World MirrorNews with Views The Global Times Vol.2, Issue 4, September 2008

2

Siddhant ChandelAIS Sec 46, Gurgaon

Full-scale production of the TataNano, billed as the world’s cheap-est car, is facing delays because of

violent protests led by Mamta Banerjeeof Trinamool Congress and farmers overthe use of their land. Production is due tobegin in October but Ratan Tata, chairmanof the Tata group, behind the Rs 100,000($2,303) mini-car, said that he was con-cerned about the safety of workers at theproposed Nano factory in Singur, WestBengal state, and may have to relocate theplant. “If anybody is under the impressionthat because we have made this large in-vestment of about Rs 15 bn we will not

move, then they are wrong,” Mr. Tatasaid, “Because we would move, whateverthe cost, to protect our people. I can’tbring our managers and their families toWest Bengal, if they’re going to bebeaten, if there is going to be violenceconstantly, if their children are going to beafraid to go to school.”Though Bengal government has initiatedtruce and given a go ahead for produc-tion at the Singur Nano plant, troublesare far from over. Tata Motors is firmthat it will not accept any change in theexisting production unit.Comments: Tushar Kapoor (VIII)Vishwa Bharti Public School, Noida:What Mamta Banerjee has done iswrong. Politicians need to co-operate

with industrialists as Ratan Tata, who aredoing things for the people of the country.Bhawesh Chauhan (VIII) AIS, Sector –46: By hindering the Tata’s from setting

up a factory in West Bengal, Mamta isshattering the dreams of people whowant to own a cheap car, into amillion pieces. �

Tata said Nano,Mamta said No-No!

Akshita SinghAIS Sec 46, Gurgaon

Anew delegate joined the list of oursuperwomen; she is not Rani

Laxmibai, who fought for our freedom,nor mother Teresa, who spent her lifetaking care of the poor and the needy.She is Usha Tanwar, who gave life tofive after she died.Mrs. Tanwar, 67 years old and mother ofLt. Col. Dinesh Tanwar, died of brainhaemorrhage on August 9 and left be-hind a legacy for five people who willget a fresh lease of life – through her or-gans donated to them by her son.Dinesh, donated her organs because shehad always felt strongly about it andwanted to do so while she was alive.Her liver was transplanted into a 24 yearold soldier suffering from cirrhosis onthe same day. One of her kidneys wastransplanted into a 54 year old veteran

suffering from end-stage kidney diseaseand the second kidney was flown to theCommand Hospital, Pune, for transplan-tation. Her heart valves and eyes havebeen stored for later transplantation.Comments: Vikram K Singh, ArmyPublic School: “It feels really greatwhen people show such an enormous actof kindness. I salute Mrs. Usha for hernoble act. She surely has contributedmore than just donating her organs.“Akriti Seth, a class IX student at DPSSec 45, Gurgaon feels: “Mrs. Usha hasmotivated me too to donate my organs.If not alive, at least I can work for thewelfare of the human society after I die.”Says software engineer Vidushi Tomar:“This gentle act of kindness has taughtus all a lesson and inspired us to takesuch a splendid step towards betteringthe life of the needy. God shall bless hersoul for she gave them a chance to live abetter life.”�

Dead, but alive!

“News with Views”. This unique effort aimed at honing the‘newsy seventh sense’ makes an interesting read. Reporting onthe top-of-the-top national and international news with a youth

perspective, Amitians display a lot of sensitivity and vision.

Dhruv AgarwalAIS Sec. 46, Gurgaon

☺President Sonia Gandhi and PrimeMinister Priyanka Gandhi receiveItalian Prime Minister Rahul Gandhifrom IGI airport. ☺Dhoom 17 ready for release. ☺“I will play next world cup,”Sachin Tendulkar. ☺Salman, Vivek and Abhishek at-tend Aishwarya’s 3rd wedding. ☺‘Main to ab bhi jawan hoon’, DevAnand’s new movie set for releasewhere he plays the son of AamirKhan and Madhuri Dixit. ☺After remakes of 45 films ofAmitabh, Shahrukh now to playAmitabh’s role in the remake of‘Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.’ ☺Amitabh’s new movie with RanbirKapoor’s daughter ‘Ek aurNishabdh’. ☺Maruti launches its new Hover-craft ‘SX-25’. Honda, Toyota andTata to follow.☺Petrol Rs. 999 per litre.☺‘Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi’completed 2,50,000 episodes andBaa has completed 400 years. ☺Coach Ganguly resigns, as Indiawent out of the World Cup in the1stround after losing to Korea. ☺N. Sidhu to launch his own TVchannel where he’ll be the host aswell as the guest. ☺Riots in Parliament as newlyelected MPs Mallika Sheravat andRakhi Sawant take their seats.

Tickle yourfunny bone

Headlines 2025

Grammar Pill Chitra Jain, AIS Vasundhra

“Teachers teach because they care. Teaching young people is what they do best. It requires long hours, patience, and care.”-Horace Mann

Bhuvan RavindranAIS Noida

Enid Blyton, the creator of the adven-turous Famous Five, Malory Towers,

not to mention Noddy and of course,Timmy the Dog has been voted asBritain’s best loved author of all times,in a nation wide poll commissioned tomark the 2008 Costa Book Award. Theprolific writer tops the list of 50 writerswith Roald Dahl and J K Rowling in thesecond and third positions. Writer ofmore than 700 imaginative and excitingstories in her 40 year writing career, herbooks have sold over 500 million copies.That her stories are timeless is confirmedby the fact that even after her death in1968, some eight million Blyton booksare sold worldwide every year.Comments : Says Venkat Shukla (ClassVII ) AIS Noida: “Enid Blyton is one ofmy most lovable writers and she truly de-serves to be at the top. Her engrossingnarrations depicting the adventures of thetimeless Famous Five, makes one feel apart of their mysteries. Her proper Eng-lish structures often prompt me to speaklike her charming characters.”Reminisces Son Juhi, Hons. Student, St.Stephens College: “As a child, I grew upreading Blyton’s books. All kids love sto-ries involving adventure, secret passagesand hiding places. I remember howquickly I devoured “Five Go to Smug-gler’s Top”. A master story-teller, sheknew the stuff childhood enchantment ismade of. A superb writer.”�

Akhil BhardwajAIS Saket

Exactly a month before former J&K Governor S. K. Sinha wasasked to vacate the Raj Bhavan in

Srinagar, he ordered the transfer of 100acres of land to Shri Amarnath ShrineBoard (SASB) evoking an outcry fromenvironmentalists and politicians in theKashmir valley, both mainstream andseparatist, religious and secular. On July1, The J & K government cancelled theorder of transfer, resulting in massiveprotests against the revocation thatsnowballed into something much bigger.The valley calmed with an agreement onAug 31 after SASB were given the rightsto use the land during the busy pilgrim-age season.Comments: Issues went beyond theAmarnath land controversy. Proposals to

resolve the Kashmir issue tooka long time burning the valleyfor over two months, claiming

many lives. It raised many questions.One, Kashmiris are alienated from theIndian state and want to join Pakistan. Soshould we let them go? Two, Kashmirisare a pampered lot and the mass protestsin the Valley are a threat to the territorialintegrity of India. The protests shouldhave been addressed immediately. Political parties must rise above imme-diate electoral interests and see the long-term gains for the country. At stake inKashmir is not merely the might of theIndian state, but also its ability to beflexible and accommodative within aliberal and democratic framework.�

Chirag AgarwalAIS Sec 46 Gurgaon

Movie, hamburger and coke- triplemazaa. But do you know that ham

burgers cause global warming? Globalwarming! How? Yes, the stats guru saythat 18% of greenhouse gases are gener-ated due to animal poaching. The meatobtained thus is used for making burg-ers. Mc-Donald’s has sold more than100 billion beef based hamburgersworldwide. Do you still want to eatburgers? Adapt to veg burgers.Comments: Anuj Kumar, managerBHEL: “I want to protect my Earth forfuture generation. I will give up ham-burger.”Sushant Bhardwaj, Entrepreneur: “Ishall go vegetarian. We need to do

something about global warming”Vidur Prabhakar, VI E, AIS-46 Gur-gaon: “Leaving burger, no way. I mayinstead turn a vegetarian.”�

Pallavi RatraAIS Vasundhra

There are a lot of things happening inIndia and around the world every-

day. We get to know about thesehappenings from the daily news.But is there any sensible news onthe news channels? The newschannels keep covering endlessmurders, fights betweenpeople and the mindlesscelebrity gossip. To top itall, they repeat the shows asthey have nothing else to show. They

should start showing some interestingnews. For instance, in the month ofMay, India successfully launched 7satellites! But none of the news chan-nels covered it as an important event;and when they did, it was only a low

profile coverage which came dayslater than the real event.It is not that they shouldstop showing entertain-

ment shows but theyshould neither show them inexcess nor repeat the shows.

Instead, they should show something in-teresting and informative. �

When TV channels ignore news

Burger causingglobal warming

Has gold lost its sheen?

Jammu is BurningThe Amarnath problem and beyond

Enid Blyton: Britain’sbest loved author

Raghav JetliAIS Noida

Gold prices have plum-meted 17% during the

last quarter (April to June)and the trend is expected tocontinue. Current prices arehovering around Rs.10000per 10 grams. This steadyfall has been attributed to theglobal reduction in crude oilprices and the weakening

rupee. Trade pundits predict a period ofdormancy and expect no major change

in the near future.Comments: Yash Gupta, ajeweller opines: “This fluctu-ation will affect the reliabilityof gold as a sound invest-ment.”Vinaik, a lawyer is happy atthis reduction in prices beforethe festive season and is“tempted to buy more”.�

“To be a teacher in the right sense is to be a learner. I am not a teacher, only a fellow student.”-Soren Kierkegaard

Agrim SinghAIS, Saket

Curiosity killed the cat, butit made the quizzer rich!From beer bottles and live

ducks to jeans and shoes to lap-tops and foreign holidays, quizzesoffer tons of expensive swags upfor grabs. In today’s knowledge-driven world, quizzing is nolonger just another intellectualpursuit - it’s a realistic and, some-times, even lucrative career op-tion. As the story goes, a theatremanager James Daly, once de-clared he could invent a newword and overnight make it partof English language. Daly hiredstreet urchins and beggars tomark the word on every city wall.The word was quiz, and by thenext day everyone was askingwhat it meant. The ‘act of asking’became the meaning of the word.Quizzing is an endless mind

game; it’s addictive, it’s inanelyfascinating. It becomes delightfulwith a heady mix of informationand entertainment.As a quizmaster, one needs to bea performer. You have to be aquizzer first in order to knowwhat it feels like on the otherside. A good quiz master under-stands his audience thoroughly.He keeps his eyes and ears open.One must take interest in variedsubjects; one must have an apti-

tude that allows to assimilate andstore a lot of information, and es-sentially, an ability to recall themwhenever required. Goodquizzers are also voracious read-ers. Opines Lloyd Saldanha, re-searcher and quizmasterGreycaps, “Aquizmaster needs tounderstand his audience and be anentertainer at heart. He needs tohave a good sense of humour.”If not a quizmaster, you can be aResearcher. A lot of professionalquizmasters have dedicated re-search teams working on the con-tent. The questions have to bewell-researched, double-checkedand well-framed.Being a Quizzer is also an infor-mal career today. However, mereawareness will not fetch you suc-cess, rather, applying a fairamount of lateral thinking is im-portant. In one of the quizzes I at-tended, a question was, ‘WhichIndian city has got its name when

Lord Shiva showered di-vine nectar from his mattedlocks?’ Though clueless, wefigured out that the suitableHindi word for ‘nectar’ wouldbe madhu. Thus, we guessedMadurai and it turned out tobe right!Giri Balsubramniam ‘Pick-brain’, quiz master fromBangalore feels,“Quizzing needs constantinnovation and an end-less thought processes.For those passionateabout quizzing, this isthe right time to getgoing.”So, if you discoverthat you know morethan your friends,remember that it’snot just somethingto be proud of - it’ssomething that canbecome your career! �

Over to

quizzingA quiz master needs to be a performer. He must understand hisaudience thoroughly and keep his eyes and ears open to new things

Moolah MantrasThe Global Times Vol.2, Issue 4, September 2008

3Career/Education

Moksha BhatnagarCounsellor AIS, Vasundhra

Learning spellings seem to sendmost kids into a tizzy. In fact, stu-dents who otherwise excel in

language abilities, may experi-ence strong and debilitat-ing difficulties in spelling.The way most of us use our brainis very similar to using only one fingerof the hand. Here’s a fun way to enhancethe learning of spellings.

