing Mr. Advani standing at the doorstep. He was a big businessman who wanted to buy Ravi's grandparents' orchard to build a multi-storied building.

Even though his grandfather was ready to sell the garden, Ravi was determined to save it at any cost. The garden was the only source of happiness for Ravi and his friends in hot summer afternoons. The garden provided them with delicious fruits and a place for playing games. Ravi quickly gathered his friends − Rima, Rohan, Rahul and Garima − and started making plans on saving the garden.

The next day, he called grandfather and said, “I am sorry, Mr. Patel, I can't buy your garden.” The children were very happy.

Soon after the children organized a picnic in the orchard when they happily munched raw mangoes and chips. They were proud of each other. The bones in the sack were of Garima’s and Rima's favourite dog, Sheru. Sheru had died a few months back and had been buried in the same garden. The voice which everyone heard in the dark was of Rahul’s uncle's.

In. the evening, Ravi called up Mr. Advani and said, “Hello Sir, this is to inform you that my grandfather has found a map which leads to a treasure. We are certain that it is hidden under one of the mango trees in our garden. So, he has decided that he would sell the garden only when the treasure has been found.” The children knew that Mr. Advani was a greedy fellow, yet cowardly. At night, Ravi heard some noises coming from the garden. He slowly and carefully went inside the garden and saw the shadows of three people. He

The children had made all those arrangements to scare away Mr. Advani. They knew that the greedy man would come that night only to look for the treasure.

Sharanya Mukherjee Class IX E (A)

81

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Etched In Words road and we swerved right in an instant. We were not able to control our vehicle so we crashed into the lamp-post!"

Unexpected & unidentified

Huh, ok, so this was the real story.... but wait, what about the U.F.O., was it real? No, they told us that it was a mini-bike remodelled into a U.F.O. Finally the problem was solved. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief and started clearing out after the twins apologised to everyone for being the reason for such a chaos. I also heaved a sigh of relief and looked at my watch. What I saw made my heart skip a beat. It was almost 10:30 p.m. and I wasn't home yet. My mother had instructed me to be home latest by 10:30 p.m. I looked nowhere but started running. I ran and ran till I was within sight of my house. Suddenly I tripped and fell down. When I opened my eyes, I saw the remodelled bike speed up on the road and then suddenly go up above my head and disappear! I got up and saw there was no evidence of the accident on the road. Till date, a question lurks in my mind, “Was the event true or was it just a figment of my exhausted brain?” I might not get the answer, but if any of the readers was present at the site of the event on the 19th of December in 2017, please contact me as soon as you can.

The following event took place on the 19th of December in the year 2017.

It was 10 o’clock at night. I was returning from my tuition. It was winter and the wind was damp and cold.

I tightened my jacket around me to keep myself warm.

I kept on walking to reach home quickly and sit near the fireplace with a cup of hot coffee. I was exhausted and nearly fell asleep on my feet. Then suddenly I heard a commotion at a distance. I became alert and saw that a large crowd had gathered at a nearby lamp-post. I decided to find out the source of all of the commotion and went to see what had happened. I shuffled my way through the crowd and reached a clearing. I was awestruck by the sight; just beside the lamp-post was a small dented U.F.O. (Unidentified Flying Object) with two unconscious alien-like creatures in it! Wait! What?

How can this be possible? I thought U.F.O.s were always in fiction.... but wait, this does not end here! I was again shocked when I realized that the creatures were regaining their senses and trying to get up. I quickly backed away a little, not knowing what their next step would be and the people around me did the same. I just kept praying to God that the creatures won't come chasing after us ... but what happened next made me dumbstruck. The creatures looked at all of us, as if trying to scan us with their beady eyes and then as if they understood what was going on in our heads, they put their hands around their head and pulled them up and lo! The thing that was under the head was not some kind of deadly creature with huge fangs, tentacles or some monstrous kind of thing like that but two living adult human beings! I stood there with my mouth open.

Devtanu Bhattacharya Class IX C (M)

Then the creatures, sorry, the aliens, started talking.

One of them said, “Don’t be afraid of us. We know all of you are scared but we are not aliens. This is our fancy dress costume (what?). We are twin brothers and were returning from a fancy dress party and then suddenly out of nowhere, a speeding bike rider had come up the

POINTER

82

Etched In Words An oath to remember A doctor worth his salt is assigned the status of a ‘demigod’ by the people. Doctors are not judged by their financial status but by their skill to heal. Miracles are often made to happen in medical profession by good doctors who are said to possess ‘a third eye’ which helps them treat the patient to perfection.

Unfortunately, the sanctity of this noble profession is being vitiated by a few corrupt and dishonest physicians whose solitary ambition is to become a ‘big shot’ in a brief span of time. A physician’s is a 24-hour job and he should be completely dedicated to his trade as his motto is ‘service to mankind.’

However, several medical practitioners are defaming their profession by conducting human organ-selling rackets. Sometimes surgeons are involved in this criminal offence. Patients come to take refuge in a nursing home for surgeries. However, ignorant villagers often fall prey to these traps as their healthy and precious organs such as kidneys and lungs are removed and sold to other patients at exorbitant prices.

Many instances of shameful acts at nursing homes have been recorded. For instance, reports of keeping a dead patient on ventilation for days and not discharging the corpse of the patient when his family is unable to clear the outstanding bills are common. We shudder when newborns are stolen and mothers told that their babies were ‘stillborn.’ It is unimaginable but such heinous acts are not rare at all.

Such shameful deeds are darker than night. Greed can take crime to an abysmal depth. The lure for money has transformed a few doctors into mercenaries. The medical pledge is now merely a ritual for them. I appeal to all doctors, on behalf of global citizens, “Do not let down your precious ideals. Remember your ‘Hippocratic oath,’ one that you had once taken and unquestioningly pledged to save lives that depend on you.’’

The record-keeper I have a remarkably morbid job. No, seriously.

Managing death certificate records at a crematorium is about as morbid as jobs get.

I'm Rajiv Sen, by the way. Manager of Records at the famous Keoratala Crematorium. However, this story is not about a record-keeper of death, but death itself.

It was around 1 a.m.; I was working late that night. In a way, I was perfect for this job. I, being an atheist, was absolutely impervious to the fear of ghosts.

"Blam!" I stamped approval on the last document of the pile, right as a man rushed into my office.

“I need a correction to be made.’’“What's wrong?’’ The man's face was not that clear in the poor lighting; sleep deprivation wasn't helping either. “Imagine being told that you don't exist. What an insult! Just look at that document!” This strange visitor was pointing to the latest record on my desk.

Imon Dutta Class X G (A)

I took a quick glance, and was taken aback. ‘Rajiv Sen’! I shrugged it off as a namesake and looked up at the man, just to realize it was myself I was staring at.

And that was when the light went off.

Kanishka Chakraborty Class X F (A)

83

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and any nuisance created by an unsuspecting tourist was immediately cleaned without a single complaint.

Bhutan is a Buddhist hereditary Monarchy which is Constitutional in nature, and it was evident from the numerous portraits and memorabilia that the current Monarch and his consort were quite popular among the populace. Bhutan is unique in that it measures Gross National Happiness, besides the economic parameters, and as someone said, “The pursuit of Happiness is to be the ultimate aim in life.” People here might not have access to lightning Internet connection, or abundant social media presence, or too many distractions but they all seemed content.

No journey is complete without tasting the local cuisine and though our hotels served us mostly Indian and continental foods, we were introduced to some dishes, the most memorable being ‘Ema Datshi’ or chilli cheese.

Our journey took us to numerous places in the ensuing week — from the arduous trek to the Tiger's Nest, to the pristine valleys of Punakha and Phobjhika and the verdant plains of Paro. The land was dotted with numerous pagoda-esque castles known in local language as Dzongs, which are, in fact, the administrative centres of the country.

And everywhere we went, we were greeted with smiling faces and it was a pity that the week went so fast. During our stay, I had noticed the words, ‘Tashi Delek’, inscribed upon various monuments, hotels and cars. Curious about its meaning, I asked our driver, a jolly, good-natured person who had entertained us during the trip with his stories. "Well," he replied in mixed English and Hindi, “it means good luck or a greeting with a promise to meet soon in good health."

As our plane started taking off from the Paro Airport, from the tranquillity back to the busy metropolitan life, I couldn't help but utter, albeit in a whisper, "Tashi Delek, Druk Yul! May you and your inhabitants remain as happy always. Till next time.”

Etched In Words Tashi Delek!

It was on a sweltering midsummer afternoon, when Dad triumphantly announced during the late lunch, "Guess where we are going during the Pujas?”

"Where?" We cried in unison − my brother and I, for we preferred being struck by wanderlust at the time when the whole city was under the clutches of the Puja fever.

Mom was a bit indignant at first. "Which Bengali would leave their home, when Maa Durga herself comes to visit us?"

Then my father replied, rather teasingly, "Then perhaps we should cancel flights to Bhutan, I will get a refund —" he was cut short by all three of us − for all of us share a greater love of travelling than anything else and needless to say, ‘The Land of Thunder Dragon’, Bhutan, our friendly neighbour, was on the top of our bucket list.

Now, as my mother had grown up in the Dooars region of North Bengal since childhood, we have spent several vacations in our grandparents’ house, from where the border towns of Jaigaon and Phuntsholing are but a day’s journey. But this time things were different. We were to take a flight from Kolkata to Paro, in the heartland of Bhutan. My brother, enthusiastic about trivia to a degree of irritation, spent the next few months giving us dinnertime lectures about Bhutan's history, geography and the novelties of the Paro Airport and some of that was really helpful in hindsight.

On the morning of Nabami, when the city was still paying its homage to the Mother Goddess, we set out for Druk Yul (Bhutan's name in the native language) in a small 20-seater aeroplane. Within an hour, the blue sky slowly became dotted with the peaks of mountains and down below, localities became increasingly sparse — till we reached what we thought initially to be a ring of mountains, only to find that it contained an airport nestled in between. Our plane slowly began to descend, circling around them carefully to avoid collision — the delicate landing gave us a feel as to why only a handful of pilots could manoeuvre to land at the Paro Airport successfully.

Our car was waiting at the airport, and from there we took the highway to the capital, Thimphu. Our driver was dressed in traditional Bhutanese attire and it was obvious that here traditions peacefully co-existed with modernity — most of the men and women were wearing their traditional attire — be it at the airport, in the shops or at the hotels.

The roads were picturesque to say the least, and unlike Indian roads, were not polluted or congested. Special mention should be made of the residents' regard for cleanliness; not a single stray plastic lay unattended, POINTER

Sambriddhi Debnath Class X A (A)

84

Etched In Words To Kaziranga and back My family and I had gone to Arunachal Pradesh for a ten-day tour in an October and on our way back we travelled to Kaziranga. It was early November and was quite cold outside. We were a bit late. It was 6:30 p.m. and we were still in our car. The forest road was dark and huge, tall trees towered on both sides of the road.

The dark trees looked old and otherworldly. Gloomy scrubs hid the wild life. It was a teeth-gritting experience. I bit my tongue in nervousness, thinking that some dangerous creature might just pop up in front of our car.

silver snowflakes. We went in and out of shady glades.

The peace of the morning was soothing and the air was fresh and sweet. For the first ten minutes, we did not see any animal apart from a herd of deer. The leaves of the trees brushed our faces as if they were greeting us.

Suddenly, while I was engrossed in each and everything, my brother pinched me and said in a hushed voice, “Hey! Look, there is something moving!”

The big trees were covering our view but then after a few minutes I was elated to see an entire family of rhinoceroses. They were so majestic with their one horn stitcking out. The most exciting thing was that I could see them going past almost under our feet, because we were at such a height, on top of the elephants! A moment later our elephant set foot into a small pond to cross it and I felt all of us might just drown. I closed my eyes and held my brother’s hand tightly. I could feel my heart throbbing in fear.

Apart from the rhinos, we saw herds of deer and a large number of migratory birds. We could not spot any tiger.

Still it was a thrilling experience. When our journey ended, I felt a bit sad. I took the mahout’s permission and touched the elephant’s trunk to bid him goodbye.

When we reached our forest bungalow it was already night and since all of us were tired, our journey for that day ended. I was excited for the next day’s plan. An elephant ride was awaiting us. It was 4 a.m. the next day when we made our way to the main forest reserve.

All the elephants were ready with their mahouts. I could feel the sense of adventure surging through me.

My brother, aunt and I were on one elephant while my parents, sister and uncle on another. An entire herd of elephants was ready with passengers. Our elephant set out first. We were advised by our mahout to stay quiet and maintain silence inside the forest. It was a new experience. An entirely different and majestic forest awaited us. The elephant grass came up to the stomach of the elephants. The morning stars were shining like

Aishi Dutta Class X A (A)

85

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Surprisingly the tigress shares a Bollywood connection since her name is Sonam because of the ‘s’ mark on her neck. Sonam is a very bold and daring tigress and a documentary was shown on her in National Geographic Wild and it was named, ‘The Four Sisters of the Telia Dam’.

Etched In Words Burning bright

I was just spellbound to see such a lovely creation of God for the first time in my life since we had travelled to so many forests but had not caught a sight of this majestic beast before.

The bright orange hide of the tiger left a profound image and a lasting impression on my mind and I still remember looking at it through the dirty and hazy lenses of my old camera. We were just awestruck at the regal stature, shiny, menacing canine, brilliant orange-yellow hide burning like flames, striped with drizzling charcoal and the incandescent eyes glowing in the dark bushy background of the jungle...

A deep silence permeated the place, only the langurs and the barking deer were giving out ‘alarm calls’ but not coming near the spot. Sonam had her eyes glued on the prey in order to stave off any attack from the crocodile as the prey was lying very close to the waterbody.

It was absolutely God’s magical and brilliant creation and He used the fire from hell and other things from all other inaccessible areas of the world to create this majestic beast. The tiger.

We waited for about 20 minutes for Sonam to move but then decided to leave her in peace to enjoy her meal.

Dawn was about to break at the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve near Nagpur in Maharashtra. From the very daybreak the jungle was ringing with the chirping of the hornbill. We also got to see a herd of bisons grazing in the grassland, a couple of barking deer, a barasingha and a wild fox. But we were not satisfied and happy enough since we had not yet seen a tiger and were searching for it in every possible nook of the jungle.

And the thing that left a lasting impression on my mind was what I saw on the board outside the Moharli Gate of the forest: “You may not see me, but I have seen you a number of times from each and every corner of the forest.” – Tadoba Tiger Community.

Suddenly an unexpected thing happened. We saw a tiger poised inside a rocky cavern to the left of the waterhole called the Telia Dam and it was just a stone’s throw from us. The beautiful tigress was waiting in the thin grass for her prey – a sambar deer which was on the last throes of death, brutally injured by the tigress.

Titirsha Biswas Class X G (A)

Our guide, Mrs. Mirza, said, “See the claw marks on its neck and shoulders and it is bleeding profusely.”

POINTER

86

Strokes of Colour

Oil Pastels

‘Peace prevails’ Mayesha Mondal Class III C (M)

Oil Pastels Poster Colour ‘Ice-cream time’ Anusha Das Class III A (A)

Crayons ‘Visitors’ Md. Ayaan Class III E (A)

Oil Pastels

‘Let's play’ Swarnavo Chatterjee Class III A (M)

‘Water babies’ Kaushani Putatunda Class III B (M) POINTER

92

Strokes of Colour

Poster Colour ‘A golden dusk’ Aishani Mukherjee Class IV A (A)

Oil Pastels ‘A winter morning’ Rounak Kundu Class III G (A)

Water Colour ‘Birds of a feather’ Anwesha Sarkar Class IV B (M)

Water Colour

Oil Pastels ‘Alone with the sun’ Anurag Ghosh Class IV G (M)

‘Divine music’ Arnab Saha Class IV C (A) 93

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Ritaja Biswas Class VIII B (A) 102

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"[®¡`¡t¡à¡ú &Òü l¡üšt¡¸A¡àÚ Ç¡° tå¡Èà¹à¤õt¡¡ š¤¢t¡ìÅøoã¹ šàƒìƒìÅ ëÅà[®¡t¡ šàÒü>, ëƒ*ƒà¹ Kàìá¹ Îà[¹ ë™> "òàA¡à¹ ¤Òüìt¡ ¹} [ƒìÚ "òàA¡à á[¤¹ ³ìt¡à ³ì> ÒÚ¡ú W¡ºà¹ šì=¹ ‹àì¹ ‹àì¹ ëÅà®¡à ¤õ[‡ý¡ A¡ì¹ "àìá ¹R¡ì¤¹ìR¡¹ šàt¡à¹ ¤àÒàì¹ Î[ðt¡ [W¡>๠Kàá, ëA¡à=à* ¤à ºàº * ÎåѬàƒå "àìšìº¹ ¤àKà>¡ú Åøã>K¹ ë=ìA¡ &A¡iå¡ ƒèì¹ W¡ºà¹ šì= ƒõŸ³à> ÒÚ Åà[º³à¹ ¤àK, W¡Å³àÅàÒã ¤àK * [>Åàt¡ ¤àìK¹ ³ì>àÒ¹ óå¡ìº¹ ¤à[KW¡à, ™à Î[t¡¸Òü ³åMý¡ A¡ì¹¡ú Ç¡‹å t¡àÒü >Ú, &Òü l¡üšt¡¸A¡à¹ [>A¡i¡¤t¢¡ã š™¢i¡> ëA¡@ƒø W¡Øl¡àÒü-l¡üt¡¹àÒü šàÒà[Øl¡ šì= ëQàØl¡àÚ W¡Øl¡à, P¡º³àìK¢¹ tå¡Èà¹àZáà[ƒt¡ š¤¢ìt¡¹ ëÅ஡à, šøàAõ¡[t¡A¡ ëÎï@ƒ™¢ &¤} [ºl¡à¹ >ƒã¹ t¡ãì¹ šìÒºKòà* >àì³ ¹ê¡šÎã ÅÒì¹¹ í>Î[K¢A¡ ëÎï@ƒ™¢, c¡¹ôoà Î[t¡¸Òü "®è¡t¡šè¤¢! ®è¡Ñ¬ìK¢¹ &Òü ÎA¡º ³ì>๳ šøàAõ¡[t¡A¡ ëÎï@ƒ™¢ l¡üšì®¡àK A¡ì¹ ƒÅ[ƒ> š¹ "à³¹à "à¤à¹ [ó¡ì¹ &ºà³ "à³à샹 A¡³¢¤¸Ñz \ã¤ì>, &A¡ ">à[¤º "à>@ƒ &¤} °³ìo¹ "[®¡`¡t¡à [>ìÚ¡ú ΤìÅìÈ ³ì>¹ ³[oìA¡àk¡àÚ Ñ¶õ[t¡šìi¡ [W¡¹Ñ¶¹oãÚ ÒìÚ ë=ìA¡ ëKº ®è¡Ñ¬K¢ A¡àƵãì¹¹ í>Î[K¢A¡ ëÎï@ƒì™¢¹ &A¡ "¤o¢>ãÚ ¹ê¡š¡ú

í¤[W¡y³Ú ëƒÅ ®¡à¹t¡ ®è¡Jìr¡¹ &A¡[i¡ ¹à\¸ ®è¡Ñ¬K¢ A¡àƵã¹, ™à¹ šøàAõ¡[t¡A¡ ëÎï@ƒì™¢ ³à>åÈ ³åMý¡ * "[®¡®è¡t¡¡ú &Òü A¡àƵãì¹¹ ëÎï@ƒì™¢¹ >à>à ¤o¢>à, šøàAõ¡[t¡A¡ ƒõ쟹 á[¤, "à³à¹ ³ì>¹ ëA¡àìo Îõ[Ê¡ A¡ì¹[ạ ®è¡Ñ¬ìK¢¹ šøàA¡õ[t¡A¡ ëÎï@ƒ™¢ l¡üšì®¡àK A¡¹à¹ ¤¸àA塺t¡à¡ú ÒꡃìÚ¹ &Òü ¤¸àA塺t¡à š[¹tõ¡œ¡ ÒìÚ[Ạ&A¡¤à¹ šåì\๠áå[i¡ìt¡ A¡àƵ㹠°³ìo¹ ³à‹¸ì³¡ú "¤ìÅìÈ ¤×[ƒì>¹ "àA¡àVÛ¡à, ¤¸àA塺t¡àìA¡ W¡[¹t¡à=¢ A¡ì¹ "à³à¹ A¡àìá l¡üš[Ñ‚t¡ Òº ®è¡Ñ¬K¢ A¡àƵ㹠l¡üì„ìŸ ™ày๠ëÎÒü "àA¡à[VÛ¡t¡ [ƒ>[i¡, 19ìÅ "ìC¡à¤¹, 2013¡ú ™àyàšì= >à>à >tå¡> "[®¡`¡t¡à "\¢> &¤} W¡º”z ëi¡ö> ë=ìA¡ áåi¡”z Nøà³, ‹à>ìÛ¡t¡, šåA塹, >ƒã &ÒüΤ ƒõŸ ëƒJìt¡ ëƒJìt¡ ¤à¤à-³àìÚ¹ ÎìU ëšòïìá ëKºà³ \´¶å¡ú t¡à¹š¹ \´¶å ë=ìA¡ ¤àìÎ A¡ì¹ ëšòïìáàºà³ \´¶å * A¡àƵãì¹¹ šø‹à> "àA¡È¢o l¡àº ëºA¡, ™à¹ ¤åìA¡ ëÅà[®¡t¡ ¹ìÚìá >à>à šÎ¹àÚ Îà\àì>à ®¡àγà> ¤à\à¹, ëA¡à=à* ¤à šìˆ¹ γàÒ๠&¤} ëA¡à=à* [W¡>๠Kàìá¹ ëÅ஡à¡ú &Òü l¡àº ëºìA¡ ®¡àγà> [ÅA¡à¹à A¡ì¹ \º[¤Òàì¹¹ ³à‹¸ì³ l¡üšì®¡àK A¡¹ºà³ &Òü ÎA¡º ƒõ쟹 ³ì>à³åMý¡A¡¹ ¹ê¡š¡ú "๠l¡àº ëºìA¡¹ [W¡¹”z> "àA¡È¢o ë>ïA¡à¤à[Øl¡¹ ƒõŸ ët¡à ë™> A¡¸à>®¡àìÎ "òàA¡à tå¡[º¹ i¡àì> \ºá[¤¡ú "๠ë>ïA¡à¤à[Øl¡ìt¡ í>Å™àš> A¡¹à ëÎ ë™> "à³à¹ A¡àìá ¹à\A¡ãÚ ">å®è¡[t¡ ¤ìº ³ì> ÒìÚ[áº, ™à &A¡ [®¡Ä

Arhana Bhandari Class VIII B (A)

