Sydney Malayalee Association Inc.
A REFLECTION OF COVID-19 TIMES BY YOUNG WRITERS & ARTISTS OF SYDNEY MALAYALEE DIASPORA
EDITORIAL
Half a year has passed since we first heard the term ‘Covid-19’. It all sounded surreal in the beginning; however, it did not take long for the reality to sink in. A tiny little virus that selectively affects human species making us retort to the four walls of our own homes - sounds like the stuff that old age tales are made of, but rather strange that it is happening in the current age. Beyond all the learning that we had amassed, the technological advancements that we considered magnificent and the peaks that we conquered, we were forced to have a pause and think. To unlearn, to unwind, to slow down, to appreciate, to re-educate and kick off with the ‘new normal’, ready to face the second innings of life. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness” - wrote Charles Dickens in ‘A Tale of two cities’ in 1859. Surprisingly, in 2020, we are living in times which indeed is all of these. From the worst of times is when the best of learnings come. Hence, we thought that the Covid times should not go undocumented. Living much beyond our expectations, the children of the Sydney Malayalee Community aged 7 – 13 years have done a brilliant job in portraying these unprecedented times. Our intent was to capture the thoughts of this group of children who are not toddlers, yet not big enough to be socially engaged with the aid of technology; and see how this crisis impacted them, as a document for the future. They did surprise us with their comprehension and expressions – through their words and artworks. Here we present to you with much pride, the work of young writers and artists of Malayalee diaspora in Sydney – Bounce Back. Team Bounce Back 18-7-2020 | Sydney 1
Thoughts From The Judges’ Panel Dr Roanna Gonsalves › Author of ‘The Permanent Resident’ published in India as ‘Sunita De Souza Goes to Sydney’ › Winner of the NSW Premier’s Literary Award, recipient of the Prime Minister’s Australia Asia Endeavour Award. › Lecturer in Creative Writing at NYU Sydney and at UNSW Sydney, Board Member of Writing NSW. I was honoured to be invited as one of the judges for the wonderful ‘Bounce Back’ Writing Competition organised by the Sydney Malayalee Association. I was very impressed by the quality of submissions. There is such a depth of talent in the Malayalee community. This is no surprise. After all, Malayalees come from a rich heritage where literature, writing, ideas, discussion and debate have always been highly valued. It was a joy to read each piece of writing. I particularly enjoyed the pieces that provided very specific detail bringing their poems and essays to life and pieces that explored the nuances and complexities of life in the time of COVID-19. I hope each child continues writing and I wish every child all the very best in their future literary endeavours.
Deeju Sivadas › Executive Producer, SBS - Malayalam Program. “We never knew how you miss the outside until you get stuck inside for a couple of weeks” - one of the write ups says. Little eyes see the world differently, and so did they during the Covid-19 pandemic. They were concerned, annoyed, anxious, they missed their friends and school and were worried about all around them. But, at the same time, they were surprisingly optimistic as well. Almost all the writers demonstrated high levels of understanding of the situation. All write-ups and poems were above average, and it was a hard task to score. The poems stood out as most of them were more imaginative, creative and vigorous. On the whole, the future (of Sydney Malayalee community) is definitely bright as they hoped in the articles. I am grateful to SydMal for giving me such an opportunity to judge these amazing works. I wish them very best.
Dakshinamurthy Anjanappa › Founder, Painting for Charity Australia Going through the drawings and paintings of the kids for the ‘Covid Bounce Back’ booklet was an amazing experience! It is really an excellent initiative by the “SydMal team”! The kids have used their imagination to full extent and have come out with various art works and each one of them was unique in their own way. The ideas, the use of colours, the concepts were all treat to the eyes. Each one of them was unique and very nice.
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Covid
Times
ARTIST
Author POEM
Editors’ Choice
Avnita Nair
Shreya Naveen
With the restrictions easing, It is definitely more pleasing People starting to go on road trips, In their car with chips and dips. Although the virus is still at large, The Government is determined to take charge The world that we know has been put on pause, How much longer for us to return to how it was?
Felt to Me Like... L
ife in isolation, You really want a vacation Over the Seven Seas, So you can feel the sun and the breeze. But now we are in quarantine, And we need to have good hygiene We need to wash our hands frequently, And social distance for our safety. When I couldn’t see my friends, It felt like the world was coming to an end We interacted only through Zoom, Within the lonely walls of our room. Because of the Government’s insistence, We have to keep our distance There are limited people allowed in the few open shops, Toilet paper and sanitizer guarded by the Cops!
