The last day before Diwali holidays

 

         The day all students look forward to-the day before vacations. The beginning of holidays. Tempting. In my school, there is a 15 day long holiday each year for Diwali. Diwali, the "festival of lights", is a Hindu festival celebrated in autumn. It signifies the victory of good over evil.

 

         October 17, 2014 was the last day of the school before the Diwali vacations. The teachers had asked the students to bring some snacks for a Diwali party for this day. It was the first time we had heard the word ‘party’ from the teachers. In the morning of the particular day, I sure was pretty excited. I reached school. Everyone looked normal. The party was going to be held in the last period of the day. Till then, we had to study.

 

          Finally, the wait was over. The last period came, and we officially declared ourselves free from studies for a fortnight. As soon as the bell rung marking the beginning of the last period, all students who had brought snacks opened their packets of chips and other stuff. They started sharing their snacks. A nice, friendly atmosphere was created. I liked it. Our class teacher came into the class and exclaimed, “Hey everyone! Started without me?” Before we could respond, someone called her from outside, so she left.

 

          Now things started to get a little bit ‘polluted’. Snack wrappers were lying everywhere. I should tell you, unknowingly I even sat on one. My friend Gautam and I were eating our snacks and passing our time, waiting for the last bell for the day. The next thing that happened was certainly not expected by me. Rain started to pour down in the class in a horizontal direction coming from somewhere behind me. I took about 2 seconds to process the thought, during which I completely got soaked. Instinctively, I looked behind. Three guys were emptying their carbonated soft drink bottles on the rest of us.

 

          I shouted one word “Hey!” and bolted to my left to avoid the drinks. They kept on emptying their bottles and swirled them at full speed. God. Two of them were spraying on the two groups formed at the left and right sides of the class, while one sprayed in the center, where only Gautam and I were sitting. Then, out of nowhere, the class teacher marched into the class and stared right into their eyes. They dropped their bottles on the floor. The teacher was extremely angry with them. Poor guys, last day celebration ruined. Still, there should be some limits on the way you party.

 

          People of my class tried to cheer our class teacher up. I hadn’t seen our teacher angry ever before. The whole class had become sticky with the drink. The teacher finally gave in and started giving sweets to all. She tried to take things into her own hands. She tried her best to organize a song game. But the game was a total failure. The children made groups and sang their own songs in the loudest voice they could. Their way of enjoyment. Not mine. Gautam and I quietly sat in our places. Within moments, two large groups were formed around us-one immediately in front of us, the other right behind us.

 

          I didn’t get it. It seemed like we were the kings of the class while the others sang to us. The only problem I had was that the songs weren’t melodious at all. In fact, they were causing some serious noise pollution. It didn’t feel nice. The Central Pollution Control Board had to be notified. I seriously wanted to get out of there. But the stadium was jam-packed. I wasn’t able to move a muscle. I felt like curling myself into a ball. I felt helpless, to be precise. Then a great personality of our class yelled my name and asked me to sing. That was the last thing I had thought of doing that day. All started to shout my name. Come on. Everyone looked at me with big round eyes. Now, what did they expect me to do? Although I was enjoying all the attention, they ultimately got bored of asking me and started singing their songs again.

 

          The bell rang. Holidays! The moment every student of my school was waiting for. Finally, the period got over.  A few of us felt relieved, while others wanted to continue the party forever. Each person was telling the other, “Happy Diwali, my friend!” We literally ran down to the ground towards the buses. This was probably the first time I had experienced a real school party.

 

-  Manas Trivedi

 

 

School Picnic - Singapore Gardens, Pune

          I hope you know what is a picnic. A picnic is a leisure trip in which food is eaten outdoors. On 30 September 2014, the school took the students of the ninth grade to Singapore Gardens. I remembered by experience of Kapila Resort. The school had taken us there on a picnic once. Though a good place, it was quite small. Really small for 500 children. Crowded and all, my experience wasn’t nice.