103

POINTER

Ÿöì· xœ‚„þîû’ ëιà l¡üšÒà¹

˜¡\å &A¡i¡à >à³ã ÑHåþ캹 še¡³ ëÅøoã¹ áàyú ëÎ ë¹à\ ÑHåþº ¤àìÎ *k¡à¹ \>¸ ƒàƒå¹ ÎìU ¤àÎС¸à“¡ "¤[‹ ™àÚ¡ú ¤àÎС¸àì“¡¹ óå¡i¡šàì= ˜¡\å šø[t¡[ƒ> t¡à¹Òü ¤ÚÎã [A¡áå ëáìºìA¡ óå¡i¡¤º ëJºìt¡ ëƒìJ¡ú t¡à¹à ‹åìºà¤à[º ë³ìJ Jå¤ ³\àÚ ëJºà A¡ì¹¡ú &A¡[ƒ> ˜¡\å ÎÞ꡸à줺àÚ ™J> t¡à¹ ¤à¤à-³àìÚ¹ ÎìU ¤à[Øl¡ [ó¡¹[áº, t¡J> ëÎÒü ëáìºP¡[ºìA¡ ëƒìJ "¤àA¡ ÒìÚ ëKº¡ú t¡à¹à [>ì\샹 Îà³ì> "àP¡º aà[ºìÚ ¤ìÎ[ạú ˜¡\å ¤à¤àìA¡ [\ì`¡Î A¡¹º, ‘‘*¹à A¡ã ¤>ó¡àÚ๠A¡¹ìá? A¡ã ³\à!’’ ¤à¤à ëA¡àì>à l¡üv¡¹ [ƒº >à¡ú "à\ ˜¡\å¹ ƒÅ ¤áì¹¹ \@µ[ƒ>ú Jå¤ ‹å³‹à³ A¡ì¹ &¤áì¹¹ \@µ[ƒ> šàº> A¡¹à Ò줡ú ˜¡\å¹ [š[Î šòàW¡ ¤á¹ šì¹ "à쳃à¤àƒ ë=ìA¡ &ìÎìá¡ú &A¡i¡à ¤ìØl¡à ëA¡A¡ "à>à ÒìÚìá¡ú ëA¡A¡ A¡ài¡à¹ Î³Ú Òk¡à; \à>à ëKº ˜¡\å ë>Òü¡ú t¡àìA¡ Jåòì\ šà*Úà ™à[ZẠ>à¡ú t¡à¹ ¤à¤à šå[ºìÅ J¤¹ [ƒìt¡Òü ™à[Záº, t¡J>Òü ΤàÒü ˜¡\åìA¡ ƒ¹\à [ƒìÚ "àÎìt¡ ëƒìJ "¤àA¡ ÒìÚ ëKº¡ú ˜¡\å t¡à¹Òü ¤Úìι [A¡áå ëáìºìƒ¹ [>ìÚ ¤à[Øl¡ìt¡ nå¡A¡º¡ú ˜¡\åìA¡ ëƒìJ ΤàÒü "àÓà[ƒt¡ ÒìÚ l¡üìk¡[ạú ÎA¡ìº [\`¡àÎà A¡¹º, ‘‘*¹à A¡à¹à? A¡Jì>à ëƒ[J[> ët¡à¡ú’’ ˜¡\å ¤ºº, ‘‘¤à¤à, [W¡>ìt¡ šà¹á >à, ëƒìJà ëA¡³> *¹à ëÎàìÚi¡à¹ šì¹ìá¡! ³ì> "àìá ëÎÒü ¤>ó¡àÚàì¹¹ A¡=à [\ì`¡Î A¡ì¹[áºà³? tå¡[³ [A¡áå ¤º[>¡ú šì¹¹ [ƒ> 뮡àì¹ ÑHåþº ™à*Úà¹ Î³Ú ƒàƒå l¡üv¡¹ [ƒìÚ[áìº> ë™ *i¡à ¤>ó¡àÚ๠>Ú¡ú *Òü "ÎÒàÚ ëáìºP¡ìºà Åãìt¡¹ Òàt¡ ë=ìA¡ ¤òàW¡à¹ \>¸ "àP¡> aà[ºìÚìá, *샹 ëA¡àì>à K¹³ \à³àA¡àšØl¡ ë>Òü¡ú t¡àÒü "à[³ ƒàƒåìA¡ ¤ìº[áºà³ &¤à¹ \@µ[ƒì> "à³àìA¡ ëA¡àì>à l¡üšÒ๠>à [ƒìÚ "ÎÒàÚ ëáìºP¡ìºàìA¡ K¹³ \à³à [A¡ì> [ƒìt¡¡ú "à\ìA¡ "à[³ "๠ƒàƒå [³ìº *샹 \>¸ ëÎàìÚi¡à¹ [A¡ì> &ì>[á¡ú ëƒìJà, *¹à ëÎàìÚi¡à¹ šì¹ A¡ã Îå@ƒ¹ ëÎì\ìá¡!’’ ˜¡\å¹ ƒàƒå &ìΠΤàÒüìA¡ Qi¡>à[i¡ ®¡àìºà A¡ì¹ ¤ºìº>¡ú K¹³ \à³à šì¹ ëáìºP¡[º¹ ³åìJ Òà[Î óå¡ìi¡ l¡üìk¡[ạú ˜¡\å t¡à¹ ƒÅ ¤áì¹¹ \@µ[ƒì> t¡à¹ >tå¡> ¤Þêå¡ìƒ¹ ÎìU ëA¡A¡ A¡ài¡º¡ú ¤à[Øl¡¹ Τ๠¤åA¡ K줢 ®¡ì¹ l¡ük¡º¡ú ˜¡\å ¤ºº, ‘‘"à\ 뚺ೠ"à³à¹ \@µ[ƒì>¹ ëιà l¡üšÒ๡ú’’

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&Òü &A¡[¤}Å Åt¡à¦ãìt¡ šƒàš¢o A¡ì¹* ëƒJà ™àìZá >à¹ã[>™¢àt¡>¡ú &Òü ™åìK* >à¹ã¹à A¡t¡ "¤ìÒ[ºt¡, A¡t¡ "δ¶à[>t¡¡ú ™åìK¹ &t¡ š[¹¤t¢¡> t¡¤å* >à¹ã샹 ™=à™= δ¶à> ëƒ*Úà ÒÚ >à¡ú t¡à샹 &J>* šo¸¤Ññ¹ ³t¡ ³ì> A¡¹à ÒÚ, t¡àÒü ë¤à‹ÒÚ W¡à[¹[ƒìA¡ &t¡ >à¹ã[>™¢àt¡> ëƒJà ™àìZá¡ú [Ò}Ñ÷ šÇ¡¹ >¸àÚ "àW¡¹o ëƒJà ™àÚ Î¤¢y¡ú A¡>¸àγt塺¸, >àt¡[>γt塺¸, ³àtõ¡Î³t塺¸ ¤à ®¡[K>ãγt塺¸ - &³> ëA¡àì>à ëW¡t¡>๠"[Ñzâ« ºÛ¡¸ A¡¹à ™àÚ >à¡ú ë‰ïšƒã¹ ³t¡ δ¶à> ¤òàW¡àì>๠\>¸ ëA¡àì>à ™ìÅàƒà>@ƒ> l¡üš[Ñ‚t¡ "๠ÒÚ >à¡ú >à¹ã¹ K®¢¡\àt¡ Δzà> Ò*Úà Îìw* t¡à샹 ëº[ºÒà> [ÅJ๠ëA¡àì>à š[¹¤t¢¡> ºÛ¡¸ A¡¹à ™àÚ >à¡ú A¡>¸à¹à ™t¡Òü ™åìK¹ ÎìU t¡àº [³[ºìÚ W¡ºåA¡ >à ëA¡> t¡à샹 ƒÅ®å¡\à Ò*Ú๠šì= A¡t¡Åt¡ šø[t¡¤Þê¡A¡t¡à¹ Îõ[Ê¡ A¡¹à ÒÚ¡ú ¤àÑzì¤ ëA¡àì>à ƒåK¢à¡ "Îå¹ ƒ³> A¡¹ìt¡ ÎÛ¡³ [A¡ "๠Ò>?¡ &Òü šøÅ¥ A¡àìA¡ ë™ A¡¹à l¡ü[W¡t¡ t¡à [k¡A¡ \à[> >à, ëA¡ ëÎÒü ¤¸[v¡û¡ ™à¹ Òàìt¡ γà\Î}ÑHþ¹ìo¹ ®¡à¹ "š¢o A¡¹à ÒìÚìá¡? ëA¡> >à¹ã샹 "à\* "ÎÒàìÚ¹ ³t¡ \ã¤>™àš> A¡¹ìt¡ ÒÚ¡? t¡à¹à šø[t¡¤àƒã ÒìÚ* ëA¡> &J>* [š[áìÚ "àìá? ™à¹à >à¹ã샹 "δ¶à> A¡¹à¹ \>¸ ¤¸Nø [W¡ìv¡ "ìšÛ¡à A¡¹ìá, t¡à샹 ƒõÊ¡à”z³èºA¡ Åà[Ñz ëƒ*Úà ÒÚ >à ëA¡>? A¡¸à¹àìi¡, ³àŢຠ"ài¢¡ ëA¡> γÚA¡àìº A¡à™¢A¡à¹ã ÒìÚ *ìk¡ >à? &Òü šõ[=¤ãìt¡ >à¹ã샹 Ñ‚à> [k¡A¡ ëA¡à=àÚ? t¡à샹 δ¶à>Òü ¤à ëA¡à=àÚ? ëA¡> >à¹ã샹 &™åìK* [>¹àšv¡àÒã>t¡à ¤Ò> A¡ì¹ \ã¤>™àš> A¡¹ìt¡ ÒÚ? &Òü šøÅ¥P¡ìºà¹ l¡üv¡¹ ëA¡à=àÚ? ëA¡ ëƒì¤ l¡üv¡¹? "๠A¡t¡[ƒ> ÎÒ¸ A¡¹ìt¡ Òì¤ >à¹ã샹 &Òü "t¡¸àW¡à¹?

Arya Chakraborty Class VIII G (A)

POINTER

Dheeptha Biswas Class IX F (A) 104

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Rishika Mukherjee Class IX F (M) POINTER

&Jì>à ¹àJìt¡ šà[¹[>¡ú’’ ‘‘ëA¡>, Aõ¡Ì¡A¡[º, *¹ >à³ Òº Aõ¡Ì¡A¡[º, >à³i¡à ®¡àìºà >à?’’ t¡;Û¡oà; l¡üv¡¹ [ƒº "àAå¡[t¡¡ú ¹Ò³t¡ ¤ºº, ‘‘tå¡[³ ™J> ¤ºá, Jå[A¡, "à[³ [A¡ >à ¤ºìt¡ šà[¹? ë¤Å, *¹ >à³ "à\ ë=ìA¡ Aõ¡Ì¡A¡[ºÒü =àAå¡A¡¡ú’’ áàK[ÅÇ¡[i¡ "àAå¡[t¡¹ [ƒìA¡ t¡à[A¡ìÚ &A¡¤à¹ ël¡ìA¡ l¡ük¡º¡ú &Òü áàK[ÅÇ¡[i¡¹ ÎìU ¤à[ºA¡à[i¡¹ ‹ãì¹ ‹ãì¹ &A¡ "γ ¤Þêå¡â« KìØl¡ *ìk¡¡ú ¹Ò³t¡ ™J> t¡à¹ šå[ȸ Aõ¡Ì¡A¡[ºìA¡ QàÎ Jà*Úàìt¡ [>ìÚ ë™t¡ "àAå¡[t¡ t¡J> ‘Aõ¡Ì¡A¡[º’ ¤ìº l¡àA¡ [ƒt¡¡ú "³[> ëÎÒü áàK[ÅÇ¡[i¡ t¡à¹ A¡àìá áåìi¡ W¡ìº ë™t¡, t¡à¹ šøàÚ ëA¡à캹 l¡üš¹ l¡üìk¡ šØl¡t¡¡ú "àAå¡[t¡ [ƒì>¹ "ì>A¡i¡à Î³Ú t¡à샹 ÎìUÒü A¡ài¡àt¡¡ ¤ìº "àAå¡[t¡¹ "[®¡®¡à¤ìA¡¹à t¡à¹ &Òü áàK[ÅÇ¡[i¡¹ ÎìU ¤Þêå¡â« &ìA¡¤àì¹Òü Òà[Î ³åìJ ë³ì> ë>> [>¡ú ¹Ò³ìt¡¹ š[¹¤àì¹ [Ạ¹Ò³ìt¡¹ &A¡³ày šåy¡ú A¡[k¡> ¤¸à[‹ìt¡ "àyû¡à”z ÒìÚ t¡à¹ "A¡àº³õt塸 ÒÚ¡ú t¡àÒü ¹Ò³t¡ šø®å¡A¡>¸àìA¡ "t¡¸”z ëÑ•Ò A¡¹t¡¡ú &A¡[ƒ> ¹Ò³t¡ [³d¡à "àAå¡[t¡¹ [št¡àìA¡ \à>àº, ‘‘A¡t¢¡à¤à¤å, "ì>A¡[ƒ> ët¡à Òº &Jàì> A¡à\ A¡¹[á, "à[³ &¤à¹ áå[i¡ W¡àÒü, ¤à¤å¡ú t¡ì¤ ™à¤à¹ "àìK "à³à¹ &A¡i¡à ">åì¹à‹ "àìá¡ú "àš[> ®¡àìºà A¡ì¹Òü \àì>> ë™ "à³à¹ &Òü áàK[ÅÇ¡[i¡ "à³à¹ A¡³¢Ñ‚ìº =àA¡à¹

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106

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&A¡³ày i¡à>, t¡àìA¡ [>ìÚ ëƒìÅ [ó¡ì¹ ëKìº "à[³ Jå[A¡¹ \>¸ ¤à¹ ¤à¹ l¡üƒàÎã> ÒìÚ šØl¡¤¡ú t¡àÒü "à[³ W¡àÒü, Aõ¡Ì¡A¡[ºìA¡ "àš[> ë™> 냤ãšè\๠í>줃¸ [ÒìÎì¤ NøÒo A¡ì¹>, "à[³ t¡àÒìº &Jà>A¡à¹ γÑz A¡³¢¤Þê¡>, ëÑ•Ò¤Þê¡> [áÄ A¡ì¹ ëƒìÅ [ó¡ì¹ ë™ìt¡ šà¹¤¡ú’’ Źìt¡ ™J> ƒåK¢àšåì\๠"àìÚà\> A¡¹à ÒÚ, &A¡Òü ÎìU W¡r¡ã³r¡ìš 냤ã W¡r¡ã¹* šåì\à ÒÚ¡ú A¡t¢¡à¤à¤å t¡J>Òü ®¡à¤ìº> ë™ &Òü "[áºàÚ tò¡à¹ A¡>¸àìA¡ Aõ¡Ì¡A¡[º¹ A¡àá ë=ìA¡ ƒèì¹ Î[¹ìÚ ëƒì¤>¡ú ³Òàγàì¹àìÒ ëÎ[ƒ> W¡º[Ạšåì\๠"àìÚà\>¡ú Aõ¡Ì¡A¡[º¹¡ Ñ•à> š¤¢ Î³àœ¡ Ҥ๠š¹ W¡@ƒ> {΃åì¹ t¡à¹ A¡šàº Î[ðt¡ A¡¹à Òº¡ú A¡t¢¡à¤à¤å ¹Ò³ìt¡¹ ÒüZáàšè¹ìo¹ ®¡à¹ [>ìÚìá>, &[ƒìA¡ A¡>¸à¹ a¹, t¡àÒü t¡à¹ "ìKàW¡ì¹, "\àì”zÒü, A¡à\ γà‹à A¡¹ìt¡ Ò줡ú W¡r¡ã³“¡ìš ™àK™`¡ W¡º[áº, ¤à\[Ạn¡àA¡, Aò¡àι * Qsi¡à¡ú yû¡@ƒ>¹t¡ Aõ¡Ì¡A¡[ºìA¡ ë\๠A¡ì¹ ëi¡ì> [>ìÚ ™à*Úà ÒìZá, t¡à¹ A¡àÄ๠l¡àA¡ ë™> ¤à\>à * Aò¡àι-Qsi¡à¹ "à*Úàì\ &ìA¡¤àì¹Òü W¡àšà šìØl¡ ëKìá, &³> Î³Ú ¹Ò³t¡ A¡t¢¡à¤à¤åìA¡ l¡àA¡º, ‘‘A¡t¢¡à¤à¤å ëKà, Jå[A¡ aì¹¹ "à[‹ìA¡¸ Τ ®å¡º ¤A¡ìá¡!’’ A¡t¡¢à¤à¤å áåìi¡ &ìº> A¡>¸à¹ Å™¸à¹ šàìÅ¡ú &A¡ "\à>à "àt¡ìS¡ [t¡[> [ÅÒ[¹t¡ ÒìÚ *ìk¡>¡ú [t¡[> ®¡à¤ìº>, ‘‘냤㹠šåì\àÚ & ëA¡à>ô [¤Q¥ l¡üš[Ñ‚t¡ Òº! "àAå¡[t¡ ³à, [A¡ Òº ³à ët¡à¹?’’ A¡>¸à "àAå¡[t¡ t¡à¹ ¤à¤àìA¡ ëƒìJ [W¡;A¡à¹ A¡ì¹ ¤ìº *ìk¡, ‘‘ëƒìJà, 냤㠳àìÚ¹ ³åìJ A¡à¹ ¹v¡û¡¡! & ë™ "à³à¹ Aõ¡Ì¡A¡[º¹ ¹v¡û¡, ¤à¤à! ¤Þê¡ A¡ì¹à áàK¤[º - &Òü ³è[t¢¡ìA¡ šåì\à ëA¡àì¹à>à, ¤à¤à¡ú’’ A¡t¢¡à¤à¤å "¤àA¡ - "àAå¡[t¡ \à>º A¡ã A¡ì¹? [t¡[> A¡>¸à¹ "àìƒÅ ëó¡ºìt¡ šà¹ìº> >à¡ú [>¤à¹o šå¹ç¡t¡ìA¡ ¤ºìº> ë™> ¤[º >à ëƒ*Úà ÒÚ¡ú Qõt¡ W¡@ƒì> Î[ðt¡ Aõ¡Ì¡A¡[º ¹Ò³ìt¡¹ W¡àºàQì¹ áåìi¡ šà[ºìÚ ™àÚ¡ú [A¡”ñ t¡à¹ ®¡Úàt¢¡ ëW¡àJ W¡à¹šàìÅ A¡àìA¡ Jåòì\ ë¤Øl¡àÚ¡ú ¹Ò³t¡ Jå[A¡¹ A¡àìá Aõ¡Ì¡A¡[ºìA¡ "à>ìt¡Òü Aõ¡Ì¡A¡[º t¡à¹ ¹Û¡àA¡y㢹 l¡üÌ¡ ¤ìÛ¡ ³à=à ë¹ìJ ³àtõ¡ìÎàÒàìK¹ ÑšìÅ¢ l¡üÀ[Ît¡ ÒìÚ *ìk¡¡ú ¹Ò³ìt¡¹ ëW¡àìJ \º "àìÎ, ëÎ ®¡àì¤, ‘‘&³> ëÑ•Ò, &³> ¤Þêå¡ì⫹ δšA¢¡* A¡ã ÒÚ! Î[t¡¸, & ë™> 냤㠳àìÚ¹ Aõ¡šà¡!’’

[A¡”ñ &®¡àì¤ W¡ºìt¡ =àA¡ìº &A¡Î³Ú "à³¹à "¤Îàƒ ¤à &A¡à[A¡ì⫹ [ÅA¡à¹ Ò¤¡ú &A¡ A¡à¿[>A¡ \Kìt¡¹ ³ìt¡à¡ &¹ "à>@ƒ* A¡à¿[>A¡ * t¡à;Û¡[oA¡¡ú γàì\¹ šìÛ¡ &[i¡ "t¡¸”z Û¡[t¡A¡à¹A¡¡ú t¡àÒü Òü@i¡à¹ì>i¡ìA¡ ëA¡¤º³ày `¡à> "\¢ì>¹ A¡àì\Òü ¤¸¤Ò๠A¡¹à l¡ü[W¡t¡¡ú ëÎàŸຠ[³[l¡ÚàìA¡ ³à>åìÈ ³à>åìÈ ë™àKàì™àìK¹ ³à‹¸³ [ÒìÎì¤ ¤¸¤Ò๠A¡ì¹ "à³¹à "à³à샹 ®¡[¤È¸; šø\@µìA¡ &A¡à[A¡ì⫹ ™”|o๠[ƒìA¡Òü &[KìÚ ëƒ¤¡ú Soham Sharma Sarkar Class IX G (M)

Ishita Dutta Class IX D (A)

107

POINTER

A¡àìá ™àì¤>?’’ Ò[¹ƒà ¤ºìº>, ‘‘ëA¡>?’’ ‘‘i¡àA¡à¹ ƒ¹A¡à¹ ƒå[ƒ> šì¹, "[ó¡Îà¹ìA¡ ¤ºìt¡ ®¡Ú ºàKìá¡ú t¡àÒü "àš>àìA¡ [>ìÚ ™à¤,’’ ¤ºìº> ÎÒA¡³¢ã¡ú Ò[¹ƒàìA¡ [>ìÚ ÎÒA¡³¢ã¡ "[ó¡Îàì¹¹ A¡àìá [KìÚ Î¤ ¤ºìº, A¡³º¤à¤å Jå¤ ë¹ìK [KìÚ ¤ºìº>, ‘‘™à¹ ƒ¹A¡à¹ ëÎ "àÎì¤! "àš[> &ìÎìá> ëA¡>? "[ó¡ìι &A¡i¡à [>Ú³ "àìá, \àì>> >à? t¡àáàØl¡à i¡àA¡à¹ ƒ¹A¡à¹ =àA¡ìº "”zt¡ ƒÅ[ƒ> "àìK ë=ìA¡ ¤ºìt¡ ÒÚ¡ú ëÎi¡à A¡ã "àš>à¹à ®å¡ìº [KìÚ[áìº>¡? &Òü®¡àì¤ W¡ºìº "[ó¡Î ët¡à ºàìi¡ l¡ük¡ì¤¡ú’’ Ò[¹¤à¤å Û¡³à šøà=¢>à A¡ì¹ [ó¡ì¹ ëKìº>¡ú "[ó¡Î๠"¤Å¸ ëÅÈ š™¢”z ëºà> [ƒìÚ[áìº>¡ú &Òü®¡àì¤ Ò[¹¤à¤å ¤à¹ ¤à¹ "[ó¡Îàì¹¹ A¡àìá ¤Aå¡[> ëJìt¡>¡ú t¡¤å* ">¸ìA¡ ÎàÒà™¸ A¡¹à ë=ìA¡ [t¡[> [¤¹t¡ =àA¡ìt¡> >à¡ú >tå¡> "[ó¡Î๠™J> \ìÚ> A¡ì¹[áìº>, t¡J> Ò[¹¤à¤å¹ [¹i¡àÚ๠A¡¹ìt¡ "à¹* [t¡>¤á¹ [ạú [A¡”ñ A¡³[šl¡üi¡à¹ W¡àºå Ò*ÚàÚ "ì>A¡ ëºàA¡ìA¡ W¡àA¡[¹ ë=ìA¡ [¤ƒàÚ [>ìt¡ Òìºà¡ú Ò[¹¤à¤å* t¡à샹 ³ì‹¸ ">¸t¡³¡ú W¡àA¡[¹ ëÅÈ Ò*Ú๠"àìK¹ [ƒ> "[ó¡Îàì¹¹ Qì¹ [KìÚ tò¡àìA¡ Ò[¹¤à¤å ¤ºìº>, ‘‘θà¹, "ì>A¡ [ƒ> "[ó¡ìι "ì>A¡ [>Ú³ 뮡ìR¡[á¡ú &¹ \>¸ ³àš W¡àÒüìt¡ &ìÎ[á¡ú &¤à¹ "[ó¡ìι A¡à\ ÎåËå¡®¡àì¤ Î´šÄ Ò줡ú ëA¡à>[ƒìA¡ ëA¡à>* "Îå[¤‹à Òì¤ >à¡ú’’ Òk¡à;Òü ¹àKã "[ó¡Îàì¹¹ ëJàºÎ ëáìØl¡ &A¡ ³à>åÈ "[ó¡Î๠ë¤[¹ìÚ šØl¡ìº>¡ú [t¡[> ¤ºìº>, ‘‘"à[³ \à[> "àš[> ³à>[¤A¡t¡à¹ Jà[t¡ì¹ ÒÚìt¡à Сàó¡ìƒ¹ šàìÅ ë=ìA¡ìá>¡ú [A¡”ñ A¡ã A¡¹¤ ¤ºå>? &i¡à "[ó¡Î, &¹ ët¡à &A¡i¡à [>Ú³-A¡à>å> "àìá¡ú t¡àÒü ÒÚìt¡à ³àìc¡-³àìc¡ ¹àK A¡ì¹[á¡ú t¡àìt¡ [A¡áå ³ì> A¡¹ì¤> >à¡ú ³àìc¡-³àìc¡ "àÎì¤>¡ú’’ Ò[¹ƒà ‘‘"àZáà’’ ¤ìº ë¤[¹ìÚ &ìº> Q¹ ë=ìA¡¡ú tò¡à¹ ëW¡àìJ \º [W¡Aô¡[W¡Aô¡¡ A¡ì¹ l¡ük¡º¡ú [t¡[> ë™ "[ó¡Î "๠"[ó¡ìι A¡³¢ã샹 Jå¤ "àš> A¡ì¹ [>ìÚ[áìº>¡ú