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Author
Living the History
Zoya Sherzil
L
ife in the time of Corona hasn’t exactly been easy. It has been hard and stressful. For me, it hasbeen exciting and interesting. For once we weren’t just reading history, we were living it. WhenCOVID-19 first began my school didn’t go into immediate lockdown. We had a few changes andsocial distancing but not lockdown yet. Then after Gladys Berejikilian announced lockdown myparents made me stay home. I was kinda confused because my school was still open that day, but Iwas fine. The next day online learning began.Online learning was a new experience for me. Being in Year 5, I had my own laptop. Working athome was fun. I got to sit in my pyjamas, listen to music and do my schoolwork. Classes like library,history and science would be in a different classroom. We did many reports, essays and experimentsat home. Our teachers would send us tests and quizzes through google forms. My class and I usedgoogle classroom to chat and send each other memes, quizzes, photos and activities we were doing at home. Well now school is back. I’m actually quite happy to be back at school. That’s a sentence I never thought I’d write but it’s true. After doing online learning for whole 2 months happy to be back. But school isn’t back to normal. We took our breaks in the classroom and extracurricularactivities are cancelled but it’s okay.Learning isn’ t the only thing that’ s changed. Another thing is shopping. My mum didn’t panic buytoilet paper, flour and sugar (she should’ve, we had to last with brown sugar ). She did buy atta,rice and spices. Also going to the shops during corona. My mum turns
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into a military officer when wego to the shops. Her rules are strict. First the car can’t be parked close to another, my father, baby brother and mehad to stay in the car. After coming home, we had to straightaway bathe or thoroughly wash ourhands and face. After that, we had to hang our clothes and make sure they didn’t touch any otherclothes. If you didn’ t follow her rules she would get MAD!I love cooking but usually I don’t get the time to cook anything. During lockdown I made Cinnamonrolls with cream, meringue cookies and Rotzaa (roti+pizza). During lockdown I drew pictures and dida few DIY’s. I also spent a lot of time with my parents than usual. We played games, watched moviesand sat around chatting more. We all played with my baby brother a lot, things which I don’t usuallyfind time to do.The lockdown caused by Corona led to everyone using their gadgets a lot and finding time to set uptheir electronic devices. We all loved watching movies at night-time however soon I came to realizethere was not much new content.To conclude life during Corona was definitely full of anxious and interesting moments. Lots of thingschanged in my life within a very short duration. I don’t think anyone will experience this ever again.In 50 years, students will be reading this book and referring this for essays in history class while theteacher is telling them everything about Corona and telling them about their experiences (if theteacher was here). How was your life during corona? Was it similar to mine? Did you enjoy it?
ARTIST
Author
POEM
Editors’ Choice
C
risis; “But how will I go to the beaches?’ I ask. “But how will I get my haircuts?” I protest. “But how will I celebrate my birthday?” I demand. But how will I cope? How will I stay sane, Surrounded only by My thoughts, my feelings, my anxiety; Who can I talk to, When everyone is struggling? Who can I connect with, When web calls are our only mean of connection?
The Covid Time Learnings
Jiah Lakshmi Shyju
Cynthia Alexander
But, everything is finally coming together, We are finally smiling, Clapping, saying thank you, The smiles of Nurses, doctors, grocers, Reassuring us that they will be okay, That I will be too. Friendly faces greet workers Putting their lives on the line. And while roads were empty, The world could breathe. And while shops were closed, Everyone’s hearts were open. And while I was distanced 1.5m apart, We were all still together. Community.
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B
ored, inactive, not fun at all Not looking forward to this planned call A new virus is on the run Making people stay away from the sun Oh, how can we cope not going to the mall? No friends, no school and no play This COVID will make us all pray That this pandemic will end soon Lest we’re stuck at home with a spoon Oh when will this virus go away? There is nothing to do The world is hiding from each other, its true We must stop the spread By staying as long as we can in bed While trying not to buy any new shoes! Alas it started, the isolation It wasn’t as bad as the anticipation In this fast paced world, with no time for each other, Families now spend a lot of time together. I’m glad we made this decision! Finally, free, schools are now open! Inching into winter, with everything frozen The path of COVID is near the end, after all its bends! Now we get to see our friends At last we came out of this strong, not broken!
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Author
Life in the time of Corona
Merissa Makil
COVID –
G
rowing economy, busy flights and crowded malls The whole world was enjoying the race with content
Success at every corner, the world was going on perfectly!
Author
The Little Monster
In the summer of December, there came an uninvited guestSmaller than a blood cell, lighter than a feather It turned the whole world upside down!
Naomi BijuNair
People became prisoners at their own home Panic buying, fear spreading and tension everywhere Toilet rolls and sanitizers became pricey possession
ARTIST
All parks closed, children couldn’t go to school
People forgot how to shake hands; loneliness hit them Too scared to come out of their den… Many lives lost; doctors and nurses became heroes People like us never knew this would happen
Rion Delish
When will it end and when will we be free? Let’s keep our hopes high and be together to fight this enemy And one day we humans will win this war.
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Author
Three words I learned
Alvin John Paul
C
ovid-19 has been hard for everyone, stuck inside your house not being able to see your friends or interact with anyone. Three words I learned or most heard in my Covid days.
Pandemic
Pandemic is a worldwide disease that is happening all over the world this is a noticeably big problem. Now most countries are trying to help each other especially the worst hit countries like US, Brazil, Russia, UK, Spain, India, Italy. During this pandemic all social gathering and group meetings, Sports, Religious meeting, educational and political meetings have been put on hold or cancelled.
Sanitisation
Sanitisation played a big role in fighting coronavirus; one of the reasons why Australia was able to flatten the curve of Covid and early lockdowns. Sanitisation is the practice of cleaning your hands and other parts of the body that are touched frequently and disinfection of items that are frequently touched by multiple people. Covid-19 spreads from people to people and even animals and objects from touch or coughing and sneezing on things or people that is why if you go around public, you’ll see people with masks and gloves.
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Covid-19
Covid 19 pandemic has killed over 400,000 worldwide. The running theory is that a Chinese man had eaten a raw bat and got Covid 19 virus. Lots of doctors had guessed that Covid 19 would become a pandemic and told everyone to lockdown as soon as possible but many did not listen, China was able to listen, closely followed by Australia. Lots of countries are still fighting hard. The good news about covid-19 it is possible to recover, like prime minster of U.K (Boris Johnson) fight it off and was working from his home. We will pray for the world to overcome this devastating pandemic crisis.
