With 558 mammal speciessaid to be extinct by 2100,do you think it’s hightime we entirely reformenvironmental laws?

a) Yes b) No c) Can’t say

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Heritage Series Part VComing Next

The Q & A gallery, P4-5

Waah Taj, P7

Warriors of change, P10

INSIDE

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‘The Show Must Go On’, Attests Youth Power With Aplomb

Bhawna TutejaGT Network

Unless you’ve been living under arock, you’d know what YouthPower is and reading the tag line

you’d just want to cut to the chase andfind out this year’s winner. Well, the tro-phy for 2019-20 was lifted by AIS PushpVihar and AIS Noida. AIS Saket followedsuit at the second spot and AIS MayurVihar at the third.For the uninitiated, Youth Power isAmity’s flagship social sensitisation pro-gramme. The event in its 12th edition saw11 teams from different Amity branchesacross India work on a social causethrough the year. The programme con-cluded with a grand finale where the 11teams showcased their year long journey.But that is just the crux; Youth Power is asaga, and it’s tough bringing one up tospeed on a 12 year long sojourn in a fewwords (there’s always a word limit).Nonetheless, if you wish to gain some un-derstanding of the biggest event of theyear, here are 12 highlights of the 12thedition of Youth Power.

The YP grand finale for 11 straightyears has witnessed a magnificent stage,an auditorium abuzz with over 500 peo-ple, endless cheering, applause and muchmore. Naturally, you’d expect the onlineversion to be a damp squib in comparison.Well, it wasn’t. There was cheers, ap-plause, drum rolls, shining PPT and more.

The who’s who of Amity was in at-tendance. Dr (Mrs) Amita Chauhan,Chairperson, Amity Group of Schools &RBEF graced the event with her presence.The event also saw in attendance MrAmol Chauhan, Sr Vice President, AmityVenture Capitals.

It was a full house as heads of variousamity institutions occupied the virtualfront rows. From principals to vice prin-cipals to coordinators, everyone markedtheir presence – a feat impossible in thenon-pandemic era. (Silly! If everyonegoes to attend the finale who will run theschool. Got it? Good.)

A fab jury comprising Deeksha Mit-tra, former TV anchor and life skillcoach and Richa, an alumna ofIIT Roorkee and former VicePresident, Morgan Stanley,now a naturalist, judged theevent. And boy! The ques-tions they asked (you canread them on page 4-5).

Its tough to containthe magic spread over a yearand so the finale was con-ducted in three parts from Sep-tember 9 -11, 2020. While the firsttwo days saw the teams give theirpresentations, the last day was ear-marked as the valedictory ceremony.

Organised on MS teams, the eventwas as smooth as butter with each par-ticipating team showcasing a sensitis-ing video, a PPT encapsulating theirjourney and a social podcast. Theywere judged for each of these as well asthe work they did in the year gone by.

It rained awards in different cate-gories like every year. Check sidebarfor details. (We know virtual trophiesare no fun, will send the real onesonce the schools reopen.)

All about giving back tothe society, YP lauds any-thing that resonates similarsentiments. Case in point –‘Corona Warriors’ or youngAmitians who came outduring pandemic to help

others. They were felicitated during theevent, also covered under the World

Teenage Reporting Project thatshowcased stories of 31such Samaritans across theglobe. (Read page 10)

There are somepeople you want tolisten to, even if it isin an online window.

Dr (Mrs) Amita Chauhanis one of them. Mics wereunmuted and applauseerupted as she shared, “I missour Youth Power stage. But allof you have put up a very goodshow. I am proud of my Amitians,my teachers and principals whohave worked so hard.” Congratulat-ing the students on being torchbear-ers of change, she lauded all theparticipants.

Praise is inevitable when big ac-tions stem from young corners. Don’tbelieve us? Ask our jury members.While Richa stated that it was heart-warming to see the future generationwork for the society, Deeksha Mittra

expressed her joy for being apart of this programme.

While some thingswere on screen, therewas a lot of excitementbehind the scenes.Here’s some dope –“where’s the sound?”“what is wrong with the

audio?” This went on for a full 30 secondsas the video for AIS Noida was played. 30seconds gone in a 59 second video. As theIT support went problem fixing, the audioreturned – “did you have a problem hear-ing?”.Turned out, the audio was purposelyomitted to sensitise towards the deaf.

Just as water confirms to the shape ofthe vessel that contains it, Youth Powertoo beautifully adapted to the virtualrealm; its ability to quench the thirst ofchange remaining undeterred. And justlike water, the magic of Youth Powerflows on to its 13th edition.

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In line, WinnerAIS Noida and AIS Pushp Vihar

First runner upAIS Saket

Second runner upAIS Mayur Vihar

Best YP Presentation AIS Gurugram 46

Best Documentation AIS Pushp Vihar

Best Fund Raising Model AIS Vasundhara 1

Best Research StrategyAIS Vasundhara 6

Best Community Outreach Programme AIS Jagdishpur

Best Awareness Movie AIS VKC Lucknow

Best Social Implementation AIS Gurugram 43

Best Social Media Engagement AIS Noida

Best Panel Discussion AIS Mayur Vihar

Best Social Podcast AIS Saket

Jury’s Special Mention AIS VYC Lucknow

Best Mentor TeacherSonia Rao, AIS Vasundhara 1

"I am sohappy that12 yearsdown theline, YouthPower has become aprogramme where allmy Amitians workselflessly to give backto the society andspread happiness incountless lives."

Winner Board

First runner up Second runner up

WinnerWinner

Best Mentor Teacher

World Mirror News and Views

THE GLOBAL TIMES | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 20202Bugatti Chiron is the fastestcar in the world as it can dash0-100 mph in more than 2.3 secand costs 3 million USD.

Car crazy!

Around TheW RLDGT keeps the newswire ticking by bringingyou news from around the globe

►Peru: President Martin Vizcarra faces impeachment hearing on grounds of ‘moral incapacity’ ►Colombia: Protests erupt inBogota after the death of a man tasered by police ►Afghanistan: Peace talks between Afghan govt and Taliban begins

News Flash

Govt launches 15 challengesfor startups and MSMEsTaking a step towards AatmanirbharBharat and reduce India’sdependence on input imports, NITIAayog has announced 3 challengeseach across 5 ministries for IndianMSMEs and startups. Eachchallenge will have 2 winners, eligiblefor a grant of upto 50 lakhs INR. Theprojects in advanced stages withprototypes will only be selected.

INDIA

Spacecraft named afterKalpana ChawlaNorthrop Grumman, an aerospacetechnology company, have namedtheir next space station resupply ship‘SS Kalpana Chawla’ to honour DrKalpana Chawla, the first woman ofIndian descent to go to space. Thespacecraft will be launched into orbitfrom Virginia on September 29.

USA

Fire wreaks havoc at Europe’slargest refugee campA fire at the Moria refugee camp wreakedhavoc.The place which housed morethan 12,000 people was mostly burned tothe ground. The camp had facedcondemnation in the past for its poorliving conditions and holding peoplemore than four times its original capacity.

GREECE

First woman to win Africa PrizeCharlette N’Guessan, a 26 year old,has become the first woman to win theRoyal Academy of Engineering’sAfrica Prize for Engineering Innovationfor BACE API, a digital verificationsystem she created that uses AI andfacial recognition to verify a person’sidentity. She was awarded 33,000USD for the same.

GHANA

Boycott calls for Disney’sremake of MulanDisney’s live action remake ofMulan has come under fire aspublic gained knowledge thatsome scenes were shot inChina’s Xinjiang, where multipleinternment camps to abuse theregion’s Muslim population hasbeen documented. The calls forboycott were also raised whenLiu Yifei, the lead actress,showed support for Hong Kong’spolice brutality against protestorslast year.

CHINA

Tokyo Olympics unfazedby CoronavirusJohn Coates, Vice President,International OlympicCommittee, has declared thatthe Tokyo Olympics in July 2021will go ahead ‘with or withoutCOVID-19’ and will not beaffected due to the pandemic.The event has already beenpostponed once as it wasoriginally scheduled for 2020.

JAPAN

India proudly returns toVenice Film FestivalChaitanya Tamhane, with hislatest film, The Disciple, madeIndia proud at the Venice FilmFestival as the movie markedIndia’s return to the festival after along gap of nearly two decades.The film which narrates the storyof classical musicians, alsobagged the prestigious FIPRESCIaward at the event.

ITALY

NORWAYMP nominates Donald Trump forNobel PrizeChristian Tybring-Gjedde, Norwegian MP,has once again nominated US PresidentDonald Trump for the 2021 Nobel PeacePrize for playing a ‘key role’ in negotiatingpeace between UAE and Israel, and NorthKorea and South Korea.

3THE GLOBAL TIMES | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

Education & EnhancementLearning CurveBugatti La Voiture Noire at$18.68 million (INR 132 crore) isthe costliest car in the world.C

ar c

razy

!

AUUP

With elated broadsmiles and proud pa-triotic hearts, AUUP

celebrated the 74th Independ-ence Day virtually. The eventwas inaugurated with the hoist-ing of tricolour flag by FounderPresident, Dr Ashok K. Chauhanin presence of chancellor, DrAtul Chauhan; Prof (Dr)Gurinder Singh, group VC; Lt.General Sikand, DG, Skill De-velopment & Vocational Studiesand Prof Bhawna Kumar, VP,RBEF. The flag hoisting was fol-

lowed by launch of new initia-tives to strengthen Global StudyPrograms in association withGlobal Consortium of Univer-sity Partners.During the virtual session,Founder President introducedATOMIC Vision- a notion for allAmitians to inculcate in thesetough times where the wordATOMIC stands for ‘Attack TheOpportunities & Monitor the Im-plementation and Control’.The day also marked the launchof Amity Centre of Happiness,previously known as HappynessClub of Amity International

Business School, AUUP,buzzing with loads of weekly ac-tivities to establish joy in peo-ple’s lives. The newly launchedCenter of Happiness assured thatit will adopt and abide the newATOMIC vision by observingATOMIC happiness as a bench-mark for bringing success andgrowth to the center. It will keepa balance through research andinnovation focusing on acade-mia, organisational and nationalhappiness, launching Journal ofhappiness, magazine of happi-ness as well as engaging with thecommunity on platforms in cel-ebration mode to build the spiritof belongingness. Students from other depart-ments of Amity University,Uttar Pradesh, zealously par-took in the virtual ceremony aswell, bringing forth joy withtheir ecstatic dance and singingperformances.

Reported by Ayush Gupta,BBA (Sem V), Vaishnavi Jha,B.Tech Biotechnology (SemVII) & Palak Verma, PhD

(Sem II); AUUP, AIBS

Of ATOMIC Magnitude For Future GrowthInstilling a vision

A Peep Into The Nordic Education SystemNord if you understand!