Ÿöì· xœ‚„þîû’ Ò[¹ƒà¹ ³à>[¤A¡t¡à

Ò[¹¤à¤å "[ó¡ìι AáàA¢¡¡ú Τ Сàó¡ Ò[¹¤à¤åìA¡ šá@ƒ A¡ì¹, A¡à¹o ΤΤ³Ú [t¡[> Τ๠šàìÅ "àìá>¡ú ΤàÒüìA¡ >à>஡àì¤ ÎàÒà™¸ A¡¹ìt¡ ëW¡Ê¡à A¡ì¹>¡ú ëÎÒü \>¸ "[ó¡ìι Τ๠[t¡[> ‘Ò[¹ƒà’¡ú Òk¡à; Òk¡à; "ì>ìA¡ "ì>A¡ A¡à\ Ò[¹ƒàìA¡ [ƒìÚ A¡[¹ìÚ ë>Ú¡ú ΃à Òàθ³åìJ Ò[¹ƒà* ™t¡i¡à šàì¹> ³à>åìȹ šàìÅ =àìA¡>¡ú &t¡A¡àº ‹ì¹ ëA¡à> "Îå[¤‹à ÒÚ[>, [A¡”ñ áÚ ³àÎ Òìºà >tå¡> "[ó¡Î๠&ìÎìá>¡ú [t¡[> Jå¤ [l¡[Î[šÃ>lô¡ &¤} A¡àì¹à A¡àì\ &t¡iå¡Aå¡ Kà[ó¡º[t¡ šá@ƒ A¡ì¹> >à¡ú ëÎÒü\>¸ ΤàÒü Jå¤ ®¡ìÚ =àìA¡¡ú t¡à¹Òü ³àìc¡ Ò[¹ƒà ™t¡i¡à šàì¹> *샹 A¡àì\ ÎàÒà™¸ A¡ì¹>¡ú ëÎ[ƒ> >ìK> &ìÎ ¤ºº, ‘‘Ò[¹ƒà, ë³ìÚi¡à¹ Jå¤ a¹¡ú l¡àv¡û¡à¹ ëƒJàìt¡ ™à¤¡ú ëÎìA¡“¡ Òàó¡i¡à &A¡iå¡ ³¸àì>\ A¡ì¹ ëƒì¤>?’’ ÎìU ÎìU Ò[¹ƒà ¤ºìº>, ‘‘Òò¸à, Òò¸à! tå¡[³ ™à*, [W¡”zà ëA¡àì¹à >à¡ú "à[³ [k¡A¡ ³¸àì>\ A¡ì¹ ë>¤¡ú’’ >ìK> "àÅ«Ñz Òìºà¡ú [A¡”ñ [¤[‹ ¤à³! ëÎ[ƒ>Òü "[ó¡Î๠A¡³º¤à¤å ¹àl¡üì“¡ ë¤[¹ìÚ[áìº>¡ú Òk¡à; A¡³º¤à¤å¹ ëW¡àìJ šØl¡º >ìKì>¹ [Îìi¡ Ò[¹¤à¤å ó¡àÒüº ëƒJìá>¡ú ÎìU ÎìU A¡³º¤à¤å ë¹ìK [KìÚ ¤ºìº>, ‘‘ëÒàÚài¡ Òü\ [ƒÎ? "àš[> &Jàì> A¡ã A¡¹ìá>? "àš>๠A¡à\ ë>Òü?’’ Ò[¹¤à¤å "àìÑz "àìÑz ¤ºìº>, ‘‘>ìKì>¹ ë³ìÚi¡à¹ Jå¤ a¹¡ú l¡àv¡û¡à¹ ëƒJàìt¡ ëKìá¡ú "à[³ "à³à¹ A¡à\ A¡ì¹Òü *¹ A¡à\ A¡¹[á, θ๡ú *¹ ëA¡à>* ëƒàÈ ë>Òü¡ú "à[³ ¤ìº[á ¤ìºÒü ëKìá¡ú’ A¡³º¤à¤å ¤ºìº>, ‘‘Òàó¡ 뤺à áå[i¡ [>ìt¡ šà¹t¡!’’ Ò[¹¤à¤å ®¡ìÚ ®¡ìÚ ¤ºìº>, ‘‘ÒÚìt¡à W¡àÒüìt¡ šàì¹[>¡ú’’ A¡³º¤à¤å "àì¹à ë¹ìK [KìÚ ¤ºìº>, ‘‘šøÅøÚ ëƒì¤> >à ët¡à *샹¡ú &¹A¡³ ë™> "๠>à ÒÚú’’ [ƒ> A¡t¡A¡ ëA¡ìi¡ ëKìá¡ú "[ó¡ìι [¤³º &ìÎ Ò[¹¤à¤åìA¡ ¤ìº, ‘‘Ò[¹ƒà, A¡àº ¤àì¹ài¡à >àKàƒ "àΤ, "àš[> &A¡iå¡ Îà³ìº ëƒì¤>?’’ &¹ "àìK¹ [ƒì>¹ A¡=à ³ì> šØl¡àÚ Ò[¹ƒà ¤ºìº>, ‘‘>à ë¹ ®¡àÒü, t¡à Ò*Ú๠ë\à ë>Òü¡ú θ๠"à\A¡àº ¤Øl¡ A¡Øl¡àA¡[Øl¡ A¡¹ìá>¡ú’’ [¤³º ¤ìº, ‘‘"àš[> ÒüZáà A¡¹ìºÒü šà¹ì¤>¡ú &A¡iå¡ W¡à[ºìÚ [ƒ> ƒàƒà, ¤Øl¡ l¡üšA¡à¹ ÒÚ¡ú’’ ‘‘"àZáà ëƒ[J,’’ ¤ìº Ò[¹¤à¤å Wå¡š A¡ì¹ ëKìº>¡ú š¹[ƒ> "¤Å¸ ëA¡àì>à "Qi¡> Qi¡º >à¡ú ®¡àìºà®¡àì¤ ¤àì¹ài¡à "¤[‹ ëA¡ìi¡ ëKº¡ú Ò[¹ƒà* Ѭ[Ñz¹ [>Å«àÎ ëó¡ºìº>¡ú "๠&A¡ ÎÒA¡³¢ã [ƒ>A¡ìÚA¡ šì¹ Ò[¹ƒàìA¡ &ìÎ ¤ºº, ‘‘Ò[¹ƒà, "[ó¡Î๠Jå¤ A¡Øl¡à, ®¡Ú ºàìK¡ú "àš[> "à³à¹ ÎìU *>๠POINTER

Riju Mitra Class X C (A)

108

Ÿöì· xœ‚„þîû’ ¹ê¡šA¡=à ëA¡à=àÚ?

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109

POINTER

BZ H$ZH$ apí_`mo§ _| AWmh, boVm [hbmoa V_-[gÝYw OmJ; ~wX~wX go ~h MbVo Anma, Cg_| [dhJmo§ Ho$ _Ywa amJ -_hmXodr d_m©

POINTER

110

M§Xm ‘m‘m

M§Xm ‘oam ‘m‘m h¡, amV H$mo {ZH$bVm h¡& M§Xm ‘oam ‘m‘m h¡, dh Jmob AmH$ma H$m hmoVm h¡& M§Xm ‘oam ‘m‘m h¡, dh amoµO amV H$mo AmVm h¡, g§J Vmamo§ H$mo bmVm h¡, Am¡a gw~h Mbm OmVm h¡>& M§Xm ‘m‘m ‘oam ߶mam ‘m‘m h¡&

‘oar ~hZ

~hZ h¡ ‘oar N>moQ>r, na ~‹S>r h¡ CgH$s MmoQ>r& ~mV| H$aVr h¡ ImoQ>r, {XZ ^a h¡ dh gmoVr& CgH$mo ߶mar h¡ {‘R>mB©, CgHo$ {bE H$aVr h¡ b‹S>mB©& {’$a ^r h¡ ‘wPo dh ߶mar, dh h¡ ‘ooar Xþbmar&

Soujatya Bagchi Class I F (A)

Shrestha Kashyap Class I F (A)

‘m± H$m Am±Mb

߶ma go ‘wPo Jbo bJmVr ‘m± AnZo Am±Mb ‘| ‘wPo Nw>nmVr ‘m± ^yb H$ê±$ Vmo H$^r gOm XoVr ‘m± Vmo H$^r ߶ma go g‘PmVr ‘m± amoD±$ Vmo Mwn H$amVr ‘m± Iob V‘meo ‘wPo {XImH$a nb ^a ‘| ‘wPo ‘ZmVr ‘m±&

‘m±

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Voao {~Z ¶o OJ h¡ gyZm ‘m±&

Sarah Singh Mourya Class I F (A)

Anas Jawed Class I G (M)

111

POINTER

g‘mMma nÌ

gw~h-gw~h ¶h AmVm h¡, g~Ho$ Ka ‘| OmVm h¡& H$^r BYa Vmo H$^r CYa, H$s ˜~a| ¶h bmVm h¡& H$^r AÀN>r Vmo H$^r ~war, ¶h XmoZm| ˜~a| bmVm h¡& ZoVm Am¡a A{^ZoVm H$s, Iob-OJV Am¡a {gZo‘m H$s, OmZH$mar ^r Xo OmVm h¡& Ka ~¡R>o hr h‘ g~H$mo, Xoe-{dXoe H$s ˜~a| {‘b OmVr h¢& Bg{bE Vmo, gw~h-gw~h ¶h AmVm h¡&

Bg Xþ{Z¶m Ho$ {Z¶‘

Bg Xþ{Z¶m H$m EH$ hr {Z¶‘ h¡, AmZm h¡ Am¡a OmZm h¡& Bg Xþ{Z¶m ‘| g^r H$mo, H$moB© Z H$moB© H$m‘ H$aZm h¡& Omo O¡gm H$m‘ H$aoJm, Cgo d¡gm ’$b {‘boJm& Omo AÀN>m H$m‘ H$aVm h¡, Cgo AÀN>m OrdZ {‘bVm h¡& Omo ~wam H$m‘ H$aVm h¡, dh OrdZ-^a amoVm h¡&

Saanvi Barnwal Class III F (M)

Saborna Dash Class III F (A)

‘mV¥^y{‘ - h‘mar OÝ‘^y{‘

H$m¡Am Am¶m

^maV h‘mam, g~go ߶mam g§gma-gä¶Vm ‘| g~go ݶmam {Ogo H$hVo h¢ h‘, {hÝXþñVmZ dVZ h‘mam gOm-g±dam&&

H$m¡Am Am¶m! H$m¡Am Am¶m! ‘oao Am±JZ ‘| H$m¡Am Am¶m!

Vw‘ H$‹S>dr ~mobr ~mobVo hmo Am¡a bmoJm| H$mo naoemZ H$aVo hmo& Bg{bE ha H$moB© Vwåh| ^JmVm, {Xb go Vwåh| H$moB© Zht MmhVm& ~‹S>o ~wOwJ© H$hVo h¢ {H$ Vw‘‘| EH$ AZmoIr e{³V hmoVr h¡& AmZo dmbo g‘¶ H$mo nhbo OmZ boVo hmo, Bg{bE h‘oem do Vw‘ na MMm© H$aVo h¢& Vw‘ J§XJr H$mo ImH$a n¶m©daU H$mo gmµ’$ H$aVo hmo, Bgr{bE Vw‘ g‘mO Ho$ gµ’$mB©H$‘u ^r H$hbmVo hmo& N>V na ~¡R>H$a H$m±d-H$m±d H$aVo hmo, Ka ‘| ‘oh‘mZ AmZo H$m g§Ho$V XoVo hmo& ‘oar ZµOa ‘| Vw‘ hmo njr ~wX²{Y‘mZ, ‘Q>Ho$ ‘| H§$H$‹S> S>mbH$a nmZr nrZo H$m {Og‘| h¡ kmZ&

^maV-^y{‘ H$mo emZ ~ZmH$a Xoe H$m nyam Jm¡ad ‘mZH$a àJ{V Ho$ nW na bo MbZm h¡, gm’$-ñdÀN> ^maV H$mo aIZm h¡&& Jm±d Xoe H$s OmZ h¡ H¥${f h‘mar nhMmZ h¡ IoVm| H$s h[a¶mbr H$mo, h‘ g^r H$mo XoZm ‘mZ h¡&& ^maV h‘mam, g~go ߶mam& Aparoop Daspodder Class III F (A)

M. Devjyoti Class III F (A) POINTER

112

nV§J

gw~h-em‘ O~ do ImZm ImVt, ImH$a Iwer go Yy‘ ‘MmVt& ZÝhr-‘wÝhr ‘N>{b¶m± gmar, do g^r h¢ ‘oar Xþbmar&

nV§J hdm ‘§| C‹S>Vr h¡& Zrbr, har, Jwbm~r h¡, nV§J O~ C‹S>Vr Vmo, dh ~mXb Am¡a hdm go ~mV| H$aVr, O~ nV§J C‹S>Vr, ~mXbm| Ho$ D$na Mbr OmVr& O~ hdm VoµO ~hVr Vmo, nV§J ~hþV hr Xÿa Mbr OmVr& O~ hdm Z MbVr Vmo, nV§J ZrMo {Ja OmVr Am¡a H$^r-H$^r µ’$Q> ^r OmVr&

Dibyashri Das Class III F (A)

Raunak Datta Class III F (M)

‘oam ‘N>br Ka

‘oao nmg h¡ EH$ ‘N>br Ka, ‘N>{b¶m± IobVt Cg‘| {XZ ^a& bmb, nrbr, g’o$X, H$mbr ‘m¡O ‘ZmVt Amng ‘| gmar&

‘oam ^mB©

‘oam ^mB© h¡ ~hþV ߶mam, h¡ ~hþV ^mobm& gmam {XZ H$aVm ‘ñVr ^anya, H$aVm Zht h¡ n‹T>mB©, Am¡a gmam {XZ H$aVm h¡ ‘oao gmW b‹S>mB©& gw~h-em‘ gmoVm h¡, ^yI O~ bJVr h¡ Vmo amoVm h¡& ‘oam ^mB© h¡ ~hþV ߶mam, h¡ ~hþV ^mobm&

‘å‘r-nmnm H$m ߶ma

nmnm H$m ‘¢ ZÝhm b‹S>H$m, ‘m± H$s Am±Im| H$m Vmam& g~ H$hVo h¢ ߶mam b‹S>H$m, H$^r Zht H$aVm e¡Vm{Z¶m±& OrdZ ‘| AmJo ~‹T>Zm h¡, ‘å‘r-nmnm H$m Zm‘ amoeZ H$aZm h¡& ‘oao nmnm h¢, ~hþV AÀN>o, ߶ma do ‘wPo ~hþV H$aVo& ‘m± h¢, ‘oar g~go AÀN>r, {Xb H$s h¢ do g~go gƒr&

Aviraj Mazumder Class IV F (A)

Romit Kundu Class IV F (M) 113

POINTER

¶o Hw$N> nb {µOÝXJr Ho$ ‘oar ߶mar ~hZ

‘oar ~hZ, ߶mar ~hZ, haX‘ Vw‘ Iwe ahZm& n‹T>Zm-{bIZm AmJo ~‹T>Zm, Iy~ bJZ go H$m‘ H$aZm& n[adma Am¡a Xoe H$m Zm‘ M‘H$mZm, Vw‘ na h¡ ‘wPo AQ>b {dídmg, hmoJr Vw‘ narjm ‘| nmg, ‘ohZV Am¡a bJZ Ho$ gmW& ‘oar ~hZ, ߶mar ~hZ&& Sneha Pradhan Class IV F (A)

¶o Hw$N> nb {µOÝXJr Ho$, Bgr ‘| grIZm, Bgr ‘| ^ybZm& Bgr ‘| MbZm, Bgr ‘| éH$Zm& Bgr ‘| {JaZm, Bgr ‘| CR>Zm& ¶o Hw$N> nb {µOÝXJr Ho$, Bgr ‘| XmoñVr, Bgr ‘| PJ‹S>m& Bgr ‘| {‘bZm, Bgr ‘| {~N>‹S>Zm& Bgr ‘| OrZm, Bgr ‘| ‘aZm& ¶o Hw$N> nb {µOÝXJr Ho$, Bgr ‘| OrV, Bgr ‘| hma& Bgr ‘| ߶ma, Bgr ‘| B©î¶m©& Bgr ‘| nVP‹S>, Bgr ‘| ~hma&

‘Xa Q>oaogm

MM© H$s ZZ go g‘mO go{dH$m H$moB© Am¡a Zht, {gµ’©$ ‘Xa Q>oaogm ^yIo-Jar~ ~ƒm| na X¶m H$a {‘eZarµO Am°µ’$ M¡[aQ>r ~ZmB© V~&

Mohit Kr. Singh Class IV G (M)

{H$VZo ~ƒm| H$mo {Ibm¶m-n‹T>m¶m g~Ho$ OrdZ ‘| Amem H$m àH$me Obm¶m AnZo ~mao ‘| H$^r Z gmoMVr Wt, {gµ’©$ CZ ~ƒm| H$m ^{dî¶ g±dmaVr Wt& Zmo~ob àmBµO go "g|Q> Am°µ’$ X JQ>g©' Ho$ Zm‘ VH$ g~ àmßV hþE CZH$mo CZHo$ gwH$‘m] d gX²^mdm| Ho$ H$maU CZHo$ "{Z‘©b öX¶' d ‘‘Vm Ho$ H$maU>& na CÝh| BZH$s Mmh Zht Wr MmhVr Wt {gµ’©$ CZ ~ƒm| H$m CÁÁdb OrdZ gM ‘|, do aËZm| ‘| go EH$ Eogr aËZ Wt g~go AZ‘mob, g~go nmdZ& Ishita Bhattacharyya Class VIII F (M)

POINTER

¶o Hw$N> nb {µOÝXJr Ho$, Bgr ‘| n‹T>Zm, Bgr ‘| IobZm& Bgr ‘| h±gZm, Bgr ‘| amoZm& Bgr ‘| ImoZm, Bgr ‘| nmZm&

114

h‘mam {dX²¶mb¶

gmCW nm°B§Q> h¡ h‘mam {dX²¶mb¶, {ejm H$m CËV‘ h¡ Amb¶& n‹T>Vo ¶hm± h‘ g~ ~ƒo, {Z¶‘-ar{V ‘| h¢ g~ gƒo& B§p½be ¶hm± h¡ {gImB© OmVr, {hÝXr ¶hm± h¡ n‹T>mB© OmVr& J{UV ¶hm± h¡ g‘PmB© OmVr, H$bm ¶hm± h¡ {gIbmB© OmVr& {ejH$ g^r JwUr {dÛmZ, XoVo {dX²¶m H$m {ZV XmZ& ^mB©Mmao H$s {ejm XoVo, Xoe^{³V H$m nmR> n‹T>mVo& ¶hm± AZw^dr h¢ g~ {ejH$, ‘mZdVm Ho$ h¢ Omo g§ajH$& do H$aVo g~H$s AÀN>r XoI^mb, CÝh| AZwemgZ H$m h¡ »¶mb& IobHy$X ‘| g~go AÀN>o, h‘mao {dX²¶mb¶ Ho$ ~ƒo& ¶o {ejm H$m h¡ CËV‘ Amb¶, ¶h h‘mam h¡ {dX²¶mb¶&

àH¥${V

hao-hao IoVm| ‘| ~ag ahr h¢ ~y±X| Iwer-Iwer go Am¶m gmdZ ^a J¶m ‘oam Am±JZ& bJ ahm h¡ Eogo ‘Z H$s H${b¶m± {Ib J¶t O¡go Eogm ¶h Am¶m ~g§V boH$a ’y$bm| H$s gm¡JmV& J‘u go V‹S>nVo ‘oao ‘Z H$mo ~y±Xm| Zo {X¶m Eogm ZdOrdZ Py‘ n‹S>m ‘oam VZ-‘Z bJVm h¡ Z N>mo‹Sz>± H$^r àH¥${V H$m Xm‘Z&

Hardik Daga Class VIII F (M)

¶h g¥{îQ> h¡ {H$VZr gw§Xa bo{H$Z bmoJ Zht CVZo A³b‘§X ¶hr h¡ ‘oam EH$ {ZdoXZ Z H$amo Amn àH¥${V H$m emofU& Tamanna Sharma Class VIII F (M)

EH$ S>a

Hw$N> bmoJ D±$MmB© go h¢ S>aVo, Hw$N> S>aVo h¢ nmZr go& Hw$N> bmoJm| H$mo bJVm h¡ newAmo§ go S>a, Hw$N> bmoJ ^yVm| H$mo ¶mX H$a H$m±nVo h¢ Wa-Wa& Hw$N> bmoJ Ag’$bVm go h¢ S>aVo, do S>aVo h¢ namO¶ Ho$ dma go& Hw$N> bmoJ S>aVo h¢ AHo$bonZ go, Hw$N> bmoJ ‘w³V Zht hmo nmVo ‘¥Ë¶w-^¶ go&

‘wPo BZ g~go Zht bJVm h¡ S>a, ‘oam h¡ ~g EH$ hr S>a& {H$ EH$ {XZ hmo OmE Z ‘Zwî¶Vm H$m A§V, {H$ EH$ {XZ ¶{X Z ah OmE ào‘-^mB©Mmao H$m H$moB© A§e& N>b-H$nQ> H$ht ’¡$bmE Z AnZm ’$Z, ~g ¶h S>a ‘wPo ahVm h¡ ha nb!

Ankur Surana Class IX B (M) 115

POINTER

~MnZ

gmam OrdZ nrN>o ah J¶m gmar ‘ñVr N>mo‹S> Mbr JB© gmam Q>|eZ Jbo n‹S> J¶m A~ ‘¢ ~‹S>r hmo JB©& EH$ ~mV ~VmAmo dh ~MnZ ‘¢ H¡$go nmD±$?

Iobm H$aVo Wo Mmoa-nw{bg CZ nbm| H$mo H$aVr hÿ± {‘g Cg g‘¶ H$aVo Wo b‹S>mB© A~ ha g‘¶ {gµ’©$ n‹T>mB©& EH$ ~mV ~VmAmo dh nb H¡$go ^yb OmD±$?

XmoñV XoVo Wo ~g EH$ H$m°b IobZo OmVo ~¡Q>-~m°b A~ XþI Ho$ KZ, H$aVo KZ-KZ nb-nb {dM{bV hmoVm ‘Z& EH$ ~mV ~VmAmo dhr gwIr JrV H¡$go JmD±$>?

‘N>moQ>m ^r‘’, ‘S>moao‘moZ’, ‘nmoHo$‘m°Z’ XoIm H$aVo AnZr YwZ ‘| Py‘m H$aVo A~ gm±g boZm hr h¡ OrdZ H$m Zm‘ ah J¶m A~ {gµ’©$ H$m‘ hr H$m‘& EH$ ~mV ~VmAmo ~rVm g‘¶ ‘¢ H¡$go nmD±$? gƒo XmoñV bwßV hmo JE ‘Vb~r XmoñV {ZH$Q> Am JE {OZ na ݶmoN>mda H$a XoVo OmZ do XmoñV Xþí‘Z ~Z JE& EH$ ~mV ~VmAmo gƒo XmoñV A~ H¡$go nmD±$? ha nb AmVr h¡ ‘wPH$mo ‘Ywa ¶mX ~MnZ Voar bm¡Q> Ho$ Am Om {’$a OrdZ ‘| ^a Xo OrdZ ‘| Iw{e¶m± ‘oar EH$ ~mV ~VmAmo dhr gwZham ~MnZ H¡$go nmD±$?

Swati Pathak Class IX A (A)

bJ OmVr AJa µOam-gr MmoQ> Ka Ho$ g~ OZ AmVo Xm¡‹S> A~ Mmho ~h OmE a³V Zht {‘bVm dh {dbmgr V™V& EH$ ~mV ~VmAmo dhr ߶ma ‘¢ H¡$go nmD±$?

POINTER

116

AHo$bmnZ

H¡$gm h¡ ¶h AHo$bmnZ? ~‹S>m {d{MÌ h¡ ¶h AHo$bmnZ H$^r ^mVm h¡ Vmo H$^r ébmVm h¡ H$^r bJVm h¡ AÀN>m hr Vmo h¡ ¶h AHo$bmnZ Z {H$gr go H$moB© ‘Vb~ Z {H$gr go Hw$N> boZm-XoZm Z {H$gr Ho$ gwI-XþI H$m gmWr ~ZZm Am¡a Z hr AnZr Iwer {H$gr Ho$ gmW ~m±Q>Zm bo{H$Z AJbo hr nb ¶h {dMma AmVm h¡ ³¶m Bgr H$m Zm‘ qµOXJr h¡? ³¶m| H$^r-H$^r BVZm ‘wpíH$b hmo OmVm h¡ AHo$bonZ H$mo PobZm? ³¶m| bJZo bJVm h¡ {H$ ³¶m H$moB© lmn h¡ A§V‘w©Ir ~ZZm? Xÿa go {OVZm gw§Xa bJVm h¡ AHo$bmnZ nmg go CVZm hr X‘ Km|Q>Vm h¡ ¶h AHo$bmnZ ~‹S>m gVmVm h¡ ¶h AHo$bmnZ bo{H$Z {’$a ^r H$^r-H$^ma h±gmVm ^r h¡ ¶h AHo$bmnZ Xþ{Z¶m go ^bo hr Xÿa H$aVm h¡ bo{H$Z IwX Ho$ H$ar~ µOê$a bmVm h¡ IwX H$mo nhMmZZo H$m EH$ µO[a¶m h¡ AHo$bmnZ ~‹S>m {d{MÌ h¡ ¶h AHo$bmnZ H$^r ^mVm h¡ Vmo H$^r ébmVm h¡&

Amo ‘oao dVZ!