New or difficult words1. Look at the correct spelling; moveyour eyes left (if you are righthanded) and right (if you areleft handed) and visualise thespelling in your favouritecolour on a favourite back-ground.For eg. If you want to learnthe spelling of pneumonia,see pneumonia written in redcolour on the background ofthe night sky. To make it moreappealing, you can mentallyplay your favourite tune also;remember things that makeyou feel good.2. Look at your mental imageand verbalize or write the let-ters you see. Check whetherwhat you have written is the

correct spelling. If any of the letters aremissing or are incorrect, return tostep 1.

3. Next, look at the mental imageand spell the word backwards.

4. Compare what you have verbalizedor written with the correctspelling.

5. Identify any of the letters thatdid not naturally appear in yourimage or were not clear.

6. If any letters are missing or incor-rect, go back to step 2 or use the handyhints to clarify your mental image.

Handy hints1. Trace the letters of the spellingto be learned with your fingers.This technique utilizes kines-thetic sense along with the visualimage of the spelling, hencemakes it easy to learn spellings.2. Change the quality of lettersthat are difficult to visualize.Such letters can be madebrighter, put in another colourand background or made bigger.3. Break the word into groups ofletters (typically groups of three).These groups or chunks do notneed to be in the form of sylla-bles or phonological units. Thepurpose of these chunks is sim-ply to help build the image ofsmaller pieces. �

I am 4’10” in height. Most boys in myclass are around 5’5’’ and some over6’. I feel terrible walking with othersand hate the nickname ‘pint size.’ I’vebegun to withdraw from crowd anddetest school. My grades show amarked decline.

Ankit, 16

Instead of bothering too much aboutyour height, try to develop confidencein yourself. Look forward to stalwartslike Sachin Tendulkar and Aamir khanand “Hitch your wagon to the stars toachieve success!”I was invited to my friend’s sixteenthbirthday bash. But, I found my brother

dressed up to go with me. Iknew it was my parents’ wayof playing safe. I was furious,but my desire to go to theparty was stronger than thedisgust of having a kidbrother along. How can Iconvince my parents that I’m bigenough to handle myself?

Tara, 15Understand your parents’ concern. In-stead of being furious with them, make

them understand your point notin an aggressive but polite andrespectful way. Also, you canbehave in a mature andresponsible manner, and givethem a chance to build faith inyou.

My friend Pratyush has become im-possible in class. He is like a jack-in-the-box, always running out. He ispoor in studies, does not get along withhis parents. Of late, he has become

excessively stubborn.Anuj, 12

Have you spoken to your friend? Try tofind out why he is behaving in such amanner. Your friend might be facingsome problem which is bothering him.You have to be extremely patient andunderstanding in realizing his view.Take him into confidence that you willnot let his secret out and seek someelderly help to sort out his causeof concern.�

Counsel’s Korner

The spelling strategyPresenting a fun way to learn your spellings

When learning a new ordifficult word, form animage of the word in yourfavourite colour and back-

Science“Science is one subject that calls forloads of practice. I practiced differentkinds of questions and numericals. Imemorised all the facts and specificpoints related to different topics. I alsopracticed all graphs and Biology dia-grams at least once in a week. I got mypresentation style for each answerchecked by my teachers.”Rishabh Vinayak Das, AIS Gurgaon 43,

Science: 98

Economics“It’s important to give to the point an-swers in Economics. Some chapters likedemand and supply require a thoroughpractice of diagrams. I took practice testsregularly to know my strengths andweaknesses.”

Shwetha Balachandran, AIS NoidaEconomics: 98

Sanskrit“I would study Sanskrit regularly andsince I had the subject from class VIth, Iformed a good foundation in the basics.I learnt the meanings of most Sanskrit

words, besides reading the NCERT bookthoroughly. My grandmother also gaveme useful tips.”

Aditi Upadhyay, AIS Gur 43,Sanskrit: 97

“I followed a systematic approach to thesubject and practiced 10 years sample pa-pers. My teachers gave me assignmentsand mock tests from time to time whichboosted my confidence. Practising dif-ferent types of questions definitely gaveme an edge during the exams.”

Shivangi Gupta, AIS Gur 43,Sanskrit: 97

Hindi“I read all the chapters nicely to removeall doubts. I did a lot of practice for gram-mar, paragraph writing and lettersthrough assignments and class notes. ThebookM3K (MaximumMarks,MaximumKnowledge) is a great one for Hindi.”

Amrapali Rao, AIS Gur 43,Hindi: 92

After all, the board is just another exami-nation. A little dedication, a little persev-erence, and you are ready to bell the cat!�

Top of the tops

Cracking theCBSE boards are a tough nut to crack,feel most students. Well, if they follow adisciplined and systematic approachand make judicious use of the time intheir hands, that’s all it takes to attaintop scores. Read on to see what thetoppers of Amity have to say…

� Flawless language skills � A fair sense of timing � A ready wit � Good sense of humour� Situation handling skills� Well informed/ well read� Stage presence � Constant innovation � Be a good host� A decent personality

Must for quizmasters

P S Jamwal

You, Me & HumWhose life is it anyway? The Global Times Vol.2, Issue 4, September 20084

Ashima KhannaAIS Noida

“Tasmay Shri GuruveyNamah,” meaning, I bowdown to all my teachers,

those who have guided, taken me undertheir wing and taught me all that I know.

With such a high level of respect and di-vine status accorded to the Guru fromtimes immemorial, be it in the Upan-ishads or the System of Gurukul, the roleof teachers cannot be undermined. Edu-cation without an educator is truly an in-conceivable concept, something likeimagining fish without water or in a

lighter vein, women without gossip!Though the role and importance of oureducators has been and will always be asmagnanimous as ever, the nature of thisimmortal relationship between a studentand a teacher has undergone a seachange, owing to the changes in socialpattern and lifestyle. Going back to theage of the Gurukul, teachers were idol-ized to the extent of equating them withGod; as per a famous saying, “KnowGuru, know God; No Guru, No God.”In total contrast, the status of a teacherin the present world is of a friend, guideand mentor – much closer and informalthan before in nature. Nowadays, class-

room teaching does not consist ofmerely a lecture; rather it is a much moreenriching and proactive process ensur-ing equal participation and enthusiasmfrom both sides. Although, this is un-doubtedly an indicator of better bondingbetween students and teachers, unfortu-nately this has somewhat led to degra-dation of values. It is evident in thepresent context that teachers are not get-ting their due respect and recognition inthe society. When one is blessed to finda teacher, pray that one has the clarity ofvision to recognise them for what theyare and the ability to take as much aspossible of their precious wisdom.�

Sakshi Gupta, AIS ED

The teenage is a very important partof our lives. They are the golden

years which would never return. In thispart of our lives we all have some prob-lems which might be stress or emotionaland social problems. There are evensome issues that we can’t even sharewith our parents. So the only peoplewho we are most free with are the peo-

ple of our age group i.e. our friends.Good friends are the only people inwhom we can entrust all our secrets.Come what may, our friends let usthrough. They are always there to con-sole and provide stability during stressand we have a sense of ease when weknow that someone knowing us per-fectly well is there with us. When wefeel shy or hesitant in discussing someproblems with our parents or teachers,we can always share them with ourfriends because we know that they aregoing through the same situation.It is often found that most of the chil-dren who are under depression are thosewho don’t have any friends. In times oftroubles, friends are like water in adesert. Not only helpful, they are com-panions in fun and frolic, too. Stretch ahand of friendship and lead a happy life.Best way to describe friendship �

Delightfulfriendships

“Instruction does not prevent wasted time or mistakes, and mistakes themselves are often the best teachers of all.”-James Anthony Froude

Meenakshi Singh &Baanie Sawhney

AIS Noida

Did you have a fight with yourmom over dinner last night? Areyou broke and your Dad does-

n’t give you a penny more because hethinks your monthly allowance isenough? You are fretting and fuming andhave slammed the door on your parentsthinking they will never understand.Don’t worry, you’re a perfectly nor-mal teenager. But the big ques-tion is that are you reallylooking forward to fixthings up? Mr Fix-itbrings to you some timetested recipes to keepparent trou-bles at bay.Keep commu-nication linesopen: Communication is likeoxygen to a relationship;keep talking to your par-ents no matter what. Talkto them about everydaystuff, doesn’t mean youneed to tell them every-thing, for a change turn thefocus on them. When raising a difficultissue plan it out, choose a correct time,make sure they know it’s important andhave your full attention. If you feel itseasier, put your emotions into a letter, letthem read it and then have a discussion.Disagree without disrespect: Parents

are human beings, they getoffended when their views arechallenged. Never make a

conversation personal. Instead of using‘You’ statements that sound argumenta-tive, try ‘I’ statements that tell themabout your feelings like “I am feelingpressurized” or “Can I do these chorestomorrow?” Instead of saying, “Thatidea is stupid,” try “I disagree and here’swhy.” Listen to their point of view.Don’t mess it up: Don’t think that slam-ming the door on your mom or scream-ing and shouting on top of your voicewill make the situation get any better.

Talk it out and reach a mutually ac-ceptable solution.

Anantdeep Singh of AISNoida believes that teen emo-tions need to be controlled tohelp them evolve as betterhuman beings. He reasonswhy one should listen to

parents, “At this feeble junc-tion of life, we need to conquer

our senses to makethem our trust-

worthy alliesfor tworeasons:We need to

keep our body,our chariot on

this journey strong, healthy and resilientso that this chariot unwaveringly lead usto the summit of consciousness. Train-ing our senses strengthens our willpower and a strong will is required toachieve success in life and to move outof the vicious cycle of failure. So let’sjust subjugate our alluring senses forthese six sensational years so that wenever grow old and enjoy the joy of ourteens throughout our life.”�

Simply Sorted

Nishita Khattar, AIS Noida

As the countdown for Teacher’s day begins eachyear, students compete with one another to seewho’ll brew up the best concoction of cards

and presents to gift our teachers. Teachers are our sec-ond family, who make the school feel like a home awayfrom home. Our ultimate philosophers and guides, theyare full of wisdom and kindness. A doctor’s fault isburied in the grave, a lawyer’s fault lies in his fileswhile an engineer’s fault is embedded in the founda-tion, but a teacher’s fault is like a blot on the face ofthe country. This shows that a teacher is so important

and crucial in a student’s life. But some pupils don’tgive as much respect to their teacher as they deserve.You all must know the story of Eklavya. When his Guru,Dronacharya asked him to cut off his thumb and give itto him as Gurudakshina, Eklavya didn’t show the slight-est hesitation in following his mentor’s orders. This ishow teachers were treated in the golden days. As Kabir-das once said,

“Guru gobind dou khade, kake lagu paye;balihaari guru aapne, gobind diyo bataye.”