Founder President Dr Ashok K. Chauhan and Dr Atul Chauhan address the virtual session

The Two Generations That Have Nothing In Common Finally Have A Face Off

Tanya TalwarAIS Pushp Vihar, XII

Across the globe, the ideaof education variesfrom country to country.

One such unique system of edu-cation is of Nordic countries.The education system is strik-ingly different in its provision ofa holistic view of education. Itfollows no standardised testingapart from one voluntary matric-ulation exam. The students aregraded on an individual basis.Instead of tumbling from teacherto teacher every year, the system

believes in the concept of oneteacher to deeply analyse thelearning capacity and bent ofeach student, helping them buildtheir future cohesively. The mostimportant feature of this educa-tion system is that they don’t be-lieve in competition. There is noclass for ‘gifted students’. Thosewho excel more than others areexpected to help academicallyweak students. The education system dismissesarbitrary merit-based systems ofgrading. There is a higher focuson equitable schooling than anordinal approach. All students

are provided with free meals,regular counselling and individ-ual based guidance. It encour-ages relaxed environments,longer but fewer classes and lesshomework and with no conceptof after school tuitions. With this kind of education sys-tem, all one can say is, inculca-tion of a more comprehensiveway of education persists to bethe need of the hour for pluralityof institutions around the globe,as it was articulately stated byJohn Dewey, “education is aprocess of living, not a prepara-tion for the future.” G T

Millennials vs gen Z: boards edition

Screenshot of the virtual Independence Day celebration

Rishika Gupta, XI & ShhourayaChadha, XII, AIS Saket

Sometimes, our studiesseem like the hardest thingever. I can’t even imaginea scenario tougher thanours today. And yet, Ioften find millennialstelling me that theyhad it harder than us.Well, I don’t exactlybelieve that, but Iguess I’ll keep anopen for now mindand see what theyhave to say.

Cut-offsMillennial: Even adecade after my 12thBoards result, mymom cannot cool it withpraising me for getting

90%. It was a proud mo-ment for all of us… *a wave of

nostalgia hits and there is a hint ofhope in the now, glittering eyes*.Gen Z: 90%. Sounds like an amazingnumber for something like a discount,but not good enough when you’re liv-

ing in 2020. Correct me if I’mwrong but the current cut-offfor top colleges is higherthan the germ protection of-fered by Dettol (99.99%).

Extra-curricularMillennial: Extra-curricular? What’sthat? This term is as non-existent for usas your plans of concentrating on yourstudies without checking your phonemultiple times. In our times, extra-cur-ricular meant wastage of time and therewas no such thing as interest! *shakeshead in disbelief*Gen Z: Well, today if you’re not in-volved in 100 activities and don’t have500 certificates, you’re as good as a sit-ting cow (like the one that can be seenstopping all the traffic, living the bestlife). So, they basically want us to doeverything and nothing at the same time.

Prepping UpMillennial: We had regular tests and apre-board to prepare us before the actualboard exams. Such tough times!Gen Z: We first have tests. Then wehave a pre-pre-board. Then we have areally tough pre-board. And if you’refortunate enough to fall short by a fewmarks in these ‘easy-peasy’ exams thenyou get to give exciting re-tests. So, yousee, life just gets easier and easier.

Pressure Cooker Millennial: We did not have any onemarker questions. By the time wereached the end of the paper, it seemedlike our hands might just fall off, that isif we had time to complete the paper.*Flashbacks through time and takes a

big sigh of relief in an attempt to forgetthe decade-old pressure*Gen Z: The one marker questionshaven’t made our lives any easier. Theyjust add to the number ofquestions and we can’tjust ‘eenie meenieminey moe’ throughthem. Though, withthe high expecta-tions and non-ex-istent burdenwe’re surely priv-ileged. *Eye rollsto brush off thehuge pressurethat has just dou-bled with time*

After-tasteMillennial: Rightfrom the neighbour-hood aunty we havenever spoken to, to thelong forgotten family members, every-one cared about our marks. After all, itwas real fun comparing it to everyoneelse they knew. And nobody could eventhink about beating ‘Sharma Ji’s son’.Gen Z: Well, I won’t say anything haschanged in that sense. The list of peoplehas only become longer. But, we dohave an added quest. Thetask of posting our resultson social media is greaterthan any other. G T

YP 2019-20 Q & A Session

THE GLOBAL TIMES | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 20204 An airbag inflates within40 milliseconds of a crash.

Car crazy!

Here’s How The Teams Aced The Volley Of Questions From Jury Members At YP Finale

Expert: Deeksha Mittra, Life Coach Speaks: “Responsibility means abilityto respond, wherever you are and inwhatever situation you should have thatsensitivity in you to respond to every sit-uation in best possible manner. I amvery happy to see that in present times

these young change makers from Amity Group of Schools insteadof getting disheartened or complaining previous generations fortheir present sufferings, thought to transform the society for better.They are indeed the inspiring torch bearers who at such tender agehave such great insights into social issues which need immediateattention. I am impressed with the holistic approach of every YPteam for their respective social causes.”

What role does social media play in sensitisingabout any social cause?The involvement of social media is paramount inspreading cognisance about any social cause. Dur-ing our campaign, it played a huge role in convey-

ing our cause to a larger audience. Upon our interactions with familieswith special children, we came to know that many parents are notcomfortable sharing about their special children. Social media is oneplace that offers anonymity, and it allows these families to reach outto experts and interact with other families with the same outlook.

According to WHO, the prevalence of diabetes, mortality rates, can-cer deaths, etc., has seen a surge in the recent years. Do you thinkthere is something wrong with the very base of our functioning?Humans are undergoing several changes because of the prevalenceof several diseases and conditions that have increased substantiallyover the years. Diseases such as cancer, diabetes have a biologicalreason behind them, but when it is about mental conditions likeautism and dyslexia, there is still a lot to be figured out. These con-ditions cannot be regarded as a result biological imbalance and hence,scientists across the world are still doing research to find the reasonsfor such mental conditions.

YP Team, AIS Saket Cause: Special care for the special needs

You talked about buying things only whennecessary and not out of want. Can youquote some incident where you managedto resist from buying something that youreally wanted to possess?

Before this initiative began, we would procure any attractive itemthat we came across while exploring a nice fancy store, even if it wasabsolutely unnecessary. However, our YP journey taught us that wecan certainly hold back our impulsive habits and refrain from pur-chasing something that doesn’t really hold an immediate purpose. Westarted with simple stationery items like using refillable pens and theblank pages of used notebooks for our personal use. We also usedthis measure during our endeavour by combining blank pages of oldnotebooks and distributed it to the underprivileged kids, through anNGO called Rupantar.

While researching on the topic, did you hear about types of wastesuch as chemical waste, heavy metals, volatile organic compounds(VOC). If so, can you please name the measures that can be takento mitigate these kinds of wastes?Upon online research and expert interactions, we realised that theusage of several products leads to the generation of harmful chemicalwaste. During one of our interactions with Mr Shantanu from SpaceIndia and Sankalp Goyal from Moti Packaging, gave us an under-standing of space waste and packaging waste respectively. We wereapprised how these are main contributors towards hazardous wasteand the methods being devised in order to mitigate them. For exam-ple, Space India is collaborating with ISRO to create reusable rockets.In the same way, Moti Packaging has also developed eco-friendlypackaging for a greener planet. We think, every such practice can bemade organic, so that it makes the planet greener with time.

YP Team, AIS Mayur ViharCause: Management of waste

Plastic being such a necessity in a layman’slife, did you ever come across any fact thattruly shocked you and made you realise whata huge issue this problem is?Humans are dependent on plastic, but comingface to face to this reality was definitely an

eye-opener for us. As we went on with our project, we found that ap-proximately 60% of Gurugram residents feel that the plastic wastemanagement implied in their locality is inefficient or useless alto-gether, which is why it became our goal to fix this issue. For the same,we collaborated with companies like EcoGreen and KK Plastics toensure that the plastic our society carelessly uses and throws awayactually ends up being properly disposed of.

Anirudh Narwal, YP Team, AIS Gurugram 43

Plastic waste and plastic management is a serious issue, somethingthat even grown-ups ignore, so how difficult was it for you to edu-cate the junior section of the society and how was the response?In our experience, the junior section of our school were much moreenvironmentally-conscious than any other grown up would have eventhought. As we started interacting with the tiny tots of our schools toconduct anti-plastic activities, we received maximum participation.They themselves came up to us, telling us how they prefer using steeland metallic bottles instead of plastic. Whenever we would carry outthe campaign in school, kids could come up to us and call us ‘Anti-plastic warriors’ which was such a confidence boost for us; it willedus and motivated us to work even harder.

Ishrita Gandhi, YP Team, AIS Gurugram 43Cause: Say ‘NO’ to plastic

As the only male member in the team, what areyour views on boys wearing pink and theridicule that follows?I personally have always loved wearing pink andthis is less out of a conscious protest but morebecause I feel that I look good in this colour. And,

I think that’s the way it really should be. Why do we even have togive weightage to such stereotypes in the first place. So, I choose towear pink, a so called feminine colour, irrespective of any derogatoryremark that is thrown at me. I really don’t seek the approval of peoplewho are ignorant. And believe it or not, you would do too, if only webreak away from such gender-based stereotypes.

Paras Pandey, YP Team, AIS VKC Lucknow

When we say equality, are we trying to place and weigh orangesand apples on the same scale? Is this what we mean by equality?Equality does not mean oranges and apples are same; equality is whenoranges and apples are both considered fruits with their individualityintact. Likewise, when we say men and women are equal, what wemean here is that they should together as humans get the same rightsand resources. For, we are all humans first, men and women afterwards.

Alisha Ojha, YP Team, AIS VKC LucknowCause: Gender sensitisation

When you say ‘we are what we eat’, do you think itonly ends up referring to our physical state?‘We are what we eat’ refers to who we really are; itsignifies that whatever we eat determines our physi-cal and mental health. Which is why it’s important

for us to eat healthy so that our body stays fit and our psychologicalstate remains flourishing. It is, after all, our brain that makes us whowe are, so we should be very careful about what we feed it with.

Aakarshika Singh, YP Team, AIS VYC Lucknow

Your YP topic was ‘Debunk the junk’, but what do you think is thebiggest irony when we talk about junk food and how it is so tempt-ing to the common masses?It’s ironic how when we say junk, only negative connotations jumpto our minds. We imagine useless items that nobody wants, but adda ‘food’ after it and suddenly we think of pizzas and fries. But if it is‘junk’ food, shouldn’t we be throwing it in the dustbin, like any otherjunk? Considering how 90% of the happy hormones are produced byour gut, we definitely shouldn’t feed junk to our mind, body and soul.

