खुशियों की रिबन - Reena Devi

 "Happiness isn't something you seek, it's something you give. Fix broken dreams with the thread of your smile." 😊

जब मैं अपने स्कूल में जाती थी, तो मेरी एक दोस्त थी, उसका नाम हेमा था। एक दिन हम स्कूल से घर आ रहे थे। रास्ते में हमने देखा कि एक छोटी लड़की रो रही थी। हेमा उसके पास गई और बोली, "तुम क्यों रो रही हो?"

बच्ची बोली, "मेरी गुड़िया खो गई है।" हेमा ने तुरंत अपनी जेब से एक रंगीन रिबन निकाला और बच्ची को देते हुए कहा, "ये लो, अब ये तुम्हारी नई गुड़िया की रिबन है।" बच्ची मुस्कुराई और उसने हेमा को गले लगा लिया।

खुशी बांटने के लिए बड़ी चीजों की जरूरत नहीं होती, बस एक मुस्कान और थोड़ा सा प्यार ही काफी है। दूसरों को खुशियां देना इंसान की सबसे खूबसूरत और सच्ची अच्छाई है। जब हम किसी के चेहरे पर मुस्कान लाते हैं, तो असल में हम अपने दिन को भी सुकून देते हैं। हमारे पास भले ही बड़ी चीजें न हों, एक मुस्कान, एक मीठा बोल और थोड़ा सा साथ किसी का दिन रोशन कर सकता है। दूसरों को खुशियां देना सबसे बड़ा उपहार है।

"Learn to be a part of others' happiness, because true joy grows when you share it."

Reena Devi

Thoughts Left Unheard: Pages from the Diary of Nature - Rishona Chopra

I’ve seen children go to school each day, with a big bag full of books and wisdom of all sorts. I’ve seen generations grow old and fade away. I’ve seen relationships break and I’ve seen friends unite. I’ve lived through every second every century and never did I ever find someone who truly truly cares. I’ve seen all the broken promises and posters. How people claim they love and protect Mother nature. “Go Green.” What good is going “green” when each one of those plants lives a life worse than death? A life so torturous, a life that isn’t worth living.

Every day, I see cars go by, leaving their pollution for us to see. Every day I see people walk by and throw their wastes at parks or at the roadside. And by the end of the day, a storm comes in and sweeps my family away.

These posh humans go to havens of knowledge each day-learn about all parts of plants, parts of cell, how plants grow, how they get their food but out of all that load of information, these lousy humans didn’t seem to understand one crucial thing- that we are as living as them. Somehow, everyone seems to know how we make our own food, how we survive the days but they can’t wrap their head around the fact that we too feel. We’re hurt and in pain. We’re broken. And no one seems to know it.

So why make big promises when you can’t take the smallest step. We don’t need campaigns or plant drives. We don’t need you to water us each day-the rain does that. We certainly don’t want to hear the usual rants about “going green”. All I ask for, is just care. Just care enough to not ruin each day. Just care enough to see us as who we are- living breathing souls and not entities you can use.

That’s what I felt today. I felt so tired, so fed up with everything, I knew I needed to vent. I can only hope that there’s someone listening. Nature- From the plant community

Thoughts voices by Rishona Chopra, Grade IX, Gyanshree School

Thoughts Left Unheard:Pages From a Diary of a Book - Rishona Chopra

I spend my days sitting on an old dusty bookshelf in a bookshop watching readers go past me without even looking in my direction. Sure, my pages are now yellow and crinkly. The stories are now old and forgotten but do people really have to ignore me? I’m just as pretty as the latest edition of a magazine. Don’t those humans always look for something vintage? Everyone has time for the diary of anne-frank, and good old Shakespere, but no one seems to care about me. Yes, Anne was a sweet little girl but I know someone who’s even sweeter-me!

Today is officially the 105th day that no one looked at me. That no one picked me up and held me in their arms and skipped past the pages. No one put me by their bedside so I would be the first thing they see in the morning. I haven’t had a new home in forever. I miss being loved. I miss being that one book that people would always show to their friends. Those posh modern novels get it all. They have the same old story yet people go mad after them. No one seems to realise that the real treasure has been sitting here, right here, in aisle four of this bookshop.

I’ve put my hopes up for too long. How monotonous life has become! No excitement, no thrill. Just because I’m a little older than the rest doesn’t mean I don’t long for the adventure. I yearn for it more than I ever did.

I dream of the day someone would care enough to at least acknowledge my presence, that would suffice. I hope I’d get a home, where I’d be more than just a book on a shelf. I’ll be part of someone’s story, someone’s life and that would be the biggest gift of all.

But in the end, life is a journey. We need to face it, even if there are times I feel lonely, even if there are times I feel overwhelmed, it’s okay. Because this too shall pass. 

~Book Thoughts of a book voiced by Rishona Chopra, Grade IX, Gyanshree School