Besides teaching different subjects, teachers tell us thedifference between kindness and cruelty, good and evil.They instruct us how to be successful, how to face chal-

lenges and most importantly, be a good human beingand be loyal to our country. According to a famousChinese proverb, “Teachers open the door, you enterby yourself.” Teachers are one of God’s greatest bless-ings to human beings. These knowledge givers are oneof the most precious gems on earth and they are to becherished at every step of our life.�

Teachers open the door,you enter by yourself

To all the teachers on thisearth- a tribute from the cadets

of Amity Indian MilitaryCollege, IMT Manesar

The Teacher King Teacher, O teacher! You’re the goldenlightChildren, we children, buds bloomingbrightTeach us, O teacher, taking off ourfirst flightWant, we do want, tiding over tideHear, O hear, hither has been no greatman everWithout you, O teacher, who madehim so clever?God save the teacher! My heart doththis singMaker of the kings, a teacher, hail theTeacher King

Aman Singh Class X, AIMC

Teacher! You mean the most to usWe would have been dumb creatures Had we not had such good teachers

We would have ever been cheating Had it not been for their teachingNever would we have learnt to striveHad they not been by our sideThey have always shown us the way So, we say “A Happy Teacher’s Day”

Pranoy Yadav, Class IX, AIMC

Lamp-postTeacher is a lamp-postAt cross roads of life

He removes darknessFrom dim lit minds Good students are rareTo come across todayStill rarer is a good teacherA salute to them on Teacher’s Day

Tanay Arora, Class XI, AIMC

Priestly TeachersSchool is a temple of knowledgeTeachers are scholarly priestsWhat they teach we must heedTheir teaching is a holy speechWe are devotees, they are deitiesWe must learn what they teach

Vibhav S Mishra, Class IX, AIMC

To my inspiration Sampurna Mam,This is for you Ma’am, for the onlyperson I’ve ever come across withsuch an enigmatic personality. Thereare not enough words in the world toillustrate my respect and adorationfor you. Though you taught English tous all, you taught me something evenmore than that. All the valuable mo-ments, when you taught us, have beenpreserved in my life as some of themost memorable ones. When youthought I wasn’t looking, I was watch-ing you Ma’am and learning how tolive life to the best. You came andturned the class in to a magical place.I thank you for all the appreciation andscolding that made me a better person.I wish you could teach us forever, sothat I could be lost in the magicalplace that you created with your magicwand. Thank you for everything!

Chitra Jain, AIS Vasundhara

To. Nandita Mam, Bhaswati Mam& Manju MamI may not say it always, but I mean itwhenever I say it. Thank you teacherfor all the things you have done forme. I found guidence, friendship, dis-

cipline and love, everything, in oneperson. Wherever I go in life, I will al-ways remember that I had an excellentguide in the form of a teacher.Alankrita Srivastava, AIS Vasundhara

A teacher tells, a good teacher ex-plains, while a true teacher in-

spires. Thank you Ma’am for being atrue teacher and making me what Iam. It was your duty, just to teach usdrama, instead in the process you acci-dently taught us the lessons of life.

Anantdeep singh, AIS NoidaA good teacher is like a candle - itconsumes itself to light the way forothers. Thank you teacher for guidingus, inspiring us and making us whatwe are today.

Divya Vishwanadh, AIS NoidaTeachers, I would simply like to sum-marize my feelings in two short words– THANK YOU! No matter howmany silly questions I come up with,not complete the homework, assign-ments or try to bunk classes but in myheart of heart, I honour, respect &treasure your role of being ourGURUS”

Ashima Khanna, AIS Noida

TeacherFor teaching children lessons,to help them as they grow,Let this gift remind you,You’re the best teacher we know!I chose this special poem because Iwanted you to know,That I’m grateful for your hard workin helping me to grow.For your constant understanding andfor always being there,To tell me I can do it and to show methat you care!

Anushree Mohananey AIS Sect 46

GT MessageColumn

Pt. Birju Maharaj

The ‘guru-shishya parampara’ gives the Guru a status ofGod, that instills discipline in a disciple, essential to learnany art. I have been honoured with many awards, yet I do not use

‘Dr’ before my name. I offer all the awards to my Guru, only to for-get and free myself, to collect more for the offering.

Know Guru, know God, no Guru no God

1

3

2

F-FrankR-ReassuringI-InnovativeE-EnergeticN-NobleD-DelightfulS-SentimentalH-HelpfulI-InspiringP-Protector

Gyan VigyanThe Global Times Vol.2, Issue 4, September 2008

5Science & Technology

Bhuvan Ravindran & Nishant RoyAIS Noida

Ninja was a free flash game aboutcollecting as much gold as pos-sible as you try to escape con-

fined space full of robots, designed tokill Ninja who relied on absurd gymnas-tic abilities to get away. While, we arebusy negotiating the virtual robots,there’s another deadly ‘X’(enemy)creeping behind us. This enemy is forreal and is christened ‘global warming’.If the present scenario continues, the av-erage temperature of the Earth will in-crease by 2 degree Celsius by the end of21st century.The film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ sin-gles out Calcutta as a city that will besubmerged. Now, only you have thecontrols of Ninja to beat the deadlyenemy and your mission is to save theworld. All of us are players in this gameby default. We have the power to arrestthe enemy and earn ‘carbon credits’.Here are the Ten Commandments tosave the world:Reuse, Recycle and Reduce: Reducewaste by choosing reusable products,buying products with minimal packag-ing helps reduce waste. One should re-cycle various objects. By recycling halfyour household waste, you can save2400 pounds of carbon dioxide annually.

Use less air conditioning: Aircondi-tioners contain CFC’s that increaseglobal temperatures and add to the de-struction of the ozone layer.Change those light bulbs: One can useCompact Fluoroscent Lamps(CFLs) asthey save electricity and heat and even

money as compared to normal bulbs.They survive at least ten times longerthan an incandescent bulb and emit 70%less heat.Use the ‘off’ switch: Turn off lights andfans or any other electrical appliancewherever they are not in use.

Plant a tree: During photosynthesis,plants take in CO2 and give out O2 inthe day while at night they inhale O2 andexhale CO2. One tree absorbs approxi-mately 1 ton of CO2 in its lifetime. Noopportunity for planting a tree should goa begging.Use car pools/public transport: Carbonemissions contribute significantly toglobal warming. One should use cat-alytic invertors to prevent the excessiveemission of CO2 into the air. Use carpools to keep lesser vehicles on the roadwhich results in lesser emissions.Shop with the environment in mind:Being environmentally conscious whenplanning your shopping. Your planningcan retain your resources and also saveyour money.Environment friendly gifts: Shift fromgifting perfumes and synthetic clothesto environment friendly items likepotted plants, jute/paper bags, terracottapaintings, etc. One can also gift wrapthem in handmade/recycled paper.Go organic: When organic food is avail-able, choose it; use cockroach/fly trapsinstead of fluorocarbon sprays.Something has to be done. If one followsthe above listed green tips, one can sig-nificantly contribute to preserving theenvironment. All of us together can savethe environment and look forward to ahappier, healthier and cleaner future.�

Conquering the Co2 menaceAMITIAN NINJAS

There’s a deadly enemy on the prowl. This enemy isfor real and has been christened as ‘global

warming’. We must join hands to combat the menace.

Vrinda MittalAIS, Noida

Today, we all are designer crazed in-dividuals. We have been bit by the

designer bug. Our wardrobes have avaried selection of clothing with variousbrand names, in a wide array of stylesand choices. Children are no exception.Take the case of some students of KGfrom AIS, Noida- Gaurika Wahal andVindhya Venkatesh who thrive on fash-ion and are already shopping for clothesthat are ‘in fashion’. Gaurika says, “Ilove fashion. The school uniform is bor-ing!” Of course, without fashion real lifeis boring. Says Vindhya, “The only timeI can look fashionable is on my birth-days and special assemblies. Don’t youthink what I’m wearing is really cool?”�

Tvisha Goswami & Kaveri ModayilAIS, Pushp Vihar

Vegetables. It’s the only word akid dreads, after milk, of course.Watch out for this scene enacted

in every household: A variety of vegeta-bles are placed right under the nose ofthe kid. A dreadful smell wafts up (smellthat seems delicious to mums and dads)followed by the much rehearsed dictum,“Vegetables are good for you, eat up!”And silently they whisper, “We knowthat vegetables are good for us, but dowe have to really eat them? They tastedisgusting!” Vegetables may taste disgusting, butthey are a rich source of proteins and vi-tamins. Flipping over to see the goodside, they keep you healthy and fit. Justnibble a few bites of the vegetable andyou will realize that they don’t taste badat all. At least, not as bad as you had ex-pected, considering the advantages theyhave. They are good for health eventhough they don’t appeal to the tastebuds of people.Bringing relief to the kids who do not

like vegetables is a study by researchersat Monell Chemical Senses Center inPhiladelphia. The study showed that agene called TAS2R38 may be responsi-ble for children’s aversion to bittertastes. Every one of us carries two ofthese genes. There are two different ver-sions of this gene, with one being moresensitive to bitter tastes than the other. Ifone or both of those bitter-sensitivegenes are present, we are more likely todislike bitter tastes. Mothers (likely to have undergone thevegetable dislike syndrome), howeverbeg to differ. Children, they claim havea natural dislike for vegetables becausethey taste bland. Adding another blow tothe damage is the new generation par-enting with double income, single childand long working hours that justify un-

healthy readymade food vis-à-vis homecooked versions. The fallout -increasingobesity and other health disorders. However, not all fall prey to this trend.Eating veggies can be a delightful expe-rience too. Anuradha Sinha, mother oftwo grown up teens, fought the vegetableresistance in her children with innovativerecipes and tiffins. The personalisedcatering, firing the taste buds while keep-ing the nutrients intact, resulted in a com-pilation of recipes that she printed as‘Healthy & delicious food’ under NitaMehta publications. Listed under ‘best-sellers’, it was an instant sell-out, cur-rently selling its eighth edition. So, next time you are served carrot, dipit in salsa sauce or add sweet and soursauce over broccoli. Remember, vegeta-bles can be spiced too.�

FashionFundasFashionFundas

VegetableSpiceWhen was the last time you tweaked your eyebrows at thesight of those green, leafy veggies? Not after you read this

Studies show that agene called TAS2R38

may be responsible forchildren’s aversion to

bitter tastes. Every oneof us carries two of

these genes.

Pallavi& Shivangi, VIAIS, Gurgaon, Sec 43

Amla, a precious gift of mother na-ture, has various advantages. It is an

unusual fruit as it contains variety oftastes, except the salty one. With sournessas the foremost taste, it is sweet, astrin-gent, bitter and pungent, too. It forms animportant part of the ayurvedic medicine.Charak and Sushrut widely mention theuse of amla for curative purposes.Wehave seen our grannies using amla forpickles and murabas and its formulationsfor treating common diseases. Amla or gooseberry has many nutri-tious benefits. It is an abundant sourceof Vitamin C containing as much as 20times that of an orange. Moreover,what makes it unique is the fact thatthe Vitamin C content of amla does notget destroyed with cooking. The freshfruit contains more than 80% of waterbesides protein, carbohydrates, fibre,minerals and vitamins Minerals and vi-tamins mainly include calcium, phos-phorus, iron, carotene, Vitamin C andB complex. It also containsgallic acid, which is a potentpolyphenol.�

Health PillAmazing Amla

How U doin’?Lifestyle

Shivani VermaAIS East Delhi

Have you ever wondered thatwhy does an apple fall tothe ground? Well, nearly

two hundred and fifty years ago aman did so. The young man oftwenty-three who had just graduatedfrom the Cambridge UniversityEngland, was sitting in the gardenwhen he saw an apple fall. He won-dered what made that apple fall. Ini-tially, he thought that it was the earththat pulls unsupported objects to-wards it. But then he realised that ifit was so, the moon must fall into theearth and the earth into the sun. Abrilliant mathematician, he startedcalculating the distance from thesurface of the earth to the center, thesizes and the distances between thesun and the moon and many othermeasurements. Finally, he reached aconclusion that the pulling powermust be weaker as the distance be-tween two bodies become greater.This explained why the earth did notfall into the sun, the moon did notfall into the earth and why the plan-ets do not collide into each other.The young boy was Isaac Newtonwho discovered ‘gravity’.

