Did you go on a vacation with your family recently?Do you wish to put down your thoughts about
something that’s troubling you? Did a speech ortalk inspire you to be a better human being? Areyou a budding poet or painter? Whatever be yourinterest, use this space to speak up.
“Do not believe what your teacher tells youmerely out of respect for the teacher.”
Gautama Buddha06 MY SPACE
HEART OFAN ARTIST:AMANPATHAK,class XI, DAVModelSchool,Sector 15,Chandigarh
HALLOWEENNIGHT:PARVATHY,class V, SreeAurobindoPublic School,Thiruvananthapuram
S o, one morning, just like any other16-year-old, I woke up and startedscrolling through Instagram. An
alarming number of stories wereabout finding the greatest treas-
ure of them all, the Ambrosia, ieTickets for Avengers: Endgame! “Yoo
got em tixx” and other tomfoolery wasbeing exchanged.
Exasperated by all this propaganda,I kept my phone on my table and carriedon with my day. However, one thought re-fused to leave my mind – "What’s all the
hype about?” I mean, one of these joyousjaybirds was a person I knew very well. They
weren’t even interested in the Marvel CinematicUniverse. So, I texted them, “You said that you
didn’t even LIKE Avengers?” In the next fewseconds pat came the reply, “It’s in vogue, babygirl.” And all I could think was, “Really?” Peo-ple from Gen Z waste so much time, energy
and money to do or watch thingsthey aren’t even passionate
about? Why do it then? Iwant everyone who’s
reading this to sit backand reflect on this thought,“Are my choices, likes and dis-
likes a mere result of peer pressure?” Because we live in a world where not being active
on social media spurs instant judgment. And some-where deep down, we’re all afraid of it. That’s why wescour the internet to search for tickets of a movie we
don’t know head or tail of. Otherwise, “LMAO bruhyou got no chill.”
Following fads isn’t ‘chill’. Chill is being your-self, owning yourself and not bowing down to every-thing your peer group says. You do you.
KIRAT KHANDELWAL, class XI, Army Public School, Dagshai
MY MOTHER SINGS ME TO SLEEP
PAULA JUDITH, class XI, Sainik School,Thiruvanathapuram
Will you give a young birdyou tended to the hunter’sarrow?Will you leave the sky to fallon the world if it was in yourhand?How then will I let you out inthe streetsWhere sin is not just a word,but a habitAnd you, my sweetheart,don’t lie; I know you’re afraid of mon-sters you’ll find in the cityThey’re nightmares wrappedin flesh and bones.Lust lulling them to sleepStay with me, dear, until I
make you a fire;A fire for a soul too young,Burning the city down, shak-ing the earth and bringinglife that’s hidden in thegroundThe light that the darknessfears and flees, you’ll be thefire, a burning legacy.But until then, dear, staywith meUnder the covers, and sleepWe’ll draw love and whisperpeace;Until then, dear, stay withmeDo not open the door and goout in the streets.
TELL ME IF MY VOICE ISN’T REAL
URVASHI BANERJI, class IX, Delhi Public School East,Bengaluru
Tell me if my voice isn’trealThe weak lass would try toconcealThe whispering voicesinvite to seek in,The lurking shadows hurtme from within‘No, no’
Cried the feeble doeTrapped in the endlesscycle of sorrow,Patiently waiting for tomorrow.The creeping darknessseeping from withinThe haunting darknessdevouring with a sickly grin
THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
SHREYA RAVI, class IX, The Brigade School –Malleswaram, Bengaluru
Time talks to me,And tells me to imagineabout something so wee,I guess I would like hap-piness and no sorrow,Something like theworld of tomorrow.There might be time
machines,Or teleportation from amansion to a burrow,All of this would be pos-sible,In the unpredictableworld of tomorrow.New inventions, newlaws (maybe),And people who won’tfollow these laws,
Shall be labeled as‘slobby’.My only fear is age,which acts like an invis-ible cage,The rules of age weshall be bound to follow,In this dangerous world
of tomorrow.I think that I’ll just stayhere,Maybe I’ll lend an ear,To know what’s it’s allaboutFrom a group of futurefanatics fromScarborough,Who love the neutralworld of tomorrow.
STORMYWEATHER:ADVAITHARISH, classXII, KV INSDronacharya,Ernakulam
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WRITE FOR US
Movies have a major im-pact on our lives andcontribute to shaping
our personalities. Most im-portantly, they have the pow-er to shed light on issues impacting our society. They provide a platform forall sections of society to ex-press and exhibit theirviews. Presently, however,the Indian entertainment industry is falling short onthis aspect.