eeling a stop in our usual normal routine and everything around us is completely unusual. I am sure that as a global pandemic, the ferocious villain in each one of our stories, Covid-19 has brought this stop to many of our lives. However, easier said than done, with a positive mindset and perseverance, the clock will eventually start ticking again. Now, many of us might have different coping mechanisms, and personally being bored of mum’s cooking my taste buds wanted to experience something different. I realized that experimenting something out of the ordinary may take the mental strain off you. After online learning tore up my two months of peace, I decided to pick up my spatula and spoon, and my ears were filled with shouts and yells from my mum after seeing her messy kitchen!! Burgers and fries do an amazing job in making me unhealthy. So, this obedient child agreeing to finally eat fruits and vegetables was
Aiswarya Madhu
ARTIST
F
Author
Lockdown cooking experiences
Nandana Menon
an advanced birthday surprise for my parents. As boredom invaded the enthusiastic me, scrolling through YouTube, I found a food traveller called Mark Weins posting videos of himself travelling all throughout India and my hometown Kerala before lockdown, eating all these delicious meals that never miss to tempt me. As memories montaged in my mind of spending my holidays in India, I decided to bring the tastes of India into the kitchen. I started off with Peanut Chikki with instruction coming from my grandma over the phone. The hardening of Chikki took a very long time, I even thought of sticking the pieces together with superglue. With a lot of stirring and mixing, the result was so edible which came as an astonishment to the three Masterchef judges in my house. I felt almost crowned for my achievements in this household, as they glorified me and my cooking skills. (Continued on page 37)
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No sports, no fun, no school, no games Oh the melancholy in our veins, No seeing friends, foes or enemies How could I stay tranquil.
ARTIST
A
month fully wasted How have I not fainted All the fun things I do Got denied by bat stew!
Author
Where did one whole month go?
Vinay Nayanar
Angel Mary Thomas
Sitting on a messy sofa With a bag of plain chips What benefit do I get In this abominable apocalypse
Although this was a month wasted It was phenomenally relaxing And I mournfully tasted The hard slacking
Left at my single story house With an irritating and eerie brother, Oh how I would rather Would be with a mut in a doghouse
A month fully wasted How have I not fainted All the fun things I do Got denied by bat stew!
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Author
Many Disruptions
Sarah Joseph
S
chool
Schools all over the country were shut down. This meant I had to start doing my schoolwork online. Adapting to online school was very hard at first. It was very confusing and I struggled to stay on task.But after a few weeks i became used to it and learned lots of new things. Having online school meant I could no longer see my friends and teachers, and had to communicate with them using the internet and apps.
After School activities
I do many after school activities such as: piano, tennis, swimming and dance. All these activities except dance were cancelled for the term. We attended our dance lessons on zoom. I couldn’t learn properly in zoom and It made the steps a little harder for me. I missed dancing and having fun with my friends and my teacher at dance lessons.
Going Outside
I wasn’t allowed to go outside. I couldn’t have fun at parks and playgrounds. I couldn’t have a bike ride or go jogging. We didn’t get to eat out or buy takeaway. I wasn’t capable of buying presents, cards or anything for special occasions!!! For example Mothers day, Easter, Fathers Day and Birthdays.
Friends And Family
I couldn’t visit anyone’s house!!! The only way we could communicate was on zoom or skype and apps that are alike. I hated being stuck at home at first cause it was so boring, but i fixed this by doing lots of arts and crafts. Being in lockdown meant that I was at home with my family all day, this helped us become closer. We played lots of games and had lots of fun together. This helped increase my creativity and overall wasn’t that bad.
Church
Because of the social distancing rules, church was also cancelled. I couldn’t get blessings from the father and I couldn’t see my best friends at church. I had to attend virtual mass. It isnt the same as going in real life so I didn’t enjoy it that much. As you can see, CoronaVirus has disrupted my life in many ways, some good and some bad. I hope we can overcome this problem together and get back to normal soon!!
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My Birthday Author
During Covid Crisis
ARTIST
Aarshia Arun
Jayden John
M
y birthday was on the 18th of April. I usually celebrate my birthday by inviting lots of my best friends. Every year I have 2 parties.. one with my school friends and one with my family friends. This year my birthday was really boring because of Covid-19. I’ve always wanted my birthday to fall on the weekend and this year it did! But, it wasn’t quite what I expected because it felt like a really long weekend! I liked it but I didn’t like it as much as my normal parties because normally I would get lots of presents but this year, I didn’t get many on my birthday. I normally get lots of new clothes too on my birthday... This year I missed getting that too because all the shops were closed. But I have to admit that it was
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pretty fun. This year I held a zoom meeting for the cake cutting with some of my relatives and family friends. Due to the lockdown, Mama and Dada were free because they were working from home and so was my brother and me. So mama had lots of time to make all my favourite food and a really delicious cake. It was my favourite flavour “RED VELVET”! The cake was my favourite part. Although it was fun I really want all this to end and go back to normal.
Author
My Covid time hero
Aaron Geevarghese
A
s we all know, we are living in the Covid-19 times now. One of the people who helped me stay calm in this situation is my classroom teacher. That is why I chose her as my hero during Covid-19. In March, we had to start online schooling. For other schools it might be familiar but it definitely wasn’t for mine. Before Covid, my class teacher had already used an online learning platform but she had to quickly change to something new. During the holidays she took her time to watch videos and learned how to use it before she taught us. Plus, to encourage my class, she added a few shout outs to people who were doing good work online.
The last reason that she is my hero is because she didn’t just help students but she also helped the parents. She kept in touch with the parents on an app. Whatever parents wanted to ask, they could ask and my teacher would reply as soon as possible! Through one of her posts, she said to them that at that point, more than the academics they should be alert about the mental well-being of the children. My parents found this advice very useful. See, if you had a teacher like this during these times you would definitely be choosing them as your hero, as I did!
Before our ‘online schooling at home’ started during the Covid crisis, no-one in the class was in a calm state except for my teacher. So, she talked about how we shouldn’t panic because if we are panicking then that would just slow things down in making a vaccine (because doctors will have too much pressure on themselves and that wouldn’t help at all!). So we knew it was our responsibility to not be scared.