Why didthe apple

fall?

“I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.”-Kahlil Gibran

Models: Gaurika & Vindhya of AIS Noida

MuseEditorial The Global Times Vol.2, Issue 4, September 20086

Are you satisfied with the currentsystem of admissions i.e. throughinterviews/tests? What, according toyou, is the ideal criteria for nurseryadmissions?Officially, interviews/tests were neverallowed. I agree that there should besome rule of law but no policing canbe done in an education system. Therunning of a school and admission ofstudents are the schools’ prerogative.There is no shortage of schools inDelhi, yet the growing problem be-cause schools are now being treated asa measure of social status and notinstitutions of education.With the towering cut offs for under-graduate admissions, the mediocrityfeels neglected. What does our edu-cation system have to offer them?The answer lies in introducing newcolleges and even universities. Thenewly inaugurated BR AmbedkarCollege for Arts and Commerce forstudents is an effort in this directionMention one superlative aspect ofour education system that sets itapart from all others?The Indian values and ethics embod-ied in our schooling system makes itsuperior from the others. Along withdeveloping a scientific temper, wealso succeed in making good human

beings out of young children who willone day serve as an asset to the soci-ety. The new generation is testimonyto this fact.What is the one major loopholeholding back our system today?It is the psychological pressure byparents or otherwise that is restrictingthe personality of the students fromblooming fully and thereby marringtheir overall performance.Do you think that our education sys-tem has justly addressed the needs of‘special’ children?We have tried to address this issue in

the best possible manner with avail-able resources. We are already in con-versation with many schools to makethem handicapped accessible. I be-lieve that they should be integratedwithin the same school.Teachers play a crucial role in nationbuilding. Teachers in general have afeeling that their profession is un-derpaid and undermined?I totally agree that teachers help in set-

ting-up of the building blocks of thecountry, but do not concur that theteachers are undermined. I feel thatteachers are highly paid and are giventheir perks and promotions timely. Ialso consider that being a teacher orlecturer, at present, is the best job.Honestly!As per the current system of educa-tion the CBSE and competitiveexams combined are resulting in in-creasing stress levels amongst stu-dents. The ‘Synchro studyprogramme’ initiated by Amity hassuccessfully combined both theCBSE and competitive curriculumcomprehensively. Do you think asimilar model can be adopted by allother schools too?Yes, of course. We have alreadymade many efforts in this area. Gov-ernments schools have now startedwith CCEP examinations. Also manynew and varied subjects are being in-troduced. We feel that every childdoes not have to be gifted in Mathsor Physics. Each child should beoffered subjects and opportunitiesequivalent to his/her capabilities. Amodel based on this principle isbound to succeed and we hope to seethrough one such design ofcurriculum in the near future.�

The whole art of teaching is only the art ofawakening the natural curiosity of young mindsfor the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.

-Anatole France

Wherever one goes, how-ever old one becomes, theinfluence of teachers inone’s life never ceases toflow. She is the one whomakes the school a ‘homeaway from home’.At Amity, I am proud tosay that we take utmost

care to ensure the best teachers, for our students.We build the 21st century teachers who acquiremany more intangible roles as facilitator, a rolemodel, a counselor, and an advisor for all of us,students and parents as they lay the lay the foun-dation for creating enlightened citizens for thenation. The excellent performance of our stu-dents in academic and co-curricular activitiescarving a niche for themselves while making aglobal impact speaks for the dedication and loveof our teachers.One looks back with appreciation to the brilliantteachers, but with gratitude to those whotouched our human feeling. Teaching is moredifficult than learning because what teachingcalls for is: to let learn. The role of teachers in astudent’s life is so predominant that withoutthem, life would be meaningless, directionlessterrain. A good student is one who can extractthe maximum from the teacher.As the Buddha once said, do not believe in any-thing simply because you have heard it. Do notbelieve in anything simply because it is spokenand rumoured by many. Do not believe in any-thing simply because it is found written in yourreligious books. Do not believe in anythingmerely on the authority of your teachers and eld-ers. Do not believe in traditions because theyhave been handed down for many generations.But after observation and analysis, when youfind that anything agrees with reason and is con-ducive to the good and benefit of one and all,then accept it and live up to it.�

ObeisanceTeachers Learning to Teach India

GT m@il

Dr. Amita ChauhanChairperson

Shrey ParmarAIS, Noida

While most higher secondarystudents (both front and lastbenchers!) would hate to

give exams, the various competitiveexams that they have to appear is amammoth target. They slog hard, walk-ing zombie, relegated to pariah status, anumbilical detachment from the rest ofthe world. Crammed in rooms, they con-tinue mugging notes till wee hours of themorning only to spill them on exam ta-bles, the next day. Do such exams actu-ally serve the purpose they mean to? Infact, educationist have actually began toquestion the format of IIT entranceexams that have resulted in the mush-rooming of factories evolving recipes tocrack the boards, defeating the proposedobjective. Students end up wasting two‘precious years’ of their lives attemptingto clear prestigious exams, without ques-tioning, only to realize that they couldnot secure an admission and in theprocess performed badly in school too.The frustration and disappointment,thereafter often results in depression,stress and suicides.The call of the day is to create a systemthat helps identify the subject of theirchoice and focus on facts (not cram-ming). Exams should test the funda-mentals and basic concepts, instead ofseeking complicated answers. AlbertEinstein hated the school curriculum.He created his own exotic environmentwhere his thoughts were not influencedand found answers to most ‘Why’s’.This probably explains his path break-ing discoveries.�

Mr Arvinder Singh Lovely, Delhi/State Education Minster, in anexclusive interview with The Global Times Reporters ofAIS Saket.

The month ofSeptember in-stantly brings

in the flavours of stu-dent-teacher relation-ship and the next bigthing that catches

your attention is the Teach India cam-paign. A noble initiative well begun,with registrations clicking, hasswelled into big numbers motivatingmany to join it. While Teach India in-spires, it implores each of us to askourselves, how we can be a part ofthis movement in our own little ways.Many may simply shrug it off with asnap: “I don’t have the time to teach.”Well my friends, it’s not about timebut inclination that changes the mean-ing of the word ‘teaching’. If I am tobelieve myself, teaching is a lifelongprocess. Are we committed enough toteach life-skills to make ourselves andthose around us, in our small ways,better human beings?

Last week I called up my parents whohad just returned from their Europetour, enquiring about their trip. “SoMom, how many English words didyou learn?” I quipped chirpily. Pat shereplied, “None, in fact I taught all my40 co-travellers from across the world,Namaste”. How sweet, I thought. In

the race to learn and acquire knowl-edge, to excel, to build that competi-tive edge, we forget to Teach.Teaching is perhaps the biggest learn-

ing. My paternal uncle, an IPS inBihar has been voluntarily teachingIIT/engineering aspirants frompoor/rural background for last severalyears in a school titled ‘Super 30’.The success rate has been as astound-ing as 100%. I indeed thought that itwas a noble gesture to ‘teach’ until Imet him. “I am not teaching them.Rather they are doing a service to meby hearing me. I did not realise myinner self until I met this bright lot ofstudents who honed my skills withtheir thirst for knowledge.” Rightlysaid, he reminded me of the quote: “Abird doesn’t sing because it has an an-swer; it sings because it has a song.”Teach, not as a duty, but as a passion.Teach not as a fad, but because youfeel for it. It’s not a school where yourseniors appraise or students score. It’slife’s assessment. Learn each day as ifthere were no tomorrow. Teach eachday, amassing life’s precious wealth:knowledge. �

Congratulations for a yet anothersuccessful issue. The Vasudha updateand the entire competition has been cov-ered very well. However, our studentswho had participated so enthusiasticallywere disappointed that there was nophotograph at all of any aspect of ‘Va-sudha’ in AIS, Sec- 43, especially sinceall other schools had been covered.

Dr. (Mrs.) Rekha RanadePrincipal AIS Gurgaon-43

Amends. Look out for pix on Pg 10

I wanted to thank you for publishing myarticle on ‘uniforms’ in The GlobalTimes. I want to write more frequentlyfor the paper. Can you please inform mehowmany times it is published in a yearand when should I send my articles toyou? Thank you again and take care.

Aditi PhatakAIS Noida

It is a monthly newspaper. You maysend in your entries at the mailingaddress given below.

Thank you very much for encouragingRaghav Paul ofAIS East Delhi and pub-lishing his interview in your esteemedpaper ‘The Global Times’. I would fur-ther appreciate, if you could send ussome extra copies for our archives.If you want, Raghav would be delightedto cover photo assignments, interviewsfor GT and of course he will be postingpictures from time to time.

Dheeraj PaulFather of Raghav

Thanks for your involvement and offer.We shall be in touch.

Teach not as a duty,but with passion.

Teach not as a fad, butbecause you feel for it.It’s not a school whereyour seniors appraiseor students score. It’s

life’s assessment.

“The Indian Values andethics embodied in ourschooling system sets it

superior from the others.”

“I still think ofmyself as a pupil”

MrArvinder Singh Lovely, Delhi/StateEducation Minster, in an exclusiveinterview with The Global Times,

shares his journey from the first day in his of-fice that sounded “no news is good news’’ toeducation being in the news everywhere. Suc-cessfully curbing the high drop-out from 17.55to 5.8%, Mr Lovely has a lot more to hiscredit. “Education is very important in today’stimes. Therefore, I feel that developing allfacets of education has been my prime en-deavour,” he says with pride. True to his vi-sion, through his tenure, he always tried todivide his attention equally towards all aspectsof education. The condition of governmentschools that were on decline were brought al-most to par with public schools. The existingwork culture and attitude towards governmentschools have been completely transformed.Delhi schools’ winning performance at Na-tional School Games, strongly reflects the im-proved sports utilities and infrastructure. Delhitoday boasts of one of largest number schoolsin the world that includes around 1500 publicschools, 1100 government schools, 2000 pri-mary schools, 280 government aided schoolsand 50 central schools. The message that edu-cation is very important has percolated to thelowest strata, so much so that even a rickshawpuller realises that it’s important to send hischildren to schools.Astudent of Political Science, Mr Lovely enteredpolitics by choice.When asked about the subjectshe liked and disliked, as a student, he answerswith a smile, “My likes and dislikes have not

changed over the years as I still thinkof myself as a school student (comeswith the job!).�

“Teachers are the building blocks”

Siddhartha Kurapati, AshishMagoo, Shivika Naveen, ShagunArora and Akhil Bhardwaj withEducation Minister ArvinderSingh Lovely & Chairperson,Dr (Mrs) Amita Chauhan

From bench tobenchmark!

To get in touch: Write to us at- The Global Times, AKC House, E-27, Defence Colony, New Delhi 110024/ E-mail at tbanerji@amity.edu/ Call up at 41888381/41888380

Vira Sharma

Big storyThe Global Times Vol.2, Issue 4, September 2008

7Complete lowdown

"The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn."-Sir John Lubbock, British banker

Kartik Mehta & Saksham SinghAIS Sec 46, Gurgaon

What is substance abuse?It is the overindulgence in, and dependenceon a drug or other chemical, leading to detri-mental effects on the individual’s physical

and mental health, or the welfare of others.Substance abuse is sometimes used as a synonymfor drug abuse, drug addiction and chemical de-pendency, but actually refers to all use of illicit drugsin a manner not dictated by convention (e.g. ac-cording to physician’s orders or societal norms).

Effects of substance abuseThough the reasons for substance abusemay be varied, the society pays the costfor sure. Abused substances produce in-

toxication that alters judgement, perception, at-tention, or physical control. The toll can be seenin hospitals and emergency departments, in theform of direct damage to health and its link tophysical trauma. Jails and prisons also tallydaily, the strong connection between crime anddrug dependence and abuse. Studies have madeit clear that drug education and prevention aimedat children and adolescents offers the best chanceto curb abuse nationally.