          I hoped that this time, the picnic spot was a better place. We all guys sat in the bus. The bus was a Volvo, or a luxury bus, with a functional TV. At least the school didn’t cut the costs on that. I sat with my friends, Amit and Deepak. The bus started. Within 5 minutes, Amit said that he was feeling hungry. We opened some snacks and had a sort of breakfast. I’d brought my Rubik’s cube along with me. I tried to teach Amit the cube. That took a lot of time. Deepak also brought a cube, which was different from normal ones as it was a mirror cube. All the cubies were of different sizes. A movie was being screened on the TV. I didn’t understand much of it, as I was busy teaching Amit. Guys in the bus started dancing to the tune of songs in the movie. Then we reached a hilly area, called the Western Ghat region.

          The landscape was fantastic. We were travelling on a long hill. On both sides there was a green valley with a clean river flowing on the left side. We reached a tunnel. It was a long, dark one. Everyone in my bus started woohooing and yahooing. In formal language-yelling, screaming and hooting. Back in light, the noise died down. We approached the destination. Singapore Gardens, my friends were already making fun of it. “How does it feel in Singapore?” Amit asked me. The bus stopped and we walked down to the gardens.

          The first thing I saw was a 3 metre by 3 metre garden. “There it is! Singapore Gardens! Couldn’t be any better!” Deepak said. The actual thing’s gate was on the right. We entered and came face to face with a green elephant. Made up of a green carpet, or a curtain. The second thing we saw was a monster. A dragon. A sculpture with water flowing out of its mouth. A breakfast was organised, a nice one according to me. In a plate, the staff of the place served poha-a snack made from crushed rice, and a sort of halwa-a sweet dish made of flour. Amit, for some reason, didn’t like the breakfast. We kept our bags at a safe place and explored the area a bit, and I got back to my Cube classes. I told Amit frankly that we were here to enjoy, not to stress out our brains.

          I know I said the word ‘enjoy’. I am not much of a fun-loving person. The DJ started his songs in the dance room. All guys totally shook it. They seemed like they were enjoying a lot. I don’t know how one could enjoy by dancing. I am not made for dancing. I believe that playing the guitar is the best way to enjoy. Still, I envied those guys in the dance hall.

          Then an announcement was made. “All students proceed to the auditorium”. It was a big room. The weird thing about it was that 3 rows of robots were arranged beneath a big screen. I thought it was just a design and they would show us a movie on robots. Firstly, they showed us a video clip of robots dancing. Next, the robots right in front of us started dancing. Cool. Then, they showed a clip of a robot exercising. The same robot was brought in. It started doing push-ups on one hand with one feet in the air. Awesome. Another robot was brought, which responded to the commands of a person. The next thing was a fish. Two air filled fishes were brought which literally ‘swam’ in the air. The two swam unimaginably gracefully. Now, why should birds be left behind? A robotic bird was brought in, which flew through the air. It swooped over us. I had to duck in order to save myself from getting hit by the bird. Finally, the bird’s flight ended in a crash into a person of my class. This quad copter was brought in next. Didn’t seem too great, but it produced a lot of wind. That was the end of the robotic show.

          Lunch was served. Satisfactory food. Sweet dish-not available. No, actually it was available at a cost. For Rs. 20, Choco bar was provided. This awkward incident then happened. Right in front of my eyes, a student took 10 or 15 bars from a box and gave it to his friends. Someone noticed, but it was too late.

          Again an announcement was made. “Students proceed to the open ground”. The robotic show was restarted. The quad copter was flown right into the sky. Up into the sky. Really high. Next, a UFO was flown into the air. The UFO was made up of thermocol, with a hex copter attached to it. It didn’t fly high, and it met with the same fate of the robotic bird. It crashed into a guy, who didn’t seem hurt, and broke into two pieces. Poor UFO.