Amo ‘oao ‘hmZ dVZ! e{³V Xo! ‘wPo j‘Vm Xo! Vm{H$ ‘¢ H$a nmD±$ Voam ^anya OVZ! Hw$~m©Z H$a Xÿ± ‘¢ IwXH$mo VwP na ‘a OmD±$ ‘¢ godm H$aVo-H$aVo Voao MaUm| H$s& Mmho Xþí‘Z ‘wPo V‹S>nmE± na VwP na H$moB© Am±M Z Am nmE IË‘ H$a Xÿ± Cgo Omo VwP na h{W¶ma CR>mE, Voao {bE h‘ hµOma Iw{e¶m± bmE& Amo ‘oao ‘hmZ dVZ! ~b Xo! ‘wPo gmhg Xo! Vm{H$ ‘¢ H$a nmD±$ Voam ^anya OVZ& O~ VH$ hmo ‘oao eara ‘| EH$ ~y±X bhÿ Xþí‘Z Ho$ gm‘Zo ‘¢ S>Q>H$a I‹S>m ahÿ±& H$^r ’$sH$m Z n‹S>Zo X|Jo Voam a§J& h‘oem ah|Jo h‘ Voao g§J OrV|Jo h‘ hr ¶h ‘hmO§J& Amo ‘oao Xoe, Amo ‘oao dVZ! Vw‘ hmo g~go ~hþ‘yë¶ aVZ!

Antarikkha Das Class IX A (A)

Swarnava Mandal Class IX A (A)

117

POINTER

h‘| AmµOmXr {‘br h¡ na... h‘| AmµOmXr {‘br h¡ na, Cgo ~MmZm ~mH$s h¡& OmV-nmV, Y‘©-^oX H$s Xrdma| hQ>mZm ~mH$s h¡&

BZ Xrdmam| H$mo Vmo‹S>Zm, {’$bhmb Vmo h‘mam H$m‘ h¡& V^r Vmo hmoJm Xþ{Z¶m ‘| h‘mao ^maV H$m Zm‘ h¡& ho ^maV ‘mVm! VwP na ~war ZµOa, Omo CR>mH$a XoI|Jo& Am{˜aH$ma do AmH$a, Voao AmJo KwQ>Zo Q>oH|$Jo&

¶o {µOÝXJr H$s H$hmZr h¡

OrdZ ~hVm hþAm-gm nmZr h¡, ha nb Hw$N> Z¶m {XImVm h¡, H$^r Iw{e¶m±, H$^r ‘m¶ygr Xo OmVm h¡, ^a H$a AnZo A§Xa Iwer H$mo, ha J‘ go grIVo Mbmo, Omo {Ja JE Vmo ³¶m hþAm, CR>H$a {’$a AmJo ~‹T>mo, O~ H$mbo KZo A±Yoam| ‘| ^r, Vw‘ Ty>±‹T> bmoJo amoeZr, Cg {XZ ha J‘ hmaoJm Am¡a OrVoJr Vmo ~g Iwer& gwI-XþI H$s {Zem-{Xdm H$m, Zm‘ hr OrdZ h¡& hmaH$a ^r OrVZo H$s bbH$ H$m Zm‘ hr Vmo OrdZ h¡&

Eogr gmoM AJa h‘, AnZo A§Xa ~gmE±Jo, V^r Agbr AmµOmXr H$m, gwI h‘ CR>m nmE±Jo& Zm qhXÿ, ‘wpñb‘, {gI, Zm h¡ H$moB© B©gmB©& Bg Xoe Ho$ g^r bmoJ, g~go nhbo h¢ ~hZ Am¡a ^mB©& {df‘Vm H$s Xrdmam| H$mo, ^{dî¶ ‘| hQ>mZm h¡, Agbr AmµOmXr H$m Ehgmg OZ-OZ H$mo {XbmZm h¡&

Manasvi Shaw Class IX B (M)

Yuvraj Joshi Class IX A (A)

POINTER

118

Strokes of Colour

Water Colour ‘Reflection’ Adrija Saha Class IV B (A)

Oil Pastels ‘Jokes apart!’ Sharanya Acharya Class IV E (A)

Oil Pastels ‘Enter the dragon’ Adriraj Roy Class IV B (M)

Oil Pastels ‘The mask-seller’ Gaurabaditya Ghosh Class IV E (A)

Oil Pastels ‘Threesome’ Sounak Basu Class IV B (M)

119

POINTER

Strokes of Colour

Mixed Media

Sketch Pens ‘Doodling’ Tamalika De Class VIII C (M) Water Colour

‘Blue beauty’ Pratyusha Das Class VIII G (A)

Water Colour ‘Fly away!’ Siddhi Chandak Class VIII A (A) Poster Colour

‘Green peace’ Rajdeep Choudhuri Class VIII G (M)

‘In waiting’ Diptarko Bhattacharjee Class VIII E (A) POINTER

120

EH$ nar H$s H$hmZr

EH$ Jm±d ‘| EH$ ~ƒr Wr& CgH$m Zm‘ hr¶m Wm& O~ dh N>… gmb H$s hmo JB©, V~ CgHo$ ‘mVm-{nVm Zo nmg Ho$ Jm±d Ho$ EH$ {dX²¶mb¶ ‘| CgH$m Xm{Ibm H$adm {X¶m& Jm±d Ho$ g^r ~ƒo EH$ gmW n¡Xb Cgr {dX²¶mb¶ ‘| n‹T>Zo Ho$ {bE OmVo Wo& {dX²¶mb¶ Jm±d go ~hþV Xÿa Wm& {dX²¶mb¶ Ho$ amñVo ‘| EH$ ~aJX H$m no‹S> Wm& O~ ^r hr¶m dhm± go JwµOaVr, V^r Cgo Ahgmg hmoVm {H$ H$moB© CgHo$ Jmbm| H$mo ghbm ahm h¡ Am¡a hmWm| H$mo nH$‹S> H$a ~wbm ahm h¡& EH$ {XZ O~ dh gw~h CR>r V~ CgZo XoIm {H$ g^r ~ƒo {dX²¶mb¶ Ho$ {bE {ZH$b MwHo$ h¢& dh PQ>nQ> V¡¶ma hmo JB© Am¡a AnZr ‘m± go ZmíVm EH$ AbJ {S>ã~o ‘| XoZo Ho$ {bE H$hm& CgZo PQ>nQ> AnZm ~ñVm {b¶m Am¡a {dX²¶mb¶ Ho$ {bE Xm¡‹S>Vo hþE {ZH$b n‹S>r& amñVo ‘| dh WH$H$a Cgr ~aJX Ho$ no‹S> Ho$ ZrMo ~¡R> JB©& ^yI go CgH$m ~wam hmb Wm& dh ZmíVo H$m {S>ã~m ImobH$a ImZo bJr, V^r Cgo {’$a go {H$gr Ho$ nmg hmoZo H$m Ahgmg hþAm& hr¶m Zo BYa-CYa XoIm Am¡a nyN>m, “H$m¡Z h¡?” Bg na Odm~ Am¶m, “‘¢ hÿ±, gnZm&” hr¶m Zo gnZm H$mo AnZo nmg ~¡R>m nm¶m& gnZm Zo H$hm dh nmg Ho$ Jm±d go h¡& hr¶m Zo gnZm Ho$ gmW AnZm ZmíVm ~m±Q>H$a Im¶m& hr¶m Zo gnZm H$mo ~Vm¶m Cgo {dX²¶mb¶ Ho$ {bE Xoa hmo ahr h¡& gnZm Zo hr¶m goo qMVm Z H$aZo H$mo H$hm& gnZm Zo hr¶m H$m hmW nH$‹S>m Am¡a Cgo boH$a C‹S> Mbr& S>a Am¡a AmíM¶© go hr¶m Zo nyN>m, “Vw‘ H¡$go C‹S> gH$Vr hmo? Vw‘ H$m¡Z hmo?” gnZm h±g H$a ~mobr, “‘¢ EH$ nar hÿ±&” C‹S>Vo hþE hr¶m Zo AnZo gmWr ~ƒm| H$mo {dX²¶mb¶ OmVo XoIm& gnZm Zo hr¶m H$mo {dX²¶mb¶ Ho$ ‘w»¶ Ûma Ho$ nmg CVma {X¶m& hr¶m Zo gnZm H$mo YݶdmX H$hm Am¡a dht ~mH$s ~ƒm| H$m B§VµOma H$aZo bJr& Jm±d Ho$ ~mH$s ~ƒo {dX²¶mb¶ nhþ±M H$a hr¶m H$mo XoI M{H$V ah JE& CÝhm|Zo hr¶m go nyN>m, “Vw‘ H¡$go BVZr OëXr Am JB©?” Bg na hr¶m Zo H$hm, “{OZHo$ nmg AÀN>o {‘Ì hmoVo h¢, CZHo$ {bE g~ Hw$N> ‘w‘{H$Z h¡&”

X¶mbw ‘moMr

EH$ Jm±d Wm& Cg Jm±d ‘| EH$ ‘moMr ahVm Wm& dh Cg Jm±d H$m AHo$bm ‘moMr Wm& dh {XZ ^a nyar ‘ohZV go H$m‘ H$aVm Wm& EH$ {XZ amñVo go EH$ AmX‘r Om ahm Wm& CgHo$ OyVo ’$Q> JE& CgHo$ nmg OyVo {gbmZo Ho$ n¡go Zht Wo& ‘moMr Zo Cggo H$hm {H$ dh OyVm| H$mo {~Zm n¡gm| Ho$ R>rH$ H$a XoJm& dh EH$ AÀN>m ‘moMr Wm& CgZo Cg AmX‘r Ho$ OyVo Hw$N> hr Xoa ‘| {gb {XE Am¡a Cgo EH$X‘ Z¶m-gm ~Zm {X¶m& Cg AmX‘r Zo X¶mbw ‘moMr H$mo ~hþV YݶdmX {X¶m& Aidh Javed Khan Class I F (M)

MmbmH$ VmoVm

EH$ VmoVm Wm& EH$ {XZ C‹S>Vo-C‹S>Vo dh Am‘ Ho$ no‹S> Ho$ nmg Om nhþ±Mm& Am‘ Ho$ nËVm| Ho$ ~rM CgZo EH$ nH$m Am‘ XoIm& VmoVo H$mo Am‘ ImZo H$m ‘Z {H$¶m, na§Vw CgZo XoIm {H$ dhm± EH$ H$m¡Am ~¡R>m h¡& H$m¡E Zo VmoVo go H$hm {H$ ¶h Am‘ CgH$m h¡& VmoVo Zo V^r EH$ Cnm¶ gmoMm& dh H$ht go EH$ Jwã~mam bo Am¶m& CgZo Jwã~mao H$mo ’$mo‹S> {X¶m Am¡a H$m¡Am S>a Ho$ ‘mao ^mJ J¶m& MmbmH$ VmoVm Amam‘ go no‹S> H$s S>mbr na ~¡R>H$a Am‘ ImZo bJm&

Ayushi Dutta Class I F (A)

Alokananda Mukherjee Class III F (A) 121

POINTER

{g¶ma H$s gyP

EH$ Jm±d ‘| EH$ ~«mh²‘U ahVm Wm& dh H$m’$s MoîQ>mAm| go AnZo n[adma H$s gmar µOê$aV| nyar H$aZo H$s H$mo{ee H$aVm Wm, {’$a ^r Cgo AnZm JwµOmam MbmZo ‘| H$m’$s H${R>ZmB© hmoVr Wr& EH$ {XZ OrdZ go WH$-hmaH$a CgZo AnZo OrdZ H$mo IË‘ H$a XoZo Ho$ ~mao ‘| gmoMm& KZo O§Jb ‘| OmH$a dh BYa-CYa XoIZo bJm& AMmZH$ O§Jb ‘| EH$ {g¶ma Cggo {‘bm Am¡a nyN>m {H$ ~«mh²‘U Bg KZo O§Jb ‘| ³¶m H$a aho hmo? ~«mh²‘U Zo hVmem go ^aH$a AnZr gmar ~mV| {g¶ma go H$ht& {g¶ma Zo Cgo gƒo ‘Z go H$m‘ H$aZo H$s gbmh Xr Am¡a H$hm {H$ Cgo O§Jb go bH${‹S>¶m± H$mQ>H$a ~mµOma ‘| ~oMZm Mm{hE& AJa Hw$N> µÁ¶mXm H$‘mB© hmoJr Vmo Ka H$s AdñWm R>rH$ hmo OmEJr& ~«mh²‘U H$mo {g¶ma H$m gwPmd AÀN>m bJm& nyOm-nmR> H$m H$m‘ H$aZo Ho$ Abmdm dh bH$‹S>r bo OmH$a ~oMZo bJm& CgHo$ ~oQ>m| Zo ^r {nVm Ho$ H$m‘ ‘| ghm¶Vm H$s& Bg Vah CZ bmoJm| H$m OrdZ gwYaZo bJm&

ԤOy XmXr

‘§Oy XmXr ‘ooar ~hþV {චXmXr h¢& do ‘oar hr B‘maV Ho$ Vrgao Vëbo na ahVr h¢& do ‘wPo ~hþV ߶ma H$aVr h¢& ‘¢ ^r CÝh| ~hþV ng§X H$aVr hÿ±& do ‘wPo ‘rR>o-‘rR>o nH$dmZ ~ZmH$a XoVr h¢& do ‘wPo ‘mo~mBb VWm Q>r.dr. go Xÿa ahZo Ho$ {bE H$hVr h¢& do ‘oao {bE D$Zr H$n‹S>o ~wZVr h¢& do AHo$br ahVr h¢ Am¡a ~hþV ~wOwJ© h¢ na§Vw ~hþV MwñV h¢& h‘| AnZo g‘mO ‘| ahZo dmbo ~wOwJ© bmoJm| H$mo ߶ma H$aZm Mm{hE Am¡a CÝh| gå‘mZ XoZm Mm{hE {Oggo CÝh| AHo$bmnZ ‘hgyg Z hmo& Aashi Ghar Class IV F (A)

Aparoop Daspodder Class III F (A)

{nVmOr H$s grI

àH¥${V, EH$ ‘m± H$s Vah {~Zm Hw$N> ‘m±Jo hr, h‘mar g^r µOê$aVm| H$m nyam »¶mb aIVr h¡& EH$ VarHo$ go àH¥${V Zo hr h‘| OrdZ àXmZ {H$¶m h¡, {OgZo Z {gµ’©$ AnZo Am±Mb ‘| g‘oQ>H$a, h‘| ^moOZ, nmZr, ewÕ hdm {X¶m h¡, ~pëH$ ‘wµâV ‘| T>oa gmao g§gmYZ ^r CnbãY H$admE h¢& àH¥${V Ho$ BZ g§gmYZm| Ho$ BñVo‘mb go h‘mam OrdZ ~ohX AmgmZ hmo OmVm h¡& bo{H$Z Aµ’$gmog Bg ~mV H$m h¡, AmO ì¶{³V AnZo ñdmW© Ho$ MbVo àH¥${V go O‘H$a {Ibdm‹S> H$a ahm h¡, {OgHo$ MbVo ^{dî¶ ‘| g§H$Q> Jham gH$Vm h¡&

EH$ b‹S>H$m Wm Omo ~hþV hr hmo{e¶ma Wm& dh H$jm ‘| àW‘ AmVm Wm& dh g~ Hw$N> ‘| AÀN>m Wm na EH$X‘ IobHy$X Zht H$aVm Wm Am¡a Ka ‘| ~¡R>H$a h‘oem n‹T>Vm ahVm Wm& CgH$s ‘mVmOr Cgo ~mha OmH$a XmoñVm| Ho$ gmW IobZo Ho$ {bE H$hm H$aVr Wt na dh Ka na hr ahVm Wm& EH$ {XZ CgHo$ {nVmOr Zo Cggo H$hm {H$, “Mbo AmAmo ~oQ>m, Q>r.dr. ‘| {H«$Ho$Q> XoI|&” CgZo V~ ~hþV J§^ra H§$R> ‘| CZgo H$hm, “R>rH$$ h¡ {nVmOr&” dh {H«$Ho$Q> XoIZo ‘| {’$a Sy>~ J¶m, V~ CgHo$ {nVmOr Zo Cggo H$hm, “AJa Vwåh| IobZm AÀN>m bJVm h¡, Vmo IobVo ³¶m| Zht?” b‹S>Ho$ Zo H$hm, “‘¢ Bg{bE Zht IobVm {H$ AJa ‘wPo MmoQ> bJ JB© Vmo ‘¢ H¡$go n‹T>mB© H$ê±$Jm?” V~ CgHo$ {nVmOr Zo H$hm {H$, “n‹T>mB© H$aZm Mm{hE, na IobHy$X ^r µOê$ar h¡&” b‹S>Ho$ H$mo {nVmOr H$s ~mV g‘P ‘| Am JB©& dh g‘P J¶m {H$ IobHy$X ^r OrdZ H$m EH$ Amdí¶H$ A§J h¡&

Jeet Dave Sahoo Class IV F (A)

Arkojit Das Class IV F (A)

àH¥${V ‘m±

POINTER

122

PyR>m {dídmg

EH$ AmX‘r hm{W¶m| Ho$ Pw§S> Ho$ nmg go JwµOa ahm Wm& dh AMmZH$ éH$ J¶m, Bg V϶ go ^«{‘V hmoH$a {H$ BZ {demb àm{U¶m| H$mo Ho$db CZHo$ gm‘Zo Ho$ n¡a go ~§Yr EH$ N>moQ>r añgr Ûmam nH$‹S> {b¶m J¶m Wm& Z H$moB© µO§Ora, Z H$moB© qnOam& ¶h ñnï> Wm {H$ hmWr {H$gr ^r g‘¶ AnZo ~§YZ go Xÿa hmo gH$Vo Wo bo{H$Z {H$gr H$maU go do Eogm Zht H$a aho Wo& Eogm ³¶m|? AnZo àíZ ‘| CbPm dh BYa-CYa XoIZo bJm& nmg ‘| I‹S>o EH$ Q´>oZa na CgH$s ZµOa n‹S>r& CgZo Cggo nyN>m, “OmZda ~g dhm± ³¶m| I‹S>o h¢ Am¡a Xÿa OmZo H$s H$moB© H$mo{ee ³¶m| Zht H$a aho h¢, O~{H$ do AmgmZr go ¶o ~§YZ Vmo‹S> gH$Vo h¢?” “ghr H$h aho h¢ Amn”- Q´>oZa Zo H$hm, “O~ do N>moQ>o Am¡a ~hþV N>moQ>o hmoVo h¢ Vmo h‘ CÝh| ~m±YZo Ho$ {bE EH$ hr AmH$ma H$s añgr H$m Cn¶moJ H$aVo h¢ Am¡a Cg C‘« ‘| CÝh| YmaU H$aZm n¶m©ßV hmoVm h¡& O¡go-O¡go do ~‹S>o hmoVo h¢ CÝh| {dídmg hmoZo bJ OmVm h¡ {H$ do Cgo H$^r Vmo‹S> Zht gH$Vo&” dh AmX‘r AM§{^V Wm& ¶o OmZda {H$gr ^r g‘¶ AnZo ~§YZm| go ‘w³V hmo gH$Vo Wo, na§Vw AnZo {‘϶m {dídmg Ho$ H$maU {H$ do BZ ~§YZm| H$mo Vmo‹S> Zht gH$Vo, do Ohm± Wo dht ’±$g JE Wo& hm{W¶m| H$s Vah, h‘‘| ^r {H$VZo bmoJ Bg {dídmg Ho$ gmW hr OrdZ JwµOma aho h¢ {H$ h‘ Hw$N> Zht H$a gH$Vo, ³¶m|{H$ h‘ Bggo nhbo EH$ ~ma Ag’$b hþE Wo& Ag’$bVm grIZo H$m EH$ {hñgm h¡, g§Kf©aV ahZo H$m EH$ {gb{gbm, EH$ AZw^d h¡& h‘| OrdZ ‘| H$^r ^r g§Kf© Zht N>mo‹S>Zm Mm{hE& Amn Ag’$b Bg{bE Zht hmoVo h¢ {H$ Ag’$b hmoZm {H$ñ‘V ‘| h¡, ~pëH$ Ag’$b V~ hmoVo h¢ O~ Amn hm{W¶m| Ho$ g‘mZ Bg ^«‘ ‘| ahH$a à¶mg Zht H$aVo {H$ ¶h AmnH$s j‘Vm Ho$ nao h¡& Ag’$bVm EH$ g~H$ h¡ Omo AmnH$mo OrdZ Ho$ gmW AmJo ~‹T>Zo Ho$ {bE grIZo H$s Ztd V¡¶ma H$aVr h¡, g’$bVm H$s Amoa àW‘ H$X‘ hr Ag’$bVm H$m gm‘Zm H$aZm Am¡a g§Kf©aV ahZm h¡&

AX²^wV gnZm

amV Ho$ bJ^J ~mah ~O MwHo$ Wo& amhþb Am°{’$g go AnZo Ka Ho$ {bE {ZH$b MwH$m Wm& amV Ho$ g‘¶ Cgo Jm‹S>r Zhr§ {‘b ahr Wr& dh Hw$N> hr g‘¶ ~mX Xÿa pñWV ~g ñQ>m°n na nhþ±M J¶m, Bg Cå‘rX ‘| {H$ Cgo ~g {‘b OmEJr& Hw$N> jU B§VµOma H$aZo Ho$ ~mX EH$ ~g AmB©& dh Cg ~g ‘| M‹T> J¶m& Cgo Hw$N> AµOr~ bJm ³¶m|{H$ Cg ~g ‘| H$moB© Zht Wm& {gµ’©$ dh hr Wm& em¶X dh OmZVm Wm ³¶m|{H$ amV ~hþV hmo MwH$s Wr& amhþb ~hþV WH$ MwH$m Wm& Bg{bE ~g ‘| M‹T>Vo hr, CgH$s Am±I bJ JB©& O~ CgH$s Am±I Iwbr CgZo XoIm ~g éH$ MwH$s Wr Am¡a S´>mBda grQ> na Zht Wm& Cgo Wmo‹S>m S>a bJm& dh ~g go CVa J¶m& CgZo nm¶m {H$ ~g EH$ gwa§J Ho$ A§Xa h¡ Am¡a EH$ AmX‘r AnZo hmW ‘o|§ EH$ MmHy$ boH$a CgH$s hr Vaµ’$ Am ahm Wm& dh AmX‘r Am¡a H$moB© Zht, Cg ~g H$m S´>mBda Wm& amhþb Zo ^mJZo H$s H$mo{ee H$s na Cg AmX‘r Zo Cgo nH$‹S> {b¶m Am¡a Cggo nyN>Zo bJm, “gmh~, Amn H$hm± CVa|Jo?” O~ amhþb H$s Am±I Iwbr Vmo nm¶m {H$ ~g H$m H§$S>³Q>a Cggo ~g H$m {H$am¶m ‘m±J ahm Wm& amhþb Zo ~g H§$S>³Q>a H$mo n¡go {XE& amhþb Zo O~ {I‹S>H$s go ~mha XoIm Vmo CgHo$ am|JQ>o I‹S>o hmo JE&& dh ~g Cgr gwa§J go Om ahr Wr Omo CgZo AnZo gnZo ‘| XoIr Wr Am¡a Cg ~g ‘| H$moB© Zhr§ Wm& Tanisha Barua Class VIII F (M)

SK. Gholam Shabbar Class VIII F (M)

123

POINTER

An[a{MV ‘wbmH$mV

{Xg§~a H$m EH$ {XZ Wm Am¡a ‘¢ AnZo {‘Ì amOoe Ho$ nmg {dkmZ H$m n[a¶moOZm-gm‘y{hH$-H$m¶© nyam H$aZo CgHo$ Ka Am¶m Wm& h‘Zo H$mµ’$s OëXr hr Cg H$m‘ H$mo g‘mßV H$a {X¶m Wm, Bg{bE h‘ {’$a IobZo bJo& h‘ H§$߶yQ>a Joåg IobZo ‘| BVZo µÁ¶mXm ì¶ñV hmo JE {H$ h‘| g‘¶ H$m Hw$N> ܶmZ hr Zht ahm& V^r AMmZH$ ‘oar ‘m± H$m µ’$moZ Am¶m& CÝhm|Zo ‘wPgo nyN>m {H$ ‘¢ H$~ Ka dmng bm¡Qy>±Jm, Vmo ‘¢Zo AmgmZr go H$h {X¶m {H$ EH$-Xmo K§Q>o ‘| {ZH$bVm hÿ±& ‘oar ‘m± Zo ^r H$mµ’$s gabVm go H$hm, “~oQ>m! A^r {H$VZm ~O ahm h¡? µOam ZµOa Kw‘mH$a K‹S>r Vmo XoImo&” ‘oam Vmo ga hr Ky‘ J¶m...K‹S>r ‘| AmR> ~O aho Wo& bJm {H$ ‘oar Vmo AmO em‘V AmEJr Ka ‘|& ‘¢Zo Vwa§V AnZm ~¡J CR>m¶m Am¡a AnZo {‘Ì H$mo Ab{dXm H$hH$a Ka H$s Amoa {ZH$b n‹S>m& ‘¢Zo gmoMm {H$ ‘wPo em°Q>© H$Q> nH$‹S> boZm Mm{hE Vm{H$ ‘¢ Ka OëXr nhþ±M OmD±$& A^r Þ~ $P<Ro DPË9R Þ_ KU :P ^+ $0P=+ aP>DH HZÄ KPR -% amñVm {~ëHw$b gwZgmZ Wm& V^r ‘wPo ~m¶t Amoa go AOr~-gr AmdmµO| gwZmB© Xt& O~ ‘¡|Zo Cg Amoa XoIm Vmo ‘wPo EH$ gµ’o$X amoeZr ZµOa AmB©& Z OmZo ³¶m| na ‘¢ Cg amoeZr H$s Vaµ’$ AmH${f©V hmo J¶m& AMmZH$ ‘¢Zo AnZo gm‘Zo EH$ N>moQ>r-gr b‹S>H$s H$mo nm¶m& dh nm±M go N>h gmb H$s bJ ahr Wr& AmíM¶©M{H$V hmo ‘¢Zo Cggo nyN>m, “BVZr amV H$mo Eogr gwZgmZ OJh na Vw‘ AHo$br ³¶m| Ky‘ ahr hmo?” {’$a CgZo ‘wPo Omo ~mV H$hr Cggo ‘oam a³V hr O‘ J¶m& CgZo ‘wPgo H$hm {H$ EH$ {XZ dh AnZo ‘mVm-{nVm Ho$ gmW dhm± go JwµOa ahr Wr {H$ AMmZH$ dh EH$ {VVbr H$mo XoIH$a CgH$m nrN>m H$aZo bJr Am¡a JbVr go AnZo ‘mVm-{nVm go {~N>‹S> JB©& V^r EH$ Q´>H$ Zo Cgo Q>³H$a ‘mar Am¡a Cg Q´>H$ Ho$ S´>mBda Zo CgH$s bme H$mo nmg H$s Pm{‹S>¶m| Ho$ ZrMo X’$Zm {X¶m& BVZm H$hH$a dh H$ht Jm¶~ hmo JB©& ‘¢ dht ~ohmoe hmoH$a {Ja n‹S>m& “~oQ>m! ~oQ>m!” gw~h {nVmOr H$s AmdmµO gwZH$a ‘wPo hmoe Am¶m& CÝh| XoIVo hr ‘wPo amV dmbr KQ>Zm ¶mX Am JB© Am¡a gM H$hÿ± Vmo CÝh| XoIH$a ‘¢ ~hþV amo¶m& Cg KQ>Zm Ho$ ~mX ‘¢ EH$ hµâVo VH$ AñnVmb ‘| ahm& Cg {XZ Ho$ ~mX ‘¢Zo H$^r ^r em°Q>© H$Q> dmbm dh amñVm Zht AnZm¶m&

‘¢ H$hm± hÿ±?