Reality bitesTobacco: Smoking is responsible for nearlyhalf a million death each year. It costs the na-tion an estimated $100 billion a year, mainly

in direct and indirect health care costs.Besides the primary hazard nicotine, cigarette smokealso damages health, causes heart disease, lung can-cer, emphysema, peptic ulcer disease and stroke.Withdrawal symptoms of smoking include anxiety,hunger, sleep disturbances and depression.Alcohol:Although many people have a drink as a

‘pick me up’, alcohol actually depresses the brain.It lessens one’s inhibitions, slurs speech and de-creases muscle control and coordination, mayeven lead to alcoholism. Officials associate alco-hol abuse with nearly half of all fatal motor vehi-cle accidents.It is the most common cause of liver failure and cancause heart enlargementand cancer of the esoph-agus, pancreas andstomach. It can be

consumed orally, rectally inhaled or insufflated.Drugs: They alter the mental state in ways that areconsidered by social norms and defined by statuteto be inappropriate, undesirable, harmful or threat-ening. The commonly abused drugs as ampheta-mines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cocaine,methaqualone, and opium alkaloids affect the Cen-tral Nervous System (CNS), produce changes inmood, levels of awareness or perceptions and sen-sations resulting in repeated adverse social conse-quences, such as failure to meet work, family, orschool obligations, inter-personal conflicts, or legalproblems. An overdose of drugs can be fatal.The risk for drug abuse varies from person toperson. The more risks a child is exposed to, themore likely the child will abuse drugs. An im-portant goal of prevention is to change thebalance between risk (teenage pressure) and pro-tective factors (strong parent-child bond) so thatprotective factors outweigh risk factors.

Reading early signs of riskIn early infancy or childhood, the symptoms in-clude aggressive behaviour, lack of self control,or difficult temperament. As the child gets older,interactions with family/school/within the com-munity affect that child’s risk for later drug abuse.Sometimes, family situations such as lack of at-tachment and nurturing by parents or care-givers; ineffective parenting; and a caregiverwho is dependent on drugs heighten a child’srisk for later drug abuse. Interactions outsidethe family can involve risks for both childrenand adolescents, such as poor classroom be-haviour or social skills, academic failure andassociation with drug-abusing peers.

Remember…Substance abuse is not the solution to anyproblem but aggravation of the same, becauseonce a person gets dependent on it, it becomesimpossible for him to overcome thedependency because of withdrawalsymptoms (commonly called ‘cold turkey’).Our body gets so used to the drug that not hav-ing adequate dosage leads to symptoms whichcompels the person to a ‘devil may care’ atti-tude to obtain his fill of the same. Coming outof addiction is not easy and requires medicalassistance where doctors take care of thewithdrawal symptoms by prescribing alternatedrugs. Keeping the person under strictsupervision helps solve the issue.

Prevention or cure?Definitely ‘prevention is better than cure’. Ex-perimenting with drugs, be it smoking or alcoholor any other substance has nothing to do withthe growing up process. Drugs do not help aperson to deal with problems, rather problemsoften worsen with drug intake. �

POLL

While the big fight en-sues, GT surveyed theresponse of the 7 Amity

schools about their knowl-edge of substance abuse.All are united on one stand,that is, to stay away. Whenconsensus says so, why notabide by it and enjoy ahealthy and beautiful life?

Students ofAIS Sec 43

G u r g a o n ,spoke to a cross

section of stu-dents to learn how

much they knewabout substance abuse.

Read on to gauge theirawareness level...

“Alcohol and smoking – are not drugs.Drugs mean cocaine, ganja, heroin, brownsugar. We have heard of students taking drugs,students who want a kick or those who are notgood in studies. They take drugs so that theybecome oblivious of their problem,” saysMamta, of class XII.Radhika of class XII remarks, “I have heard myfriends saying that you get dependent and that asmall dose is not sufficient. You need more. Youget so addicted that you cannot come out of it. Itis like slow death”.Mohit comments, “We have heard that people domix drugs in alcohol to get a kick”.Anmol adds, “Drugs… no – no …….. they arequite expensive.’Nikhil shares, “I have experimented with smok-ing because I wanted to feel that I have grownbig and I can take my own decision. But afterhearing of the problems of addiction I decidedthat I don’t need this.”Karan of class XII admits, “My father drinks oc-casionally and this easy availability of alcohol in

the family mademe try it once. I know I have thewill power to resist it for life.”

The alarming rise in substance abuse calls for people to join hands in the fight against this globalmenace. GT reporters bare the stark realities, to create awareness on what lies behind the fad that

is eating away our health, family, economy and progress. More on the big issue….

Substance Abuse, a Global BurdenThe Big Fight

(Note: Names havebeen changed on

request.)

“Substance abuse, in otherwords, amounts to self abuse.People with high self-esteem donot indulge in self abuse andthose you do have low or no self-esteem end up slaves of substanceabuse. It all amounts to ‘identitycrisis’. People who do not have anidentity of their own, simply ‘goalong’ to overcome that identitycrisis falling prey to substanceabuse in the process. 90% ofpeople become smokers beforethe age of 19. What needs to beanalysed is what makes themso vulnerable at a youngage?Where are they takingtheir values from? It’s im-portant for the mediaand celebrities tobehave moreresponsibly.”

Shiv Khera

Substanceabuse=Self abuseVipula Gupta, CounsellorAIS Sec. 43, Gurgaon

‘No thanks’ technique – ‘Like to try smoking?’You could say, ‘No thanks’.Give a reason or excuse – ‘Do you want adrink?’You could say, ‘No thanks, I have basket ballpractice.’Walk away – ‘Are you coming outside for asmoke?’Say ‘no’ and walk away.Avoid the situation – If you know or see placeswhere people often cause trouble, stay awayfrom those places or go another way.State a health problem – ‘Do you want tosmoke?’You could say, ‘No thanks, I am allergic tosmoke.’Humour – ‘Want a beer?’You could say, ‘No thanks, too much work tokeep myself busy.’Change the subject – ‘Do you wantbeer?’Say, ‘I’m not intothis music at all.’

Cool tips to say ‘NO’

What causes the temptationfor substance abuse?

42%36%

22%

In parties, are you alertabout the drinks offered?

StressCheckbeforedrinking

It’s theirchoice

Yes

NoRefusepartydrinks

Assumethat theyare good

PeerPressure

Fad /curiosity

54%29%

17%

Is it right for celebrities toendorse alcohol/cigarettes?

46%40%

14%

SportsHowzatt!?!8

Aishwarya SinghalAIS Noida

Well, the title is misleading atbest, as in comparison to al-most all other major nations

the Indian Olympic endeavour looks,puny. But Abhinav Bindra’s gold in the10m air rifle can be seen as a crack in thedam. The Olympics have ever been theheight of human physical prowess andachievement and now we have someonewho can look the world in the eye andsay ‘I am’. The school sports captaincomments: “Well, we have the people,we have the desire but what we don’thave is the money and organisation atthe top to make it happen.” Perhaps

India can now be spurred on to realise itspotential and not let countries with pop-ulations less than Uttar Pradesh winmore medals.And this victory will reverberate acrossthe land as more and more people will beimpelled to let go of the blame-it-on-the-government attitude and achieve great-ness through sheer personal hard workand dedication. I saw two 10 year oldsrunning around shooting at imaginarytargets with toys guns. I stopped themand asked why they were doing this.They said in unison, “2020 gold medal”.They may forget that tomorrow and oneindividual gold medal may not go too farin changing much on its own but it canignite that change. It can light that spark.

But the most amazing thing was how heactually won the medal. Bindra and theguy in third place Henri Häkkinen weretied going into their final shot. A friendsays, “That guy is so cool, it’s almostscary. Just look at how he handled themedia. Many of our politicians can takea lesson from him.” And yes, Bindrawith his now trademark reserve and ap-parent lack of tension just stood there

and pulled the trigger and when thesmoke cleared – a bull’s-eye! Yes in-deed, a quite melodramatic but anticli-mactic ending one would say as Henrishot much lower than bull’s-eye and gotthird place. And thus our man of the cen-tury staying very true to his Indian rootsbeat up the villain in the end and camehome with the heroine which in this casewas the Olympic gold.�

Nikita KhattarAIS Noida

Crown...goes to Abhinav Bindra,man with the Golden Gun. The

deafening chants of “hip hip hurray”that I heard on the television screensthe day Abhinav Bindra won the firstindividual Olympic gold medal forIndia in the men’s 10m air rifle are stillechoing in my ears and fail todie down.The serene and classyshooter, who has been giventhe Global Times Crown,triumphed over all odds,overcoming spinal injuriesand loads of criticism to be-come the poster boy of Indian sports.With more than a whopping Rs. 200crores riding over him, AB is hot prop-erty today and yes, the most eligiblebachelor in India too!

The ace marksman is a glaring exam-ple of believing in your dreams and fo-cusing on nothing but the bull’s eye tomaterialize these dreams. The fact thathe doesn’t owe this gold medal eitherto the state governments or the entiregovernment system further inspires usto be dedicated and devoted towardsour goals. The rest will be taken care ofautomatically. The most striking featureabout his persona was the way he re-mained so calm and unfazed by all the

media attention he got after hisunprecedented achievement.So let’s hope that thisgolden moment doesn’t justremain history and manysuch medals follow ahead,thus changing the face ofIndian sports. May the mil-

lions of Indians, who have been in-spired by AB follow in his footstepsand make his ideals of conviction,focus, determination and hard worktheir own ideals too.

The Global Times Vol.2, Issue 4, September 2008

“The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called ‘truth’”-Dan Rather

Sporty Lessons

Purushottam SharmaAIMC Manesar

Who is He ?

We call him a hungry shark or a dol-phin. Phelps, the self-described

Klutz, a real fish out of water on land towin seven gold medals with right wristinjured (note the surgical scar) was justawesome, when he created history on 17August, 2008 at Beijing Olympics. Itwas a charismatic spectacle, an unprece-dented feat, an unparalleled record whilewinning 4X100 meter Medley relay. Theworld stood aghast, mesmerized instanding ovation and uproarious appro-bation to give tribute to the greatest everchampion who completed his tally of 14Olympic gold medals overall.

History rewritten

Standing splendid six feetfour inches and weighing

around 88.4 kg Phelps broke the recordof Spitz which lasted for 36 years. In1972, Spitz swam two strokes, freestyleand butterfly, and none of his swimscovered more than 200 meters. Phelpsswam all four strokes, at distance rang-ing from 100 meters to 400 meters, andwas faced with three swims in each in-dividual event, one more than Spitz had.

Impossible made possible

Phelps’ groundbreaking landmark lefta fiery trail of questions. How can a

23 year old, afflicted with AttentionDeficit Disorder as a child, win eightgold medals at one Olympic, somethingnations brimming with billions like our-selves have failed to do, with the medaltally never crossing one precious littlegold medal thus far. It is no short of mir-acle to win eight gold with five individ-ual and two team world records within aweek of fame and flamboyance. Phelps

was right when he said, “I have dared todream big and worked hard to accom-plish those dreams.” A champion of sternest mettle but mod-est manners, Phelps paid regards toMark Spitz after smashing his compa-triot’s record of winning seven goldmedals at a single Olympics, saying itprovided the inspiration he needed tokeep going through day after day of gru-eling training. Responding to Phelpsachievement, Spitz said, “What I haddone in 1972 was the equivalent ofbeing the first man on the moon butwhat my successor Phelps has achievedmakes him the first man on the Mars.”But, Phelps candidly confesses,“Records are made to be broken, nomatter what they are. Anyone can doanything they want if they really wantto do it. I have said all along I want to bethe first Michael Phelps, not the secondMark Spitz.”

What it takes to be achampion ?

Alot of pluck and aye, and someluck make the recipe of success.

