The flame must keep burning - Rishona Chopra

Diwali or Deepavali is a time to brighten our homes and hearts. The messages of beauty, newness and freshness carried by the festival are being observed and celebrated differently in various parts of the country. Mythology shares that it honoured the return of Sri Ram to the kingdom of Ayodhya after a 14-year exile when people expressed their joy by lighting Diyas (lamps) to welcome him. So it is a celebration of victory and a return to self-governance or sovereignty. But like every other festival, rituals followed during Diwali hold deep spiritual significance. It becomes truly festive and more meaningful when we understand their purity and imbibe them.

Preparations begin with cleaning, painting or even renovation in many houses. What does this spiritually signify? It is a message for us to clean our minds. We need to cleanse it to remove thoughts of anger, criticism, rejection, resentment, hatred, hurt and jealousy. The weight of all this negativity we have been holding on to is weakening the soul. Paint the mind with new colours of peace, love and compassion. We also need to clean our words, actions and behaviour. This has to happen every day, not once a year, so we eventually reach a stage where we have a constantly clean and pure mind and body.

Regular practice of meditation and imbibing spiritual knowledge shared by God help us achieve the stage. Gifts and blessings are exchanged during Diwali. Spiritually, it is a message for us to empower and care for each other. A blessing is a high and pure energy vibration we create in our thoughts and express through our words. We have all experienced that the blessings of saints, parents, teachers, family and friends have created miracles in our lives. Irrespective of people’s sanskaras and behaviours, we empower them to change their sanskaras when we create only pure thoughts and words. Our blessings radiate to them to become their reality and change their destiny. Not just on a festival, our every thought and word every day should be a blessing. 

Giving blessings is the easiest way to receive blessings. 

Rishona Chopra
Grade VI
Gyanshree School

My Covid Experience - Arfa Khan

As soon as we heard that the virus had reached India, our anxieties crept up on us. My overprotective grandfather always reminded us to take precautions and would never let us take even a step outside the house unless it was necessary. In the first wave, we all were horrified of the virus and would misunderstand even cough to having the virus. In the new days of the virus, I got a cold, and my nose was blocked. I mistook it as having the virus and started crying, which usually happens once in a blue moon. Catching the virus had become my worst nightmare; I would always chicken out just after hearing it. My grandfather used to watch a news channel with the sound of the EKC/ECG monitor's heartbeat going flatline, which would always make my mother and I feel very uncomfortable. I took things so much to the next level that I would wake up at 4am and check if my parents were breathing. Thanks to our anxieties and our taking precautions, my family didn't catch the virus in the first wave. We became a bit relaxed and, to be honest, a bit careless…and that was a fatal mistake.

In the second wave, my whole family (apart from me) caught the virus. My uncle threw a housewarming party, and we all attended it. Because they were relatives, my family took off their masks. A few days later, my grandfather showed symptoms of covid and soon, so did my grandmother; they both got tested and came out positive. We could not find a hospital with vacant beds, so I had to stay isolated in my room for the time being. After searching for many days, my aunt found a hospital and my grandparents were admitted. My father kept going to and fro from the hospital and our home. We barely got time to meet each other. We only talked via video call, and I used my father's old phone, which was very rusty and laggy. Life felt very empty and depressed. Each day was the same; time went by so fast. My father also caught covid because of constant exposure to covid in the hospital, which was soon transmitted to my mother. I had to wear a mask at all times. Because of my society's high number of cases, grocery stores refused to give home deliveries, and mothers had to go out and get them. My other aunt's friend had an organization which delivered food to covid patients, and that's how we got our food. My mother got so sick that she threw up every day for 3 days straight, which was horrifying because I have emetophobia (the fear of vomit). My grandparents had to be kept on ventilators. My grandfather's health was getting worse day by day. On the other hand, my grandmother got discharged but again admitted 2 days later. My grandfather stopped talking and soon didn't even open his eyes; the next day, he died. I saw him on his last day via video call, and I pitied him. All of this happened during my summer vacation (2021). Because of all this chaos, I couldn't complete my holiday homework, and I had to cram it into just 4-5 days. When I look back on it, I feel very empty from the inside. It was the lowest and darkest time of my life. I can see the changes in my everyday things in the absence of my grandfather. I just wish Covid never existed. My family would have been so much better. In fact, the whole world would have been so much better. 

-Arfa Khan 
7-A
Ahlcon Public School

References:

https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/news/seventeen-further-covid-cases-detected-across-nhs-highland-240335/

When my mentor left me - Gaurangi Rastogi

When your teacher, who helped you as a friend to fight your pain to become successful, is like you, You can talk to them about anything. Who made your worst subjects interesting. My role model is going on a new journey. 

Okay! So, I'm going to tell you my feelings about this scenario in points.

• When you hear the news, you think of it as a rumour and ignore it for a few weeks.

• When the news comes out to be true, you simply are in shock. 

• Now, if you want to make a remembrance for them, you can make it from any material you find. 