¶yZmZ Ho$ ‘hmZ Xme©{ZH$ gwH$amV Zo EH$ ~ma H$hm Wm-“‘¢ ZmJ[aH$ hÿ±, EoWoÝg ¶m J«rg H$m Zht, ~pëH$ Bg Xþ{Z¶m H$m&” Bg H$WZ Zo ‘oar AÝVamË‘m H$mo PH$Pmoa {X¶m& AmO ‘¢ EH$ Eogo OJV ‘| ahVm hÿ± Ohm± Zµ’$aV ’¡$br hþB© h¡ - Xÿgao Xoem| Ho$ bmoJm| Ho$ {bE Zµ’$aV, Xÿgao Y‘© Am¡a Om{V Ho$ bmoJm| Ho$ {bE Zµ’$aV& h‘‘| BVZr Zµ’$aV ^a OmVr h¡ {H$ h‘ AnZo ^mB¶m| Ho$ {Ibmµ’$ hr eñÌ CR>m boVo h¢ Am¡a g~go VmH$Vda ~ZZo Ho$ {bE b‹S>Zo bJVo h¢& Zµ’$aV H$s H$^r Z IË‘ hmoZo dmbr Bg amh na MbH$a h‘ AnZr YaVr H$mo àXÿ{fV H$a XoVo h¢, AnZm| H$mo YmoIm XoZo bJVo h¢ Am¡a AnZo XmoñVm| H$mo ^yb OmVo h¢& Eogo ‘| EH$ àíZ ‘Z ‘| CR>Vm h¡, “‘¢ H$hm± hÿ±?” h‘| AnZo Xoe H$s gr‘m H$mo bm±KH$a XoIZm Mm{hE& EH$ ~mV h‘| h‘oem ¶mX aIZr Mm{hE {H$ YaVr na ha B§gmZ EH$ hr gyaO H$mo XoIVm h¡, EH$ hr Mm±X H$mo {ZhmaVm h¡ Am¡a EH$ hr O¡gr naoem{Z¶m| Am¡a g‘ñ¶mAm| H$m gm‘Zm H$aVm h¡& V~ ¶h Zµ’$aV ³¶m|?

Bg nmdZ YaVr Ho$ à{V h‘mao AZoH$ H$V©ì¶ h¢ - h‘| EH$ ½bmo~b M¡Zb ~ZmZm h¡ Am¡a EH$ gmW {‘bH$a H$m‘ H$aZm h¡ Vm{H$ n¥Ïdr {IbVr aho, ’$bVr-’y$bVr aho& BgHo$ {bE h‘| K¥Um, B©î¶m© Am{X Xþ^m©dZmAm| H$m nyU©V… {dZme H$aZm hmoJm& {dídJ«m‘ H$s g§H$ënZm, ^y‘§S>brH$aU H$s AdYmaUm BÝht gH$mamË‘H$ {dMmam| H$s CnO h¢& ³¶m h‘ V¡¶ma h¢? AJa Zht, Vmo h‘| V¡¶ma hmo OmZm Mm{hE& AJa h‘ A~ ^r gVH©$ Zht hm|Jo, Vmo ~hþV Xoa hmo OmEJr& Arhaam Azhari Class IX B (M)

Rudransh Mishra Class IX A (M) POINTER

124

EH$ amo‘m§MH$mar KQ>Zm

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h±gr go Ow‹S>r h¡ Ord§VVm

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Shreyan Ghosh Class IX B (M) 125

POINTER

~MnZ

~MnZ {H$gr ^r ì¶{³V Ho$ OrdZ H$m g~go ‘Zmoha g‘¶ hmoVm h¡& ~MnZ H$s ¶mX| g^r H$mo ~hþV ߶mar hmoVr h¢§ Am¡a g^r Ho$ {Xbm| ‘| CZHo$ {bE EH$ {deof ñWmZ ahVm h¡& Hw$N> ~ƒo eamaVr hmoVo h¢, Hw$N> em§V hmoVo h¢& ¶h EH$ ~‹S>r hr AX²^wV AdñWm hmoVr h¡& Mmho H$moB© ^r Hw$N> ^r H$ao, S>m±Q> ¶m ‘ma ImZo H$m H$moB© gdmb hr Zht hmoVm, {gµ’©$ Agr‘ ߶ma hr {‘bVm h¡& ~ƒm| H$s Am±Im| ‘| BVZr ‘mgy{‘¶V PbH$Vr h¡ {H$ do H$R>moa-go-H$R>moa {Xb dmbo ì¶{³V H$mo ^r {nKbmH$a AnZo de ‘| H$a boVr h¢& ~MnZ ‘| g^r ~hþV à{V^m g§nÝZ hmoVo h¢& do h‘oem {H$gr Z {H$gr H$m¶© ‘|-Mmho dh Iob-Hy$X, H$bm àXe©Z ¶m n‹T>mB©-{bImB© hmo, ì¶ñV ahVo h¢ Am¡a Iwe ahZo H$m H$moB©-Z-H$moB© VarH$m Adí¶ ImoO boVo h¢& ~MnZ ‘| {H$gr Ho$ ‘Z ‘| X²dof, ^oX-^md Am{X ZH$mamË‘H$ ^mdZmE± Zht AmVt& CZH$m {Xb ~hþV ~‹S>m hmoVm h¡& b‹S>H$a-PJ‹S>H$a, {’$a go Jhao XmoñV ~ZZo H$s H$bm ~ƒo ~hþV AÀN>r Vah OmZVo h¢& ~MnZ bJ^J ñdJ© H$m à{Vê$n h¡& Bg{bE em¶X ~‹S>o hmo OmZo Ho$ ~mX bmoJ O~ ^r ~MnZ H$s ñ‘¥{V¶m| H$mo ¶mX H$aVo h¢ Vmo ‘Z ‘| H$B© Vah H$s ^mdZmE± C{XV hmoVr h¢ Am¡a h‘oem ¶h gwZmB© n‹S>Vm h¡-“H$me ‘¢ dmng ~MnZ Ho$ {XZm| H$mo Or gH$Vm!”

C{MV grI

EH$ AmX‘r Wm& dh ~hþV H§$Oyg Wm& EH$ {XZ dh EH$ ‘§{Xa ‘| J¶m& ‘§{Xa ‘| ~hþV ^r‹S> Wr& {’$a ^r H$m’$s H$mo{ee H$aZo na dh gm‘Zo VH$ nhþ±M hr J¶m& nyOm-nmR> hmo OmZo Ho$ ~mX ‘§{Xa Ho$ {bE XmZ XoZo H$m g‘¶ Am¶m& My±{H$ dh gm‘Zo Wm, Bg{bE XmZnmÌ CgHo$ gm‘Zo Wm& CgZo AnZr Oo~ go ~Qw>Am {ZH$mbm Am¡a XoIm& Cg‘| ~hþV gmao n¡go Wo& na CgZo Hw$N> ^r XmZ ‘| Zht {X¶m& V^r CgHo$ nrN>o go {H$gr Zo Cgo Xmo hµOma H$m EH$ ZmoQ> {X¶m& CgZo Cgo XmZnmÌ ‘| S>mb {X¶m& Ka bm¡Q>Vo g‘¶ Cgo H$mµ’$s e{‘ªXJr ‘hgyg hmo ahr Wr& Ka Ho$ XadmµOo go dh A§Xa à{dîQ> hmo ahm Wm {H$ {H$gr Zo Cgo ~wbm¶m& ¶h dhr AmX‘r Wm {OgZo ‘§{Xa ‘| Cgo Xmo hµOma H$m ZmoQ> XmZ Ho$ {bE {X¶m Wm& CgZo Cggo H$hm, “‘hme¶& ‘¢ Amngo EH$ ~mV H$hZo Ho$ {bE V~go AmnHo$ nrN>o-nrN>o Mb ahm hÿ±& AmnZo O~ AnZm ~Qw>Am {ZH$mbm Wm V^r AmnH$s Oo~ go dh Xmo hµOma H$m ZmoQ> {Ja J¶m Wm&” BVZm H$hH$a dh Mbm J¶m& H§$Oyg H$mo ¶mX Am¶m${H$ dh CgH$m n‹S>mogr Wm& dh hVà^ I‹S>m ahm& Cgo AnZr H§$Oygr H$s grI {‘b MwH$s Wr&

Harshh Gupta Class IX A (A)

Bill Saha Class IX A (A)

POINTER

126

gԦ H$m Iob

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Am{Iar gbm‘r

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Debangsu Barik Class IX A (A)

Shubham Sarkar Class IX B (M)

127

POINTER

em‘

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Harmanpreet Singh Class X A (A)

Sneha Prakash Class IX A (A) POINTER

128

Mixed Media

Strokes of Colour

Water Colour

‘The happy nest’ Shibdyuti Ghosh Class VIII E (M)

‘Summertime’ Archita Sreemany Class VIII A (A)

Water Colour Mixed Media ‘Boogeyman’ Pramit Bhattacharya Class IX G (M) Block Print

‘Adventurers’ Soham Chowdhury Class IX G (A)

‘In sync’ Adrija Chatterjee Class IX H (A) 129

POINTER

Strokes of Colour Water Colour

Water Colour ‘The faraway river’ Rhitambhar Choudhury Class IX B (A)

‘Portrait’ Sathik Pal Class IX B (A)

Pencil Sketch ‘Safe’ Palashpriya Bhattacharyya Class IX H (A) Mixed Media Water Colour

‘Lost forever?’ Ayushmaan Ganguly Class IX D (M) POINTER

130

‘Twilight’ Asmita Sahoo Class IX F (M)

Strokes of Colour

Water Colour

Pencil Sketch ‘Enigmatic!’ Tannistha Chakrabarty Class X D (A)

‘Ahead of his times’ Asmita Ghosh Class X D (M)

Oil Painting ‘Walk at dusk’ Priyadarshini Mondal Class X H (M) Pen and Ink

Mixed Media ‘Playful’ Shreya Ganguly Class X H (A)

‘Watchful’ Anubhab Mandal Class X F (M) 131

POINTER

Perceptum

Inter-School Essay Competition

We reproduce here the prize-winning entries -- in English, Bengali and Hindi -- of Perceptum, the Inter-School Open Essay Competition for the M. P. Birla Award 2019.

Category I Edged Out

The ones who are truly bearing the brunt of living on the edge, are today’s youth. They face a changing world – they have very little that holds them back, they are not bogged down by age-old beliefs and customs, that is why, perhaps, they are the ones who often peep over the edge, curious to find out what is beyond it, excited to face the unknown. On the other hand, fear looms over them – they find themselves in a perpetual internal conflict – to stay within the edge, or to jump over it?

Living in the modern world is like living on the edge of a cliff; right on the edge of plummeting into the unknown. We have gone to great lengths to assure ourselves with a sense of security, but in reality, we are all living our lives on the edge.

All of us lead our lives clinging on to our beliefs, our ideas and our notions of perception of the society and the world around us. But this is an era of change, and the world around is slowly changing − and as it does, we find ourselves clinging on to the edge of the known and the familiar, scared to edge out of our boundaries and explore that which is new, that which is unknown.

None of us have a clear idea of what lies over the edge. Will it be wealth, prosperity, luxury and success? Or will it be darkness, desolation and destruction brought about by our dare to cross the edge and attempt to understand the unknown? Do we have what it takes to explore what is beyond the cliff? Yes, we do – the thirst for exploring the unknown, for getting familiar with the unfamiliar.

But, in our zest to conquer and more, we should not forget to respect the rules of humanity, we should not forget the basic principles of being human and humane. We should know where to draw the line. A paradox, isn’t it? But it is true, that sometimes we should know where the edge lies, for sometimes over the edge, only destruction, desolation and insanity reign.

We are living on the edge in, perhaps, all the spheres of our lives − be it science, social life, and even our perceptions of ourselves. Science today, with its cutting-edge technology and new innovations and discoveries, has been instrumental in helping us exploring the taverns of the mysteries of nature. But even with so much of superior knowledge and analysis, can we truly say that we know all there is to know? Science has its own limitations, and here we are again, standing on the edge, for we still do not know what lies beyond the edge.

With the world standing on the edge today, we, as individuals, should also edge out our boundaries and limitations, and wander across the edge. For, not all those who wander are lost. Perhaps, our destiny awaits us over the edge.

Standing on the threshold of a new era, today we are constantly challenging our notions of society, gender and gender roles. It feels much more secure and comfortable to live in accordance with what we have believed in for centuries, our traditional notions of masculinity and femininity, but standing in today’s world, it is these very perceptions that are pressing down upon us. Our limitations and reserves have pushed us on to the very edge, where every day the world finds itself in a dilemma − to hang on, or to let go?

POINTER

Shamoyita Datta (Class X) South Point High School Rank I

132

Perceptum

Inter-School Essay Competition

Category I Edged Out “No… I’ve had enough of this. I’m going to end my cursed life finally! Yes, that is what I’ll do! It is the only way I’ll feel normal!” Hearing the cries of the eunuch, Raju, who was returning home from work, quickly retraced his steps and approached the figure clad in a sari with a red bindi on the forehead. Aashna, that was the eunuch’s name. Raju tried to console her, urging her to tell him what the matter was. Finally, she broke down and revealed that she had tried to enter the Ladies’ Washroom at the Metro station but had been jeered at by a group of hooligans. They had forcefully pushed her out, laughing and screaming all the while. Too humiliated to say a word, she had stumbled out of the station and found herself on the pavement on a dark and wintry night. She felt completely helpless and distraught. Raju took her by the hand and slowly led her to a one-room apartment in an old building, which he called his home. Aashna, still in tears, was trying to wipe her face, when Raju offered her a cup of hot tea. He sat down opposite her and asked her to make herself comfortable. In the silent and chilly night, they both sat sipping tea, lost in a world of their own. Raju was still attempting to digest what Aashna had told him, while she profusely thanked the Almighty for sending her a messenger in disguise. Yes, she believed that Raju was her ‘Good Luck Angel’. Born in a family which was too poverty-stricken to even afford two square meals a day, she had been an object of hatred in her home ever since her parents had found out about her identity. At the age of twelve, too fed up and frustrated with life, she had run away from home. In the city, she did odd jobs here and there and barely eked out a living. Wherever she went for employment, she was made fun of.

Sometimes she was expected to behave like a man, sometimes like a woman, but one thing was common. She was always asked to keep a safe distance from the rest of the people. “I am not an infectious disease,” she had once shouted at her employer, who had immediately fired her. Even after thirty years she had not been able to come to terms with all this rejection. In Raju, she had found a friend, a confidante who was willing to at least listen to her and provide some empathy.

and she deserved all the rights that those men in the washroom got, that the so-called ‘normal’ people got.

Finally, he decided he would leave his job and set up a home for people like Aashna, where they would at least get love and acceptance, if not anything else. He couldn’t even imagine himself in her shoes. How could she be optimistic, when she was well aware that the world has nothing to do with her? Nobody cares.

Is this the kind of society we live in? We call ourselves normal but on what basis? All of us are different from each other in some way or the other. We are all unique and that’s why we are individuals with our own identities. Then how do we limit the boundaries of the term, ‘normal’? We can’t change who we are and nor can people like Aashna do so. Why then do we create differences amongst ourselves? Why are we so prejudiced? In spite of knowing about the plight that people like Aashna face, we are completely indifferent and so thick-skinned that we never once protest against the injustice done to them. Even young schoolchildren scoff at members of the LGBTQ community. The new generation is also taught to hate them and look down upon them. This has to stop. We are deliberately edging these people out from society. It is necessary to make others aware of the fact that these people are also humans and there is nothing ‘abnormal’ about them. We have to accept them because we are all an integral part of one world and each one of us is as important as the other. We are not animals devoid of feelings. Our emotions make us human and it is imperative for humans to reach out to all their brothers and sisters.

The pain and agony that Aashna went through is unimaginable. We should all do our part in alleviating the lives of people like her. They should also have a reason to be cheerful and to laugh. We should do our bit in bringing about a change in the mindset of the people. No one should be ‘edged out.’

‘We cannot do great things but we can do small things with great love’. − Mother Teresa Samridhya Chatterjee (Class X) Mahadevi Birla World Academy Rank II

Raju, meanwhile, was thinking of her name. ‘Aashna’ means hope but Raju wondered where this human being could turn to for hope. Yes, she was a human

133

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Perceptum

Inter-School Essay Competition

Obviously, one must be novel, unique enough and come up with such ideas not thought of before if we are to acquire a firm place for ourselves in this precarious world. Yet, if one falters, the disappointment, dejection must be dealt with, for the one who is edged out doesn’t suffer from complacency. He knows how to struggle, the mantra to survive and he shall one day achieve the pinnacle of success.

But belief in oneself, self-confidence must be rejuvenated and invigorated if this is to be achieved. Didn’t the famous Von Blücher, the Prussian mastermind, astute tactician, suffer narrow defeats at Napoleon’s hands but arrive decisively at the Battle of Waterloo to aid Wellington in his dramatic victory over the French monarch? All men are born great but the ones who allow themselves to become nothing have no place in this world, if I am to quote V.S. Naipaul. The man who has edged out his challenges, battles conceit and pride, and the edged out man? He is nothing less than a lion, grappling and struggling each day as if it were his last.

Category I Edged Out ‘Edged out’, according to me, provides a wide expanse of ideas to write about; to think, for in this eternity of time, being edged out is a harsh realization that every person has to come to terms with. I quote a few lines from the great philosopher and mathematician, Bertrand Russell, as he puts into words with blatant harshness, his philosophy : ‘The aim of the modern-minded man is to edge out, and his nightmare, to be edged out. All he desires is to gain the upper hand, to think before others; to perform ahead of them and to perish as a result of his haste.’

Whatever is new, whatever is born into the world, has edged something out − the origin of the word may be traced to those primeval times when man believed the world was flat, and beware! Don’t venture beyond its treacherous edges − you will be ‘edged out’. Magellan rescinded the theory with his circumnavigation but nevertheless, the name stuck, as a popular phrase. Now what does it take to edge out and to be knocked out from the rat race, to which uncharted seas, veiled abysses is it leading humanity? First and foremost, the fact that must be conveyed is that while being edged out is a God-ordained reality, to edge out and the indomitable urge to do so kills humanity with its sheer venom. In the garden of competition, bloom the flowers of excellence, dedication and maturity. One must abstain from delving into the never-ending ocean of hope, without accustoming his soul to the moans and groans of defeat. It is that single vice – desire − which saints and thinkers have abhorred since time immemorial that necessitates the coining of this term? One may dare to dream, but not claim immaturely for the tables may soon turn and dash hopes. But one does learn from experience however.

But where is the man most likely to be edged out? In his shallow pursuits of life or in the introspection of his own self? Perfection − as they say − is difficult to attain, let alone be maintained, but man’s intellect chooses where to quench his thirst for glory or ‘to be true’ – like the Bard. Man’s vanity, desires and lust for supremacy are like a river, it flows past but gushes through once again. It is the belief that I can succeed and the acceptance of denial that fuels our existence. My life is but a well-maintained cog, it may have a chink in the armour − cover it up and you shall never be edged out. Never underestimate your opponents, seldom treat them with disdain and you shall have to face the least obstacles. Kindle that dying fire, the flames rise high and seldom expect your path not to be strewn with hurdles – ‘if you want to pick a rose, you have to face the thorns’ – Marxist philosophy, man! If you enjoy a smooth journey, be certain that you are going downhill. When we retire for the day, we question ourselves, have I been able to edge out my vices and relive my life full of virtues? If the answer is in the silent affirmative, you are the most content, happiest man on Earth. I take this opportunity to echo our beloved, revered Kabiguru− ‘Come what may, take it easy.’ A day shall come when the toxicity of unhealthy competition shall be annulled, man will stand hand-in-hand, and none will have the ‘edge’ over the other. The sun may shine down too hard, but in the sweltering heat, man must trudge on, traversing the path peppered with uncertainties, the gloom of defeat, the throes of ecstasy and you find the stuff of dreams awaiting you – the forgotten, denounced ideal of a beautiful life. A child doesn’t learn to walk unless he stumbles, so these subjugations, dejections, sighs of despair echo in the heart forever but ‘Tomorrow is a new day’– the blessing of God shall descend on the aggrieved man. Don’t make hell out of heaven, for though the path is arduous, none except your own follies will edge you out! Have belief in Man, for he is the truest of God’s creations.

Behind the creation of all great deeds, lies the hidden cause, the unspoken fear of being edged out, the inexplicable, omnipresent desire to be second to none. Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned the Taj and issued instructions as to ensure its unsurpassable beauty, to create on Earth − and up the artisans came with the wondrous work of art that we cherish to this date. Mumtaz Mahal’s desire stands fulfilled − no one has been able to edge her out of people’s memory.

And oh! I arrive at what forms the crux of this essay. It is essential, yet a fact oft understated that one’s works immortalize the man, not the other way round. The only known way to form an ineffaceable part of man’s memory is through one’s rectitude, one’s good action. A man, a mere mortal being, must dream of personal excellence, unquestionable demeanour and a praiseworthy disposition − these shall take care of the fact that you are not easily ‘edged out’.