For Phelps, it may not be the end, notthe beginning of the end, but surely theend of a beginning. High regards to this

legend as he already is! Now the worldis awaiting what Phelps will be settingup for posterity because he has setmuch higher standards than aspired forand achieved in the past. Hats off to thegreat Michael Phelps and his gr-8-stgolden achievements.�

Gold rushThe man with midas touch

THE GL BAL TIMES

Swayami Navangule & Akshita Singh, AIS sec. 46, Gurgaon

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt scaled the unbeatenheights, breaking a 25 year record. With arecord of 9.68 seconds in 100m and 19.30 sec-

onds in 200m this Jamaican has said, “Nobodycomes in my way.’ Along with his running skills healso showed some dancing steps and his glitteringgolden shoes to the spectators! This formidablerecord of the Jamaican is a challenge to be brokenand will be the aim of almost every sprinter at the2012 London Olympics.

Now we havesomeone whocan look theworld in theeye and say,

“I am.”

Vira Sharma, ANN

There is no feeling like success. Allstrive for it. All compete for it.And when it comes, the euphoria

is magical. Every success leaves a trail oflessons, to be discovered and understood.Let’s take the case of Olympics. India fi-nally achieved gold only to open and shutits Olympics gold account tally, to be fol-lowed by two Bronzes (Three cheers!).What Abhinav Bindra gave to the gold-starved nation was lapped by all. To hogthe limelight, politicians, businessman,organizations etc poured rewards incrores. (When will we stop flauntingmoney?) What’s peanuts for Bindra,could have been easily invested to trainthe abundant talent to secure more goldmedals. As a child, sports was all aboutparticipation. As we grew up, the compe-tition became tougher, more fierce and in-tense. Then it was only about winningand some more. The applauding per-formances of Jitendra, Akhil and Sushilbrought them the deserved media lime-light. Hailing from small towns, they sus-tained the matches till semi finals. Cashawards trickled in and was forgotten aftersometime. Where has the sporting spiritvanished? Despite the complete lack ofsupport extended by the state apparatus,our participants definitely put in a greatperformance. The magnificent host that China playedin Olympics may please be noted. Howprepared is India to host the Common-wealth Games? Do we have the planning,infrastructure and will to hold such agrand event? Let’s atleast learn our les-sons clear...Lesson 1: Jo jeeta wahi SikanderLesson 2: No medal, no reward Lesson 3: Be optimistic �

Running in dancing shoes

Michael Phelps:His-story,who made His-tory

The Gr-8-st Ever

The Olympics is primarily a team event;however every once in awhile, there comes along

an outstanding individualstory. Michael Phelps has

been, perhaps the best individual story of this

year’s event, followed byUsain Bolt. Their jaw

dropping performancesmakes them truly

‘Records Par Excellence’

Towering olympiansTowering olympians

MosaicThe Global Times Vol.2, Issue 4, September 2008

9Potpourri

Without a laugh a dayAmrithaa Seshadri, AIS Vasundhra

My day starts with a bright lightEnters my heart and lightens it brightIt is the blessing of God I get each morningEven though, I never sit to prayThe tasty breakfast is ready in the trayWhich I hurriedly eat as I’m always lateBut I never miss my busI’m always on time at my school’s gateIn the class I’m always praisedEven though my hand is never raised

In the break I’m always the center of attention for allEven though my talks are most boring of allWhile returning home I get the best seat for all of usEven though I’m the last one to enter the busWhat will you call it? Luck, destiny or fateI’ll say none they all are fakeThere is just one truth that I’ve seenEach morning, my mother praying for me.�

(This poem is dedicated to my mom.)

I don’t believe in luck Ojaswini, AIS East Delhi

The third phase of search for‘Youth Power’ witnessed 70

students participate in ‘Group Dis-cussion’ across seven Amitybranches in Delhi and NCR region.The topics ranging from ‘Honesty isthe best policy’, ‘Mobile Phones: Anecessary evil’, to “Internet hasmade life simple or more compli-cated and “Cinema: A boon or abane?” were discussed with poise andconfidence. The topics announcedimpromptu were received well anddiscussed amicably for 30 minutes.Judged by experts, who impartedtheir valuable feedback was a learn-ing experience for the budding YouthPowers enthusiasts. The participant s,who were judged on content, leader-ship traits, team spirit, decision mak-ing skills and the ability to concludethe Group Discussion shall competefor the fourth phase to be announcedshortly.The participants from the sevenAmity branches who have made itto the fourth phase are:

AIS Noida: Ashima Khanna &Mayank JonejaAIS Mayur Vihar: AnkitaMarwaha & Satrajit SahaniAIS Saket: Akhil Bhardwaj &Mrida LakhmaniAIS Pushp Vihar: Utkarsh Rathi& Shantanu DeyAIS Vasundhara: Skand Bharad-waj & Ruchi.AIS Gurgaon Sec 46: SayeshaBhattacharya & Chirag AgarwalAIS Gurgaon Sec 43: ProchetaChattaraj & Harshita Bansal

Shreyas MisraAIS, Sec. 43, Gurgaon

What do you call a girl who neverlaughs?Hasi na!What do you call a sardar who livesunder water?Jal Andar Singh!What will be the sardar’s name if hecomes out of the water?Jal Andar Singh, you can’t changeone’s name!There are 10 fish living in the water, 1of them dies and the water level comesup. How?Because of their shedding tears fortheir friend!Harbajan gets a Coke can. He gives it toSachin as a gift and Sachin gives it toSehwag. Why?Because Sehwag is the opener! �

1. Who is ‘Mr Fix-it’?2. How does a burger cause globalwarming?3. Name the ten commandments tosave the earth.4. Name the former President whorecently visited the Amity University?5. Who is the creator of ‘Dennis theMenace’?

Youth Powerenters fourth phase

JOKES

Send your answers to: The Global Times, AKC House,

E-27, Defence Colony, New Delhi - 25Five early bird entries will win special prizes.

Winners of Know the GT Contest (August):Chitra Jain AIS Vasundhara; Kushagra Bhalla, VIIC, AIS ED; Alankrita Srivastava AIS Vasundhara; Ar-nish Jain, VII D, AIS ED; Palak Grover, IX B, AIS ED.

The prizes will be delivered to the school

Friends, by now you must have browsedthrough this issue of The Global Times.

Answer the following questions and checkhow well you know your paper.

“Those who educate children well are more to be honoured than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well.” Aristotle

Aman Atal & Skand BharadwajAIS, Vasundhra

All of us can do a great job by re-cycling day-to-day garbage andother items like newspapers,

book covers and popcorn containers.When you are away from home, are yourwater bottles and coke cans thrown in adustbin or tossed away on the footpath? Let’s try to utilise these small items andcreate new and useful things out ofthem.

BookmarkYou need: Stiff-paper (you canuse old cards), ribbon,pencil, pen, colours.Procedure: Take astiff paper of suit-able size. Draw acartoon on itwhich you wantfor your book-mark. It could beanything like abutterfly, Tom &Jerry, etc. Paintthe cartoon withbright colours. Cut the cartoon alongits edges creatively. At-tach the ribbon to one ofits ends. Your book-mark isready.

Wall-hangingYou need: Paper plates, coloured paper,hardboard, pencil, marker pen, thread

and a wonderful thought /quotation.Procedure: Take the paper plate andcover it with a light coloured paper ofyour choice. Write the quotation with the

marker calligraphically. Decorate itbeautifully. With a pencil,

make a hole at the top ofthe plate. Now tie the

thread through thehole and hang it

wherever youwant.Your wall-hanging is ready.

Pen-friendYou need: Pen(without cap),

water, flour, salt,plasticine clay, cling

film. Procedure: Take a pen

and wrap it with clingfilm several times. Take a

cup of salt, flour and water andmix them thoroughly. , apply them onthe pen and make some figures bysculpting it. Let it dry. Paint it in coloursof your choice. Your pen-friendis ready.�

Beauty ofrecycling

Thank you Kalash Gupta, AIS SaketEvery time someone helps youOr gives a gift to youWishes you well or greets youYou just need to say, “Thank You”

The cat purrs after it laps up the milkIt walks up to you and rubs itself against your legIt cannot speak to youBut this is how it says, “Thank you”

A dog also cannot communicateBut wags his tail for the bone you gaveIf animals express their thanks to youThen why can’t you?

So never forget to say “thank you”And “No mention please” if someone says it you.You may say “Shukriya” or “Dhanyavad” in Hindi“Xie, Xie, Ni” in Chinese and in Tamil “Nanri.”�

Some people about money,they worry themselves gray.but is life worth livingwithout a laugh a day?

Who could not love the sound of laughter?to it there is such a happy ring,and the simple gift of laughter,it is such a marvelous thing.

And those without the gift of laughter,deserve some sympathy.For sad faced and humourless people,do not make good company.

The people who cannot laugh at a party place, and with those with a happy and smiling face.Those who say laughter is the best of medicine,How could one disagree?As life will be quite boring without a laugh a day.�

My little sister is so niceshe is full of sugar ‘n’ spiceshe is the star of all eyeswhen I am with her, time flies.

She wants to grow up andreach the skyand go high, high, high.

I don't know why she always smilesif she is scared she will never crybecause she is a baby born to smile.

I know she can do all kinds of thingsshe is a brave girl to grow and shine.�

Shlok SahniAIS, Sec. 46, Gurgaon

We all know about thetragedy that occurred in

the United States of America.Everyone believed that no onecould ever harm US. But on9/11, all assumptions provedwrong. What is the mystery be-hind number 11? Here is whatit is all about... �If you concentrate on thestructure of the twin towers be-fore the attack, you will realizeit closely resembled the num-ber 11.

�Now pay attentionto the number of

passengers on each plane 65and 92. Add up the digits ineach of the numbers. The digitsamount to 11 (9+2=11 &6+5=11) �Astonishing fact: It was 254thday of the year. Note it, whenyou add up the three digits youget 11 (2+5+4=11)Till date 13 was said to be anunlucky number and now itseems that number 11 has alsojoined the same league. Any-body staying on the 11thfloor? Check out.�

The mysterious

2

Preeti, Class - VI, Amitasha Saket

Tammana Yadav V-A AIS Sec 43, Gurgaon

Aditya Singh I-A AIS Sec 43, Gurgaon

My littlesister

Vaishali Tikoo,AIS Sec 46, Gur

Pooja Saini, Class - VIII, Amitasha Noida

College CampusUniversity Buzz The Global Times Vol.2, Issue 4, September 200810

Around 100 startups and earlystage companies attended a oneday workshop on “Raising Ven-

ture Funding: Bridging the LastMile!”organised by Amity InnovationIncubator as its mandate to foster en-trepreneurship on August 9. The work-shop that focused on Venture CapitalFunding was aimed for the Entrepre-neurs/Startups looking for Fund Raisingfor their Existing or New Ventures. Thespeakers for the day included VC’s whohave funded the startups and the direc-tors of Investee companies like SameerGuglani of Morpheus Venture, MukulSinghal of Canaan Partners, AbhishekSinha of EKO andAnkit Maheshwari ofInstablogs.MrAseem Chauhan, CEO,Amity Inno-vation Incubator emphasised on the im-portance of Venture Funding during theinauguration of the Programme.�

“Wise teachers create an environment that encourages students to teach themselves.”-Leonard Roy Frank

Former President of India, Dr. APJAbdul Kalam visited the campusin August. Addressing the audi-

ence, he shared his valuable views on thetopic ‘National Challenges as drivers forresearch.’Emphasizing on the importanceof research globally vis-à-vis WaterlooUniversity, Carnegie Mellon Universityand Rice University, Dr. Kalam saidthat research and development en-rich the quality of teaching andvice versa. He shared the unique-ness of five great minds, all ofthem noble laureates, each onehaving unique traits. He con-cluded by expressing his hope

that Amity University would generate apool of ‘creative leaders’ for participatingin the national development mission.Maj. Gen. K J Singh- VC, Amity Uni-versity welcomed him with a sapling.Dr. Ashok K Chauhan- Founder Presi-dent, Amity Universe expressed hisheartfelt thanks to H.E and eulogizedthe remarkable services he has done forthe nation. Dr. Chauhan, further an-nounced the establishment of “AmityCapacity Building Foundation” whichwould pursue HDVT Knowledge Gridfor Capacity Building programmes andvarious other projects of Nation build-ing. Mr. Aseem Chauhan, Chancellor,Amity University, Rajasthan & Addi-tional President, RBEF thanked H.E.