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The time we get to spend together, Will be well remembered forever, With all our family and friends, When this misfortunate lockdown ends.
ARTIST
A
midst all of the negativity, We must preserve the positivity, While corona spreads, That enlightens our heads.
Author
One/ Many Good Thing About The Covid Times
Allayna Anna Sachin
Dhwani Bajeev
With the plentiful time on our hands, Finishing everything that was planned, We can cook, clean and create, A time we should appreciate
Not only did we experience online learning, With some parents at home working. But we got to play around With new hobbies being found.
During this time we learned to respect, Seeing the doctors and nurses’ effect, Throughout this global pandemic, Teaching us to be less problematic.
This lockdown has helped us slow down, And make memories with those around, Those memories will be cherished in our hearts, Even if this time departs.
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ARTIST
Is this real or is this a dream?
Author
Can’t believe the world came to a standstill!
I can’t believe this is happening! How is this possible? Ethan Godly
O
nly months ago we were living life like we normally do. Then all of a sudden a killer virus flips our life upside down! No! Now I’m stuck at home, bored out of my mind, and have to deal with my annoying little sister nagging me every 2 seconds. Also, I’m fed up with homemade dinner, craving a bucket of KFC, and don’t even get me started on home-schooling! Although, 10 weeks into this pandemic I’m starting to see that not everything is absolutely
Eva Panicker
wrong. For starters, I’ve been able to spend more time than ever with my family especially with my parents. Even though I have been bored sometimes. I am still able to find activities to do with my sister like building forts with furniture items around the house. I also have been lucky to have my Grandmother here with us during this time. I have truly learnt the value of family bonding. Overall this pandemic has taught me how to adapt and adjust to situations that life puts us in. Now that we are starting to make life normal again, things don’t feel as weird as they used to be but there are still lots of hygiene measures being taken that make life seem a lot more complicated. This pandemic has taught us all to, be resilient, to spend time in selfevaluation, and to cherish the people we value.
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ovid-19 has changed my life! It has made me more aware of what I’m touching and my hygiene. It has also taught me how much I value human interaction and how much I miss my friends, it reminds me that this is my last year of primary school and it is not like any other year. I know that I will never have such an experience in my lifetime, this year is one of a kind. Certain situations tend to impact my thoughts and the fact that around 7,000,000 people have gotten the virus worldwide is fearful, it was scary to even step outside. Everyone is constantly talking about the virus and it is hard not to let these thoughts get to me. At one point my mother, as a frontline health worker, gave me certain instructions regarding distancing in order to stay healthy which restricted me from hugging her, this made me sad. Thoughts like this tend to make me think about me and about what will happen to me if I catch the virus. I try to push these thoughts aside but I cannot, I cannot push it aside if all people talk about is the virus. I cannot stand the thought of the virus winning over us or losing anyone I love to the virus, my life would never be the same without them. Although COVID-19 has impacted my life in good and bad ways it has given me a chaotic but unforgettable and memorable year. These memories will always stick with me and impact me so much, this pandemic has taught me to be grateful for everything.
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Nikitha Kuruvilla
ARTIST
C
Author
One of a kind
Aarav Nambiar
Author
Corona - A dream
I
Amogh Madhan
once had a dream about Corona Virus What I saw that day made me as white as a bearded iris
Everyone was washing their hands Then there were politicians making important demands Then I saw people wearing sanitizer Scientists trying to find an antidote in an atomizer Many people were having trouble with money The way they were suffering was not very funny This is something that really made our personality decay But once this is over we can say Hip, Hip Hooray!
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Author
Quarantined with Family
Advika
W
hile the world is fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic our family was stuck at home during the quarantine. We would spend our days working or studying and following our timetable during the quarantine. Most of the days I would make smoothies chocolate, vanilla and berry followed by some yummy breakfast. I would start off getting everything ready and going into my first zoom meeting. This meeting was just a homeroom meeting, this is where we would read the school notices for the day and say a short prayer. Next, I go to the assigned subject most of the time it would be on zoom or in google classroom. You are expected to finish all the work which is given. To be honest when you are home it makes me feel that I have so much work more than I usually have. My parents would also have online meetings that would go on and in between they would have to take my brothers studies aswell. This would go from mornings to afternoons. During the afternoon and even at weekends my brother and I would rush out to the trampoline
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and jump of hours sometimes my mum would join and we would play lots of games such as who can jump for the longest. After some time we would back inside and my dad would be ready to film a new tik tok. I will film and my parents or my brother would join in the tik tok. We would end our day by watching some tv and dinner. My brother and I would also do doodling/drawing in our spare time and then we would start the process all again. In general, I feel like quarantine was a good way to reconnect with your family. That was my full quarantine experience.
o be honest, being restricted to a place small doesn’t leave with lot of options. But fortunately, I could do some of my favourite things in lockdown. I’m going to recall some of those memories here. I did a lot baking. I baked cookies, cakes, churros, twisty doughnuts and macarons. They all were remarkably delectable. My sister and I baked macarons with one of our family friends on Zoom. It was amusing to do it with friends. But it would’ve unquestionably been more enjoyable if we were baking in person, however, it was fun. Another thing that I did which was entertaining was an exercise challenge. Well, less fun more exhausting. It was with my family and some of my dad’s friends on WhatsApp. We had to do different exercise activities (plank, push-ups, etc) one minute each, (which altogether were three minutes) for a period of one month. I skipped doing it a few days because I was sick and tired. After we finish the
Milan Mary Paul
ARTIST
T
Author
Keeping Myself Occupied
Aadinarayan
exercise, we would go and lie on the couch, panting and wheezing. It was incredibly tiring. Although it was exhausting, it was one of my favourite things to do. Being at home could get boring but there are many things you can do to keep you occupied. For example, baking, dancing and singing may be some things that will keep you interested and enthusiastic. Even just watching a movie or playing board games with family and friends are pleasant experiences. I was on facetime with my buddies all the time. My parents would call me to have dinner, but I would be busy chatting with my friends. The time of the virus was monotonous and restricting. We know that it is a troublesome time, but, together, we will get through it.