Kainaat Arif, YP team, AIS VYC LucknowCause: Say no to junk food

How did the initiative affect students of yourschool and how did you respond to them?During our campaign, we designed mood-trackers, which individuals could use to moni-tor their moods and were distributed amongstthe students. After some time, we collected

them back and noticed that one student’ s mood tracker had more neg-ative moods than usual. So, we approached the student and connectedhim to our school counsellor to discuss his problems. His parentswere informed about it as well and they really appreciated our meth-ods. Along with that, our initiative sensitised the students not onlyabout mental health but also the impact of use of derogatory words.

Hormones play an important role in our mental health, especiallyserotonin. What do you have to say about the same?Hormones have a crucial influence on our mental health. Serotonin,also known as the ‘happy hormone’, contributes to our overall well-being and happiness. There are other hormones as well in the bodythat are equally responsible for our happy moods such as dopamineand oxytocin. These hormones bring changes to our emotions whichin turn impact our mental health. For example, a lack of the hormoneserotonin may cause depression, anxiety and sleep disorders amongother behavioural changes.

Anupriya Bhatnagar, YP Team, AIS Vasundhara 1Cause: Mental Health

The Q &A gallery

AIS Mayur Vihar AIS VKC AIS Gurugram 43 AIS VYC AIS Saket AIS Vasundhara 1

5THE GLOBAL TIMES | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

Q & A SessionYP 2019-20Car

cra

zy! The first car did not had a

steering wheel, it was operatedby a lever.

Expert:Richa, The NaturalistSpeaks: “Over the time our mechanisticand reductionistic approach has made usget far away from nature, we have for-gotten that we are made of ‘Pancha-boota’, we are made from nature and ifwe continue to extract and destroy thenature, we will eventually hurt our-selves. It’s heartening for me to see how

the YP teams picked up relevant social causes as well as workedso passionately for the same. I feel that the youth should alwaysfind solutions to fix the cause. Remember, when water overflowswe fix the tap and do not go looking for corks. As the leaders oftomorrow, now, the onus lies on youngsters to reclaim the humanspecies from toxins and create a beautiful better world. Congrat-ulations to the students for putting up a stupendous show.”

Can you share what was the thought behind de-ciding on the name ‘Sakhaa’ for your YouthPower cause?It started with my grandfather, fondly called Nanuby me. He led a happy and happening life for 67odd years both personally and professionally. Two

years back, I lost him to Parkinson’s disease which had rendered himcompletely immobile and dependent on us. I was a part of his dailylife, from feeding him to changing his diapers. This revealed the in-sensitivity of a few of my friends with whom I shared my daily rou-tine. I also discovered the loneliness that elderly people go throughin their lives. They are in need of a friend and that’s how we came upwith the name Sakhaa, which will always remain close to my heart.

Medhavi Jagmohan, YP Team, AIS Vasundhara 6

Can you share how your experience changed with your grandpar-ents prior to picking up this cause and post it?After being a part of this campaign, I learnt that senior citizens haveso many experiences to share and so much knowledge to give. Whenwe visited Shashiraj Foundation, the elderly residents there sharedwith us their life experiences. We in turn gave them technologicalhelp and informed them about helpful apps such as ElderAid. Fromthis journey, we have understood that senior citizens have a lot toshare and we must enlighten ourselves with the wisdom of elderly.

Sparsh Rastogi, YP Team, AIS Vasundhara 6Cause: Care for senior citizens

There was one thought provokingactivity in your report, based onBHAAG- Behaviour, Hard work,Attitude, Ambition and God. Howdo you think God contributes inour healing and fitness?

God is one omnipresent being who gives us inner strength and if wehave that, we can achieve anything in life. It is our belief and willpower from within that pushes us to reach our goals. Keeping the at-tributes of BHAAG in mind, we encouraged students to exercise dailyand make it a habit and assured that if they are willing to do that,God will help them achieve their goal.

Charvi Mendiratta, YP Team, AIS Pushp Vihar

Diet and lifestyle play a huge role in healthy living and you reachedout to many people to communicate the same. Did you also interactwith senior citizens to understand lifestyle and food of their time?In the modern world, our grandparents are the ones who offer us theiradvice of experience in terms of what we are doing wrong, be it in-tensive gyming or intake of artificial nutrients. As a part of our cam-paign before the lockdown, we interacted with the old aged peopleto gather fitness tips from them. We also posted it on our social mediaso that maximum number of people could benefit from it.

Isha Agarwal, YP Team AIS Pushp ViharCause: A step towards fitness

Upon your insightful interactions with cancersurvivors, what do you think worked more forthem? Was it empathy, love and positivity, orthe medical treatments?After we came across various fighters who gotthrough cancer, we realised that even though

chemo therapies and proper treatments are crucial to overcome thisdisease; however, more than that, what kept them going was the men-tal and emotional support that they were offered with, be it their fam-ily, friends or even the doctors themselves. A normal and positiveenvironment is what gives them the hope and strength to endure theinternal pain and get through the entire period of this battle.

What role do you think detox plays in fighting cancer?During our campaign, our team shed light on various plants likewheatgrass and tulsi, that contain high detoxification properties.Detox plays a significant role in cleansing the blood, regulating oxy-gen flow, and increases red blood cells in the body. This is in turncrucial in mitigating cancer, because cancer cannot thrive in a lowoxygen environment. Even if we incorporate intermittent fasting itcan help in detoxification, but what goes a long way is taking care ofour eating habits and lifestyle, ensuring that our body is not deprivedof even the little things that are great in preventing cancer.

YP Team, AIS Gurugram 46Cause: Fighting cancer

To convince people to spend an entire day with-out air conditioner is tough, how did the you goabout it?It was easy to convince our fellow school matessince they supported our cause but to convinceparents and families was a tough job. We wouldoften hear them say that we are just whiling away

our time and that we should be more inclined towards academics, butit didn’t deter us from achieving our goal. And I reckon, this is wherethe need to sensitise people towards the environment comes to theforefront. We along with the help from our volunteers unfailingly sen-sitised our compeers who in turn convinced their families at home topartake in the cause, creating a chain of love and affection for ourprecious mother Earth; also safe-guarding our own selves and our fu-ture in the process.

Fatima Samreen, YP Team, AIS Jagdishpur

When we talk about global warming, we generally hear about car-bon dioxide but did you also happen to hear about nitrous oxideand methane?All these gases are known as greenhouse gases which majorly con-tribute to global warming. While we hear more about carbon dioxidein our daily life, nitrous oxide is 300 times more potent and methane’spotency rate is about 60 times more than that of carbon dioxide; soyou can imagine the extent of damage that these gases cause, but stillthese are overlooked very conveniently. Our everyday industrial, agri-cultural activities like farming, fossil fuel burning, etc majorly con-tribute to their composition, posing a grave threat to the ozone layerand finally, the climate and earth’s temperature overall. So, it is theneed of the hour to somehow restrict these human activities a bit, ifnot completely.

Ashish Kumar Yadav, YP Team, AIS JagdishpurCause: Mitigation of global warming

Throw some light on how a deaf personhears himself talk in his head?Scientifically speaking, we hear our voice intwo ways. When we speak, one sound entersthrough our ears and the other one through theinternal vibrations from the Eustachian tubewhich connects our ears to our neck to the

pharynx area. So, what we hear is different from what the other per-son hears because of these two sounds. A deaf person is however un-able to hear the outer world because of some complications in his/herear, but manages to hear the sound of what s/he speaks through innervibrations of the Eustachian tube.

Anannda Mittal, YP Team, AIS Noida

Describe your YP journey in a few words.Dhvanialp came into being a year before our YP journey actuallybegan. I was intrigued by sign language and used to fingerspell somecommon words and phrases using it. Gradually my team mates joinedin too. And then, we were all set on our journey to learn more aboutdeaf culture and its other facets, one of them being sign language. Aswe coursed through, we found out the problems that a deaf person ora hard of hearing person faces in his day-to-day life. And then we neverstopped. From that day to this day, we have been vehemently engrossedin championing the cause of the deaf and will continue to do so.

Vanya Tandon, YP Team, AIS NoidaCause: Deaf culture awareness

AIS Gurugram 46

AIS Pushp ViharAIS Vasundhara 6

AIS Jagdishpur AIS Noida

The week gone was trulyinvigorating for me as I wit-nessed the promising andinspiring young change-makers of the world at theYouth Power 2020. I wasgreatly impressed with theknowledge, depth and ded-ication of these young

minds to bring the change in society, beginningwith themselves. India in the 21st century is hailed as one of themost promising and powerful nations in the worldowing to its youth population of 356 million. Andmuch of this is attributed to its young visionaries,hardly in their 20s and 30s and some eventeenagers and school children who are adamant,and passionate for making this nation a super-power soon. History is witness that the biggest path breaking,change heralding movements have ridden on theback of youngest visionary leaders of the world.Youth is the potential with immense possibilities,a right trigger and right mentoring can steer thishuge potential into the direction of exponentialgrowth which is constructive, inclusive and pro-gressive. As a nation, it is our responsibility torise up and nurture this precious wealth with righteducation blended with right virtues if we trulywant this treasure to grow into a global change-maker. We need to empower our youth with edu-cation that gives them the wisdom to think andact humanly, an education that bestows in themvirtues to serve society and nation above the self.I really felt proud to see how the Youth Powerprogramme has nurtured these precious wealth ofyoung thinkers who are always willing to takechallenges head on. These young harbingers ofchange are our true pride indeed. G T

Invest InYouth

Dr Amita ChauhanChairperson

It all started 12 years agowith a dream of our Chair-person ma’am to nurture theyouth with compassion,courage and creativity, andthus was born ‘YouthPower’. One of the longestrunning social sensitisationprogrammes for children,

Youth Power exemplifies its motto of ‘be thechange, bring change’. This change is the verysoul of Youth Power, and this year we saw nu-merous changes in the finale. True to the drivingforce of Amity that the show must go on, we em-braced the change and facilitated by technologywe were successful in making the first ever virtualYouth Power Grand Finale a success story, withnew energy and zeal. The virtual 12th edition ofthe YP Grand Finale was a real milestone as it res-onated with the spirit of youth, stopped by nostone, deterred by no storm. A lot of inspirationfor the same came from our own young changemakers whose spirits remain undeterred and whocontinued with their social endeavours helpingone and all in their small ways even in such chal-lenging times. It is their zeal and enthusiasmwhich became our key driving force for concep-tualising the virtual finale to engage their innercreativity. They took the road less travelled andso did we, they created milestones and our virtualceremony was an endeavour to salute their spiritand keep them motivated.Youth Power, over the years, has not just apprisedyoung children of the social issues that existaround them but has also encouraged them towork for them. I am glad that we could onceagain engage and amplify the voices of the youth,for it is these leaders who will help make India aknowledge superpower as envisaged by ourFounder President Dr Ashok K Chauhan. G T

Vira SharmaManaging Editor

Performative activismShreya MadheswaranAGS Gurugram, XI

With the rise of social mediain these recent years,many people, especially

teenagers, keep up with current eventsthrough platforms such as Instagramand Twitter. Though most householdssubscribe to newspapers and have acable connection, the internet hasquickly become the main source ofnews for many. Issues and crises arebrought to light through posts that cir-culate on people’s feeds and stories.Through reposting useful resourcesand using trending hashtags, almostanyone can take part in raising aware-ness. But with everyone speaking outcomes the problems of raised voicesthat are only there because it is, afterall, the ‘latest trend’.