for providing such informa-tive and life changingmoment to all Ami-tians, which wouldtransform their livesbeyond imagination.�

Amity International BusinessSchool (AIBS), Noida invited all in-

dustry mentors for its annual special gettogether, the ‘Corporate Meet’ to ignitethe spirits of passion in the students onAugust 8. AIBS felicitated theAcademicIndustry Interface Award for the mostvaluable contribution they have made inguiding our students and building the rep-

utation of our business school. The Cor-porate Meet reflected the strong interfacethat AIBS shares with the industry in en-hancing the academic quality in the coun-try by sharing Amity’s vision of makingIndia a Superpower by 2030. �

Amity School of Fashion Technol-ogy (ASFT) organised a panel dis-

cussion by eminent experts from fashionindustry. Department head Smita Bagaiwelcomed the panelist comprising SunilBhargava, MD, Ragtrade India Ltd. &Additional Secretary, Noida ExportCluster; Navin Sahani, Quality Head,PDQ, Asia; Neena Khanna, FashionJournalist; Tandeep, BuyingAgent, Pre-

vue Ltd.; Karan Rana, Prevue Ltd. andDeepti Kiran, Entrpreneur, Opus Con-cepts with saplings. Students posed atorrent of questions to the panelists in-cluding the necessary traits of an em-ployee in the fashion industry,importance of theory v/s hands-on prac-tice, curriculum of fashion designingcourses in India vis-a-vis abroad, etc.Dr. Ashok K Chauhan, Founder Presi-dent, Amity University extended hisheart felt gratitude to the panelists.�

Topics discussed�The essence of venture funding -“Understanding what Venture Fundingholds for your venture” by Ajay Kapur,CEO, SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd;�Is your startup venture worthy? “Dif-ference between being a good company& a fundable company” by Angel In-vestors Ranjit Shastri from PSI & De-vangshu Dutta from PVC Partners;�What do investors look for whenevaluating potential ventures? – “AnInvestors Perspective” by Rahul Chan-dra and Rohit Agarwal� Dealing with Venture Capitalists-Key Insights – “A practitioner’s per-spective” by Sameer Guglani

Mr. Peter McElwaine, CEO ofJumbo Electronics, Dubai visited

Amity University in August. He waswelcomed by Maj Gen K.J Singh, ViceChancellor, Amity University, UP, Dr.Balvinder Shukla, Pro VC (A), ApporvaSharma, Manager, Amity Innovation In-cubator and Mohina Dar, PrincipalAIS,

Noida. Jumbo Electronics, one of thebiggest names in the field of consumerelectronics, information technology,telecommunications, home appliances,office automation and entertainment inthe UAE, with a network of retail storesacross the emirates expressed interest tocollaborate with Amity to start Schoolsin Dubai and UAE.�

Corporate

Jumbo Visit

Fashionphilosophy

Amity International BusinessSchool oraganized its two day An-

nual Global HR Summit that focussedon “Revitalisation of Global HumanVal-ues through New Corporate Religion”.The summit was inaugurated by ArbindKumar, Chairman and MD, NPCCL;Anil Gupta, MD, KEI Industries; RajanKalia, Executive Vice President, MaxNew York Life Insurance; KirtiManucha- VP (HR), Religare TechnovaLtd.; Rahul Soni, Vice President, Rock-man Group of Companies; AseemChauhan, Additional Vice PresidentRBEF and Dr. Gurinder Singh, Pro-VC,Amity University & Director General,Amity International Business School. Inthe summit, two awards: Amity MEDIAExcellenceAward andAmity HR Excel-lence Award were given away. Distin-guished panelists for the summitincluded Sanjeev Srivastav- MD, As-sotech Limited; Varun Mehra- GroupPresident, Ranbaxy Insurance and Dr.Santrupt Misra- Global Director (HR &IT), Aditya Birla Management Corpora-tion Pvt. Ltd. The HR Summit was aroaring success as it was marked by thepresence of distinguished luminaries

who shared their valuable in-sights and experiences withthe august gathering.�

TThe area of A1ternate DisputeResolution (ADR) has emerged asone of the powerful instruments

by which disputes can conclusively be re-solved. ADR is no more restricted to tra-ditional areas and is increasing its scopeand ambit. To evaluate the existing lawand explore new areas whereADR can beapplied, Amity Law School (ALS) or-ganised a two day annual National Sem-inar on “A1ternative Dispute Resolutionin the Era of Globalisation” at AmityCampus, Sector- 125, Noida.The seminar was inaugurated by JusticeRC Lahoti, Former Chief Justice ofIndia; Justice VA Mohta, Former ChiefJustice of Orrisa High Court and Dr.Subhash C Kashyap, Former SecretaryGeneral of Lok Sabha.Prof. M K Balachandran, director,AmityLaw School welcomed the guests. Over50 Students participated in an essay writ-ing competition in which the studentsexpressed their views on different propo-

sitions including seat of arbitration: Rel-evance after harmonization of NationalArbitration Laws, Ad Hoc ADR v/s In-stitutionalized ADR, International Con-ventions and their application toADR inIndia. The students were judged byrenowned members from the judiciary,senior lawyers and academicians.Speaking on the occasion, Mr. ArunJaitely- Former Union LawMinister saidthat globally, dispute redressal is not pre-ferred in India because of too much ju-dicial interference and poor quality ofarbitrators. He suggested that judicial in-terference should be minimized to max-imize foreign investments in India,thereby ensuring higher profitability forforeign players in India.On the second day of the seminar, emi-nent judiciary members, politicians, sen-ior lawyers and academicians includingMr. Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Sci-ence and Technology; Mr. Harish Salve-Sr. Advocate, Supreme Court; Prof.

Surendra Nath, Former Chief Secretary,Govt. of M.P and Dr. K. N Chaturvedi-Former Law Secretary shared their val-ues thoughts and experiences with thedistinguished gathering.Mr. Kapil Sibal opined that the issuesrelated to ADR cannot be analysedfrom local point of view, they need tobe assessed globally. He said that forevery 1 million people in U.S.A, thereare over 100 judges; for every 1 millionpeople in Canada there are over 75judges, whereas in India, for every 1million people there are only 10 judges.This miniscule figure justifies thecolossal work load of our lawyers. Heshared poems from his first literaryventure ‘I see partial observations’,which has numerous poems rangingfrom politics, global warming, terror-ism, cricket and feminism. Dr. Ashok KChauhan, Founder President, AmityUniverse thanked Mr. Sibal for enlight-ening the students. �

How today’s modern amenitieslike video-games are affectingour climate, presented by

Hari Aditya, Arnav Dania, SomilMathur and Milind Srivastva (ClassVIAIS Noida), supported with modelsand charts during the Inter-AmitySchool level Science competition, leftthe audience sensitised to the colossale-waste being burdened on Motherearth. “We have participated in manycompetitions relating to saving our en-vironment, and what makes Vasudhadifferent from others is the objective.Unlike any other competition, this is amovement which we pledge to carryforward. Our team has formed an e-waste club where we shall be spread-ing awareness on how to reduce, reuseand recycle the toxic wastes,” an-

nounced the team with conviction.This, and many other similar projectsformed a part of the competition or-ganized under the aegis of Amity Chil-dren’s Science Foundation (AmityICSF) at Vasudha Level 2 held atAmityNoida on September 1 and 2.1000 Amitians studying in Classes 5 to12 from all branches of Amity Schoolspresented a total number of 195 projectsto the panel of judges at 8 venues namedafter exotic birds. The eminent, twenty-five-member jury hailed from VigyanPrasar, NCERT, Department of Scienceand Technology (Govt. of India), Na-tional Centre of Global Warming andEcological Studies, Amity Institute of

Telecom Technology and Management(AITTM), Amity Institute of Nanotech-nology and Amity Institute of OrganicAgriculture. Dr. Rekha Agarwal, (Na-tional Science Popularization AwardWinner fromNCERT), Pushpa Ravindraand Usha Agrawal Department of Edu-cation, Govt. of India were just a fewnames amongst other renowned scien-tists who evaluated the competition.�

HR SummitKalam’s VisionFormer President Dr. APJ AbdulKalam enlightens students of Amity

Venture Funding Alternate Disputeresolutions

Vasudha Level-2EnvironmentWarriors onmission

Vasudha Level 1 at AIS Gur Sec 43

WassupThe Global Times Vol.2, Issue 4, September 2008

11School lounge

"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge."- Albert Einstein

On August 2, 2008, the seniormembers of the Interact Club ofAIS Sec 46 Gurgaon and a few

Rotaractors, visited the ChandanlalSchool for the visually handicapped stu-dents in village Fazilpur, Gurgaon. Theschool giftedsome games and craft mate-rial which were appropriate for the stu-

dents. It was a learning experience forthe students to see how the school func-tioned. Like any other school, it had acomputer lab, a library, a laboratoryand a music room. The tech-savvy chil-dren learnt how to use the computer withthe help of software which enabled themto hear whatever they typed, making it

possible for them to make use of thecomputer. Children had been providedwith individual Braille typewriters. Theysolved sums faster than normal onesusing the special board and pegs pro-vided to them. The library included 1000books, popular children’s magazines andliterature printed in Braille. All instru-ments in the lab assisted the children toovercome their disability and learn. Theweighing machine would read out theweights, the thermometer would call outthe temperature; the calculators in-formed the users which key had beenpressed and announced the answers!Thehost school treated them to a specialdance show.While interacting with the staff and stu-dents, Amitians observed the severalhardships faced by them, which the In-teractors decided to take up as a projectin their ensuing year’s agenda. �

Conservation of our environmentis a crying need of the hour.Most of us think about ways to

improve our immediate environment,but do not actually get down to con-certed efforts with regard to implemen-tation of our ideas. Not so atAIS, Noida.Under the able guidance and initiative ofPrincipal, Mohina Dar, the schoollaunched the green campaign, ‘ConserveMy Campus’ in July that aims at en-couraging its students to play an activerole in the battle against environmentaldegeneration. “The campaign hinges onchildren as we feel they are the most ef-fective ambassadors of carrying the mes-sage of conservation in its entirety,” sheexplained. The programme follows a 3-step plan to measure, detect and control

energy consumption and will be imple-mented at intra-school, inter-school andfinally at national level through onlinetests, group discussions, role plays, slo-gan writing, collage competition and in-teraction with energy managementexperts. The student who clears all com-petitive hurdles will emerge as the Na-tional Champion in EnergyConservation. “The programme groomsand empowers students to spreadAmity’s message of a greener world totheir homes and neighbourhood” addsJyoti Arora, Resource Centre Coordina-tor. Ms. Kavita Saxena, a parent coordi-nator and documentary film-maker andAshima Thulwani, Co-ordinator, Conz-erv India Ltd., Bangalore are other mem-bers involved in this mammoth project.�The school created history on July

25, when Aishwarya Singhal,Kshitij Lauria, Parth Singh and

Digant Pandey of the school won theprestigious Columban Open Quiz 2008spanning over 3 days at St. ColumbasSchool, New Delhi.Rated as one of the biggest quiz contest sof its kind in North India, the contendersemerged victorious after a grueling or-deal of 4 sets of preliminaries, 4 quarterfinals, 2 semi finals and one final, beatingschools like St Columbas, Delhi PublicSchool (Vasant Kunj), Delhi PublicSchool (Noida) and AIS (Saket) in theprocess.