• You decorate it with your words and feelings. 

You Know, I am writing this just to express my feelings. This is an important lesson I learnt from my mentor to ‘ express your heart’ in any form. 

Gaurangi Rastogi 

Class VII 

The Doon Girls’ School

It’s Not Over - Reveda Bhatt

“You die when you die, but it’s not the end.”

Death is the physical end of an organism on this planet which is its definition.

But, as always, in life, there is a twist.

Going deep into its meaning, it’s actually the process via which our soul escapes its present physical appearance into another or somewhere away to a place unknown to mankind. This opens up the question or maybe a belief in our minds about the concept of ‘life after death,’ the study of which is termed as ‘Thanatology.’ After years of denying this hypothetical statement, even some people in the field of Science have given in to believing it.

One of them is Dr. Stephen Mayer of the United States who said that there was a study proposed which states that Life After Death may be a reality. For this study, researchers at the University of Southampton in England examined more than 2000 victims of cardiac arrests from 15 hospitals out of which 360 of them had revived and about 40 percent had some sort of awareness during the period when they were ‘clinically dead.’

You see, lying unconscious or dead, there is something in the body which is conscious and aware of everything going on around.

So, life is not over after death and death is not the end of life.

There supposedly is life after death in a different form, in a different body and in a different world.

It is just a ticket to a plane heading to another land that everyone has to board!

Wish all our readers a Happy Diwali!

Reveda Bhatt
Grade IX
The Aryan School, Dehradun

Swami and Friends - Anvesha Rana

Swami is back with Rajam and Mani, but this time he endures an adventure, so tormenting. It is the 15th of August, Independence day, and the celebrations in Malgudi are wild. People are celebrating Independence with heavy zeal, jubilance and violence. The youngsters are so overflown with this wave of unprecedented patriotism that they don't think about what is essential. 

Swaminathan is gullible; he does what he believes others will feel is correct, not caring about his conscience or opinion. He simply flung his Khaddar cap, considered a foreign cloth, when someone doubted him about it. On being caught by the peon, Swaminathan could not sustain being beaten, and henceforth Swami ran away from the school. 

Independence means being free from the mind, body, and soul, for we are only in harmony with ourselves and others. Selflessness is also a part of being independent, and my mother is the most selfless person I know. She is softhearted yet strong-willed, she is compassionate yet unwavering in principle, she is a loving mother, yet she risks everything; she suffers due to conflict but never blames anyone; she has done everything for us and has never asked for anything in return. 

Anvesha Rana, 

Grade 10-B, 

Gyanshree School

The Hidden Key 🔐 - Oshi Singh

Image courtesy www.pinterest.com, used for representation only.

Climate change has troubled us to be lone, 

But all we humans do is just moan and groan. 

But why can't all humans see,

That soil is the answer; it is our key! 

Long ago, carbon was balanced, 

But the humans made it unbalanced. 

The soil that once held tight,

Had to be lifted from its site. 

Deforestation and desertification were the results, 

And most people didn't react to it, unlike good adults. 

But all we need to do is store carbon in the soil,

So that the carbon no more does its harmful spoils. 

We should restore the soil and the Earth, 

And in the end, all of it would be worth. 

Nature's loving technology was and always be there,

And protecting it should be the duty that we all should swear. 

The answer is right beneath our feet, 

We should always respect and further teach. 

The problem and the answer are simply a matter of balance, 

What we all did was simply a matter of out-balance. 

Will the Earth now heat up?

Or is it a storm in a teacup? 

Whatever we do, 

We shall always remember,

there is no other place like home. 

And there's no clone for mother Earth. 

Oshi Singh
VIII D 
Gyanshree School

Credits: I would like to thank my friend Riddhi Chopra for helping me write this wonderful poem to bring notice to the rising issue of the depletion of the soil. 

Reference: https://images.app.goo.gl/6VFPD5h2Kjoh7D6d6

Dear School Uniform - Yashraj Sharma

I remember my first day of primary classes when I wore you proudly and happily, but honestly, that was not my first reaction to you. Initially, I felt detached, because you replaced my favourite casual clothes, my t-shirts and trousers. But when I reached school, I saw my classmates and other children wearing the same uniform. I felt a sense of belonging. I felt like I was a part of something then.

I like you and always wear you with pride and happiness as a Shreeyan. Today, I want to confess that I know how I got you soiled in the playground and how you got stained with oily vegetable mom gave me in my tiffin, how you got wet because, at times, water spilt on you from my water bottle. Sometimes you feel lonely when I put my ID card (your companion) in my school bag during sports period. I am sorry for that. Now I am in grade 8.

After grade 12, you would not be there with me as my companion. I will miss you a lot then. And last but not least, thank you for being carriers of almonds, cashews and raisins in your pocket. I am sure my mom is also thankful to you for this. You will always have a special place in my heart, my dear school uniform.

Love you always!!

Your proud owner

Yashraj Sharma
Grade 8
Gyanshree School