What is performative activism?The term performative activism is de-fined as ‘a pejorative term referring toactivism done to increase one’s socialcapital rather than because of one’sdevotion to a cause.’ In other words,it is activism that is done to appear po-litically correct. This sort of surface-level activism can be seen everywhereas it is done by businesses and influ-encers, but also by your average so-cial media user or influencer. This isthe activism that doesn’t really careabout bringing the change, but rathercares more about people witnessingthem taking part. Done to raise theirown social image rather than aware-ness on the issue, little to no actualhelp is ever derived from this sort ofactivism, and once the latest hashtag

changes to something else, these per-formers also run away with it, leavingthe problem as and how they found it.

The real issueAt the end of the day, other than beingsomewhat insensitive to the victims,performative activism isn’t inherentlybad, but it is shallow and hallow. Tak-ing part in tagging challenges andposting black squares on your profiledoes little to truly talk about the issue,and somewhere along the lines, theyend up becoming games rather thanactivism. As almost every other per-son now believes this to be the way togo, the real problem is that public has

started believing that posting on socialmedia is enough and is the equivalentof taking action in real life.

How do I avoid it?The situation causes a dilemma, asjust posting about an ongoing move-ment might appear as a shallow at-tempt to show allyship, but notposting can make it look like youdon’t care. The solution is to notworry about how you come across toyour followers, which is where theissue is rooted in the first place. Theimportant thing is to ensure that youshow your support outside of socialmedia as well. It’s understandable if

you don’t have the means to protestagainst the wrongs or donate for thegood, but before posting about it,properly educate yourself on thetopic. When you do post, make sureit’s useful, educational and true. Yourjob isn’t done after making a fewposts online; the sentiment needs to betranscended into your daily life.Spread the word, hold other peopleaccountable to their ignorance andmistakes, and if possible, fundraiseand donate a little. The conversationshouldn’t just start and end on socialmedia. Instead, social media shouldbe a gateway to action on a muchlarger scale. G T

How Social Media Movements Could Be Equivalent To Silence

Dear Editor, This is in reference to the YPspecial edition dated September7, 2020. As I flipped throughthe pages, I found each page tobe just different, not just interms of different social causesthat the YP teams had signed upfor but the way they had beenpresented. From YP findings tomind boggling facts to wisewords of the experts to simpleawareness games, the editionhad everything to get an insightinto the problems as well asways to take small stepstowards the same. It took me ona journey as I travelled fromone page to another. Thisspecial edition stands as atestimony to the veryprogramme ‘Youth Power’ as ithas always been a platformcapable of bringing change inthe society by nurturing youngminds. Cheers to all the brightand young changemakers!

Manasvi KadianAIS Gurugram 46, XII J

G T

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Yes No Can’t say

It all began in October 2019, when eleven teams fromAmity International Schools signed up for ‘YouthPower 2019’ with a dream to be the change and bring

a change in the lives of those around. With immense pas-sion, the Youth Power teams worked for the chosencause and in return gathered experience worth a lifetime.Sharing what this journey has taught them along withpandemic being around, the YP teams pen down sign offmessages for a journey that’s close to their hearts andwill remain so forever.

…That Touched Countless Lives And Gave Experience Worth A Lifetime

Youth Power is a year-longjourney where eleven teams,along with their respectivementor teachers, from allAmity schools, undertake amission to raise awarenessregarding various social is-sues plaguing the world atlarge. In an effort to sensitisethe audience, they rally fortheir chosen cause and leaveno stone unturned to create atangible change, benefittingevery strata of the society.This edition, put together by11 teams, is a peek into thecauses they’ve worked forthroughout the year.

SSppeecciiaall eeddiittiioonn

YOUTHPOWER2019-20

Being young means beingbrave, full of ideas, energy,creativity and confidence.

The young have in them the powerto be the change and bring change.The Youth Power programme initi-ated by Amity 12 years ago underthe aegis of The Global Times, aimsto channelize this power of youth toshape a better world. It is immensely satisfying toknow that over the years, the programme has nurturedover 500 ethical leaders while sensitizing over 10,000students towards various social issues. This year, thepandemic did create hiccups in the implementation ofthe programme but not the spirit of my young Ami-tians who continued to express themselves for thecause with same passion and zeal. Youth Power trulycelebrates the power of youth to change the world, nomatter how adverse the situation becomes.

Dr Amita ChauhanChairperson

“Imagine feeling disconnectedwith the world you live in and si-multaneously being surrounded bypeople grooving and having awhale of a time, confusing, isn’t

it? That’s life for people with mental issues. Almost 7.5%of the population of India, i.e. over 90 million people suf-fer from various mental health problems. Awareness ofthe same in the country? Distressingly low. With this inmind, we as a YP team embarked on our journey to high-light the importance of mental wellbeing, especially nowthat we are facing a pandemic forcing people to stay in-side 24x7. Seeing the outbreak, break the peace of mindof many, we held several motivational Instagram Livesessions with eminent psychiatrists to alleviate the situa-tion. However, during this crucial hour of need and oth-erwise too, what remains pertinent is for us all topersevere, stand together as one and be a little less judg-mental towards those around us.”

Signing off, YP team AIS Vas 1Cause: Mental Health

Guarding our sanity

“In a country with over 16 croresenior citizens who are neededto be taken care of mentally andphysically, this pandemic hasadded fuel to the fire. It hasproved to be discriminatory to-wards the elderly, who now ac-

count for over 63% of total deaths due to Coronavirus.During our YP journey, we realised that senior citizensare an invaluable part of our society, a wellspring ofknowledge, history and wisdom. They play a very im-portant role in imparting strong moral values in a family,especially to the young ones, as they give us a 360-de-gree perspective on life. Even our PM in one of his Mannki Baat episodes reiterated that we should encourageyoungsters to interact with their grandparents and learnstories about their days. Remember, spices, herbs, homeremedies and fairy tales all came from them and nowhereelse. We as a YP team feel blessed to have worked to-wards this cause, which truly brought us closer to thewisest generation alive.”

Signing off, YP team AIS Vasundhara 6Cause: Care for senior citizens

“Life for a deaf person has never been easy es-pecially amidst this global pandemic. Since themajority of people do not know sign language,the deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals rely onfacial expressions and lip reading to communi-cate better. But with masks being compulsory

today, communication is difficult. We as a YP team, have tried ourbest to put forward the cause of the deaf and made sure that our fel-low mates learn ISL, so that the next time they meet a deaf person,mask or anything for that matter, does not become a hindrance!”

Signing off, YP team AIS NoidaCause: Deaf culture awareness

“The corona outbreak has brought the worldto a standstill inarguably. But, be it pre lock-down or post it, fitness is something whichcan never become redundant. But what is

obstructing us from building our immunity to fight the virus or forthat matter, being fit? We say nothing. Check out the innumerablefitness videos online. People today, like never before, are participat-ing in physical activities like yoga or sports to boost their immunity.Health and wellness apps like HealthifyMe are now seeing a 76%spike in their usage. Evidently, 2020 has proven to be the brand am-bassador of the Fit India Movement led by our Honourable PrimeMinister; exactly what we, as a YP team, have been promoting andraising awareness towards from the very beginning. For, a fit body isthe key to a happy and healthy life.”

Signing off, YP team AIS Pushp ViharCause: A step towards fitness

“Figures show that junk con-sumption and the consequentobesity and enfeeblement of ourimmune system are one of theleading causes of deaths todaydue to coronavirus. But weren’t

we already anticipating this? Being aware of the ef-fects of eating junk previously, it is shameful toknow that it took a pandemic to make us realise itsreal-time threats.Who is responsible for our situa-

tion? Ourselves or the virus? We say the former.We as a team began our YP stint to spread aware-ness against this very overindulgence. Through ac-tivities like the 21-day challenge activity, we madesure our fellow students keep a strict check on theireating habits. Also, the need of the hour is a strictban on junk food marketing, something health ex-perts are calling for and we back as well.”

Signing off, YP team AIS VYC LucknowCause: Say no to junk food

“As we are stuck at home, en-veloped by the uncertainty of theCOVID pandemic, our lifestyleseems to have been disrupted inmore ways than one. But for somethe consequences are graver and

more traumatic than the rest. For special needs children,this situation has been like a bolt out of the blue, a dis-turbance that has affected their educational progress, nec-essary routines, be it therapeutic or otherwise, leaving

them exposed to the virus due to their pre-existing med-ical complications. We as a team have worked to estab-lish a ‘new normal’ for these children. Our self-designedsports activities like adapted golf, football and hockeyhave also been a major asset. We interacted with the par-ents of special children because we as YP team sincerelyhope that nothing should impact the overall developmentof any child.”

Signing off, YP team AIS SaketCause: Special care for the special needs

Caring for the elderly

Making it possible for the one with special needs

“As WHO declared COVID-19 virus as apandemic, it led to mandatory lockdownsglobally, that adversely impacted all of usand uncovered the grim discrepancies of ourpresent-day society; gender inequality beingone of them. Conveniently robbing ourwomen of any progress the world made to-

wards their equality with men, this pandemic widened the gendergap for worse. As much as 17 million women workers lost their jobsin April 2020 alone. With families, specifically the school childrenat home and all the household work to look after, the female at homefeels more burdened, giving her less to no time for her own paidwork or any sort of career advancement. Even though the post pan-demic age tried all it can to suppress one half of the world’s facul-ties, trust us, everything is still far away from being completelyruined. We as YP team firmly stood for the cause then and happilyso, do now too.”

Signing off, YP team AIS VKC LucknowCause: Gender sensitisation

“As humanity suffers from the pandemic, hit inevery field and sphere, the planet we live on hasfinally been allowed to take a breather from theepidemic that it had been suffering from foryears- Global Warming. Forced to stay put where

they cannot go out for work or leisure, human beings have been ren-dered incapable of interrupting the true course of nature. The after-math - a massive drop in the air pollution levels of the world, withsightings of many near-extinct species of flora and fauna becominga common phenomenon; a feat we relentlessly sought for during ourYP journey. But, the question yet remains: will we take this as an op-portunity to finally treat our planet the way it deserves to be treated,or will we continue to exploit it? Well, this team would unfailinglymake sure the former sweeps the board.”