When Quiz Master, Kunal Savarkar ofQuizcraft presided over the finals, Aish-warya began to “feel the ghosts of ten-sion,” as questions and answersricocheted around the venue. Thingsstarted to literally ‘boil’ when theyounger boys—Digant Pandey and ParthSingh (from Class X) with extreme con-fidence, responded successfully to thevolley of questions, not even batting aneye lid, and thus bagging the fantabuloustrophy and a cheque for Rs. 6000.With a clear eye on their goal, the deter-mined AIS, Noida team emerged as thewinners of the prominent ColumbanOpen Quiz 2008�

Serenading to safeguard sovereignty : Cadets of Amity In-dian Military College presenting a patriotic group songon the auspicious occasion of the eve of the IndependenceDay at AIMC, IMT Manesar, district Gurgaon.

Amity Noida winsthe prestigious Columban Open Quiz 2008

Vaanya, a student of Amity Saketexcels in depicting her thoughts

beautifully and most explicitly on canvasthereby winning a lot of appreciation.Recently, she bagged the second prize inRangalap at Birla Vidya Niketan on Au-gust 6. During the Unmesh celebration,she was adjudged a winner for her paint-ing “Unity in Diversity”.�Vaibhavi Thakur (VII) and Raj

Kishor (VIII) of AIS Sec 46 Gur-gaon participated in ‘The Chess Cham-pionship Spectrum I Competition’ in the‘under 15 category’ held in the BrainGames Chess Academy in Gurgaon onAugust 3 and 4. Vaibhavi won the firstprize while Rajkishor stood second in thecompetition. �

Conserve my campus

Aunique creation ofAIS East Delhi,‘Project - Let’s Step up’ is an inno-

vative and holistic enterprise that in-volves all faculty and students in aunited endeavour to address specificproblem areas. With busy schedules,there never seems to be enough time forvalue based holistic teaching based onpersonality development. The projecttackles a host of issues in an extremelycohesive and creative way like manners,cleanliness, conduct, politeness and per-sonal grooming. Not only is this projectimplemented, but also evaluated by thePrincipal and Headmistress. With extramarks given to special efforts, creativityand consistency, at the end of the ses-sion, the class that manages to earnmaximum marks, wins!�

AIS Vasundhara organized a socialawareness campaign on August 1,

2008 in the school premises to spreadawareness about myths and superstitionsassociated with solar eclipse. Various

schools from nearby areas witnessed thespectacular view through telescopesarranged in the school grounds. It was acommendable initiative to propagate sci-entific attitude among the masses.�

Solar Eclipse

AIS Sec 46 Gurgaon received theState Award for 5th Computer Lit-

eracy Excellence Awards for Schools-2007, consisting of a trophy and cashaward worth Rs 1.5 lakh.. The awardwas handed over to the Principal by

Jyotiraditya M Scindia, HonourableMinister of State for Communications& IT and Thiru A. Raja, HonourableMinister for Communications & IT at aceremony held at VigyanBhawan, New Delhi.�

Let’s step up

Statea

ward

AIS Noida holds workshop on ‘Understanding life skillsand dealing with pre-teens’ for teachers by resource per-sons Geeta Mehrotra and Akansha Saxena (PrimarySchool Counsellor).

CHESS Champs

Heal blind faith

Nationalism peaked to great heightsas Amity International School,

Noida hosted the Inter-Amity PatrioticSong Competition on August 13, 2008.Disciples of Pandit Birju Maharaji,vocalist Pandit Indu Prakash and tablaguru Pandit Nirmal Maharaj were theesteemed judges. In the junior category(classes 4 to 7), AIS Sector 43, Gurgaonstood first followed by AIS, Noida andAIS, East Delhirespectively. In the senior category, thehost school stood first followed by AIS,Sector 43, Gurgaon andAIS, Saket.�

AIS Noida hostsInter-Amity PatrioticSong Competition

AIS Noida empowers students to be effective ambass-dors and carry the ‘Conservation’message forward

rtisticcumen

Anisha AgrawalAIS Gurgaon, Sec-46

Stormbreaker, by British authorAnthony Horowitz, featuringteenage super spy Alex Rider on

his first mission, is a non-stop thriller,with action and suspense crammed intoevery page. Horowitz has followed itup with many interesting novels like‘Point Blank’, ‘Skeleton Key’, ‘Scor-

pia’,’Ark Angel’ and ‘Snake-head’. The book has also been

converted into a film and video-gamesare available. It has been awarded theNew York Times # 1 Bestseller (chil-dren series).Horowitz’s lively writing style makesevery situation in thebook play itself out flaw-lessly in front of youreyes, and creates a sense of virtual re-ality. Full of high-tech gadgets (includ-ing zit cream and a Nintendo GameBoy) and Horowitz’s uncanny humour,the book is a mind-blowing read, with aracing plot, deadly stunts and deadlier

criminals. Danger lurks around everycorner: the risk of being cut into two,charred by flame-throwers, or worsestill, stung to death by an enormous jel-lyfish. The villain, Herod Sayle, is a

cunning mastermind,who evidently had some-thing to do with Alex’s

uncle, Ian Rider’s death, who Alexsimply cannot believe died in a carcrash or that he was not an ordinarybanker, but a spy for Britain’s top-se-cret intelligence agency. When he hasto step into his uncle’s shoes and find

out what Herod Sayle is hiding, Alex isa bit apprehensive, but has no choice.Soon, he is caught in a deadly game ofcat and mouse, with no way out. Alexmust rely on his wits and all hisstrength to remain alive and fighting,for help is not coming soon...�

Bag PackVariety12

The Global Times Team: Managing Editor-Vira Sharma, Assistant Editor- Tulika Banerji, Chief Designer- Dinesh Kumar, Designer- Pankaj Kumar Mallik

ApoorvaAIS, Sec 43 Gurgaon

Hank Ketcham created the wildlypopular Dennis the Menace series

in 1951. Inspired by the antics of his fouryear old son named Dennis, he createdthe the lovable brat with tousled hairwho tormented the crotchetyMr.Wilson.It made its debut in sixteen newspapersand the strip blossomed with popularitythrough the decade. In March this year,Ketcham’s panel celebrated 50 years ofthe cartoon’s publications running in1000 newspapers across 48 countries.The strip also inspired several books ofcartoons, a musical, a television series, amovie and a playground in Mexicowhere Ketcham has his studios. He oncesaid “The world related to and needed amischievous boy like Dennis appear but

he is a product of good intentions, mis-directed helpfulness and possibly anoveractive thyroid.” Ketcham wrote inhis 1990 autobiography ‘The Merchantsof The Menace’, “What a dull world itwould have been without Dennis, peace-ful maybe, but dull.” Mischief is anothername for Dennis, the Menace. Dennis,with his adorable antics, makes an en-joyable read. Quite true. A worldwithout Dennis’ mischief, well, can’teven imagine!�

Shivangi SethAIS, Noida

These days, every second househas a computer and an internetconnection, and children are

perpetually glued to it. One who doesnot have an e-mail is not consideredto be moving with the times. Though,in every way I do regard it as a veryuseful facility but one should not side-line the importance of books. Theattitude of children is changing fast.Unfortunately, they do not realize how

important books are and what a sig-nificant role they play in our lives. Weall know that the computer is veryuseful and informative but yet whatwe forget is that a) it is a machine andb) not everyone can afford it. If at anypoint of time the machinery runs outdue to some fault and there is a des-perate need for some information,then at such a time, books are whatone can fall back upon. They are ourbasic learning banks, one’s best friendand the most accessible.So what are you waiting for? Go and

quickly grab a book.An ode to books

Books are the best,If you’re feeling lonely and do nothave a friend to play;Then books are the ones that will keepyou occupied all day.They help to nurture your mind,They’re also a good way to unwind.Don’t ever leave the habit of reading,Do you know, in a way your mind, youare feeding?So pick up books, they’re really nice,And for this don’t ever think twice.�

Mitalee SharmaAIS Noida

Music is a universal binder-that’s a known fact, but arenowned example of it

would surely be jazz music.Jazz and Blues, popularly known as the‘bro-sis’ genre, are among America’sgreatest cultural achievements and ex-ports to the world community givingpowerful voice to the American experi-ence. Developed at the turn of the 20thcentury, this genre of music, stringstogether African folk, light classicaland popular European beats. Itrepresented a break from Western

musical traditions (and for the better!)where improvisation was many a timedone on the spot. Phew! Very daringmusicians I must say!Nevertheless, their beats alwaysthrilled the audiences (check out DreamGirls- the movie to really get the feel)and they still do.Be it a romantic ambience, a formal andsophisticated or a lazy lounge one, Jazzmusic rules when it comes to adding thatextra zing to the atmosphere.

Gen Y says…Comments Arnimal Kaul of class XI,“Jazz music really brightens up mymood whenever I’m low. It provides methe relaxation I need.”AddsYashvi Mal-hotra also of class XI, “It has thatbewitching power that no other genrehas. The nostalgia transfers me to anentirely new world.”And their favourites? Surprisingly both

love the saxophone player Kenny G forhis earthy tunes (quite interestingly, heis my favourite too!)

Evergreen and upcomingartists

So all those who haven’t ventured intothis genre yet, here’s an exclusive list ofartists whom you want to listen to:•Louis Armstrong•Joe King Oliver•The Temptations•(And of course) Kenny G!And for all of you who want to try outthe contemporaries, don’t worry; wehave some suggestions for you too:•Ryan Farish•Joe McBride•Hiroshima, and the list goes on.Hope all upcoming jazz fans haveenough music to listen to. So hit the playbutton, dim the lights and be ready to goastray in a new world.�

The Global Times Vol.2, Issue 4, September 2008

Dennis theMenace

‘Jazz’ up the volumeBe it a formal ambience, sophisticatedor a lazy lounge one, jazz music rules!

They’ve been written about, theirexperiences talked about, butthey themselves have maintained

a dignified silence about their achieve-ments. At an age when kids are usuallybeing judged for their performance inacademics or co-curriculars, what doesit mean to be part of an elite jury at aninternational film festival? The fourlucky ones, who have walked the redcarpet at Annecy, France as jury in theInternational Animation Film Festival,share their once in a lifetime experiencewith GT...Reminisces Shaurya Athley of AISNoida: “1st April ’08 was one of themost memorable days of my life, when Igot to know that I was to be part of thejunior jury. In the next two months, lifebecame a whirlwind. For the closing cer-emony, as I walked proudly on the redcarpet, there were butterflies in my stom-ach. I had never been on a platform sobig. It was a proud moment to be anAmitian but even more proud to be anIndian. Even today, when I recollect thatmoment, I have twin feelings: one ofpride and other of humility. I am privi-leged and grateful to have enjoyed mymoment of glory under the Sun.”“The visit to Annecy was a great oppor-tunity to enhance our knowledge in thefield of animation. Getting a chance tomeet and interact with world famous an-imators like Michelle Ocelot was an ed-ucating experience. We also met MrRam Mohan, better known as the fatherof Indian animation. He congratulatedus for reaching such heights in such ashort time. I was glad that I made myfamily, my school and my countryproud. The experience will be cherishedby me for the rest of my life,” says anexcited Ruhi fromAIS Saket.“My France experience was awesome!I met many famous people like MattGroening, the creator of Simpsons. It isone thing to be a participant and quiteanother to a judge. Being a judge in aninternational event of that stature is aonce in a lifetime opportunity,” believesAkshat of AIS Pushp Vihar.Lakshya (VI) of AIS Gurgaon 43loved everything about the French ren-dezvous, “It was a truly great experi-ence. Meeting renowned people was anexperience in itself. The best part of thetrip was the sightseeing in Paris; we sawthe church, river Seine and the fully litup Eiffel Tower which looked so breath-taking at night! Our visit to Le GobelinsSchool was an interesting experiencetoo. All in all, an excellent trip!”�

An evening in Paris

Non-stop thriller

Learning banks: books

Book Review