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‘Water’ Analogy
Author
Covid and the T
Learning from home was something I would only experience because of the Coronavirus and it helped me to understand how online learning works and how it feels to do work inside your house. The longer I was able to work at home the more I was able to comprehend.
Manav Nair
ARTIST
he school bell rings at 8.30 and I’m still in bed drowsing, I raise my head and the time’s 8.45. Right in bed I stretch my arms and reach my laptop, lying in bed I check my classwork. I haven’t brushed my teeth, touched any food or water and my hair still looks like a plunger. I was in my type of heaven and in my thinking the school I had dreamt of. The comfortability is something you couldn’t get anywhere else.
Alka Ukkath
I believe that online learning is not as efficient as seeing teachers face to face as learning can be more in-depth and understandable with help by your side. Having a teacher can help you to complete work. At home, the goal was to complete work and not to learn something new and that held all students back only when we came back to school is when we were able to grow and expand. Although, at the end of the day, it is how you can evolve and it is demonstrated in this quote by Bruce Lee perfectly “You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.” this ideology can advantage you in the long run immensely, it is not about whether you like it or not it is about how you can change and adapt to use it efficiently. It is all about how we can improve and grow better as a person.
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Author
Merits and Demerits
Ashley Nelson Abraham
T
he Covid 19 Pandemic has had a catastrophic impact on everyone’s daily lives, with no one being prepared for such an infectious disease.
Highlights of Covid 19- Demerits
Many people lost jobs; tourist attractions were shut down due to the lockdown and international students were unable to study at universities. Worst of all, the death toll rate also increased in numbers; parents lost their children or vice versa. Hospitals struggled with not enough ventilators, oxygen masks etc, and many people were not given proper care due to this. Food and Supplies: in Australia people went into a food frenzy. They started stocking up on essentials such as flour, pasta and especially toilet paper. Supermarkets had a lot of trouble supplying food for the demand and controlling the frenzy of people. As there was no food being imported from other countries some items were completely wiped out of the shelves.
throughout the day. Due to the low economy and sales many jobs were temporarily shut down; schools were closed. Due to this families were able to spend quality time together. Families were able to gain a deeper connection with each other. Environmental changes: The virus also decreased the amount of pollution being expelled into the air. Because of less cars on the road there has been less greenhouse gases polluting the environment. With less transport company’s running, sales were down and less vehicle purchases were made. Many factories were shut down, therefore less pollution was emitted into the air. Clear images of the earth’s environmental changes have been shown.In the atmosphere the oxygen has also become more purified.
Highlights of Covid 19-Merits
Hygiene & Family time: A positive outcome from this battle was hygiene. People became more hygienic,washing their hands thoroughly
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Due to Covid-19, Year 5 and I had to miss the camp that we were going to go to. It was called “The Great Aussie Bush Camp” near North Arm Cove. We sleep in cabins on bunk beds with 4 people per cabin. I was already packed and ready to go when we heard the news that the camp was cancelled. I have heard the camp is going to be back in Term 4 but none of us have been officially told that. Because of Covid-19, I also had to miss the camp I wanted to go to with my family and family friends. The camp is near a really nice beach called Umina Beach. My family, family friends and I always have a camp every year and it is always someplace different. I was really excited to go because the beach doesn’t have big waves. I also had to miss the trip to India that we were going to do. Unfortunately because of that,
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ARTIST
T
he Covid-19 pandemic has affected everyone’s lives globally including mine. During the last few months I have missed a lot of things and I would like to write about some of them.
Author
I missed these!
Tanvi Nambiar
Nishka Ukkath
we couldn’t celebrate my grandpa’s birthday in person. I was really excited to go to India even though I do get plane sickness. I was looking forward to going to India and meeting my cousins. My grandparents on my mum’s and dad’s side live close to each other and quite close to a beach. All in all, the isolation was not so bad. It also had some positives like how I got to spend more time with my family and how I got to cook more food than I usually do. So really, you shouldn’t think about how bad the coronavirus is, you can also look at the good stuff and look back at how much fun you have had in these times.
T
he last 8- 9 weeks have been overwhelming and strange. At the start of Covid-19 situation I thought I wasn’t really going to be affected by this, but I was so wrong.
Author
Experiences in a nutshell People were going crazy over toilet paper and hand sanitizer, as they were scared about what was going to happen next. Soon schools, shops and churches got closed. I was doing online classes like everyone else, but it didn’t feel right, I was talking to the computer screen after all.
ARTIST
My mum works in a hospital, so after work she had to take extra precautions and make sure she didn’t touch anything to keep our family safe. This was important because washing your hands before touching any surface would reduce the amount of cases in Australia and keep you and your family safe.
Gratia George
Covid-19 has made so many changes in my life and as a kid these times were painfully dull and worrying because I didn’t know what would happen to me and my family and I constantly asked myself if this would be the new normal. We had so much extra time out of nowhere and the worst part was you couldn’t go outside. We never knew how you miss the outdoors
Isabel Susan Binu
until you get stuck inside for a couple weeks. I missed the school terribly! It sorta all went back to “normal” as we could go to school one day a week. It was better but not yet ideal, most of my friends were on a different day and I was distracted by what was happening around the world. And as we went back to school full time, it felt like the first day of Year 6 because we were away for long. Coronavirus will change my life in the future. For instance, I know that I will always from now on keep hand sanitizer with me and that if I am sick I will stay home. These little things are going to stick with me. (Continued on page 37)
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T
his was a virus that reunited the earth and its people together. Before this reunion everyone was glued to technology and never got time to appreciate the world and it’s one of a kind creature. Well as soon as the government commanded us to hide away, we did as told and started to look around us. We saw all of God’s creations destroyed before our eyes and we saw our grandparents sobbing remembering times when you were little when you were little which was the only time you ever laughed and looked up at their wrinkly faces. As soon as the virus was done we all united as one and we started to pick up the plastic from the shores and the streets. We started visiting our grandparents and having a laugh with them. We planted trees and we let all the wild animals free. We stopped scrolling through our phones and that is the story of the reunion of the world and its people.