POINTER

Shrayan Mukhopadhyay (Class X) South Point High School Rank III 134

Perceptum

Inter-School Essay Competition

Category II We too can imagine Six degrees of separation, and here we are, united by this one common thread of the unknown. We who read, we who write, we who love − we are not afraid.

So we grab our weapons and fight wars, we fight the odds just to make the world listen to us. We too can imagine. We too can imagine a world where moths are beautiful and that the reverse side of bad isn’t always good. We can imagine a world where temples aren’t made of bricks and boulders, but of blood and muscle, skin and bone. We too can imagine that the hands reaching out won’t let go, and that broken trust isn’t final. We too can imagine, so stop trying to make the changes permanent.

breathe. Why? Because we too can imagine.

This time, let’s not start from the abstract. Let’s start from ourselves. We too can imagine. So, we imagine a world where a woman stands beside a man, not before, nor behind. We imagine children holding the hands of old men, helping their feeble bodies cross the roads and take them to schools. We imagine a world where knowledge is liberation and everyone is special and liberated. We imagine the last straw to be just the first, and that the sky is limitless because it belongs equally to all. It’s just not imagination that we need, it’s life. So let’s stop the imagination. Let’s put an end to the fantasy. Let’s start developing the unknown. Let’s start with reality; it’s not unknown, it is you. Yes, you can imagine. But you can do more, much more. So live, not to imagine, but to do.

Cats have nine lives, but we have only one. In their ninth life they become wiser than all, so who are we to call ourselves superior? We too can be flawed, make mistakes again and again. We too can be scared and hide ourselves within the walls of anxiety. We too can be broken and refuse to heal. But, we too can imagine. We too can imagine the world at our call, or we can imagine all bravehearts standing side by side.

We can imagine a home in the universe; we can create cosmos within the chaos. So, we too can imagine.

Advika Bajaj (Class XI) Lakshmipat Singhania Academy Rank I

Two is company, three is crowd. So what is one?

‘Involuntary’. That is what our life is, moments of joy and moments of pain. Yet one curtain goes up and – involuntary. One life, one moment. The next is − involuntary. Yet here we are, hearts on paper, plucking emotions and moments from the tree of life, giving it to you so that someone, somewhere, knows − it’s not all involuntary. The smile of a stranger, the song of a bird, the laugh of a child, the smell of the rain, the blooming flowers and the merriness around the merry-go-round, are not forgotten, are not involuntary. So, why do we imagine that life is tough, all about heartbreaks and patched-up hearts, failures and success, ups and downs? Life isn’t a rollercoaster that goes up and down. It is a journey, not immortal like the brook, but certainly meandering through the woods. So let’s stop worrying about the sky and the ground, let’s look around. What do we see? Ideas woven in pigtails, emotions hidden in the knots of ties, memories creased in the folds of the sarees, happiness stashed somewhere in the drawer. Let’s take it all out, let’s fill the world with more life. Let’s just stop sleeping, we are not tired. Let’s wake up and 135

POINTER

Perceptum

Inter-School Essay Competition

Category II We too can imagine eyes at them thinking− ‘kids! There was no dance floor in sight. The carpeted floor was programmed to provide support to footfalls conforming to rules − the slightest attempt at waltz, jazz or ballet would be tripped and tied down.

My legs trembled as I walked into the carpeted hall.

Only a handful of people were already seated; well, not really ‘people’ − a bunch of teenagers were hardly ‘people’. Kids to some, adolescents to others − in short, as far away from being ‘people’ as possible.

Inside the hall, the real people guided us to our seats.

They seemed confident. They had been doing it for ages − for so long in fact that they could hardly remember what it felt like to be these ‘non-people’.

I had been dreaming for way too long. When I looked back down, sheets of spotless clean, naked white paper had found their way to my desk, begging me to clothe them, to enrobe them in my finest. The million fragments of rainbow reappeared. They knew better this time − they stopped knocking at my eyes and entered my heart without asking and my best friend’s voice echoed throughout my body: ‘When you don’t see a dance floor, make your own’. And, for once, without hurling a million reasons why that was impossible, I followed the rhythm… and I danced. I danced on the white sheets of paper. My flourishes and pirouettes extracted a deafening applause from the rustling sheets of the thousand other candidates.

All watched in admiration at my colourful sheet of paper − no longer white but now a rainbow. With the last stroke of my graceful ink pen, I let my rainbow fly out of the window, hand in hand with the sunlight.

We were there to take an exam. As I turned to look around me, instead of humans I saw mirrors; dark reflections bouncing off them and hitting my body in places I did not know existed. There were guilt, euphoria, pureness, vacancy − all intermingled with a yearning to be understood, formed the most beautiful, unsortable mess I’d ever seen. It was easier to face the blank wall ahead. I was nervous, I was expectant, I felt hot, I felt cold. The slits of the monstrous air-conditioning seemed to be sucking in the remnants of my soul; freezing my heart, chilling me to my bones. Yet my goosebumps had deserted me − hiding in the deepest crevices of my skin. Then cold agitated perspiration gave way − the tired drops racing down my face and neck, finally seeking refuge in the little valley between my collarbones.

With that I realized that you can call us kids, teens, rebels, adolescents, but we, ‘non-people’, we too can imagine.

My brain switched off the army of auditory nerves − my ears deaf to the blaring of rules and announcements. I sat there trying to remember long nights worth of preparation leading up to this solitary moment. All I could recollect was a jumbled mess of broken noises. The sunlight stole her way into the lush interior of the hall, where she was an outcaste. She bounced off the silver band of my wristwatch − the million particles of rainbow beckoning me to dance, like disco lights. I rolled my

POINTER

Arunima Sengupta (Class XII) Modern High School For Girls Rank II

136

Perceptum

Inter-School Essay Competition

Category II We too can imagine Every freckled morn which caves in, is not speckled with the light of God. Not everything in this world goes the way we wish it to be. Blood is shed on the now barren lands of Syria, with houses crumbled down everywhere, scattered bodies of the dead who have strayed from their path of conquest to bring peace under the amber hood − but that does not hinder them from pursuing what they believe in. This is what reverberates through the millions of quivering voices of those who call that country of their despair, their motherland.

but can’t we too imagine like the Syrians, that may be there is a more humanitarian approach that can keep this war at bay? Unless we too raise our voices, be it on the social media, by philanthropic donations, or by visiting these people and offering our moral support, we would be far from helping them accomplish their vision. If we do not, humanity will continue to dwell in the deep abysses of time, never to surface again. We need to strive for prudence, as it can be the holy grail for a peaceful world – a world free from the consequences mankind has created, a world which not only Syrians have imagined, but also everyone who hasn’t blocked sunshine by the dark grey clouds of anguish.

They too can imagine a world where they would not be mortified by viewing their families getting ensnared in Sarin gas attacks, imagining a world where they would not have to grieve for their losses, live on for their dear lost ones, rebuild their homes, and bring solace to their heart, farmers bringing wealth to their nation by enriching the now desolate soil with luxuriant fields of crops. But ‘hope’ is something, in Syria, nothing short of the word, ‘ephemeral’. Often these individuals have to risk their lives to continue to live in this country, or end up in the military, fighting against militants. Otherwise, they would have to timelessly travel to distant lands to seek safety. Travel includes crossing seas and oceans in frail boats, and there is always the lingering peril of drowning, but that does not stop them from accepting defeat so easily. If they want to get across, they imagine themselves to be strong, and God will guide them to their destination. Even after all the tribulations, they still have to overcome the issue of adjusting themselves to an alien environment. New cultures, unfamiliar people, xenophobia, plague the lives of the Syrian refugees. They still imagine that one day, they will be able to return to their homeland and start anew, but when will that day come knocking at their doors? Are we doing enough to help these people, are we holding their hands and standing beside them and assuring them that we can save the innocent civilians from further trauma? Can we help them achieve what they imagine? A spiralling quagmire that will by now be nearly a decade, a conflict so politicized by the Western world and the Eastern counterparts alike, had turned this fight for life into a fight to death.

The song, ‘Imagine’, may be a mere lyrical composition by the famous singer of The Beatles, John Lennon, but it holds so much intricate value and can instill so much zeal in a person. Dreams and imagination may be a fleeting illusion in many cases, but we should never forget that “Where words fail; music speaks”, that his song can inspire the masses when the half-hearted speeches cannot command trust. I believe ‘Imagine’ is one of the many anti-war lyrics which can still bring happiness into the world and becomes a starting point for how we can make this place the Utopia we all imagined.

Tanish Baidya (Class XII) Delhi Public School, Megacity Rank III

As humans, we often sin by believing that to fight violence, we need to counter it with violence again 137

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Perceptum

Inter-School Essay Competition

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Astyartha Das (Class XII) South Point High School Rank III

141

POINTER

Perceptum

Inter-School Essay Competition

H$me! ‘wPo OmXÿ H$s dh N>‹S>r {‘b OmVr {Oggo...

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Anshika Shahi (Class XII) Mahadevi Birla World Academy Rank I

142

Perceptum

Inter-School Essay Competition

H$me! ‘wPo OmXÿ H$s dh N>‹S>r {‘b OmVr {Oggo...

~mV H$a gHy±$ Am¡a CÝh| ‘Zm gHy±$& Bg Xþ{Z¶m H$s VmH$V ‘oao hmWm| ‘| hmoVr, {H$gr H$mo ^r g‹S>H$ ‘| gmoZm Z n‹S>Vm, {H$gr Ho$ gm‘Zo hmW Z ’¡$bmZm n‹S>Vm& g~H$mo gmµ’$ nmZr nrZo H$mo {‘bVm Am¡a g‹S>H$m| na {~ëHw$b ^r Hy$‹S>m Z hmoVm& ~r‘m[a¶m| Am¡a Xþ…Im| Ho$ {bE OJh Z hmoVr ‘oar Bg nmaXeu Xþ{Z¶m ‘| Am¡a Eogr OmXÿ H$s N>‹S>r XþH$mZm| ‘| ^r {‘bVr {Oggo g~ AnZr ‘µOu go Or gH$Vo& é{H$¶o-é{H$¶o, A^r ‘oar AmemE± IË‘ Zht hþBª! AmOH$b h‘mao Xoe ‘| ~hþV µÁ¶mXm ^«ï>mMma ’¡$b J¶m h¡, Ohm± XoImo dht Mmoar-µ’$ao~ hmo ahm h¡& A^r h‘mao Xoe H$r b‹S>{H$¶m± nyar Vah go gwa{jV Zht h¢ Am¡a A^r ^r H$mZyZ-nw{bg AnZm H$m‘ R>rH$ T>§J go Zht H$aVr, bmoJm| H$m {ddmh CZH$s ‘µOu Ho$ {~Zm H$adm {X¶m OmVm h¡, bmoJm| H$mo nyar Vah go AmµOmXr Zht h¡ Am¡a A^r ^r bmoJ ¶h g‘PVo h¢ {H$ b‹S>H$s Ka Ho$ H$m‘m| Ho$ {bE hr ~Zr h¡& EH$ gdmb nyN>Zm MmhVr hÿ±, b‹S>H$s {gµµ’©$ AnZo Ka ‘| ³¶m| gwa{jV aho Am¡a em¶X AmOH$b Vmo dh ^r ghr à‘m{UV Zht hmo ahm h¡& Vmo {’$a ¶h Xþ{Z¶m Ho$ ~oH$ma Am¡a PyR>o {Z¶‘m| H$m nmbZ ³¶m| {H$¶m OmE, ‘Zwî¶ Am{Ia h¡ {H$ H$m¡Z Omo ¶h ~VmEJm {H$ b‹S>H$s H$mo ³¶m ‘Zht’ H$aZm Mm{hE& EH$ b‹S>H$s, Mmho {OVZr C‘« H$s hmo, Mmho Omo nhZo hþE hmo, Mmho Ohm± OmE, Mmho {OZgo {‘bo Am¡a Mmho {H$gr ^r Vah go AnZm OrdZ JwµOmao, ¶h CgH$s ‘µOu h¡ Am¡a H$moB© b‹S>H$m Bg MrµO H$m Cëb§KZ Zht H$a gH$Vm& ‘oar nmaXeu Xþ{Z¶m ‘| b‹S>{H$¶m| H$mo BZ g~ MrµOm|> H$s AmµOmXr hmoVr, ¶hr Zht, H$‹S>o {Z¶‘-H$mZyZ ~ZmE OmVo Am¡a Cg OmXÿ H$s N>‹S>r H$m BñVo‘mb H$a ‘¢ Eogm amo~moQ> ¶m ‘erZ ~ZmVr Omo ¶h MrµO AnZo {gñQ>‘ ‘| S>mbH$a CZ ~X‘mem| H$mo H$‹S>r go H$‹S>r gµOm Xo nmE-Mmho Xþ{Z¶m ‘| H$ht ^r H$mZyZ Vmo‹S>m Om ahm h¡, h‘| nVm Mb OmVm Am¡a CgH$s gµOm h‘ hr V¶ H$aVo& h‘mar Xþ{Z¶m g^r {df¶m| ‘§o {~ëHw$b Aìdb hmoVr Am¡a ¶h {H$gr Am¡a J«h ‘| ‘w‘{H$Z Zht hmoVm& A~ {H«$Ho$Q> hmo ¶m hm°H$s hmo ¶m H$~S²>S>r hmo ¶m ’w$Q>~m°b hmo, g^r Iobm| ‘| ^maV H$m X~X~m hmoVm Am¡a {’$ë‘| ^r ha amoµO [abrµO hmoVt& ‘oao XmoñVm| Am¡a ^mB©-~hZm| Ho$ {bE ha {XZ [abrµO hmoZo dmbr {’$ë‘ Ho$ {~Zm n¡go {Q>H$Q> V¡¶ma hmoVm Am¡a do Omo Mmho Cgr MrµO H$m ‘µOm CR>m gH$Vo Wo& h‘mao dra OdmZm| Ho$ {bE ^r ha ˶mohma na Nw>Q²>Q>r hmoVr Am¡a h‘mao dra OdmZm| H$mo ^JdmZ Ho$ g‘mZ nyOm OmVm& “C’$! Hw$N> µÁ¶mXm hr hmo J¶m, A~ AnZo gnZo go CR> Om H${ee!”-¶h AmdmµO AmVr h¡ Am¡a ‘¢ CR> I‹S>r hmoVr hÿ±& Mm¢H$ JE Z Amn ^r, ‘¢ ^r Mm¢H$ J¶r Wr Hw$N> {XZ nhbo {H$ Am{Ia BVZm bå~m gnZm ‘¢Zo XoIm H¡$go? ^JdmZ Or Zo ‘wPo MwnHo$ go H$hm-“‘oao gmW {S>ao³Q> qbH$ aIZo H$s V¡¶mar ‘¢ H$admVm hÿ±” Am¡a ‘¢ Iy~ h±gr, Iy~ h±gr, n[adma ‘| g~H$mo ~Vm¶m, XmoñV Vmo h±gVo-h±gVo ‘mZmo nmJb hr hmo JE& na ‘¢ A~ ^r OmXÿ ‘| {dídmg H$aVr hÿ±, g^r H$mQy>©Zm| go ào‘ H$aVr hÿ± Am¡a OmXÿ H$s N>‹S>r Zht {‘br Vmo H$moB© J‘ Zht, ¶o g~ ‘¢ AnZo ~b, ~w{Õ‘mZr Am¡a AmË‘{dídmg go nyam H$a {XImD±$Jr& “‘¢ AnZo OrdZ H$m g~go Iy~gyaV Vmam Omo hÿ±&”

~MnZ go hr ‘m± go H$hVr Am¶r hÿ±, “‘m±, ³¶m {H$gr XþH$mZ ‘| OmXÿ H$s N>‹S>r {‘bVr h¡?” ‘m± h‘oem ‘wPgo ¶hr H$hVt {H$ d¡gr H$moB© MrµO hmoVr hr Zht& {’$a ^r ‘Z ‘| gmoMVr {H$ H$me, ‘oao nmg ^r S>moao‘m°Z hmoVm, Omo Hw$N> ^r H$a gH$Vm h¡, H$me, ‘oao nmg ^r AbmXrZ H$m {MamJ hmoVm, {OgHo$ {OÝZ go ‘¢ Hw$N> ^r H$adm nmVr, H$me, ‘oao nmg ^r OmXÿ H$s N>‹S>r hmoVr! ‘¢ {’$bhmb, ~mahdt ‘| n‹T>Vr hÿ± Am¡a ‘wPo Zht nVm {H$ ‘¢ AmJo ³¶m H$aZo dmbr hÿ±& Cg OmXÿ H$s N>‹S>r H$m BñVo‘mb H$a, ‘¢ AnZr gmar naoem{Z¶m| H$m hb {ZH$mbVr& Bg Xþ{Z¶m H$mo AnZr ‘µOu go nyam ~Xb XoVr& ha ~ma gmoMVr hÿ± {H$ BYa ImZm AJa {~Zm n¡go H$m {‘bo, Vmo {H$VZm AÀN>m hmoVm-{H$gr H$mo ^r ^yIm Zht gmoZm n‹S>Vm, ha {H$gr H$mo CZH$m ‘Zng§X ImZm {‘ZQ>m| ‘| {‘bVm, dh ^r {~Zm {H$gr n¡go Ho$& ¶h dh nhbm H$m‘ hmoVm Omo ‘¢ AnZr OmXÿ H$s N>‹S>r go Adí¶ H$aVr, ³¶m|{H$ ߶ma ~m±Q>Zo go hr ~‹T>Vm h¡& OmXÿ H$s N>‹S>r H$m Zm‘ hmoVm ‘M‘H$sbr’-Eogm Bg{bE ³¶m|{H$ EH$ ~ma ‘¢Zo gnZo ‘| AnZr ‘M‘H$sbr’ go g^r Jar~m| H$mo ahZo Ho$ {bE Ka {X¶m Wm Am¡a AnZo gmao {‘Ìm| H$mo T>oa gmao Cnhma& H$moB© CËgd Vmo Zht Wm, ~g g~ na AnZr YmH$ O‘mZo H$m ‘Z hmo ahm Wm& Am¡a Bg{bE ^r ³¶m|{H$ ‘¢ bmoJm| H$m OrdZ M‘H$m XoVr Am¡a Iw{e¶m| go ^aZo H$s nyar H$moo{ee H$aVr& n[adma na AmVr h±y-‘oao nmnm, g~go µÁ¶mXm ‘ohZVr B§gmZ, H$^r Z hma ‘mZZo dmbo ì¶{³V Am¡a ~ƒm| na Iy~ {dídmg OVmZo dmbo ‘oao g~go {චnmnm& BZH$m gnZm Wm {H$ ¶o {H«$Ho$Q>a ~Z|, na n[adma H$s Am{W©H$ pñW{V Ho$ H$maU do AnZm gnZm nyam Z H$a gHo$ Am¡a A~ do AnZo gnZm| H$mo ‘oao ^mB© Ho$ µO[a¶o OrZm MmhVo h¢& ‘¢ CZH$m ¶h gnZm {‘ZQ>m| ‘| nyam H$a XoVr-Omo A~ ‘oao ^mB© H$m ^r bú¶ ~Z J¶m h¡& BgHo$ gmW-gmW CÝh| Iy~ YZ-Xm¡bV, ߶ma-Iw{e¶m± Am¡a CÝZ{V XoVr-Omo ‘oao g^r n[adma dmbm| na bmJy hmoVm h¡& ‘oar ‘m± ^r ¶hr H$hVr h¡“åhmar N>mo[a¶m± N>moam| go H$‘ h¡ Ho$?” ‘m± H$mo h‘oem go EH$ ‘hb ‘| ahZm Wm Am¡a Cg ‘hb ‘| EH$ ~‹S>m agmoB©Ka Mm{hE Wm, CZH$m ¶h gnZm Vmo nyam hmoVm hr, gmW hr ‘¢ Cg ‘hb ‘| AnZo {bE EH$ Am¡a ‘oao ^mB©-~hZm| Ho$ {bE ~‹S>r-gr IobZo H$s OJh ^r ~ZdmVr& ‘å‘r H$mo ^r h‘ na ~hþV ^amogm h¡ Omo h‘ H$^r Qy>Q>Zo Zht X|Jo Am¡a OmXÿ H$s N>‹S>r {‘bo, Z {‘bo, CZH$m gnZm Vmo ‘¢ nyam H$aHo$ ahÿ±Jr& AnZo g^r ^mB©-~hZm| H$mo n‹T>Zo Ho$ {bE Iy~ ~w{Õ Am¡a AmË‘{dídmg, CZH$s H$bm Ho$ {bE CZH$s gmar µOê$aV‘§X MrµO| Am¡a Omo do Mmh|, g~ hm{µOa hmo OmVm& na EH$ {‘ZQ>, em¶X ‘¢Zo Hw$N> µÁ¶mXm hr gmoM {b¶m, ¶h OmXÿ H$s N>‹S>r ‘wPo {‘br ^r Zht Am¡a BVZo gmao ™dm~ gOm {bE-BZ g~H$m EH$ hr hb h¡-‘¢ IwX àYmZ‘§Ìr ~Z OmVr Am¡a ¶o g~ AnZo Amn hr nyao hmo OmVo, ³¶m|{H$ A^r ‘oar ‘{de{bñQ>’ IË‘ H$hm± hþB© h¡!

XmoñVm| H$mo ^r T>oa gmao Cnhma, CÝh| ^r AbJ go Wmo‹S>r µÁ¶mXm ~w{Õ‘mZr Am¡a CZHo$ gnZm| H$mo nyam H$aZm µOê$ar h¡, Am{Ia ¶o hr Vmo Hw$N> bmoJ h¢ {OZHo$ {bE ‘wPo àYmZ‘§Ìr ~ZH$a BZ g~H$m H$ë¶mU H$aZm h¡& ^JdmZ go ‘oar EH$ {S>ao³Q> qbH$ hmoVr {Oggo ‘¢ O~ Mmhÿ± V~ CZgo

Kashish Agarwal (Class XII) The BSS School Rank II

143

POINTER

Perceptum

Inter-School Essay Competition

H$me! ‘wPo OmXÿ H$s dh N>‹S>r {‘b OmVr {Oggo...

