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“Do not believe what your teacher tells youmerely out of respect for the teacher.”

Gautama Buddha06 MY SPACE

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T ake a walk outside yourhouse. If you have donethis you must have seen

at least three of the following— a building, a car and a tree.The building and the car wereeither or all of these — white,silver, black, grey or beige. So,what do we deduce from this?Humans are extremely con-siderate towards colour-blindpeople. Also, they are mind-numbingly boring. Now thatyou have realised this, wher-ever you look you will only no-tice white, silver, black, beige

and brown coloured objects.There are no other colours inour surroundings exceptthese. Man-made objects onlyconsists of these handful of colours.

On the other hand, if youlook at the above mentionedtree or even the insects on itfor that matter, you will realisethat nature is brimming withcolours. Your typical nearbygarden includes at least 63 dif-ferent colours, including 27shades of green alone! En-gulfed in these mundanecolours, a question arises in

my mind. Why don’t we seebright colours in our sur-rounding? Why amongst theentire colour spectrum havewe chosen to use only thesefour to five shades? That iswhen I realise that we areafraid of colours! Yes, youread that right. We are afraidto stand out, we are afraid toshow ourselves. We live in awhite-walled house in a beigebuilding and drive silver cars,too afraid to be even an inchout of the boring.

So why have we developed

an aversion towards our nat-ural surroundings? For thesame reason, I wonder whyracism thrives and buildingsare painted in dull colours! Weare afraid to stand out. Ourminds have been trained toonly register distaste and dis-gust at the even a slight shiftfrom the ordinary. Be it a dif-ference in skin colour or off-beat clothes or maybe a dif-ferent profession too.

How did we get here?I guess with years andyears of conditioning toaccept and respect only or-

dinarythings?Who de-cided thatformal clo-thing onlycomprises black,blue, white andgrey? Who decidedthat being colourful isinformal? Ever sincechildhood we have beentaught that anything out ofthe ordinary is meant to be dis-liked. But can you imagine justfor a moment a world drenched

in colours. Stepping outside abuilding painted in flaming or-ange, to walk on roads of deepblue. Opening the door of yourindigo car and to have yourhair dyed a leafy green.

So the next time you seeyour grandmother dying herhair black ask her why shewouldn’t like it an electric blue or green.

SANIKA DESHMUKH, class IX, Fr Agnel

Multipurpose School & Jr College,

Vashi

SILENTTEARS:KHUSHISALUJA, classXII, BrightFuture Sr SecSchool,

NirmanNagar, Jaipur

WAR, PEACE, SADNESS AND HAPPINESSSadness has no weightBut neither does happiness They cancel out each otherThe way negative Cancels out positive I contradict myself These two are individual aspectsBut their collective is of anotherrespectWar and Peace Strive to keep each other aliveIf there is peace on the outsideThere is war on the inside

There is peace for one, But 50 others fight, For something as important astheir human rightSome people, Some nations, Have found themselves!

But for others it is an art, To rip themselves apartTo know peace, We must know war too, After all they are siblings They fight and love They are community and hatredThey are both unity, And disunityWe owe our struggle to themWhat is our war, though? It is sadness and happinessWar is the devastation of loss

Yet, it is also the joy of victory Peace, it is both tooSo what if there is calm worldwide? It is nearly impossible to forget theups and downs of our own storySadness and happinessWar and peaceWalk hand in hand, Down a streetThey can choose to flyBut they are freeWhy are they free? They are every-thing around them

A rejuvenating holiday in Tamil Nadu

L ast summer, my family andme had gone on a trip toTamil Nadu. Our first stop

was a hill-top resort in Madurai.Standing at the top and lookingdown at the city, all we saw was

a glitter of lights. After vis-its various temples, includ-ing the famous MaduraiMeenakshi Temple, we madeour way to Rameswaram. Thenext morning, we set out ear-

ly to see the sunrise; therhythmic waves creating asymphony of their in the own

set my heart thumping.The Rameshwaraswamy

Temple where we went, has 21wells or theertham and the wa-ter is considered to be sacred.Visiting Dhanushkodi, a delta,meant going to the ‘tip of theland’. The place is sparsely in-habited and has very few fa-cilities for tourists. The blaz-ing sun drained all our ener-gy. The blue, pure water spreadas far as the eyes could see. Wethen travelled to our last des-

tination – Kanyakumari –where the sunset was soulsoothing. The SwamyVivekananda Memorial’sboat ride was really mem-orable. Throughout the ride

my heart was in my mouth. Myeyes searched every nook andcorner for some flat land. Here,I understood that people livingon plain land are really blessed.Of course, the visit to myriadplaces has taught me to acceptthe realities of life and also toequip myself during dire situa-tions. At the same time this tripreplenished my energy, rejuve-nated me and created a desire tovisit others places in India andaround the world.

MONISHA S HONNAGIRI, class XI, NPS

Kengeri, Bengaluru

SPORTS HELPS ME FACE THE CHALLENGES IN LIFE

DEVINA SINGH, class XI, Shikshantar School, Gurgaon

COLOUR ME COLOURFUL

THE REAL HOME

HARSHITA, class X, Diya Academy of Learning, Bengaluru

My parents alwayswanted me to be-come a sportstar.