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Author
Reunion of the World
Angeline Sibi
Author
Emotive times
ARTIST
Anna Joseph
Nived Biju Nair
A
t the beginning of the situation, it didn’t seem that bad. But slowly it became worse. The virus spread quickly and lots of people were infected. I became disturbed and troubled at how quickly it affected me and EVERYONE around me. Countries around the world had gone into lockdown and I was alarmed when Australia did too. For the first couple weeks, I didn’t know what to do. Everything had stopped. Life went online. I was frightened that this would be my normal life for a long time. Watching the news and learning about everything that was happening made me frightened. I was also angry, because I was seeing people ignoring the rules. I was annoyed that people didn’t care about the safety of others and risked their own safety. In the midst of this I was also amazed by a few things like the huge reduction of pollution in the world. Because of the lockdowns, the ocean and the skies were clearing up and looking amazing. School was fun, and it helped me take my mind off lockdown. We could do different activities and had health, sport and art. I was glad that we
had a way to communicate with my class, grade, and my other groups. I enjoyed being at home and with my family. Before lockdown, I would hardly get to have time with my family. Now I spent a lot of time with them, and I enjoyed it. We watched a lot of movies and played sports together. I felt very happy. I slowly became less distressed as the days went by. One day I watched the news and saw that I would be returning to school in the following term. I felt ecstatic to know that I would soon see all my friends, classmates, and my teacher. I also felt bothered. I was worried that I might get in contact with someone with the symptoms. Now that lockdown is over, I was worried that me or my family might contract the virus. I then reassured myself that everything would be fine. And it was! Overall, my experience felt unreal. It also felt weird. I felt confused, anxious, annoyed and calm. This pandemic is something we will learn about in the future and I will never forget my personal experience with it!
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Quarantined Lives Author
During the COVID-19 period, we have all been affected. Whether it’s not going out or bearing the loss of those you love, we all feel the same way. The following is going to explain how quarantine has impacted me.
Friends
D
uring the isolation period, we couldn’t have get-togethers with my friends. Every week, we get together at our houses or botanical garden and have fun for at least 4-5 hours until we have to go. Not being able to see them made me feel alone. It felt like it would be an eternity before I had the chance to see them again.
Diya Ann Lijoy
I’ve missed school so much. Not being able to go to school and have fun makes you vulnerable to boredom. At school, there are so many things you could be doing and not being able to do anything is truly a
ARTIST
School
gruelling experience.
Tejal
Holidays
Now, this experience is from my grandparent’s point of view, but it is true for all of us. They were meant to come to Australia from India the day airports closed. We were looking forward to seeing them and were so disappointed when the news broke out. That was a really draining moment.
Shopping
Even though my family is not huge, we have to go to the supermarket and clothing stores to buy stuff. Not being able to go to the shops wasn’t the most amazing thing, but it was the right thing to do. We wouldn’t have gone to the shops at all if ScoMo hadn’t stopped us in the first place. So remember, whether it’s one thing or another, we have all dealt with issues, and we will get through this together. : )
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Well I am going to tell you what I did in the lockdown times. I am going to tell you the good times that happened while the lockdown was happening. My dad, little sister and I made a cubby house and spent most of our vacation playing there. I helped my mum to cut the vegetables and she taught me to make coffee and tea. Now let me tell you the bad things happened during the lockdown. We planned for a holiday to India, but just because of the Covid 19 we couldn’t go. I did not get to see my friends or not even go to school for so long. Let’s all hope and pray for this Covid 19 days to get over soon.
Ann Maria Paul
ARTIST
W
e stayed home because the coronavirus spreads all over the world and if everyone gets out of their house, we will spread germs all around the world. Then we will need another lockdown. So, it will be safe if we stay home.
Author
Why we stayed home
Leanne Makil
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L
ike everyone, I had normal days. On normal days, I would go to school and after school in the evening, I will go cycling to the park. On weekends I would go to music class and Church. Tuesday and Thursday, I would go to swimming class and piano class. On Monday I would go to Art class. What I was missing was going to the park and playing on swings, slides, flying fox and running. Another thing I was missing was my school friends Jaslyn, Aarushi, Mahi and Jiya. Next was the shops, Woolworths, Aldi, Kmart, Coles and Target. Lastly, I missed my school subjects like Maths and English. During the lockdown, I was having connected learning and Zoom piano class and Skype music lessons. Normally every Easter, we get together for lunch and go egg hunting. This year, before lunch we had zoom meeting with our close friends. In the past few weeks I have been going to School and Piano class. So, I hope I will get my normal life back.
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Author
My ‘Normal’ life that I missed
Lynette Paulose
ince the Covid-19 struck in my life I missed my school the most.
Due to isolation I had to learn from home. I could not play sports and i did not like that. I also did not get to play with my friends and that made me very sad. I had to do activities using an app called ‘Seesaw’ and get ‘Epic!’ to learn. I could not do learning in the normal way. This was making me very tired and upset. I could go on Zoom for an hour to see one of my teachers. I learnt some of my English writing form that way. At least I could see few of my friends on the Zoom class. Activities on the app was sometimes very confusing and always need my mother or my brothers to help me. I liked the some of the story reading in you tube, but I missed reading in the class. I missed sports in school, school canteen, after school care. I missed having fun in sports and learning. There was always lots of activities in my after school care. I used to play soccer, survivor, hand ball and bullrush in my after school care. I also used to do lot of my drawing with my friends in the after school care.