OmH$a ‘mµ’$s ‘m±J nmD±$ Am¡a JbVr Mmho {OgH$s ^r hmo, Cgo nyao {Xb go ‘mµ’$ H$a nmD±$ ³¶m|{H$ ‘mµ’$s ‘m±JZo go H$moB© N>moQ>m Zht hmo OmVm& Jbr dmbr Aå‘m H$mo ‘¢ CZH$m nwamZm n[adma Vmo Zht bm¡Q>m gH$Vr na ‘AmoëS> EO hmo‘’ Ho$ Ûmam EH$ Z¶m n[adma Vmo {Xbm gH$Vr hÿ± Am¡a ‘oao Ka ‘| H$m‘dmbr XrXr H$mo Am{W©H$ ê$n go ‘XX H$a CZH$m Qy>Q>Vm n[adma ~Mm gH$Vr hÿ±& Bg{bE ‘wPo dmo OmXÿ H$s N>‹S>r Zht Mm{hE, ³¶m|{H$ CgHo$ {~Zm hr, Ho$db ‘¢ Zht, h‘ g~ Z OmZo {H$VZo M‘ËH$ma Am¡a OmXÿ H$a gH$Vo h¢& OmXÿ H$s N>‹S>r go h‘ {H$gr H$mo nb ^a H$s Iwer Xo gH$Vo h¢ na AnZo A§Xa {N>no OmXÿ go h‘ CÝh| ZB© Amem H$s {H$aU {XIm, AnZr B§gm{Z¶V H$mo {µOÝXm aI gH$Vo h¢& AV… AJa ‘wPo OmXÿ H$s dh N>‹S>r {‘b OmVr Vmo ‘¢ K¥Um Am¡a ³boe H$s ÁdmbmAm| ‘| Ob aho Bg OJ ‘| Wmo‹S>r gr B§gm{Z¶V Am¡a AÀN>mB© ^a XoVr ³¶m|{H$ ‘¢ OmZVr hÿ± {H$ ¶h g§gma AÀN>o bmoJm| go d§{MV Zht hþAm h¡, ~g dmo AÀN>o bmoJ Bg ~wamB© Ho$ ‘m¶mdr Omb ‘| H$ht Imo JE h¢& CÝh| gm‘Zo bmZo Ho$ {bE h‘| B§VµOma h¡ Vmo ~g Cg EH$ OmXÿ H$s N>‹S>r H$m&

‘OmXÿ’ h¡ hr ³¶m? Hw$N> Ho$ {bE Am±Im| H$m YmoIm h¡ Vmo Hw$N> Ho$ {bE M‘ËH$ma& ‘¢Zo A³ga bmoJm| H$mo H$hVo gwZm h¡ {H$ OmXÿ g~Ho$ ~g H$s ~mV Zht& na§Vw ‘wPo Eogm Zht bJVm& OmXÿ Vmo h‘ g~ H$a gH$Vo h¢& {H$VZo hr bmoJ AnZo ‘Z ‘| hµOmam| XþI {N>nmE ‘wgHw$amVo h¢ Am¡a CZHo$ AnZm| VH$ H$mo AnZr doXZm H$m Am^mg Zht hmoZo XoVo& ³¶m ¶h OmXÿ Zht? I¡a! {µ’$a ^r bmoJ ¶h ‘mZVo Zht Am¡a H$hVo h¢ {H$ H$me ‘oao nmg OmXÿ H$s dh N>‹S>r hmoVr {Oggo... ¶{X ‘wPgo nyN>m OmE Vmo Eogr Z OmZo {H$VZr ~mV| h¢, {H$VZr KQ>ZmE± h¢ {OÝh| ‘¢ AnZr Cg OmXÿ H$s N>‹S>r Ûmam ~XbZm Mmhÿ±Jr& ‘wPo AmO ^r ¶mX h¡ dh {XZ O~ ‘¢Zo AnZr g~go {චghobr go PJ‹S>m {H$¶m Wm& Cg {XZ Ho$ ~mX go ‘¢Zo {µ’$a Cgo ‘w‹S>H$a H$^r Zht XoIm& gM H$hÿ± Vmo ‘¢ AmO ^r Cg PJ‹S>o Ho$ {bE Cgo {µOå‘oXma R>hamVr hÿ± na ‘oar A§VamË‘m OmZVr h¡ {H$ H$ht Z H$ht Wmo‹S>r JbVr ‘oar ^r Wr& Eogm EH$ {XZ Zht JwµOaVm ‘oam O~ ‘¢ Cgo ¶mX Zht H$aVr na ¶{X ‘wPo OmXÿ H$s dh N>‹S>r {‘b OmVr, Vmo ‘¢ Bg PJ‹S>o H$mo, ‘§Ì n‹T>Vo hr, h‘ XmoZm| Ho$ ‘Z go ^wbm XoVr& ñHy$b OmVo g‘¶ ‘wPo amoµO ‘oao Ka H$s Jbr Ho$ ~mha EH$ ~y‹T>r Am¡aV {XIVr h¡& CgH$s Am±Im| H$m XX© Am¡a hmWm| H$s Pw[a©¶m± ¶h gmµ’$ Xem©Vr h¢ {H$ CgZo AnZr nyar {µOÝXJr Xÿgam| Ho$ {bE {~VmB© h¡& ‘oao EH$ ~ma CZgo ~mV H$aZo na ‘wPo nVm Mbm Wm {H$ CZHo$ ~hÿ Am¡a ~oQ>o Zo CÝh| Ka go {ZH$mb {X¶m Wm ¶h H$hH$a {H$ A~ do CZ na EH$ ~moP ~Z JB© Wt& CÝh| CZHo$ nmoVo go ^r Zht {‘bZo XoVo& ¶h gwZH$a {Xb XþIVm h¡ ‘oam& ‘wPo S>a bJZo bJVm h¡ {H$ H$ht ‘¢ ^r ~‹S>r hmoZo na ‘mVm-{nVm Ho$ gmW d¡gm hr Zm H$ê±$& na AJa ‘oao nmg OmXÿ H$s dh N>‹S>r hmoVr Vmo ‘¢ Cg ~y‹T>r Aå‘m H$mo EH$ ZB© {µOÝXJr µOê$a XoVr& ‘oao Ka ‘| H$m‘ H$aZodmbr Omo XrXr h¡, dmo ‘wPo ~hþV ߶ma H$aVr h¢& ‘¢Zo XoIm h¡ H¡$go dmo Yyn, ~m[ae, nVP‹S>, Om‹S>o, ha ‘m¡g‘ go g§Kf© H$aHo$ Ka-Ka H$m‘ H$aVr h¢ Am¡a amV H$mo Am°Q>mo ^r MbmVr h¢& na {µ’$a ^r dmo Omo n¡go H$‘mVr h¢, dmo CgHo$ ~r‘ma H¢$ga go OyP aho n{V Ho$ BbmO ‘| nmZr H$s Vah ~h OmVm h¡& CZH$m EH$ gmV gmb H$m b‹S>H$m h¡ Omo CZHo$ gmW hr gXm ahVm h¡, ³¶m|{H$ CgH$s ‘mZ{gH$ hmbV Wmo‹S>r ZmµOwH$ h¡& e³b Am¡a C‘« go Vmo dh gmV gmb H$m h¡ na ‘Z Am¡a {X‘mJ go Ho$db VrZ gmb H$m& S>m°³Q>a Zo CZgo H$hm h¡ {H$ dh Am°naoeZ Ûmam R>rH$ hmo gH$Vm h¡ na XrXr BVZo n¡go bmE H$hm± go! BVZr H${R>ZmB¶m± hmoVo hþE ‘¢Zo AmO VH$ CÝh| CXmg Zht XoIm& em¶X CZgo ~‹S>m OmXÿJa ^r Zht XoIm& na ¶{X ‘oao nmg OmXÿ H$s dh N>‹S>r hmoVr Vmo ‘¢ Xmo ‘§Ì n‹T>Vr Am¡a CZHo$ OrdZ Ho$ gmao H$îQ>m| H$moo Xÿa H$a XoVr& na§Vw BZ g~H$mo ‘¢ OmXÿ H$s N>‹S>r Ho$ hmoZo go hr ‘XX H$a nmD±$Jr Eogm {H$gZo H$hm? ‘oar ‘m± ‘wPgo H$hVr h¡ {H$ OmXÿ dmo h¡ Omo EH$ ‘Zwî¶ Xÿgao ‘Zwî¶ H$s nr‹S>m, doXZm Am¡a H$îQ>m| H$mo Jm¶~ H$aHo$ Zht ~pëH$ ~m±Q>H$a Xÿa H$aVm h¡& Bg{bE Cg I¶mbr OmXÿ H$s N>‹S>r Ho$ {~Zm ^r, ‘¢ BZ gmar ‘wpíH$bm| H$mo IË‘ Vmo Zht, na H$‘ H$a gH$Vr hÿ±& AnZr ghobr go dmng XmoñVr H$aZo Ho$ {bE ‘wPo OmXÿ H$s Zht, ~pëH$ AmË‘e{³V Am¡a Ñ‹T> ‘Zmo~b H$s µOê$aV h¡ Vm{H$ ‘¢ Cggo POINTER

Divya Datta (Class X) South Point High School Rank III

144

Pride of Pointers Dr. Debjit Das Sarma Principal Autopilot Hardware Architect at Tesla; well-known computer architect with more than 25 years of experience in building high-performance computers

Earlier, he was the Fellow and Chief Architect at Advanced Micro Devices for fifteen years where he was responsible for the architecture and design of several high-performance computer processors, including the award-winning Ryzen processor-- the brain of the laptop and desktop computers used all over the world.

Dr. Das Sarmaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s PhD thesis made instant impact with wide recognition in academia and industry, and the central innovation got patented within a year of graduation. With many publications and patents in the field of computer architecture, he is a steering committee member of IEEE Symposium on Computer Arithmetic since 2005 and the program chair in 2009. He has participated in numerous panels on Computer Architecture and Arithmetic. He is a Reviewer for IEEE Transactions on Computers, and IEEE Symposium on Computer Arithmetic, from 1992 to the present. He was a Member of IEEE 754R Binary and Decimal Floating Point Standards Committee, that published the IEEE 754-2008 standard. He is also a Member of IEEE Computer Society, from 1991 to the present.

Dr. Das Sarma has received many awards during his academic and professional career such as Life Membership of Tau Beta Pi, Engineering Honor Society, 1991; Outstanding Graduate Student award twice in the Computer Science Department, Southern Methodist University, 1991 and 1995; honored as one of only five distinguished alumni of the Computer Science and Engineering Department at SMU, spanning more than 50 years. He lives in San Jose, California.

With years of experience in building high-performance computers, Dr. Debjit Das Sarma is currently the Principal Autopilot Hardware Architect at Tesla, where he is responsible for the architecture of Full Self-Driving Computers and Neural Network Inference and Training Chips. The Full Self-Driving Computer architected by Dr. Das Sarma is the brain behind the current Tesla Autopilot and the future Autonomous Driving. Dr. Das Sarma presented this work at Hot Chips 2019, the most prestigious and premier conference, to unveil the newest and most innovative computer chips. This talk was awarded one of the best presentations of the conference.

Year of passing out of South Point High School (Madhyamik and HS, as applicable) 1982, Madhyamik.

1984, Higher Secondary.

Aggregate scored in MP and HS examinations (%) About 83% in both Madhyamik and Higher Secondary.

Post-school academic profile Bachelors in Computer Science and Engineering, Jadavpur University; Masters and PhD in Computer Science and Engineering at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, USA.

On 22 October 2020, Tesla released the Beta version of the software to enable the full self-driving capability on the Tesla FSD computer architected by Dr. Das Sarma. This is the first time a commercial car will have the FSD capability.

The profession I aspired for when I was in Classes VI-VIII in School I was so passionate about the game of cricket that I wanted to be a Cricket Commentator on National TV.

145

POINTER

Pride of Pointers Partha Sarathi Chatterjee

Head of Data and Analytics for Shell Energy at Global Shell Trading and Supply IT; a global expert in energy and trading risk management (ETRM) systems, risk management and trading analytics, regulatory compliance, and governance

My inspiration behind my present career choice Creating new technologies that improve the quality of life and make the world a better place to live in.

One word or term to describe me as a student Curious about first principles and passionate about subjects that inspired me.

The subject I used to like the most in School Mathematics and Physics.

The subject I used to fear the most in School Biology, but “annoyance” is more appropriate than “fear”.

The one teacher from School who made the most lasting impression on me Shri Anjan Dasgupta and Shri Shyamadas Mukherjee.

Now the head of Data and Analytics for Shell Energy at Global Shell Trading and Supply IT, Partha Sarathi Chatterjee was previously part of market facing strategy for Product Management at OpenLink Financial, the global leader for financial products and technology.

Earlier, he was Managing Director at Capco Energy Solutions, formerly SunGard Consulting Services. He has held technology leadership positions at many companies, including Schlumberger, El Paso Energy (previously Tenneco), Accenture and Sapient.

My most favourite memory of South Point So many memories, but playing soccer and hand cricket at the School lawn before and after school hours are particularly fond memories.

My favourite hobbies/pastime when I was a child Playing and watching sports.

Had I not been in my present career, I would have been…

A mathematician.

His expertise encompasses energy and trading risk management (ETRM) systems, risk management and trading analytics, regulatory compliance, and governance. In his career, he has leveraged deep technical knowledge in enterprise architecture, digital transformation, data and analytics, AI and mathematical modeling, blockchain and emerging technologies. As a global expert on trading and risk management and digital transformation, he has worked on think-tanks and summits, advising governments, regulatory boards and financial institutions and has brought strategic vision and leadership capabilities in driving solutions and roadmaps as technology executive as well.

Role of parents in their child’s choice of career Absolutely paramount, not so much in the career choice but to shape one’s life. Personally, I followed their actions more than their words. Their sacrifice and burning desire to help me become the best I could be in whatever career I pursued are the main reasons for what I am today.

To the present South Pointers, I would like to say this Stay curious, stay hungry, always question things, learn every subject from the first principles, and don’t lose your sleep over grades. Find your strengths and follow your dreams with passion and hard work. Life is long, so keep your wits about it. Make friends, stay humble, be happy, and spread your joy among your loved ones.

POINTER

A resident of Houston, USA, Partha Sarathi Chatterjee enjoys sports, travelling and music. He serves as a priest at Houston Durgabari and is involved in Indian-American organizations, North American Bengali Conference and IIT alumni organizations – his way of giving back to his motherland.

146

Pride of Pointers Year of passing out of South Point High School (Madhyamik and HS, as applicable) 1981, Madhyamik.

1983, Higher Secondary.

The one teacher from School who made the most lasting impression on me Shri Anjan Dasgupta – he made us think. I loved accepting his challenges and thinking through solutions, understanding the concepts. I remember his famous saying, while explaining “inertia”: “Rabi Thakur boleychhilen na... Emni korey jaye jodi din jaak na…”

My most favourite memory of South Point Playing hand cricket and football at Durgabari and hanging out with my friends.

Aggregate scored in MP and HS examinations (%) 767 out of 900 in Madhyamik.

864 out of 1000 in Higher Secondary.

My favourite hobbies/pastime when I was a child Playing and watching sports. Was and still am an avid sports fan. I religiously followed Mohun Bagan, and India in cricket. I also played table tennis in addition to cricket and football. I played competitively in sub-junior Table Tennis.

Post-school academic profile I hold a Bachelor of Technology (Honors) with first class in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT, Kharagpur. I came to the USA on the NASA scholarship to work on Computer Vision at its Intelligent Systems Laboratory. I have a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of South Carolina as the highest-ranked student with perfect GPA and an MBA from Texas A&M University, specializing in Finance and Management Information Systems. Post my academic career, I have spoken at multiple conferences on digitalization, data and analytics, blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning, trading and risk management, technology strategy, among other topics.

Had I not been in my present career, I would have been…

A motivational speaker and a writer with a healthy dose of inspiration from our ancient texts, famous quotes from legends and how to use that for our daily lives.

Spirituality and science are complementary and are not at odds; our Indian classical scriptures are a treasure trove of knowledge and introspection across domains.

We need to be better human beings; we should be motivated by doing the right thing and being the best at what we do and not by materialistic goals. They are corollaries to the main goal – doing something good for humans; if they really benefit, money and success will automatically follow.

The profession I aspired for when I was in Classes VI-VIII in School I wanted to be a physicist – was fascinated by physics and space. I loved Shri Anjan Dasgupta and still remember his question on a monkey playing with a ball in a spaceship. That explains my utter delight in getting the NASA scholarship to do Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision research, related to space, while pursuing my graduate degree in Computer Science.

Role of parents in their child’s choice of career Parents have an incredibly important role to play in their child’s choice of career. They should motivate their kids to excel in whatever they do; not do something because it is easy. They should encourage them to learn across subjects, open their minds and think of how to do good and find their cause, which they are passionate about.

Also, nowadays, you need both the soft and hard skills to be successful. So, do not restrict the child’s universe to just science and math and neglect the humanities. Let them expand their horizon, find their calling and encourage them to pursue that calling with passion.

My inspiration behind my present career choice Two persons immensely motivated me. Steve Jobs − he personified the need and thrill to leverage technology to impact lives. Swami Vivekananda said, “When you have come to this world, leave a mark.” I am motivated to use technology to make lives better for the human populace and leave a mark.

One word or term to describe me as a student Brilliant is what my friends would say; but, I personally like to use the word “Inquisitive”.

To the present South Pointers, I would like to say this Follow your dream. Be hungry, be motivated and pursue your dreams with all your might and passion. There is no shortcut in life; hence, it is extremely important you choose your career based on what you like to do. Work hard, immerse yourself and pursue being the best.

Success and fame will follow if you are the best. Also, do not think about yourself but think how you can positively contribute to the future, to the general populace. Wish you all the best.

The subject I used to like the most in School Mathematics and Physics – loved solving problems like chess. In an interesting way, computer algorithm is a problem-solving exercise too.

The subject I used to fear the most in School Truthfully, I did not fear any real core subject. But, I disliked Work Education as I was really bad with my hands.

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Know Your Teacher Sampa Roy Teacher South Point High School Names of your School and College Jadavpur Vidyapith Kamala Girls' High School Jadavpur University Who was your favourite teacher and why?

Smt. Manjulika Mitra, our English teacher. Her classes were exquisite for her explanations and balance between discipline and care. Made me look forward to my English classes.

Your favourite pastime Reading.

The one food that makes you forget that ‘sharing is caring’ I am always partial to dark chocolate. The more bitter, the better.

The best holiday that you have taken so far Visiting Kaushani and Choukari in Uttarakhand. I want to go back again and again.

Your dream holiday destination The Swiss countryside. I love the spectacular beauty of nature, the clear skies, the rugged peaks, and best of all, the quaint train rides from one stop to the other.

Books that inspired you the most and that you would definitely like to recommend This is difficult as there are many. But I would say definitely ‘Jibansmriti’ by Rabindranath Thakur; ‘My Experiments With Truth’ by M. K. Gandhi; ‘Prothom Alo’ by Sunil Gangopadhyay; and ‘The Glass Palace’ by Amitav Ghosh.

Your funniest moment as a teacher One day while walking up to my classroom l was surprised to hear someone sounding incredibly like me teaching the class. When l entered the room the entire class broke into giggles and l realised the class mimic was behind the trick. We all had a good laugh.

If not a teacher, what would you have become?

Any profession that involves travelling within the country and abroad would have been my choice.

One tip to all your students Fun and hard work go hand in hand. Just as honest effort and hard work are important, it's also imperative to pursue your creative side, recreate and nourish your sense of humour.

One thing you have learnt from your students Their zeal for laughter and life. Despite the grind of school, syllabus, Board and competitive exams they show us every day the spirit of taking life by the horns.

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Know Your Teacher Subhaga Nag Music Teacher South Point School Names of your School and College Gokhale Memorial Girls’ School Lady Brabourne College Diploma in Piano from The Royal School Of Music, London Who was your favourite teacher and why?

In school, my favourite teacher was Smt. Mukherjee who happened to be my music teacher. I used to admire her playing the piano and singing in her melodious voice. This inspired me to learn the piano and take it up as my career.

Your favourite pastime Reading books, listening to good music and knitting are a few of my favourite pastimes.

The one food that makes you forget that ‘sharing is caring’ Undoubtedly, chocolates, cakes and tutti-frutti ice-cream.

The best holiday that you have taken so far My trip to Kalpa and Kinnaur − the most scenic and serene places on earth.

Your dream holiday destination To visit Vienna, Austria − the land of Bach and Beethoven and experience the famous Philharmonic Orchestra performances.

Books that inspired you the most and you would definitely like to recommend ‘Rebecca’, the famous novel by Daphne du Maurier, is an all-time favourite of mine. So are the short stories

by Ruskin Bond and the writings of Rabindranath Tagore.

If not a teacher, what would you have become?

I really wanted to become an airhostess and travel all across the world.

Your funniest moment as a teacher On one Children's Day, the children of Class III were entertaining me. One of them stood up and imitated me, my way of teaching and the way I conduct my classes. All the children and I burst out in laughter. It also made me realise that there are keen observers in each class and we should be on guard.

One thing you have learned from your students My students have taught me to smile and do away with the negativities in life.

One tip to all your students Be good, be happy, be confident and win in life. Have deep respect for your parents, teachers and peers.

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From Hieroglyphics to Emojis – the science behind writing and they date back to the 7th Millennium BC. These artefacts like the tally bone which is a long bone with notches or the clay tablets of different shapes with markings found in the Danube Valley in Transylvania, for example, were invented, in all probability, for record-keeping purposes and convey very little information. They do not qualify as writing for the same reason as the paintings by our ancestors in Altamira.

Historians believe that with the beginning of the Bronze Age, somewhere in the 4th Millennium BC, writing evolved in the temples of ancient Sumer (Mesopotamia). This was a fertile land with large cities centered around temple complexes, each with tens of thousands of inhabitants. And again, like their predecessors inventing the tally bone, the necessity was accounting and record-keeping.

To understand this, let us take ourselves to a large temple in ancient Sumer to find our friend shown in Fig. 1 diligently recording on a clay tablet what is being brought in as donations to the temple. Our friend is a lot smarter than his forefathers who could use only a tally bone and is equipped with a brand-new tablet (a clay one, not the ones you are familiar with). If you look closely at Fig. 1, you will find

It’s so easy these days typing out Emojis and conveying our thoughts. Not only that, we have a whole bunch of scripts – across languages – to help in written communication. But it was not so when human civilization was taking baby steps towards a definitive shape. Professor Dr. Amitava Gupta of Jadavpur University takes us on an absorbing journey charted by ancient man – from cave paintings, clay and stone tablet carvings, Cuneiform script, Hieroglyphs – and explains the evolution of pictograms and logo-syllabic representations. We wonder, with the author, if modern-day scripts are poised on another cycle of evolution sometime in the future. A former Pointer, Professor Gupta passed Madhyamik Examination in 1984 and Higher Secondary Examination in 1986.

After a long time, I recently revisited a favourite comic book, perhaps for the umpteenth time now, and that is the ‘Cigars of the Pharaoh’ starring the legendary boy reporter Tintin and his inseparable companion, Snowy. As Tintin explored the tomb of the fictional Pharaoh, Kih Oskh, I thought of the Hieroglyphs (the Greek for sacred carvings) and then wondered how written scripts evolved and I used the spare time that the COVID pandemic offered me to answer this question in a bid to unravel the scientific principles that have led mankind from ancient Hieroglyphs to modern scripts and again, to something very similar to the Hieroglyphs but not so sacred – the Emojis.

The need to express oneself and keep an impression that persists and reaches others, across the barriers of space and time, led our ancestors to invent drawing.

Many of you might have heard the names of Altamira caves in Spain or of Lascaux in France which are famous for cave paintings by our Paleolithic (Stone Age) ancestors depicting hunting scenes and wild animals. These, however, cannot be classified as writing for a simple reason – a written script must be associated with a language.

The earliest forms of written communication invented by humans are classified as proto writing POINTER

Fig. 1 Evolution of Sumerian Cuneiform Script that our friend has drawn the pictures of the items brought into the temple and has put a tally mark, one below the other, in much the same way most of us started learning to count by putting balls of different colours in different plastic cups. However, this had a pitfall. Our friend could only write on soft clay and if 150

he had listed the things the way he is shown, putting his hand on the tablet accidentally (and quite inevitably too) below the last-drawn notch could destroy the entire record on the tablet and the priest-king ruling the temple city would have been extremely unhappy. To save the situation, therefore, some smarter descendants of our friend, in later times to follow, innovated a new style of writing – along horizontal lines. This was pretty smart as the priest-king who was familiar with the list being laid out from top to bottom, only had to turn the tablet to decipher the new code. And then, after some more time, when more and more people adopted the new form of writing, this became the order of the day.

Finally, the drawings had to be simplified (probably the temples started accepting a more diverse inventory of gifts) and were reduced to representative sketches acceptable to all. Then, the inevitable happened – instruments, in the form of reeds pressed to form wedges began to be used to leave impressions on the clay, leading to the famous Cuneiform (literally wedge-shaped) script of Sumer which was later adopted by many neighbouring civilizations like the Acadians and some argue even the Egyptians and the Indus Valley dwellers. This marked the beginning of logographic writing and the impressions on the clay tablet are actually logograms or pictures meaning a particular object.

It is clear that this ancient system of writing, at the beginning, served a basic purpose of describing nouns which formed a very small subset of any spoken language. Moreover, as civilization progressed, the number of nouns one had to describe also increased and symbols for representing determinatives also had to be devised. Of course, one could actually invent new logograms but then this meant that one had to remember as many. This led to a new innovation − fusion of two logograms to create a logogram that signifies a new object. For example, the logogram representing a sickle and the logogram representing a grain can be fused to represent a harvest.

Finally, some real smart fellow stumbled upon something very clever. If a logogram represents an object, and that object is spoken out, then the logogram is associated with a set of sounds which define the object in question in that language. So, each logogram is associated with a set of sounds and these can also be used based on the sound they represent and even fused to define new objects, not just nouns but different parts of speech. A typical example is the following word play puzzle in ‘Benglish’ in Fig. 2 where we assume that each word in the English alphabet is a logogram in the Bengali language implying a part of speech, not necessarily nouns anymore.

K K LO? PC LO PC VJ LO R K LO? Fig. 2 A ‘Benglish’ Logo-Syllabic representation Such a representation is called a logo-syllabic script and is quite different from a pure logographic script which our friend in early Sumerian temples invented and which was more of a pictogram. To understand the difference between the pure logographic and the logo-syllabic representations of language in written form, and a transition from one to the other, let us take a look at Fig. 3 which explains this in a modern-day setting.

Fig. 3. Transition from logographic to logo-syllabic representation While the first row represents distinct objects viz. the currencies Dollar and Pound and together, they may be assumed to be a purely logographic representation for foreign currency (as one would find in an airport), the second row uses the pound symbol as a sound representing a weight of one pound which is the weight of the bread. This is not a pure logographic representation. Finally, the third row is a pure logo-syllabic representation of a new word viz. compound. A typical example of a present day logo-syllabic script is Chinese. Incidentally, the later day Egyptian Hieroglyphs have been found to be a variant of logo-syllabic scripts and have been termed as Logo-consonantal where some Hieroglyphs represent consonants, while the vowels had to be interpreted. This innovation reduced the need to remember substantially.