Signing off, YP team AIS JagdishpurCause: Mitigation of global warming

Moderating our eating habits

Trouncing the gender divide

Healing the Mother Earth

Hustling hard for that muscle

“In a post-COVID19 world, where everytouch matters more than it ever did, our para-noia is forcing us to buy only new things, useonce, and discard them, doing the best we canto not catch or pass on a disease. But with alot of personal protective equipment, masks,gloves, sanitiser bottles, etc., being carved outof plastic, when will we stop to gasp at the

‘new’ giant mountain of single-use plastic waste that we have cre-ated? As much as 13 million tonnes of plastic ends up in the oceanevery year and with the pandemic, the figure has skyrocketed for2020. Being plastic warriors, we as YP team members, have tried ourbest to overcome the challenge, especially through our initiative ofacrylic hand sanitisers and refillable sanitiser pouches to reduce plas-tic waste. Remember this planet is also a part of us; in order to saveourselves from the immediate danger, we cannot be ignorant to thedanger our land faces.”

Signing off, YP team AIS Gurugram 43Cause: Say ‘NO’ to plastic

“This pandemic has changed the map of ourlives. Health became a priority; immunity andlifestyle became the pallbearers for society. Aninflux of COVID cases created a dearth of med-ical resources, which were earlier focused onpatients with other illnesses, one of them being

cancer. Cancer treatments are getting delayed and patients are be-coming more susceptible to the virus. In this situation, building im-munity is the only alternative. The same has been our effort as a YPteam. Our e-book Sanjeevika, consists of immunity-building recipeslike turmeric latte, tulsi-lemon tea, etc. We are sure they would be-come staples as we move ahead from here on.”

Signing off, YP team AIS Gurugram 46Cause: Fighting cancer

Overcoming the problem of plastic

Dealing with the bigger C

Undeafening the world

“We can indeed count this pandemicas a blessing in disguise. As we areconfined in our homes, our surround-ings have become cleaner. With mar-kets closed and online shoppingrestricted to just the essentials, we are

finding alternatives to repurpose what we already have. This decreasein consumption and production has kindled a large reduction of wastein every region of the world, reviving various beautiful elements ofnature, something that drove us to work for this YP cause in the firstplace. But, as every coin has two sides, this pandemic also negativelyaffected our country's waste management mechanisms. Medicalwaste saw an upsurge, given that face masks, PPE kits, etc, are intremendous use. And so, it becomes highly imperative for us to treatit wisely. Now, even though the pandemic seems monstrous and evil,it is more than that, a lesson for us to learn and mend our ways- ourefforts at which have been constant.”

Signing off, YP team AIS Mayur ViharCause: Management of waste

Utilising and not wasting this pandemic

A yearlong saga…Be the change

Issue: September 7, 2020

Published and Printed by Mr R.R. Aiyar on behalf of Dr (Mrs) Amita Chauhanfrom E-26, Defence Colony, New Delhi 110024 and printed from HT Media Ltd,B-2, Sec 63, Noida (UP). Editor Ms Vira Sharma. nEdition: Vol 12, Issue 16 nRNI No. DELENG / 2009 / 30258. Both for freedistribution and annual subscription of 900.

Opinions expressed in GT articles are of the writers and do not necessarily reflectthose of the editors or publishers. While the editors do their utmost to verifyinformation published, they do not accept responsibility for its absolute accuracy. Published for the period September 14- September 20, 2020

Car crazy!Muse Editorial

THE GLOBAL TIMES | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 20206The first windshield wiperswere hand-operated.

Aryendu Singh, AIS VYC Lko, X

To be gentle has always beenmisunderstood and misinter-preted as to be soft and weak.

In fact, considering present day andage, it is a virtue which is rare to find.But people generally focus on the‘brawn’ trait, not understanding that itmay lead to violence.It is a no brainer that brain is wired ina complex manner. Violent or gentle,thoughts of a person compliment theaction and vice versa. So, the point tobe taken here is that your actions needto impart a sense of intensity and not

violence. In the evolution of one’s ac-tion, the initial bit will always be vio-lent, but as you become moreexperienced in life, you notice roughedges and tone your actions down to

make them smooth to the point of hav-ing no violence in action. Only naïveswordsmen go screaming into a battlewhile the experts will just flick thesword and it’s done. As mentionedearlier, the person needs to let go of vi-olence and hold on to the intensity inyour actions.Hence, a person can evolve and be-come better with time, converting thatinternal violence into a sophisticatedaction. Gentleness is not something aperson is born with, but one can al-ways acquire the trait through his orher actions. After all, learning is a life-long process.

The art of gentleness

Youth Power

Pearls of Wisdom

Garima MinochaAIS Pushp Vihar, Alumna

That cute little girlIn stripped yellow pantsRadiant like the sun On her way to dreamland

On a school tripOff her mother sentThose days were brightFilled with hazy spells

Her eyes didn’t droopHer forehead smoothNothing could be done

To suppress her mood

Depression not seenNot one line madeOn a face so plumpAnd so articulate

Pictures were takenSometimes in moodSome in bright smilesAnd some subdued

She was eternally brightAnd her untouched mindHad no care of the worldWhen turned an eye blind

She felt no painEverything was fine Until one day it wasn’tBut oh, she didn’t cry

With eyes still brightWas she out of mind?

Or maybe it just was For what she’d pined

No companionshipsJust solitary loveIt was somethingShe kept all above!G T

The yellow day

7Part IV

THE GLOBAL TIMES | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

Car

cra

zy!

Ferrari manufactures amaximum of 14 cars a day.

Heritage Series

Part IV

Heritage Series

Yuvika MahajanAIS Pushp Vihar, Alumna

Taj Mahal - the name itself is enoughto transcend one to a world of beau-tiful posh white marble shining with

the history of the footsteps our ancestorsleft behind, captivating us with its aura,and enchanting us with a magnificencethat could only be possessed by a Wonderof the World. The story behind thesestones, dipped in reminiscent of royal ro-mance, is just as charming as its exterior.From one of the biggest attractions of itsnative country, India, to standing as thesymbol of eternal love, Taj Mahal remindsyou of something new every time you lookat it, so let’s find out the wondrous historyburied deep in the mausoleum that stillstays alive in everyone’s heart.

...to the bricks it was built onThis ‘Crown of the Palace’, constructedwith ivory-white marble in Agra, stands onthe banks of river Yamuna as a mausoleumfor Mumtaz Mahal, the favourite wife ofShahad-ud-din Muhammad Khurrama.k.a. Shah Jahan. Commissioned to bebuilt in 1632, the monument containsMumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan’s tombs, amosque, a guest house, and gardensbounded by crenellated walls on threesides. Around 3 acres of land was allottedto the project, which was filled with dirt toreduce seepage and for it to be levelled at150 ft above the riverbank. For the tombs,land was specifically dug up to form a firmfooting, and instead of utilising bamboo, anenormous brick scaffold was constructed tomirror the tomb. With over 1000 elephantsused for transportation, the construction ofTaj Mahal employed raw materials fromall over Asia. Translucent white marblebrought from Rajasthan, jasper from Pun-

jab, jade and crystals from China,turquoise from Tibet, Lapis lazuli fromAfghanistan, sapphire from Sri Lanka, andcarnelian from Arabia. The construction ofthis masterpiece was first completed in1643, and with the final touches beingdone by 1653, the complex wasready in its entirety, costingnearly 32 million INR atthat time, an equiva-lent of the modern day70 billion INR. Witharound 20,000 arti-sans and workerslending their skillsto the building, thisarchitectural won-der was led by UstadAhmad Lahauri, whomade it the Taj Mahalwe look at in awe today!

...to the times it has seenand overcomeThe ‘illustrious tomb’, as Abdul Hamid La-hauri called it, has seen its own share oftough times since its construction and hasa history that is just as much soused intrauma as it is in love. As the Jat rulers ofBharatpur invaded Agra in the 18th cen-tury, Taj Mahal lost its two chandeliers,gold and silver screen, and shield to thedesolation. Falling a victim to the test ofage, parts of the monument fell into disre-pair by the late 19th century when theBritish viceroy, Lord Curzon, ordered arestoration project where a large lamp inthe interior chamber modelled after the

one in a Cairo mosque was added, alongwith the remodelling of the lawns in Euro-pean style that still remain in place tilltoday. When the anticipation of air attacksby Japan was still high in the air in 1942,scaffolding around the Taj were erected to

disguise it, and the same preven-tive measure was again taken

during the India-Pakistanwars of 1965 and 1971.With environmentalpollution being itsnewest enemy, acidrain and such ele-ments have turnedits ivory white mar-ble to a musty yellow-brown, and thedecline in the ground-

water level in Yamunahas also raised concerns

about the tomb’s structuralintegrity. Some cracks in the

tombs and the minarets surrounding ithave been noticed recently, and it can onlybe hoped that this beauty, which withstoodthe test of time, will somehow also standthe test of humankind.

...to the amazement it causesTaj Mahal, being the jewel of Indian her-itage and an epitome of art, stands to be notonly one of the best examples of Mughal ar-chitecture, but also a masterpiece of the fi-nesse mankind has attained. Firstdesignated a UNESCO World Heritage Sitein 1983, the monument attracted almost6.5 million people in 2018, according to the

Indian Ministry of Tourism. Moreover, be-cause of its popularity and the over-tourismit caused, the government was forced to in-stitute fines for visitors who stayed longerthan three hours, starting in 2019. Winningthe poll of New Seven Wonders of the Worldwith around a million votes, Taj Mahal hasalways captured the attention of everyhuman on the planet, celebrities and com-mon man alike. With notable figures likeGeorge Bush, Barack and Michelle Obama,Princess Diana, Mark Zuckerberg, etc., vis-iting the monument and awing at itsbeauty, no one would disagree when Ra-bindranath Tagore described it as “ateardrop on the cheek of time!” From iconicinternational movies like The Namesake,Slumdog Millionaire, Million Dollar Armbeing shot here to Indian cinema highlight-ing our desi gem in ‘Mere Brother Ki Dul-han’, ‘Jhoom Barabar Jhoom’, ‘Bunty AurBubly’, etc., Taj Mahal is no longer a build-ing composed of beautiful bricks, but rathera testament of love, culture, history, art,and everything in between.

The name Taj Mahal being etched in everyto-visit list proves the enormous admira-tion the monument has, maybe even biggerthan any other landmark in the world.With its glittering history of every lover’sdream to its shining arcs being every his-tory buff ’s love, the place no longer justholds a stagnant history, but rewrites itspresent and its relevance with every newyear, so much so that the only words thatcould ever fully encompass its feeling are‘Waah, Taj!’