Hence, theykept me away

from electronicgadgets and ex-

posed me to sports.I got interested in ten-

nis and started playingit from the age of four.It’s been five yearsnow.

Gradually, I startedparticipating in tourna-

ments and it built more confi-dence and focus towards the

task at hand. This hobby hasinstilled in me a sense ofpreparedness and now Inever feel tense when itcomes to academics. Sports

has made memore pa-

tient, sen-sitive, pow-

erful and strongenough to face

challenges in life. I feel excited and in-

spired when I taste success,no matter what obstaclesare lying ahead. Successempowers me. So, I requestall parents to take an active role

in helping children pursueat least one hobby. It reallyhelps to keep us fit, both physically and mentally.

DRISHIKA, class III, NPSKengeri, Bengaluru

RAINBOW BIRDIE: MIDHUN SV, class VIII, Sainik School,Kazhakootam, Thiruvananthapuram

SUN AND SAND: DIA PILLAI, class V, MaharajaAgrasen Vidyalaya, Ahmedabad

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SKETCHED: PARANSHIZAVERI, class XI, NESInternational, Mulund West

WE ARE ONE: UMAIZA ABDUL GAFFARDESHMUKH, class IX, Crescent High School

and Junior College, Pune

The horrific glimpses of tomor-row are reflected on a shattered glass, But peace weaves a strongerstring to make our hopes last.As the world, a beautiful placewhich once was, and which nowis on the brink of disintegratinginto chaos and misery, Is being held by peace whichbeholds the power to spreadhappiness and serenity.

As love, which once radi-ated a beautiful, dazzlinglight, and which now isunable to shine,Speaksthrough peacefor us to hear itsplight.The place we callour home, is on theedge of gettingdestroyed,

But peace, whichhas the ability to

preserve binds ittogether.

And the people wecall our own, nowencompassbecoming our

foes,But peace tries

strengthening ourbond!

THE POWER OF PEACE

Two days ago, Was born a new bird,In the modern world.The eyes opened with grace,The bird started its flight, To search for a home withits sight.But suddenly came thedark clouds,Not from up, but from downIt saw evil creatures,Dusting, smoking, cuttingthe beautiful nature.

The bird went to the hills,Valleys, mountains and plains.But could not find a place.It went to the trees.But was shocked to findnone of them freeSome were cut, somewere dryBut none were fit and fine,The bird at last found areal home,In the palace of God – thereal home.

CHILDHOOD DAYSWhen I look back at my lifeThose fun-filled days ofchildhood,Nothing was complicated,Everything seemed so simple,So peaceful and full of fun.When I look back at my life,I see a little child, Innocent and mild.A smile I always had,And laughter filled my days.

The smell of the earth during rainThose paper boats I floated.The beautiful rainbowbrightWith colours across the sky.The singing of carols in winterDecorating the Christmastree,And waiting for SantaClaus,For presents at midnight.

Those days of love andlaughter,Father’s hugs and mother’s care,Fighting with brothers andsisters,Oh! For things so trivial!Grandma’s delicacies,Grandpa’s adviceI remember everythinglike a long, lost dream.Wish I could be a child again,And enjoy those carefreedays again.

SANIA SUNIL, class IX, Zebar School for Children, Ahmedabad

F ield trips are the essence of astudent’s life. From playingantaakshari and dumb cha-rades on the bus to eating

junk food till we are extra full, suchtrips with classmates is really mem-orable. This field trip was the last oneof our student life but we were justas excited about it as our first one.

Spread across nine acres of landand surrounded by Nandi hills,Skandagiri and Brahmagiri amongothers, Discovery Village offered abeautiful view and a unique experi-ence. The architecture was eco-friend-ly and designed with locally sourcedmaterials like coloured glass, bottlesand earthen pots.

The first activity we took part inwas rope training, which required amid-path between stamina and bal-ance. We had to walk through an aer-ial labyrinth of ropes and cables, us-

ing just an overhead string to guideus along. We played team sportswhich made us realise the impor-tance of teamwork, especially insports. We had access to many indoorand outdoor games, including age-old games like ‘Chowka-Bara’ and‘Ataguli Mane’. Outdoor sports in-cluded swimming,

football, cricket and a huge outdoorchessboard with pieces that came upto our hips!

All these activities made ushungry and we were providedwith a huge spread of deliciousand sumptuous food.

We also had a drum circle

activity where we learnt to play beatsand tones on an instrument calledthe Djembe and tambourines. Thiswas very entertaining as it is alwaysinteresting to learn and understanda new instrument.

We also learnt the art of potteryon a potter’s wheel. We were taughtto make pots of different sizes andcarve intricate designs on them. Get-ting to work hands-on with clay wasreally enjoyable.

Discovery Village made us connect with nature through ad-venture sports, indoor and outdoorsports, dance and music. It was amuch-needed change from the monotonous routine of school andstudying.

The memory of this trip will beforever cherished and pre-served because of the numberof photographs we took.

– SUNIDHI SAMPIGE, class X, TheBrigade School, Malleswaram

IMP: A l l the ar t ic les and poems are pub l ished w ith bare min imum ed it ing .

C O N N E C T I N G W I T H N AT U R E

ARSHIYA GUPTA, class IX, Learning Paths School, Mohali