          Once again, an announcement was made. “Students go for 3D show”.  I went for the show. It was the opposite of incredible. Ouch. Seen much better things than that. Then the coordinator called for children who were willing to become social workers. I and Deepak went to volunteer. But we backed up as soon as we heard the task. The social workers had to clean up the garden. There were very few volunteers. The garden was very badly polluted with wrappers and other stuff. I and Deepak felt that it was our duty. We picked up some of the trash and put it in the dustbin. It felt nice. Then the coordinator called us and asked our names. I felt great pride in telling my name. Overall, the social service was a good experience.

          This time our school had arranged an educational trip also. To Mahananda Milk Plant. We came back to the bus and set off for the plant. The bus left us on a road. We trekked down the road to the plant. It was smaller than I had thought. It took a while before we entered the plant. From inside, it was amazing. We were able to see the packets being made, the milk being filled into the packets, and being sent off to different places in boxes. There was a huge cylinder to store milk. It was about 3 storeys tall. Well, the visit was not too educational.

          We boarded the bus back to our school. This time, instead of movies, songs were played. Boring for me. I asked Amit to stop bugging me and that I would teach him the cube afterwards. The tunnel, this time, seemed smaller. Time seemed to flow. Some guys were taking selfies on our teacher’s tablet. All seemed tired as well as happy.

          We reached school. End of picnic. We said our bye-byes to each other. I boarded the school bus back to my home. At home, I narrated all the incidents that took place to my parents, grandparents and brother. The overall experience was nice. Especially the robotic show. Nice day.

-         Manas Trivedi

Learning the GUITAR

          You a guitarist? Yeah? No? If you’re not, go right now to a music shop and buy one. Really. This is one of the best suggestions I could give to you. Let me ask you something, what according to you is the best instrument in the world? Some of you might say drums. Others, the piano. I say, the guitar is the coolest instrument in the universe. You disagree? Just once, play the E minor chord on the guitar. You’d know why.

          My brother Mihir, in 2010, went on a strike. He demanded a guitar. If his wish was not fulfilled, he wouldn't agree to whatever my parents and I said. I don’t know why, but my parents really fulfilled his wish. I kept opposing them, saying that Mihir would just buy it and keep it as a decoration. And yes, the same happened. The guitar bought was a black acoustic guitar. It looked quite cool. But for the next three years, the guitar gathered dust in the storage area.

          In March 2014, finally I decided to try out the guitar. The exams were over, so there was nothing to stop me. I tried to learn some chords by watching videos on the internet, but the videos I saw totally disappointed me. I lost interest in the instrument and it was kept in the storage for another month.

          When the school reopened in April, I was promoted to the ninth grade. I made a lot of friends. One of the friends I made, Siddharth is an experienced guitarist. I saw this as my chance. I tried to extract whatever was possible about playing the guitar. He gave me quite a lot of good information and asked me to watch the videos of this person named Marty.

          I have to call Marty my first guru of guitar. His way of teaching is better than everyone else I’ve seen on YouTube. I learnt my very first song, or tune from him. Summer holidays came. I remained glued to the computer screen watching his videos all day long. There was this one thing that bothered me a bit. The strings, when you start to play, really dig into your fingers. Though my fingers hurt a lot, that didn't stop me from learning the guitar.
 

          In May, during the holidays, I came to know that a guitar teacher had come to teach in my society. My joy knew no bounds. I joined the class the very first day. The teacher’s name is Sachin. He is a very nice guy. And an incredible teacher. He started his teaching with a lead song. Playing lead for the first time is impossibly hard. First of all, if you’re a right handed person, I’m sure you won’t have any control over the fingers of your left hand. The right hand only does the strumming part. The left hand has to go to the correct place on the guitar’s fret board and then press the string. I thought of playing the guitar left handed. In that case, I’d have to only do the strumming with the left hand. But that was even harder. Just about then, I thought of giving up.

          Still, I continued the classes. After some days, I got some control over my left hand. Though the hand was not speedy enough, I was able to play the correct notes. Within a month of serious practising, I was able to call myself an amateur guitarist. I must say, I became good at it. I was able to play fluently.