India is a land aboundingwith wonderful UNESCOheritage sites to feast one’seyes on. Some of them beingnatural wonders to somebeing exquisite architecturalmarvels to many beingreflection of magnificenthistory and some even asanctuary for biodiversity toflourish. Here’s presentingPart IV of the HeritageSeries, giving an insightinto Taj Mahal, which wasdeclared a UNESCO WorldHeritage Site in 1983.

Waah TajTo The Most Marbleous Wonder Of The Entire World!

The name TajMahal being etchedin every to-visit list

proves the enormousadmiration the monu-ment has, maybe evenbigger than any other

landmark in theworld.

MosaicTHE GLOBAL TIMES | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 20208 It takes half an ounce

of gas to start a car.

Car crazy!

Senior

CAMERA CAPERSChavi Gautam, AIS Mayur Vihar, VIII C

A full bloom A peek of innocence A stance of pride

Send in your entries to cameracapers@theglobaltimes.in

Mallika Seth, AIS Saket, IX C

CHOCOLATEFUDGE COOKIES

All-purpose flour ................................................................1 cupCocoa powder ..................................................................1/3 cupSalt ....................................................................................1/4 tspBaking powder ....................................................................1 tspButter (melted) ................................................................1/3 cupBrown sugar ....................................................................1/2 cupGranulated sugar ..............................................................1/2 cupEgg ....................................................................................1 largeVanilla extract ......................................................................1 tspSemisweet chocolate chips..................................................1 cup

Ingredients

Method

Place a sieve on top of the large bowl and add flour in it.Along with this, add cocoa powder, salt and baking powder.Gently sift the dry ingredients into the bowl. If you see anylarger clumps, press them in with the back of a spoon and set thedry ingredients aside.In a separate bowl, add melted butter along with granulatedsugar and brown sugar. With the help of a whisk, thoroughly mix the sugar in themelted butter together.Add egg yolk followed by vanilla extract. Whisk again and mixit very well to ensure smooth consistency.Grab your sifted dry ingredients and add them to the above mix-ture. Mix them gently with a spatula.Before adding semisweet chocolate chips, reserve about 1/4cup. This will be used to top the cookies before baking. Mix the chocolate chips into the dough as evenly as possible.Line your baking sheet with parchment paper.Scoop out heaping mounds of the chocolate cookie dough ontoyour baking sheet. Make sure to space them out evenly for about2 inches.Now top each cookie with a few of those chocolate chips re-served earlier and bake the cookies at 350 degrees Fahrenheit forabout 10-15 minutes. Once they’re baked, let the cookies slightly cool and enjoy themwith milk.

Kuhu SahaAIS Mayur Vihar, XII

Here I am, on my wooden deskStaring across in the exam hallThere comes nervousness againMaking me anxious and small

My ground beneath is shakingMy heart begins to palpitateI feel the atmosphere around Which begins to intoxicate

In whispers, my mother says“Do not worry my sweetheartYou are going to do great!Always keep that in your heart”

Then is my father who says“My child, focus on the processDon’t worry about the resultAnd you won’t score less”

But there’s the question paperProblem is its judging eyes

It’s saying, “You can’t do itWhat they said, are all lies”

All of a sudden, I wake upTo see my book and penIt was all just a dreamI’ve to give my exam again!G T

Kainaat ArifAIS VYC Lucknow, IX

Clary took a deep breathas a pair of blindinglights came dangerously

close. The driver pressed thebrakes, but to no avail…sheslowly opened her eyes, as shescanned her surroundings. Shefound herself to be in a strangemonotone cell-like room and be-fore Clary could come to hersenses, she heard a voice “Sir,she is finally awake!’’ The wordscame from a boy with green eyes

and freckles. “Where am I?’’with a dry throat, Clary managedto utter.“I don’t think I am the best per-son to answer your question,’’said the boy, “Let me take you tothe Grandmaster, he’ll explaineverything to you.’’ “The Grand-master?” she enquired and fol-lowed the boy out of the cell.After what seemed like an hour,they finally reached some place.Unsure of what to do next, Claryrealised that she was at a giganticlibrary. There were books inshelves that touched the ceiling.

She spotted a lean man dressedin a yellow coloured pulloverwho also had grey hair and abeard. One thing even more pe-culiar was the crow sitting atopthe man’s shoulder.As if sensing her presence, theman turned around and greetedher with a smile, “Ah! Ms ClaryJacobsen is finally awake!” Andshe felt the knot getting tighter inher stomach. A million questionsflooded her mind…Who is thisman? How did the strange manknow her name? Is it a dream?Just then, a sharp caw interrupted

her train of thoughts. “ShushHades!” the man scolded thecrow. What ensued next was anawkward silence. Cutting downthe same, the Grandmaster said,“I assume that you have a lot ofquestions.” “You are right sir.You got to tell me where I amand why am I here,” Clary de-manded. “You are in the abode ofdemon hunters and as to whyyou are here - you are the last de-scendant of the great king Midasand today on your 17th birthday,you must take your birthright asa demon hunter!’’Clary heaved in confusion; thiswas all wrong! She wasn’t re-lated to any king! She must getout of this psychotic place! As ifreading her thoughts, the Grand-master said, “You can’t leave.You are one of us now, an im-mortal!” Stunned, she stood still.Her vision was again gettingblurred. “Is this happening forreal?” Clary thought as shefainted on the floor yet again. G T

Storywala

A million questionsflooded her mind...Who is this man?

How did the strangeman know her name?

Clary’s next life

Garima MinochaAIS PV, Alumna

In each, I see an intrusive diggerIn each, I see a deep dark caveAnd oh, does the light flickerThere is no end to the knaves

A relentless toil between the foesShould your cave be explored?My chastity, on tip toesA plain appease of thirst

But civil war on your door‘Keep talking, I’ll let you in’Neither of us will say

Attacked, you might respond

“But there’s gold inside”For it’s only naturalA system of barter and needsAnother guiltless attempt

To the dungeons of fearsThere’s a cave inside youThere’s a cave inside meI am a love digger, but so are you

Cold, cold spirits; here’s to hopeWe’ll explore each other’s cavesAnd find something beautiful insideAs diggers, together someday G T

Words Verse An exam dream

Mallika Seth

Caves and diggers

Answers:1.Winter2.Write3.Wine4.Weir5.Twin6.Twine7.Went8.Rewin

Wor

d fac

tory

How

Man

y W

ords

Can

You

Th

ink

Of?

Rishika Chutani, AIS Gur 46, Alumna

T E

IWNR

Imaging: Deepak Sharma, GT Network

POEM

Vihaan Gupta, AIS Vas 1, VII

“Iam new in the city,”said Meera to an oldman standing in front

of a coffee shop. The old mandidn’t utter a word. He stared ather intently; Meera felt uneasy asbeads of sweat trickled down herforehead. She had just landed ina quaint little town in USA. Theanxiety of landing in a foreigncountry for the very first timewas very much evident on herface. “Are you listening, sir?”Meera poked at him as the oldman seemed to be lost in his ownworld. “Sir, can you please guideme to the Universal Labora-tory?” Meera prodded again. Theold man’s expressions changed,

and his lips broke into a faintsmile. “Why do you want to gothere, young lady?” With a hintof mystery, the man lowered hisvoice and whispered, “Don’t youknow that it’s restricted to civil-ians!”. Meera was perplexed andfelt blank for a moment. Shemuttered, “I am not a civilian,sir. I have an urgent appointmentwith the famous astrophysicistMr Stephen.” The old manfrowned, Do you think MrStephen would just meet anygirl?” Meera fumbled and tookout an envelope from her old tat-tered haversack. She clumsilyopened the envelope and tookout the letter and showed it tohim. The old man gave it a fleet-ing glance and merely muttered,

“Okay, follow me!”The duo walked silently for tenwhole minutes and approachedan old brick building. The build-ing though built a century ago,still retained its old-world charm.The white façade overlookingthe huge gardens stood proud inits glorious past. The receptionlooked plush with its expensiveItalian leather sofa. The old manordered her to sit. “Katty, kindlyhelp out the young lady.” Hewalked away and vanished in thehallway. Katty, the receptionistread the letter carefully and gavea warm smile to Meera. “Wel-come to Harvard University, MsMeera. So, you are the new ap-prentice for Sir Stephen?” Meerasmiled and nodded her head in

agreement. She felt butterflies inher stomach in anticipation ofmeeting the famous astrophysi-cist, who would now mentor herfor post-doctoral fellowship.They walked through the mas-sive hallway and crossed fewrooms before stopping in front ofa room with a huge oak door. Onit was a golden plaque with thename ‘Dr Robert S Stephen PhD,Nobel laureate’ neatly engravedon it. Meera’s heart was beatingfast against her chest and herthroat felt dry. Katty knocked atthe door and asked for permis-sion to come inside the room.“Sir, Ms Meera Nagpal fromIndia is here”, she said to a manstanding against the windowwith his back towards them.“Good afternoon, sir. I am MeeraNagpal from India. I am here toassist you as a post doctorate fel-lowship scholar”.The old man turned to her.Meera’s eyes opened wide inamazement. Mr. Stephen wasnone other than the same oldman whom she had bumped intoin front of the coffee shop andwho had guided her to this veryplace. She could not believe herluck and was thrilled to be a partof the elite team of budding sci-entists who were designated towork on designing a ‘Teleporta-tion’ device to be launched in theyear 2030. G T

Finding gloryShort story

Mosaic Junior

THE GLOBAL TIMES | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2020A modern Formula 1 car can driveupside down in a tunnel at 120mph

Car

cra

zy!

9

Pebble Art

PencilCardboardPebbles (2)Ice cream sticks (6-7)

Water coloursPaintbrushGlue stickScissor

Wash the collected roundshaped smooth pebbles thor-oughly and dry them with a cot-ton cloth. Now, with the help of a pencil,draw any cartoonish face on thepebbles. Start painting the pebbles withcolours of your choice and letthem dry for an hour. On a cardboard, draw a squarewith all sides being 10 cm.

With the help of scissors, cutthe square shape. Using glue, stick the icecream sticks along the borderof the square cardboard cut-out. You can even paint the icecream sticks beforehand.Paste the painted pebbles onthe cardboard in the center andlet it dry.Your painted pebble art isready for display!

PAINTING CORNER

It’s M

e

The duo walkedsilently for ten whole

minutes and approached an old

brick building.

Pavni Kotnala, AIS Vas 1, III A

Material required

Method

Nishchay VermaAIS Gurugram 43, VI

1.What starts with a P, endswith an E and has thousands ofletters?2. What comes once in aminute, twice in a moment, but

never in a thousand years?3. Why do bees hum?4. I have no life, but I can die,what am I?5. When it rains, I go up, whatam I?

