Showing posts with label poverty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poverty. Show all posts

Saturday 21 October 2023

Price of happiness- Aati Pema


Beneath the scorching June sun rays the dark tar road was sweltered and made road seem to wobble from afar. I was standing underneath a thicket by the road talking about the tests we gave, when I noticed a person walking almost aimlessly. Though it is not a usual seen as poverty still reigns here amidst those who were left behind by the "progressive world". An impulse nudged me to observe him. He was a middle-aged man but his state seems to age him, his hair ran down from the back of his head, his eyes seemed other worldly to me as it seemed to be looking for something but he was not observing anything. All of a sudden, he stopped and looked down. A look of curiosity and confusion bore on his face as he slightly tilted his head from side to side as if wondering what he is seeing. 

After observing for a few moments, he stood and looked up. I followed his gaze but nothing was there. He bent slowly and picked the object up; it was then that i saw what it was. It was a ten-rupee coin which must have been lost by a passerby. He looked at it with dearness and his countenance became jolly he held it against his chest looking up again he thanked. His eyes were like an empty space but it felt as though it looked for something. After thanking a few times, he carefully kept it in the pocket nearest to his heart and gave it a few good pat. Then again, he set on in his way, I had not known him there was a lesson. To be happy is a choice, to be grateful is a choice and our character is thus made by our choices. Situations are unpredictable but what we do in turn are our choices, and so are we defined. 

Aati Pema

St Thomas College 

Image Courtesy- Science News

 

Sunday 4 December 2022

Sudha Murty - Rishona Chopra

Sudha Murty was born in 1950 in Shiggaon in north Karnataka. She has written nine novels, four technical books, three travelogues, one short story collection, and two non-fiction pieces, including How I Taught My Grandmother to Read and Other Stories. 

Other books by her are - Grandma's Bag Of Stories, The Magic Of The Lost Temple, Grandparents Bag Of Stories, The Upside Down King, Gopi Diaries, The Man From The Egg, How The Sea Became Salty, How The Mango Got Its Magic, The Sage with two horns, The Magic Drum and many more.

Wise and Otherwise, initially published in English, is now available in several Indian languages—Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, Oriya, Bengali and Kashmiri.

Wise and Otherwise is a book about heartwarming stories with a touch of reality. This book gives a clear account of her work and approach to it. An accomplished storyteller in Kannada, Sudha Murty wrote for the first time in English to inaugurate a fortnightly column in the New Sunday Express. She focused on her experiences, travels, and encounters with ordinary people with extraordinary minds.

From stories of honesty to humbleness, from humanity to rudeness. About a boy's honesty despite such poverty. Greediness despite richness. The opposites meet, and the harsh truth is shown. This book encounters real-life stories that leave a profound mark on our minds.

Rishona Chopra
Grade VI
Gyanshree School