Tarun Nayanar
ARTIST
S
Author
The isolation impact
Naveen Panakkal
In the time of corona I missed my friends very much. Though I enjoyed with my brothers and my parents, taking care of me, but I missed having fun with my friends. It’s boring to play at home because I was getting bored of my toys and wanted to play in the park with my friends. I wanted to see the snowy mountains this holidays but due to Covid-19 I could not go this year. This was also making me sad as I did not have any proper holidays. My friends and I played so many different games and always had fun. Now it is going to be different due to Covid-19. I can’t go on a holiday its madness. I can’t go play with my friends its sadness. My brother annoys me its craziness. To Play alone was making me angry. It’s not fair. What about you? It’s anger, it’s sadness, its madness and craziness.
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Remote Learning:
OVID-19 has made remote learning the norm for most students and thanks to advancements of communication technologies we are able to communicate with teachers and other students and still connect with the lesson without needing to be in the classroom. Although it has allowed teachers to share content and create tasks while students are not at school; online learning is both a hit and a miss because there are positive and negative aspects to this change. This enables students to study at home even when they are sick because all the content is posted on an online platform such as Edmodo, Microsoft Teams or Google Classrooms, but students who do not have good internet or access to devices such as an iPad or laptop will be left behind. Although it is easy to get the resources and type the work, it’s hard to look back on after completing it because you have to open all the files and find it. It makes it hard to study for tests or find a
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ARTIST
C
Author
Hit and Miss
Anabel Phinu
Jayden Joseph
specific thing you’re looking for when you can’t just flip through a bunch of pages in a book. Completing tests online reduces use of paper which is economically and environmentally friendly, but when working online, it is very easy to cheat by searching up the questions. Online learning has been a big change for students and it’s hard to get used to something when you are suddenly forced to use it, but we are lucky to still be able to talk to teachers and classmates when at home and be able to learn while following restrictions.
Author
Watching the News everyday was like...
Trisha Nair
W
atching the News like... “New Pandemic takes the world by surprise” “Countries going through an unprecedented crisis”
I had always feared the news, but this was 10x worse. This novel virus had brought the world to its knees. WHO has declared a pandemic and it swept across the nations, infecting millions along the way. Even the most powerful of countries such as the United States was not immune to the relentless power of this new Virus. People had been saying that a virus was coming soon, but nobody was prepared for something as deadly as Corona, which has affected lives and livelihoods. World over the hospitals and Doctors were struggling to cope with the huge influx of patients. Masks, gloves and medical equipment were all in short supply. the Doctors had to, unfortunately, decide which patients they wanted to save! Some countries like Russia and China had even set up make-shift hospitals in record time to host the large number of people infected. It was the aged who suffered the most as their immune systems were too weak to battle the virus.
had shut their borders, restricting any travel in hope to control it. Since borders were shut, Large companies like the airline company Virgin, had to stand down staff and close their business as they could not afford to pay them anymore. It was utter chaos in Australia while people were panic buying everything on the shelves. Shelves were empty and it was hard to find anything. Hygiene Items were rare to find as people were sending them overseas to countries already in lockdown. Toilet paper, pasta, soaps, and hand sanitisers were placed under strict restrictions since these were the things people had stocked most up on. Schools, colleges etc. all around the world, had all resorted to Online Learning as their way of education, with teachers scrambling to transfer all their lessons to the computer. Suddenly, we had to get used to seeing our teachers and doing all of our work on our tiny laptop screens. Our lives had changed in a way we never expected. This is now the new normal.
Governments all over the world were forcing lockdown over countries and shutting everything down to control the virus. Countries
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I Couldn’t Celebrate
Author
My Birthday With My Friends ARTIST
Manha Dinaz
Johaan Geo Tom
A
pril 25th - Anzac Day is my birthday and as we know it’s a holiday in Australia. I was turning 9 years this year and I had so many plans. My mom had said this is the last year my age will be in single digit. I was so excited, I started planning for my birthday months ago. I got my invite list ready and wanted to have my party at ‘Time zone’ and a blue mermaid cake too. I kept asking my mum for suggestions, but she answered back “Don’t get too excited Manha you still have lots of time for your birthday“. Months passed by and my birthday was slowly coming closer. In March everyone started talking about coronavirus. At first, I didn’t think much about it, but then the virus was spreading and the only way to stay safe was getting isolated and staying indoors. No meeting our friends, shops were closed and we even did our schoolwork online. My birthday was approaching fast and there was still lockdown going on in Australia. I couldn’t invite my friends nor go to Timezone.
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I could not celebrate my birthday with my friends! But then on my birthday, my parents surprised me with gifts, new dresses and a space talk watch too. I started feeling much better, for the first time my grandparents were there for my birthday. They were supposed to go back earlier, but thanks to covid19 they could stay back. My mom made my favourite meals and we got a black forest cake too. We even got some sparklers. My cheeky little sister cut the cake before I could cut it. But still I was so happy to share it with her. To surprise me my best friend made a beautiful card and sent it to me. We spoke on the phone for a long time and I showed her my cake, my new dress and we had lots of giggles and fun. I played Minecraft with her, we built a hotel, a photo booth and a laser tag game. All my sadness had vanished, and a happy feeling replaced it! I even called this birthday a virus birthday!
(Continued on page 37)
Author
Everything changed
Mithul Renjith
D
uring corona life was very different. Everything has changed during this period. There were a few things I liked and didn’t like during my time dealing with the pandemic. Here are my reasons why.