Riddle Fiddle

Answers:1. Post office 2. The letter M 3.Because they don’t know the words 4. A

battery 5. An umbrella

Shriya PasrichaAIS Gur 43, VI B

So what did you learn today?A new word: Anticipation

Meaning: A feeling of excitement

Know me betterMy name: Vanya Bhatnagar

Class: ISchool: AIS Vasundhara 6

Birthday: November 9

My favouritesTeacher: Sucheta & Nimisha ma’am

Subject: MathematicsFriend: Vihaan

Game: Doll HouseCartoon: Chota BheemFood: Paneer sandwich

Mall: Mall of India, NoidaBook: Bruno stories

My dreams and goalsMy role model: My parentsI want to become: A doctor

I want to feature in GT because:I want to show my pictures to

everyone.

Satvik BhatiaAIS Noida, V

One fine morning when I woke upI stood at the window in a huff

Sun was orange, the birds chirpedWith this my good mood perked

As I took a walk away from my homeI rushed to park to see honeycomb

Instead what I saw was a surpriseAll I heard was howling and cries

A cute little puppy was in painSomeone had hit him, what shame

I took the puppy to my house

Hurt he was, just about to drowse

Swiftly I bandaged the puppyAnd caressed his fluffy tummy

My mother then scolded meAnd asked to send away the puppy

But a day later, I saw the puppy againHe was starved and still in pain

I picked him took him to my houseBut this time my mom didn’t shout

She awed at his pitiful conditionAnd immediately ran to the kitchen

We fed the puppy with milk and breadAnd from then on, he was always fed! G T

A cute puppy

10 Curbing the CrisisTHE GLOBAL TIMES | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

Corona Warriors

Car crazy!

The average British driverwill spend around 99 daysof their life stuck in traffic.

“When the pandemic struck, most ofus were clueless as to what wouldthe future be. But we as a team

had only one thought- let’s make our present better.This is when our campaign was conceived. We re-lentlessly encouraged people to download the Aar-ogya Setu app. From convincing people, especiallythe senior citizens to download the app to creatingawareness, we had a chance to contribute to thisunique initiative which gave us a different learningexperience all together. Yes, we did face a plethora

of obstacles, but what is life if everything sailssmooth, right? After all, that’s how we learn, andthat’s how our journey has been - thrilling. And wecan never forget to thank, our beloved Chairpersonma’am, principal ma’am, and our mentor teacherSonali Batra ma’am for helping us in every stageof this campaign. Last, but not the least, our volun-teers who cooperated with us and helped us suc-ceed. Thank you so much!”

Charvi Mendiratta, Harshaa Kawatra & Isha Agarwal, AIS Pushp Vihar, XII

G T

Young warriors of changeIt’s indeed true that youth holds the power to bring a change. With a similar aim, young corona warriors of Amity did their bit to help the society during the pandemic.So, let’s find out what these warriors shared when they were being felicitated for their outstanding contribution at the Youth Power 2019-20 Grand Finale.

“It feels so exuberant to be called a coronawarrior. This is certainly an experienceto be reckoned with, given the challenges

that I faced on the way- creating a safe design for3D Face shields and distributing it during the na-tional lockdown. However, I can say that the willto make an impact in this time of crisis, showedme the way. Although, I was no expert in 3D print-ing, I resorted to the internet and tapped into re-sources near me. One take away from this journeyis that if you’re passionate about something thengo the extra mile. I am grateful to everybody whoencouraged me to take this step even though it wasa risky affair venturing out. But now that I lookback, it feels really gladdening to have taken thisdecision. I believe it’s gestures like these that go along way in helping the individuals around uswhile making us better individuals. A big thanksto everyone who were part of this cause!”

Satyam Mehta, AIS Noida, XI EG T

“Iclearly remember the time when I firstwore a face mask during this pandemic. Itwas a very unpleasant experience for me.

It caused irritation and made it difficult to breathe.And when I discussed the same with my peerDhruv, he too faced the same problems. It occurredto us that if we are facing so many difficulties inwearing a mask then what kind of trauma it must befor people with respiratory problems like asthma orChronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).Hence, the idea of a ‘Smart Mask’ struck us. Aftermuch brainstorming we came up with the idea of a

face mask to help people with respiratory problems.Our basic idea was to make a mask that would openif the person is in a safe environment and wouldclose again if someone comes near. Both of uswould like to express our immense gratitude to-wards all those who helped us throughout this proj-ect like our class teacher and our science teachers.We would also like to thank our principal ma’amand Chairperson ma’am for providing us with theopportunity to make this project.”

Nadish Gulati & Dhruv GuptaAIS Gurugram 46, X A

G T

“We are very hon-oured andoverwhelmed

that our work is being acknowl-edged on a stage so revered. Tohelp the world that is sufferingfrom this killer pandemic, wedecided to do our part by givingaway masks to maids, guards,

fruit vendors, policemen andother essential workers and lessprivileged people in the society,who are perhaps deprived of thebasic necessities in life. We alsovisited our school premises andgave masks to all the guards.Thinking that this was the leastthat we could do to not let this

pandemic take over us,we distributed 6,000masks across Delhi-NCR. To be hon-est, we reallycouldn’t havedone it alone. Weare grateful for allour classmatesand volunteerswho helped usthroughout this

endeavour. Needless to say, wesincerely thank our Chairpersonma’am, principal ma’am, andclass teachers for recognisingour efforts. All this support hastruly motivated us to be coronawarriors!”

Sunay Bajaj, VIII A & Pushpak Bajaj, VI B

AIS Gurugram 46

G T

Outfacing the obstacles

Remedyingwith a melody“This is such a great moment for

me to be present on such aprestigious platform. When the

national lockdown started, it hindered eachone of us from leading our normal lives. Itsuddenly brought a kind of gloominess inour surroundings. However, it also com-pelled us to explore ourselves and discoversomething new around us and within us.And while, I saw that many of us weredoing our bit to fight coronavirus, I felt theneed to do something myself. And thus, Icame up with the corona anthem, a musicalway of spreading awareness. I knew thatthis anthem would be abreather for every-one amidst thisgloominess andalso make themaware of Aarogya Setu,a much imperative government-initiated appto track the spread of coronavirus. All thishas been possible because of the perfectnurturing by our dearest Chairperson ma’amand my school, always guiding and support-ing me. I can never be grateful enough forall that I am bestowed with.”

Jayas Kumar AGS Noida, IV

G T

“In 2020, if there was anything close toa post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie, it’s thecoronavirus pandemic, and I, a student

of class IX, desperately wanted to help. I hadbrainstorming sessions with my family andfriends, and finally, the dream and passion ofwanting to do something to help the worldin its fight against COVID-19, forged withthe hard-work of several sleepless nights

used in making the prototype, ‘Abhay’ wasborn. Named after the Sanskrit word for fear-less, it is the protector, the sword and shieldof the COVID warriors. I want to thank re-spected Chairperson ma’am, principalma’am, Radha ma’am, my parents andfriends for helping me think productively andreach a solution that would make a tangibledifference. I owe this honour to each andeverybody who helped me carry out this en-deavour. I congratulate all my fellow coronawarriors for joining this cause alongside. To-gether, we can surely bring a change!”

Shivam MukherjeeAIS Pushp Vihar, IX D

G T

Face it,don’t fear it

When in crisis, create!

Spread the word, do the deed

Charvi Mendiratta Harshaa Kawatra Isha Agarwal

Jayas Kumar performs the anthem song

A prototype of the smart mask

Satyam distributes face shields to local authorities

Pushpak distributes essentials

Sunay and Pushpak gather essential items

Nadish Gulati Dhruv Gupta

Shivam Mukherjee poses with his invention ‘Abhay’

This pandemic calls for ‘smart’

11THE GLOBAL TIMES | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

WassupSchool Lounge

It would take almost tenmonths to get to themoon by car at anaverage speed of 60mph

One of the winners of junior category presents the strotam A student sings shloka from Bhagvad Gita

Subhashika 2020A Virtual Ode To Sanskrit, The Heritage Of Our Nation

An ode to educatorsStudents Express Their Gratitude On Teachers’ Day

Winsome innovator

Fostering leadership skillsA Virtual Training For Facing Real MUN

Chairperson graces the awards ceremony

Rewards andinvestituresCelebrating The Achievers

AIS Mayur Vihar

The school organised 14thedition of inter-AmitySanskrit Shloka Gayan

competition Subhashika virtuallyon August 24, 2020. Held in twocategories juniors (Class VI-VIII) and seniors (Class IX-XII)the event started with the chant-ing of shlokas and lighting of the

lamp virtually. School principalMeenu Kanwar welcomed theeminent judge ParmanandBhardwaj, professor, Lal Ba-hadur Shastri Sanskrit Universityand also recited Sanskrit shlokasto motivate the participants. Thetopic for junior category wasStrotam, and for seniors it wasshloka gayan based on ShrimadBhagwad Gita.

In junior category Dhara Khare(AIS Mayur Vihar), VishwasGoswami (AIS Gurugram 43)and Akaisha Mathur (AIS Va-sundhara 6) won the first prize.Anshul Lokhande (AIS PushpVihar) & Divsha Pandey (AISGurugram 46) stood second andAgamya (AIS Saket) came third.In the senior category, the firstprize winner was Sai Krishna

(AIS Gurugram 46). The secondprize was bagged by Aadya Roy(AIS Saket) and Atharv SantoshGupta (AIS Mayur Vihar) whilethe third prize went to TanmaySingh (AIS Noida). All the par-ticipants were deeply appreci-ated by the eminent judge fortheir presentations. All the win-ners were conferred with the e-certificates. G T

AGS Gurugram

Samudi Ranawake, XII &Armaan Soni, XI, AGS Gur

The very first virtualIGCSE awards and in-vestiture ceremony of

the school was held on August28, 2020. The occasion wasvirtually graced by Dr (Mrs.)Amita Chauhan, Chairperson,Amity Group of Schools &RBEF, along with the eminentdignitaries from Amity Groupof Schools. On this occasion, the newly ap-pointed student council mem-bers were bestowed withbadges and sashes. The IGCSEYear 2 (2020) students wereawarded certificates andmedals for their astounding100% results. The young lead-ers were officialised by schoolprincipal Arti Gupta. The event began with the elo-quent rendition of the GayatriMantra, after which, the entire

student council lead by HeadGirl Khushi Toprani and HeadBoy Gaurav Vermani, took anoath of integrity, commitmentand guided leadership. Schoolprincipal then shared with theaudience the exceptional 100%IGCSE results of 2019-20batch. The toppers, ArmaanSoni and Devansh Jaggi nar-rated their journey behind theirsuccess, serving as inspirationto the juniors. In addition tothis, the guest speaker, PriyaChopra, who is the proud par-ent of Vaibhav Chopra, re-flected upon the school playinga significant role in her ward’sholistic development. The col-lege admissions of the recentlygraduated IBDP Year-2 werealso shared with plaudit.With this incessant streak ofpersevered consistency, AGShas once again been able toguide its very talented gradu-ates in securing admissions inprestige universities all overthe world.