          Then I gave my first ever performance on the guitar. On the Indian Independence day, I with my three friends played the national anthem in front of a real audience. Within 15 days, on Ganesh Chaturthi, I performed solo with my guitar and my voice. The guitar accompaniment increased the performance quality and I was able to put up a good show, all thanks to my guitar.

          I still am learning more songs and this learning is endless. And please, please learn the guitar if you haven’t. I have experienced that it reduces stress and relaxes and rejuvenates the mind, along with being a great way to pass time. I thank Siddharth, Marty and Sachin sir for their guidance and making me the guitarist I am.

-         Manas Trivedi

 

My guitar

 

Stress Faced By Students

          In today’s competitive world, students face a huge amount of stress. According to my experience as a student of the 21st century, I believe there are mainly four types of stresses a student has to face.

          The first one is examinations. As we all know, exams are the one of the biggest fears of a student. All things which are taught throughout the year are tested within a few hours of exams. Students not only have the tension before exams but also after the exams before the results are displayed. They have the fear of failing.

          The second main stress is homework. I have to write these long journals for homework. And I’m not a very punctual guy. I postpone my work to the last day. But I believe in completion of work on time. So basically I freak out when I have to do a ton of homework within a couple of hours. In this way, homeworks can become nightmares.

          The third one is tuition. Tuitions horribly mess up the daily routine of a student. Along with the school homework, which I’ve mentioned, there is this tuition homework which the students have to do. This greatly increases the load on them. I have seen my classmates doing their tuition homework while the teacher was teaching in the class. And I wish my brother good luck, who is going to join his tuitions in a few days.

           And last, but not the least, peer pressure. A student’s friends may ask him/her to change his or her behaviour or attitude to suit them. They pressurize him/her to do what they say to be accepted. But when the student refuses, social isolation takes place. He/she is completely isolated by his/her friends. In these cases, the consequences can be dire. Students commit suicide in some cases.

           These are the main reasons, I believe, are responsible for the stress on them. And these are perhaps the main reasons for student suicides all around the world. I hope parents read this and understand the feelings of their school-going children.

-         Manas Trivedi

 

The Locust Squad

          Have you ever seen a bee flying alone, collecting nectar? Yeah, most of you have. What about a group of bees, coming from a hive? Okay, what about a million bees, flying together like a huge bee army? A sight not seen every day, right? On this particular day, the 3rd of October 2014, I with my grandpa, was coming home from the market. I had my camera with me. I had been clicking pictures of clouds. There was this spectacular display in the sky. The clouds had formed a lightning pattern, and the setting sun gave an orange tinge to it. I took at least 20 pictures, while my grandpa was busy buying things. After he completed his purchases, we were on our way back. Even while riding the scooter, I was still fully engrossed in taking pictures of the sunset. Then while taking a photo, this bee came in between me and the sun. I deleted the photo, and continued. Immediately, the sky was filled with hundreds of bees. They were flying quite high. On the scooter, there was no protection. But still, with the bees flying so high, I wasn’t at all scared. I was in fact amazed at their number. There were at least a million bees. If you have seen stars in a clear, pollution-free sky, imagine all of the stars moving in a random motion. But the bees didn’t maintain their height for long. Within a minute, they were buzzing around our scooter. Yikes. It seemed as if they were racing against us. But they didn’t seem to be in the attacking mode. On close observation, I saw that they were dragonflies. But my grandpa said that they were locusts, which destroy crops. We reached home, and I went straight for the balcony. Our house was on the fifth floor. The locusts would be visible clearly at this height.  But they were gone. Yeah, gone. They disappeared as soon as they had appeared. Strange. I looked all around for them. No sign. This was the first time I had seen such a huge number of locusts at a time. I know I won’t forget this locust experience ever. I just hoped for one thing, ‘May God save the crops”.

 

-         Manas Trivedi