First I will talk about the good things.
Firstly, due to the virus the pollution in the ocean and on the land had decreased. There were less people outside on the streets and around so it was not as polluted as before. Because of the virus the animals and sea life on planet Earth didn’t have the experience of garbage floating around and invading their habitat or space. Secondly, I could relax at home with barely any distractions besides my parents and sister. I could chat with my friends online and do my schoolwork at the same time. Due to this I could sit anywhere I would like to in the house and study in comfort.
Now I will talk about the bad things.
Firstly, I couldn’t see my friends physically because I had to stay at home all the time. While I played online games sometimes they weren’t online and that made me sad because I had to play alone. Also when they played with me they sometimes ran out of charge which meant that I was left all alone in the game. I also missed going out to restaurants, especially on Mother’s Day which was spent in quarantine. I loved to go out to dinner sometimes, but that wasn’t possible due to corona. So this was all about my life in corona. It all had its ups and down’s but we got through it. Remember we are all in this together!
Finally, we got to use more technology. This helped me develop my computer and typing skills while doing work online. Since I used more tech I could split screen it and play during my breaks and work when it was work time.
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Author
Some Random Thoughts
Edwin Saji
C
OVID-19 is a disease caused by a new germ or bug. Germs are tiny organisms that live in our environment and can make us sick if they get in our bodies. I don’t like Covid -19 because my dad was supposed to go to Kerala and visit my grandparents to help them, but Covid-19 came and my dad had to stay back. People are dying because of this and I really miss everyone from Kerala. Everyone wants to meet their friends and relatives and friends. They can call and Facetime them but can’t physically meet them. It doesn’t feel as good as actually seeing them and playing with them. If that isn’t bad enough, we can’t go to church not even school. Instead, we are doing online schooling where we do school, but at home! But some kids stay at home and don’t even learn instead stay home and play like there is no school. It is like they don’t even care that
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we have COvid-19. I am sure that everyone else wants to see their relatives and friends, it is boring just staying home doing nothing and going no-where. You can’t play with anyone that you want to. You can only play with your siblings. Have you wondered how many people are dying from Covid-19? Over 346K people have died. You should be very careful if you are going anywhere.
Love and hatred during Corona times
D
Firstly, when coronavirus had been around the world for one month school shut down. So the school announced that there would be online learning. It was fun at first but then it got boring because we had to do it for fifteen weeks so I missed my friends. There were also school holidays so we had an extra two weeks of being at home.
Author
uring coronavirus what I did to keep myself occupied was do online learning, Zoom meetings, go for walks and play games.
Secondly we did zoom meetings so my teacher could keep in touch with everyone. We also did them so everyone could see each other every week. I also did zoom meetings so I could play with my friends and one of my friends did a zoom meeting for her birthday and was long, fun and exciting.
ARTIST
Indriya Jayaram
Geo Mathew Sachin
Thirdly, my dad and I went for walks so that we could get some exercise. At first it was boring because I couldn’t do anything but when the government opened parks it wouldn’t be boring because I could play. Finally, when my friend told me about ‘Roblox’ I wanted to play it so I downloaded it and I loved it. It was the best and I did zoom meetings so I
could play ‘Roblox’ with my friend and now we did it every Monday after we go to school. In conclusion, Ii loved some parts of quarantine but I hated some parts. Overall it was a good experience for me. This is what I did in my coronavirus experience.
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(Continued from page 9)
When cooking did not turn out to be as bad as I expected, new recipes were created each day ranging from Carrot Halwa, Rasmalai, Chaats and finally being an expert, I decided to go out of India and enter Thailand making ThaiChinese dish, Pineapple fried rice as a Mother’s Day special. And the signature Biriyani was the key step to earning my status as an expert chef!
experience to a whole new level. I guess the key take-away is that instead of saying “this lockdown took away my chance to”, say “this lockdown gave me a chance to”. This period gave me an opportunity to develop new skills and it certainly kept the negativity away from me. At the end of the day, I know that we will end this negative chapter.
Even though travelling could not be physically done, through cooking, I encountered this (Continued from page 23)
We have been listening to the Government more than ever because all the restrictions were to keep every family in Australia safe. Now I am so lucky to be in a safe zone, no one I know has Coronavirus and everyone is safe around me.
But some people have to live with the constant fear of Covid-19. I hope everyone will stay safe during these times and hopefully this will all be over soon.
(Continued from page 32)
I feel happy that I could do all this, when the people all over the world were suffering due to corona virus, falling sick, losing their jobs and lives. I saw in news that people were not allowed to meet their loved ones and so many people were dying all over the world. I felt sad
to see that and at the same time I was very grateful that I got to celebrate my birthday in a sweet way with my family. I enjoyed my birthday thoroughly but still I want my friends with me for my next birthday.
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Avinash P V Binu Varghese
THANKS
Shankar Prabhakaran Jeromy Joseph Santhosh Abraham Thomas Kuruvilla All Participants, Parents & Supporters
PROJECT BOUNCE BACK TEAM From left:
Anish Philip
Binta Ranjit
Srikumar Nambiar
Beena Ravikumar
Emie Roy
COVER illustration Athena Jinson Published: July 2020 Copyright © Sydney Malayalee Association 38
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DAKSHIN ART ACADEMY * Creative Drawing & Painting * Pencil sketching & Shading * Craft/Polystyrene work *clay modelling etc for all ages Edmondson Park: Monday to Thursday: 6:00pm to 7:00pm & 7:00pm to 8:00pm Harris Park: Saturdays: 9:30 am to 10:30 am For more information - Contact: Dakshin 0447 044 787 or email – murthy54@gmail.com https://paintingforcharity.org/