AIS Gurugram 46

First ever virtual Teachers’ Day wascelebrated on Sept 5, 2020. Seniorschool council held an online assem-

bly which commenced with the expressionof gratitude towards Dr Ashok K. Chauhan,Founder President, Amity Universe, and Dr (Mrs) Amita Chauhan, Chairperson,Amity Group of Schools and RBEF, for pro-viding them a unique platform of holisticlearning. Founder President and Chairpersonboth addressed the teachers and students vir-tually, congratulating school principal AartiChopra for her winning the CBSE Principal2020 award and school teachers for their

good work and tireless mentoring of younglives. Both of them encouraged teachers tokeep innovating and guiding the youngglobal citizens, the future of the nation withthe light of true knowledge. On this occasionmany students expressed their sincere thanks

to teachers for their tireless efforts in sculpt-ing their lives by singing songs, recitingpoems and odes. Many online fun games andactivities were also held and students alsoshowcased presentations based on the impor-tance of the teachers in life. G T

AIS Vasundhara 6

Ayoung budding scientist Dhruvi Gupta ofClass IX added another feather to Amity’scap of excellence by winning second in-

novation award for school children for 2020 for herproject ‘Innovative Easy Brush an eco-friendly,economic, biodegradable brush’. As due to pan-demic situation no first prize was declared, thattechnically makes her the national winner of theprestigious annual award held by Council of Sci-entific and Industrial Research (CSIR) under theaegis of Ministry of Science and Technology. Shehas been conferred with a certificate and a cashprize of INR 50,000. The opportunity to participatein the platform promoting excellence in innovationwas extended by Dr (Mrs) Amita Chauhan, Chair-person, Amity Group of Schools and RBEF. Dhruviwon this award through a tough national level com-petition wherein she submitted a 500 words pro-posal which was screened by a panel of eminentscientists. It was followed by a telephonic inter-view and a powerpoint presentation, after whichthe winners were chosen.About Innovation Award for school childrenEvery year CSIR invites innovative idea proposals

from budding school scientists. Total 15 awards atnational level are selected for novel scientific con-cept solutions for existing societal problems. G T

AIS Gurugram 46

Athree-day virtual learn-ing conference ‘MUNTraining 2020’ in associ-

ation with MUN Society was heldfrom May 18-20, 2020 and at-tended by over 200 students fromClass VIII-XI. The training aimedat providing a platform to stu-dents for exchange of knowledge,in-depth understanding of worldissues and a near real simulationof the real MUN. Eight sessions

of two hours each were conductedacross two groups. First day ses-sion began with welcome addressby school principal, Arti Choprafollowed by an overview andconcept of MUN shared byKusum Kapoor, Coordinator-MUN Society. Scheduled agen-das such as rules of procedure andflow of debate was then shared bythe senior students from MUNSociety. The second session waseven more insightful with criticalpoints such as types of commit-

tees, flow of debate, argumenta-tion and diplomacy techniques inMUN being discussed exten-sively by the senior students.Training concluded on the lastday with the expert sessions byalumni Ayan Gupta and Pradyu-man Singh, who shared theirMUN experiences and gave valu-able tips to succeed and winMUNs. The sessions were highlyinteractive with questions & an-swers on chats and messagesbeing shared. G T

Students ( left & right) with school principal, discuss important aspects of MUN

Dhruvi poses with her winning invention

Young Innovator Tops The Nation

Chairperson addresses the teachers Teachers attend the virtual programme

Car

cra

zy!

Bag Pack Variety

THE GLOBAL TIMES | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 202012The world record for removing and replacing a carengine is 42 seconds, set on November 21, 1985.

All top quotes contributed by Ruben Singh, AIS Mayur Vihar, VI D

Car crazy!

Ananya Grover, AIS Noida, Alumna

Jeeps whirling through the air, gunspursuing their victim, heroes leapingand sparring in mid-air defying grav-

ity––rings a bell? Replete with such idiosyn-cratic events and logic-defying stunts,Telugu and Tamil films indulgently use theircinematic license to deviate from scientificrules, reason, or even facts, in order to en-tertain their audiences! Here take a look athow our films redefine some of these well-established scientific laws given by Newton.

First law of motionIt says that an object in motion or at reststays the same unless an external force is ap-plied on it. So, if a bullet is fired at you, youare pretty much dead, right? Not at all, ifyou are Thalaiva Rajnikant from ‘Sivaji:The Boss’. Even a bullet doesn’t touch himbecause obviously, he is Rajni Anna, irre-spective of the fact that a projectile at sucha high speed will require a lot of externalforce to stop it. But then again, why wouldyou need the natural laws when you haveThalaiva as your lead.

Third law of motionWhile it states that,“Every action has anequal and opposite reaction,” Tollywood has

redefined it as, “Every action has an over-exaggerated reaction.” In the movie, ‘RaceGurram’, we see the most cliché scene ever.The police officer enters the goon hide-outand suddenly the goons starts flying every-where. It doesn’t matter where the police in-spector enters from. He might be coming inthrough the window and the goon on thethird floor, taking a leak will start flying.

Law of gravitationHonestly, have you even seen any Indian ac-tion flick ever made that follows this law?In the hugely popular Baahubali films,Baahubali-Katappa and Co. climb onto abent palm tree and catapult themselves ontothe palace walls. Long after the tree’s initialpropulsion should have helped, they are keptairborne by virtue of locking their shieldstogether, as their strategic war formationhelped them…what? Defy gravity?

Now, these were just a few examples. Butbefore we leave you with the reeling impact,just one more bonus content. In the movie‘Hrudaya Kaleyam’, we see the protagonistthrowing a heart made of thermocol throughan open window, landing exactly into theopen incision for the waiting patient under-going heart transplant. That’s it! We’ll leaveyou with that as Newton rolls in his grave!

Vanalika MainiAIS Gurugram 46, XI

Iscoffed as I saw another articletarnishing my name; ‘Will slangruin the English language?’ These

pretentious intellectuals will neverstop criticising my existence. Thenerve of people these days! What?Can you deny the pizazz I bring intospeech? I provide a better glow-upthan all those ads on Instagram!A few hundred years ago, when I wasbut a wee young word, I was quite therebel, I tell you, running around withthe wrong crowd. Alas, even peoplein the 1700s didn’t quite see my flair.They would call me cheap, that thepeople who used me were lowly anddisreputable. Imagine? But I’ll haveyou know, you Neanderthals, that Iwas a favourite of Shakespeare. Heonce used the phrase ‘I’ll tickle yourcatastrophe’ as a threat! And peoplethink I am uncultured.

And what is with these English Nazisrefusing to think of me as a part oftheir language. The only reason anera’s language is even remembered iscourtesy – yours truly. If not for me,there would be no history of Englishlanguage; because all history wouldthen have are those same old words,used in that same old tone. Okay, okay I’ll admit that someslangs are really cringey and bizarre.But I blame you millennials for that!After all, your definition of me is ei-ther using an existing word or phraseincorrectly, or an entirely alien wordthat came from God knows where.I’ll bet a hundred bucks that you justopen up a dictionary and cut andpaste words together to form the UL-TIMATE word. Sadly, they are all mychildren and I love them (and beforeyou ask, yes, I have looked at adop-tion agencies). And oh, did anyone even think aboutmy children after they came into this

world. My children either stick andeveryone starts using them- includingold people, which makes me cringe orthey are thrown into the depths of the‘Word Underworld’.See, it’s not like you have never usedwords like ‘LOL or ‘TTYL’. Whenyou’re running late and you have todrop a quick text to someone, youdon’t use Shakespearian words towrite out a beautiful prose, now doyou? I’m not trying to be smug, but Iam totally being smug. And I’m notasking anyone to put me on a pedestaleither (although, that would be nice),just give me some recognition fromtime to time! Think of me as a distantrelative, just give me a ring once in awhile, stop by for a chat, and sit downfor some tea. By that I mean thatyou’d be the one sipping tea (Re-member I’m a word; I don’t have amouth). Also, stop writing mean arti-cles about me, don’t make me vibecheck you. G T

Newton, who?Films That Make You Forget Logic

I Am, Therefore English Persists And Vice Versa

The Modern Way Or The Godly Way?, Lets Hear Out The Gods

A heavenly chaos Deeksha Puri, Alumna &

Shyla Basu, XI B, AIS Pushp Vihar

Zeus, the Greek god of thunder,cradled his beloved lightningbolt, and mused in a displeased

tone, “It seems like your holy signifi-cance is being challenged by these punyhumans!”. Scratching his beard, sea godPoseidon, acceded. “The new worldwith its gadgets and social media seemsto have forgotten about the existence ofour symbols. The mortals have replacedthem with superfluous features andwhatnot, that is beyond our comprehen-sibility. As the veterans whined in frus-tration owing to the silly advancementsthat humankind have made, Apollo en-tered the space and offered to explainsome of these belittled features to them:

Kronos' scytheBe it a social media post, or a comment,or even a really short chat, once we re-

alise its supercalifragilisticexpialido-cious nature, there must be somethingto shut it out of existence. And that’swhere the ‘delete’ button, the weaponthat can wipe it all off the face of so-cial media once and for all, comes tothe fore.

Cornucopia of memesMeme accounts that overflow with hi-larious content that make you laugh,snort or wonder how the original poster,lovingly addressed as ‘OP’, ever cameacross such accurate words to describeweird yet relatable experiences. There'sno end to the number and variety ofmemes each account has to offer!

Pandora's boxRemember when you posted that pic-ture that you felt really good about, andthen you reached into the commentssection out of curiosity, and got positiveand fulfilling comments from people

you know? Me neither. Sometimesopening this jar of word worms shouldbe proceeded with caution.

Apple of discordYou log on to twitter and see hashtagstrending about one of your favourite in-fluencers, and intrigued, you peruse thetag only to find people arguing as if ina courtroom to prove him/her guilty of

something with no definitebasis. Isn’t cancel culture just the best?

After Apollo was finished,though Zeus and Poseidon still couldn'tunderstand how any of this could pos-sibly be cooler than thunder bolts andlightning, or gigantic tidal waves beck-oned at will, they decided to look atthese ‘memes’ that human beingsamused themselves with constantly,with their self-created cornucopia.

Slang-o-rama

Illustration: Nishita Gusain, ASFA, AUUP