Diversity intelevision showsfor young chil-dren is especiallyimportant, as theyare at an impression-able stage in life andtheir opinions are eas-ily swayed by thethings they see. It isimportant to portraycharacters that are dif-ferent from the viewer,as this exposes thechild to people whocome from differentwalks of life, andare sensitised onthe difficultiesfaced by many peo-ple around the world.If the minoritygroups are repre-sented on television
as heroes, children, who lookup to them, grow up to beopen-minded adults.
The representation of dif-ferent religions, races andgenders is crucial for diver-sity in cinema and televi-sion. F. Earle Barcus, a pro-fessor of BostonUniversity,c o n -
ducted a con-tent analysison children’s tel-evision in Holly-wood. He found thatthere was a sizeablediscrepancy between thenumbers of female andmale characters. Femalesaccount for just under one-third of all characters. This
seems discouraging, butit is an improvement
from the 1:6 ratio thathe had found in an
earlier study. Bollywood has
also changed withtime. The cul-tures and tradi-tions of manysections of peo-ple in India havebeen capturedover the years.Although diver-sity in cinemaand television
has amelioratedover the past few
years, there is stilla long way to go.
TARUNYA
SASHIKANTH,
class XI, NPS HSR,
Bengaluru
IMPORTANCE OF DIVERSITY INMOVIES AND TV SHOWS
S ometime back, when we drove tothe Ngorongoro ConservationArea in Tanzania, short, roundhuts made of mud and straw in
small settlements made by the Maasaitribe — guarded by a wall of wood —came into view.
Tall men and women lined the en-trance to the settlement. We stopped, as-suming it would be difficult to makethem understand that we wanted to takea tour of their little village. But to oursurprise, the head of settlement spokefluent English! After the pleasantries,he told us that the tribe had to buy wa-ter from the Government as there is apaucity, especially in summer. For theirsurvival, they depend on cattle and live-stock. The Maasai tribe is particularlyknown for its colourful attire and un-usual traditions like 'Enuoto', the com-
ing of age ceremony which involves daysof dancing, singing and rituals like 'Ad-umu’ – the jumping dance, in which el-igible bachelors get brides on the basisof how high they jump!
Although India certainly doesn’t
need any more unusual rituals, whatwe Indians, can learn from the Maa-sai tribe is how incredible they are intheir lifestyle.
Even when the Tanzanian govern-ment tried to encourage the tribes to mod-
ernise their traditional lifestyle, theystayed attached to their roots and con-tinued their age-old customs. They sendthe boys of the tribe for higher educa-tion to the cities, but the boys come backhome to teach the younger generations.
They have also brought technology totheir villages in the form of smart phonesand projectors to make their lives morecomfortable.
They have kept their distance from
the outer world, yet opened a window, tomodern life. They have become ‘Urban’,but are still ‘Tribal’.
Maasai tribes have taught us to soarhigh in the sky and yet keep our feetgrounded to the earth. These ‘tribal war-riors’ also live in close proximity to na-ture and depend on it for their daily re-quirements, like building fences fromhardy plants etc.
Maasai tribe’s never-say-die spirit,cheerful demeanour and easy lifestylehighlights the fact that we too must livelife to the fullest.
They are content with living theirlife in the middle of the savannah grass-lands, slowly inching towards develop-ment. And seeing the little childrenstudying in traditional huts in the re-mote area, using up-to-date textbooksand stone slates for writing, I felt thatwe should be ready to learn things fromunexpected corners of the world.
AANYA BEDI, class XI, Carmel ConventSchool, Chandigarh
IMP: All the articles and poems are published with bare minimum editing.
ME MINION: ANJALISHARMA, class XII, KV INSDronacharya, Ernakulam
CREEPY FELLA: SHRAAVYA SHETTAR,class VII, Presidency School NLO,
Bengaluru
THE URBAN TRIBES OF TANZ ANIA
WHAT'S ALL THE HYPE ABOUT?
Get organised, success will follow
T hat day I was a bundle ofnerves with a bunch of but-terflies in my stomach. It was
the day of my grade four pianoexam. The very words on my hallticket taunted me. Weeks of prac-
tising my pieces, scales and auraltests seemed like a minusculeamount of practice at that moment.Of course everyone was telling meit would be just fine and I would doa great job, but their comfortingwords were of no avail. The week
leading to that crucial day waseasily the most hectic one in my
whole life. To my relief, the exam-iner was really kind and encour-
aging. Her presence helped me calmdown and give my best shot.
Fear, anxiety and nervousnessgradually were replaced by happi-ness and satisfaction. But becauseI left all my practice for the lastminute my marks weren't thatgreat. This experience taughtme how to be more organisedand responsible in the future. Italso proved that without organ-ised and regular hard work, suc-
cess will remain a dream.SAFA FATHIMA RAFEEK, class IX,
Greenwood High School,Varthur, B’luru
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