Now, have you ever wondered why a Dollar is represented by a symbol which is basically a modified S and a Pound by a symbol which looks a great deal like an ornate L? Well, the S represents Solidus or a gold coin in Latin and the ornate L representing the Pound actually comes from the Latin word Libra meaning scales and signifying weight -- the pound was originally equivalent to 1 pound of silver. Again, since each logogram describes an object in the spoken language, it starts with the starting sound of the object name and a 151

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series of such logograms can be used to represent newer objects phonetically often considering their starting sounds only. This word play led to another paradigm shift: the discovery of phonetic languages where the spoken name of an object can be expressed in terms of combination of some speech sounds or phonemes. In the simplest case, each phoneme can be represented by a glyph (written impression) and the set of glyphs representing the universe of phonemes that describe all the objects in a given spoken language constitute the alphabet for the language, with each glyph being a character in the alphabet. Each alphabet or glyph can represent multiple phonemes. For example, the English language has as many as forty-four phonemes but twenty-six characters in its alphabet. This eliminated the need for specific representations of syllables. The transition to papyrus from clay tablets and stone as the common writing material also facilitated the adoption of alphabets for the written script and consequently the glyphs became much shorter and less pictorial. The credit for the invention of alphabets goes to the ancient Phoenicians (now Tunisia), though some historians attribute the discovery to Egyptians as evident from some later day Hieroglyphs. However, it is the Greeks who gifted us the alphabet used by most modern phonetic languages.

In the 1940s, the American linguist, George Kingsley Zipf, proposed the Zipf’s Law which, in very simple terms, states that given a set of words in any language, ranked according to their frequencies of use from the most frequently used to the least, the second in rank would appear half as much the first, the third in rank would appear one-third as much and so on. Thus, if we take a book written in the English language, for example, rank the commonly used words according to their frequencies and then represent their frequencies by the small blue rectangles (a taller one represents a larger frequency) then we shall get a series of rectangles with diminishing heights as shown in Fig. 4. Joining the top right points of each rectangle by drawing a line gives me a graph. The striking feature of Zipf’s Law is this: all languages in the world would produce a similar graph. And a closer look reveals that almost 20 per cent of the words are used eighty per cent of the times! Linguists argue that this peculiar nature arises

from the basic nature of all human beings to communicate less while speaking and hear more (in detail) while listening. And this propensity has always led us to innovate convenient means of written communication using available resources.

A reading of this article also points out another important feature in the evolution of writing. While clay tablets and stones were in use, the use of wedges gave birth to the Cuneiform script. The invention of papyrus brought in the alphabets and this has continued till today, past the birth of the printing

Fig. 4 The Zipf’s Law for English Language press. Now, the birth of digital communication technology and the multitude of devices that we nowadays use for written communication have brought in another paradigm shift again. This is in the form of an Emoji. Invented in Japan in the late 90s, an Emoji is an attractive image which can be used to represent an emotion in written communication often using a single visual image, much like a face-to-face communication and much unlike a written communication. Again, considering the fact that most human emotions are similar across geographical and linguistic boundaries and the fact that these are visual elements, Emojis can be used to communicate across the linguistic boundaries.

Animations added to Emojis make them more powerful as a medium of communication. Emojis are likely to become the principal mode of communication in the 21st century, but then does that mean that we have completed one cycle of evolution and come back again to the age of Hieroglyphs, this time starting with computers, mobile phones and keyboards rather than stone and chisel?

Acknowledgement Materials presented in this article have been assimilated using the presentations in different YouTube resources. The following are notable among them: [1] The History of Writing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyjLt_RGEww [2] The Evolution of Writing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpXAjekdQNM [3] The Zipf Mystery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCn8zs912OE

Food for thought: [1] How can you adapt Emojis for the visually impaired?

[2] What kind of invention can make Emojis a substitute for speechless communication?

Email: amitav_gupta@yahoo.com POINTER

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Craft Decorative Hanging Bird To make this exotic bird we need: 1. Dhundhul (natural scrubber) 2. 8-10 Bay leaves 3. Thread: 1 metre 4. A pair of scissors 5. A cutter (or a knife) 6. Fevicol 7. Wooden/ glass/ plastic beads 8. A needle Process: Step 1. To make the basic structure of the bird, hold and press the upper part of the dhundhul at least two inches from the top. Tie up tightly with a thread to form the head of the bird.

Step 2: Now roll up old newspapers and fill up the natural hollow of the dhundhul to give strength to the body shape.

Step 3: To set up the beak, make a cone with a bay leaf with Fevicol. You can also use a stapler. Attach the cone to the head.

Step 4: Next, cut two slits on the two sides of the body and insert bay leaves to serve as wings. The tail is made in the same way.

Step 5: Now coat the bird with a solution of water and Fevicol and let it dry naturally. After it is completely dry, you may paint the bird with acrylic colour. For the finishing touch, thread the beads, attach the bird to it and let it FLY!

Now follow the steps: 01

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Chandraval Mukherjee Teacher South Point High School 153

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Mastermind The Man Under The Palash Tree The quotidian drabness of our existence, more often than not, leaves us uninspired. But sometimes we get opportunities to witness certain incidents that alter the very core of our being. Most of us, at some point of time in our lives, come across that one experience that changes the way we perceive life. Let me share one such incident with you.

More than a decade ago, I was invited by a friend to judge an essay-writing competition in a school in Purulia. A host of other events were lined up on the occasion of the school’s Foundation Day. It included a donation drive in order to collect essential items for an orphanage. Far away from our elite school, I keenly observed the proceedings in this small school, a spectator on the sidelines.

A makeshift kiosk had been set up at one end of the field adjoining the school. Students stood in a queue and came up to the kiosk to deposit their neatly wrapped donations. By the time the last student came up to the table and the counting and sorting had been completed at a furious pace, the mild morning sun had changed its mood.

All this while at the edge of the field, under a blazing palash tree in full bloom, stood an old man. From his appearance it was all too clear that life had been unkind to him. Bent over and weather-beaten, with little more than a loin cloth on his body, his presence was unremarkable. He came forward now, a pouch in his hands. With unapologetic candour he confessed that he was a beggar. Someone was quick to bring out a wallet and proceeded to give the man a few coins. The old man stopped him abruptly.

Spring has come and gone numerous times since then. I never found another opportunity to visit that school again. My friend is now a teacher in another institution in Kolkata. I don’t remember if I ever thanked him properly for inviting me to the school all those years ago. But if there is anything that I will never forget about that afternoon in early March, it is the image of a kind and wizened old man under a flaming palash tree.

Earlier in the day, in a market in Purulia town, he had overheard a conversation about the donation drive.

He had walked the distance to the school not to get something for himself but to give away all that he had on him − a couple of fruits and a handful of uncooked rice. Only now did his voice falter. He didn’t have much but would his pouch of offerings be accepted? This was no millionaire’s largesse. Here was a generous mendicant giving away the little that he had. The teachers did not have the heart to refuse him.

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Mithu Haldar Teacher Consultant, English Department Classes VI-VIII South Point High School

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Mastermind Those Were The Days…..

“If you do this ever again, we will surely send you to a boarding school!”

I happened to overhear this conversation between an angry mother and her son. Immediately it opened up a floodgate of memories.

One fine day my parents decided to send me to a boarding school, very far away – from them, not because I was a naughty child, I modestly admit, but probably a decision made under the influence of a family friend. We had gone to visit my new school before I formally joined, to take the Entrance Exam, and believe me, it was like any other trip with my parents. I stood gaping at the building from the Raj era, the tennis courts, the playfields, the rows of tables in the dining hall – all so different from the school I was studying in back home in Calcutta.

classes to enjoy the comfort of the indoors! A quick change into school uniform, breakfast, and classes would start at 9 a.m. We kept our books in our desks and had no satchels. We had no watches, but our stomachs would tell us it was Fruit Break, at 11, even before the gong. I remember so vividly, we used to skip our turn in the queue for a twin banana! Back to classes and then lunch at 1.30, which was a class in discipline by itself. We had to form a queue to get to the counter inside the dining hall and back the same way for a second helping. Afternoons were for ‘headbath’, sunbathing, chat sessions and walking around the tennis courts, ‘mugging’ for our tests. 4.30 was the compulsory Games hour – badminton, baseball, hockey, basketball, tennis – we played it all!

Fridays were special because the ice-cream man used to come. Again the long queue – and if you had saved up on your pocket money (coupons), you could afford a chocobar. Sundays were fun days. No early wake-up calls, ‘breaka’ at 9, goodies from the Tuck Shop, dancing to music in the playroom and a compulsory movie after dinner.

After that trip, I started feeling so very important! I was being taken for shopping every single day -sometimes even twice a day -- for new shoes, night suits, bedding, trunk. Oh! It was a long, long list – all for me! So as a nine-year-old, I thoroughly enjoyed all the attention!

It was a cold January afternoon in the late seventies when my parents dropped me off at school with my trunkful of new things. I was led into my dormitory by the Matron and was shown my bed and locker too.

My first lesson in discipline began in the first hour there, falling into the routine – Tea Time, Games Time, Prep Time (compulsory self-study with the Captains and Prefects supervising each class – no teachers around), followed by supper at 7.30 p.m. ‘Dinner? So early?’ was what came to my mind but I went into the queue readily as I was famished. And then tucked into bed, literally, and lights off by 9 o’clock. The Matron was on her rounds and we were not allowed to talk, instead, close our eyes and lie in bed till we fell asleep. That was the time I started missing my parents. How I cried into my pillow that night!

I could go on and on…

No wonder I always encourage my students to happily give their consent to be sent to a boarding school. One learns to be disciplined, punctual, independent, confident and also able to hone one’s talents and showcase them too. Most importantly, we did not realize we had learnt so many things in those few years. Remember, it is a blessing in disguise!

I was woken up by the sound of the gong and the lights coming on at the crack of dawn! It was freezing cold! We had to change into our PT uniform, gulp down a glass of hot cocoa and go for a jog round the field. A shrill whistle pierced the air as soon as someone slowed down. No mercy for the half-awake girls in that unearthly hour! Some had chosen Yoga POINTER

So just say, “YES! Boarding School Achcha Hai!” Sumita Pyne Teacher South Point School 156

Mastermind

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Kaleidoscope

where I’m somewhere in the spectrum between mediocre and abysmal.

Here's what I can tell you, from what I’ve figured out.

Kaleidoscope features Rik Sengupta of the 2008 H. S. batch, currently finishing his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. He works on graph theory, descriptive complexity, and algorithmic theory. An M. P. Birla Smarak Kosh awardee in 2000 and 2008, he is an AB in Mathematics from Princeton in 2012 and an MS in Mathematics from MIT in 2015. Rik enjoys playing the piano, the guitar, as well as singing, writing (primarily poetry and fiction), reading, card magic, juggling, and playing board games and cricket.

Sing, or play an instrument. I played the piano growing up, and then I taught myself the guitar and the ukulele and the harmonica, and I played and sang in bands and cappella groups everywhere. I wasn’t good at most of those, but I had a great time, because I liked it and it kept me sane. I had friends who did the same thing and became professional musicians. One of them is now in the New York Philharmonic. He also works in Google, but above all, he is a musician. The world would have lost out if he had been only an engineer.

Write something. Write outside of schoolwork, or college assignments or graded essays. We need more writers, because above everything else, we can’t lose reading. One of my friends lives in a New York loft and writes award-winning fiction and watches the lights flicker on the Hudson river. Do that in life.

Always remember to indulge yourself in art, in music, in literature, in the humanities. We need scientists, engineers, and doctors to be functional; but we need artists to think about the crazy, wonderful privilege of being human, and to celebrate being a part of this moment together.

I’m running low on the word limit, so here is some generic wisdom.

Never be ashamed of failing. Never be disappointed in yourself, and never lose faith in your beliefs. Never be ashamed to not be the best at something.

Be kind to others, particularly those less privileged.

We’re all in this together.

If you commit to something, move heaven and earth to meet that commitment. Don’t let people down if they’re relying on you.

A Letter to Gen-Z There’s a lot of pressure on a first sentence. It’s supposed to be a “hook”, to draw you in, and dangle a metaphorical carrot in front of you. It’s supposed to be cool, particularly if the ensuing 500-word piece is about the amazing opportunities that await you after school. So I thought long and hard, and couldn’t come up with anything good. After an hour, I felt old, irrelevant, and vaguely hungry.

Don’t lose sight of who you were when you were a kid.

As you read this sentence, take an emotional snapshot of yourself. Don’t forget that person when you’re famous.

There’s not much I can tell you. I was born in a different millennium from all of you. You literally have a life ahead of you where you can still do anything you want. I have found the approximately four things I’m decently good at, and realized the four million others

Never, ever take advice from anyone unless you really feel like it. Including this piece.

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Don’t be late to things. It’s not cool.

Watch The Office before it disappears from Netflix.

And finally, take yourself less seriously. You’re hilarious, and not always intentionally. Trust me, I’m laughing.

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Taste Buds Cheesy Onion and Chilli Toast INGREDIENTS ¾ cup grated, processed cheese ½ cup finely chopped onions 1 tbsp red chilli sauce 4 toasted whole wheat bread slices 1 tbsp butter Salt to taste Melted butter for brushing DIRECTIONS • Combine the butter and cheese in a bowl and mix well.

• Add the onions, chilli sauce and salt and mix well.

• Divide the toppings into 4 equal portions.

• Arrange the toasted bread slices on a clean dry surface and apply one portion of the topping on each bread slice.

• Grease the baking tray with butter, place the toasts on the greased tray and bake in a pre-heated oven at 2000 Celsius for 5 to 7 minutes.

• Cut the Cheesy Onion and Chilli Toast into triangles and serve immediately.

Malai Paneer Chilli Flake Balls INGREDIENTS • ¼ cup crumbled malai paneer (cottage cheese) • Salt to taste • 2 tbsp dry red chilli flakes (paprika) DIRECTIONS • To make Malai Paneer Chilli Flake Balls, combine the paneer and salt in a plate and knead very well to form a dough.

• Divide the dough into 4 equal portions and roll each portion into a round.

• Roll them in chilli flakes till they are evenly coated from all the sides.

• Refrigerate for an hour and serve immediately.

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was built in 1837 for Nawab Najim Humaun Jah. Among the 1,000 doors of the palace only 900 are real and the palace consists of 114 rooms and eight galleries which have been turned into a museum to exhibit an exquisite collection of armours, paintings, portraits, ivory works etc. Some of the other notable tourist spots in the area are the ‘Katra Masjid’ where the mortal remains of Nawab Murshid Quli Khan are buried since 1727 AD; the famous ‘Moti Jheel’ where once stood the beautiful palace, ‘Sanghi-Dalan’, beside the shore of the Pearl Lake − once the home and later the prison cell of Shiraj-ud-Daulah’s aunt, Mehrunnissa; the palatial home of the most famous and one of the world’s richest bankers of that time, Jagat Seth, at Kathgola; the famous ‘Jahan Kosha’ cannon which literally means the destroyer of the world and is located at the Nawab’s Artillery Park -bearing proof of the valour and might of the now-gone kingdom, and many more. Murshidabad is also home to the famous handloom Murshidabadi Silk that captures the fancy of spectators with its colour, quality and design.

Miles to Go A Treasure Trove of History: Murshidabad Long time ago, when our country was still under the British rule, Bengal thrived in richness and splendour.

It harboured people from every corner of the country who came here looking for future and fortune and its cities were a hub of culture, business and pomp. The last capital city of Independent Bengal was Murshidabad, named after Nawab Murshid Quli Khan, the Diwan of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. The ripples of the river Bhagirathi, on the banks of which this historical city is located, have witnessed great events that have changed the course of history unfold over time immemorial.

There are a plenty of transportation facilities available to reach Murshidabad via road and railway.

The Hazarduari Express from the Kolkata station is one of the most efficient ways of reaching the destination. There are several buses from Kolkata and one also has the option of travelling by car. The Baharampur Tourist Lodge, run by the Government of West Bengal, provides a comfortable lodging option for visitors, thus making the short gateway trip rich and memorable.

Situated approximately 208 kms away from the City of Joy, this archaic town attracts flocks of tourists who come here to experience the forgotten golden glory of this once-indispensable city. The historic battleground of Plassey where the last independent ruler of Bengal, Shiraj-ud-Daulah, fought against the British is located 40 kms away from Murshidabad. The main tourist attraction of the city is the ‘Hazarduari Palace’ or the palace with the thousand doors that

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Aperture Point

Age | Madhusmita Dey Class VIII A (A)

Before sunset | Kuhak Das Class VIII A (M) 161

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Aperture Point

Jaws 3 | Projit Maity Class VIII G (M)

Stillness | Ritaja Dutta Gupta Class VIII A (A) POINTER

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Line of Control! | Purbadri Ray Chaudhuri Class VIII A (A)

By leaps & bounds | Chandrim Santra Class IX F (M) 163

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Half-hidden from the eye | Satyaki Seth Class IX E (M)

Let there be light | Gourab Naskar Class IX C (A) POINTER

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Looming large | Dipayan Ray Class IX F (A)

Serene | Adrija Maiti Class IX F (A) 165

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Scrumdiddlyumptious! | Mrittika Bera Class IX F (M)

Watermark | Ritam Mukherjee Class IX F (A) POINTER

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Chocolatey! | Gourav Mitra Class X D (M)

Light your heart with life | Arka Mukherjee Class X H (M) 167

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Snack time | Debanjan Dutta Class X D (M)

Spin a yarn | Debasmit Mukherjee Class X H (M) POINTER

168

To Read and What to Read Daddy Long Legs

By Jean Webster Daddy Long Legs grabs the young reader's attention because the story unfolds through the breezy, chatty letters (dotted with adorable sketches) written by Jerusha Abbott.

The book falls under a minor genre in American fiction -the schoolgirl romance. It reminds one of such contemporary books as Little Women, Pollyanna, A Little Princess, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm â&#x2C6;&#x2019; all best-sellers in the early 20th century. One cannot ignore these optimistic, spunky orphans who persevere against social odds to marry their chosen partners and establish themselves in their chosen careers.

In Jerusha one finds an energetic, independent-minded descendant of Louisa M. Alcott's Jo March. Like Jo, she too is not 'a sweet blue-eyed thing'. In her initial years she leads a hard life in an orphanage but that experience does not change her into a hard person. She is full of fun, a 'sunny soul' who is kind and considerate towards the smaller children in her care. Like any spirited child she puts salt in the sugar-bowl, steals cookies and makes faces behind the trustees' back. But she is not evil, merely mischievous. The reader loves her for her common sense and good heart.

However, there's more to Jerusha than meets the eye.

Jerusha does not grow up into a vapid heroine

South Point High School Library

hankering for her hero. She has an intelligent and inquisitive mind. She analyses the world with its fast-evolving social, political and religious views.

Webster put into Jerusha the stamp of her own beliefs.

Jerusha does not mince her words and is forthright in voicing her opinions. She declares -- "We don't want social revolution to come tomorrow..." for she believes it will be upsetting and she is willing to wait for social reforms. But her account of life in an orphanage brought about orphanage reforms.

Jerusha's opinion of the traditional concept of religion is not strident but tongue-in-cheek. Her God is not narrow or bigoted but understanding, forgiving, kind with a sense of humour... "Thank heaven l don't inherit God from anybody. I am free to make up mine..."

And this sense of humour permeates the story of a girl who loses her temper sometimes and suffers from silly adolescent pride. Her only fault is perhaps her frankness.

It is no wonder that Daddy Long Legs (1912) has never gone out of print.

Soma Chatterjee Scrutiniser South Point High School

MUST READ BOOKS

For Classes VI to VIII Title Rusty, The Boy From The Hills Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

Author Ruskin Bond Roald Dahl Lewis Caroll Rudyard Kipling Sudha Murty

7.

8.

Aliceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Adventures In Wonderland The Jungle Book How I Taught My Grandmother To Read Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe David Copperfield A Tale Of Two Cities

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Tuesdays With Morrie Indian Railway Stories The Glass Palace Wings Of Fire I Am Malala

Mitch Albom Ruskin Bond Amitav Ghosh A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Malala Yousafzai

6.

Man-eaters Of Kumaon

Jim Corbett

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

C.S. Lewis Charles Dickens Charles Dickens

Ebook links https://g.co/kgs/e1Bmz1 http://jssisdubai.com/Document/Uploaded/ CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory.pdf https://www.planetebook.com/alices-adventures-in-wonderland/ https://www.planetebook.com/the-jungle-book/ https://www.pdfdrive.com/how-i-taught-my-grandmotherto-read-and-other-stories-e158012135.html https://www.pdfdrive.com/the-lion-the-witchand-the-wardrobe-e39906049.html https://www.planetebook.com/free-ebooks/david-copperfield.pdf https://www.planetebook.com/a-tale-of-two-cities/

For Classes IX to XII https://www.stcs.org/view/7786.pdf https://g.co/kgs/L5HD3B https://g.co/kgs/DxcULQ https://www.pdfdrive.com/wings-of-fire-e33405285.html https://www.pdfdrive.com/i-am-malala-the-story-of-the-girl-who -stood-up-for-education-e14796117.html https://www.amazon.in/Man-eaters-Kumaon-Jim-Corbett-ebook/dp/B01N1J0XP0

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POINTER

To Read and What to Read

transient as “Life is but a day, a fragile dew-drop on its perilous way.” Tragedy crept into the lives of the two friends when Leslie left Jess forever. Jesse was pulled down to reality all of a sudden and he was shocked to discover that Leslie had drowned herself while visiting Terabithia, alone.

The story provides a plethora of emotions to the readers and touches the crossways of life. It is not a fairy tale with a happy ending but the tortuous journey of a child to an adult. One would often escape to the surreal sojourns to Terabithia with Jess and Leslie, be a part of their growing up, mourn with Jess over his loss or inspire him to build the gateway to ‘their kingdom’ as life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.

BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA

By Katherine Paterson “Imagination often carries us to worlds that never were, but without it we go nowhere.”

Winner of the Newbery Medal, the book, Bridge To Terabithia by Chinese American author, Katherine Paterson, unfolds the magic of friendship and the power it gives to overcome all the adversities of life. Set in rural Virginia, the realistic fiction explores the rustic beauty of the town, Lark Creek. Published in 1977, after the Vietnam War, this unusual story gives glimpses of counter-cultural trends through some of its characters, like Miss Edmunds, the ‘hippie’ music teacher.

Jesse Oliver Aarons, the only brother of four sisters, was unlike other boys of his age. He was artistic, skittish and lacked the ‘manly’ attributes to fight against bullies both in school and at home. One sympathises with this village boy and his existential struggle in the world of odds. His life was rather monotonous until Leslie Burke came to be his neighbour. Leslie was brave and she loved taking up challenges. The contrasting characteristics and social backgrounds of the two children gave birth to a unique friendship between them.

Jess belonged to a conventional family trying to make ends meet whereas Leslie’s parents were established writers. Katherine Paterson made the ‘new girl’, Leslie’s presence prominent, when she won the race, beating Jess and other potential candidates. She crushed his dream to be the fastest kid in the Fifth grade and “turned her large shining eyes on a bunch of dumb, sweating mad faces”. Soon Leslie and Jess became best pals; the common thread that bound them together was their exceptional creative faculties. Jess was an extraordinary artist whereas Leslie could bring life to ‘a rock’ through her imagination.

One day the two explorers decided to visit the old Perkins place. Leslie was elated to see a rope hanging from the apple tree which stood at the bank of the creek bed. Immediately she swung across the gullies to reach the untrodden woods. Forgetting everything, Jess too swung intoxicated as if he was in heaven and couldn’t imagine anything else on earth. Together they entered their make-believe world, Terabithia, a secret country discovered by its rulers, Jess and Leslie.

Jess was coronated as the protector of Terabithia and Leslie proclaimed herself as its queen. In their kingdom, treehouses became fortresses, trees stood like giant trolls or squirrels chased them like vicious man-eaters.

Terabithia gave them immense strength to get over hurdles of life.

Every good thing comes to an end and happiness is POINTER

Debsathi Saha Teacher South Point School

South Point School Library

MUST READ BOOKS

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The Stellar One The Guardians Of Lore Gemma The Atrocious Fairytale Dennis And The Dream Factory

Freechildrenstories.com

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Pirates Cove Monkeypen.com The Case Of The Missing Smile Captain Fantastic Jessie The Rabbit Sunny Meadows Woodland School

“The Purest”

Avanti Chowdhury Class IX D (A) | Mixed Media

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