Realisations of 2011

This year, I found out a lot of things, like many others did.

Hate can be a result of love.
Trying to look at moments behind you causes a squint.
My mind is far dirtier than before, but I have to make do with the innocence I have left.
Working hard reaps rewards, however small.
Rewards aren't always material.
People are stupid. Trust yourself.
You still don't know how to forgive.
If you keep working hard, you won't get lazy.
Listening to awesome songs motivates you.
Bathing refreshes you.
The future is just a stranger on the street. It exists, but you shouldn't care too much about it, or you might get hurt.
People are awesome. Listen to them, and learn from them.
Complaining is stupid. Endure.
Angels exist, but they won't speak to you unless you speak to them.

Mullaperiyar- Hope for a better tomorrow

The latest controversy on the 116 year old Mullaperiyar dam has hit us had and harder perhaps ,the T.N government.From historical records we can see that the Mullaperiyar dam treaty was no longer existent after India won her freedom.The T.N government had forced the Kerala government since then to revive the treaty and continue to provide water and electricity to Tamil Nadu at highly subsidized rates.The government of Kerala accepted this demand in 1970's and the former treaty came into being.The dam has outlived its expected lifespan of 50 years and can break and cause a pandemonium at any moment.The presently minor yet frequent earthquakes too have contributed to the anxiety of Keralites.

Looking Back....

Most of the Madras Presidency at the time of Britishers was arid, devoid of moisture during summers. Even the great rivers like Vaiga were drying up and the farmers and the commoners were suffering greatly. Plans for an alternative source of water began from 1850's. But it was only in 1882 that the construction of the dam was approved by State sec

retary of Madras state J.C Hannington. Thus the Mullaperiyar dam was completed by 1895. The government then had taken the right over the Mullaperiyar and surrounding 1500 hectares of land from Vishakam Thirunnal, Maharaja of Travancore.

Why is T.N so stubborn?

The answer for this is simple. Who would want to kill the gold laying duck?

Tamil Nadu uses the water from Periyar to cultivate sunflower gardens,grape farms etc in Theni, Madurai etc. The loss of treaty would mean a huge blow for the Tamilian economy. Tamil Nadu pays Andhra Pradesh Rs. 3 crores per TMC of water and Rs.40000 for 70 TMC of water to the Kerala government. So the renewal of the dam would mean a change in the treaty thereby reducing Tamil Nadu's profits. But placing the life of thousands of Kerala at stake is not the way to solve this problem. Despite all these pleas from Kerala T.N has asked the central government to raise the height of the dam to 142 feet !!

Twin face of our politicians

The latest controversy related to the dam was the remark of P Chidambaram, honorary minister of Home Affairs on the dam. He said that the political parties were inflating the issue and that they were taking up the issue due to the fear of losing in elections. Though such a remark was not appreciable he has a point.Our political parties and leaders all have unitedly stood for this issue.But this is just another form of campaigning for votes.Naturally if one party was to take up the issue and the other neglect it it would result in the defeat of the latter party in the next elections.So this seems as another big drama set up by the government.

Kerala has innumerable ways of pressurizing T.N government.As I mentioned earlier the water from Periyar is crucial for them.Kerala can temporarily freeze the treaty to force T.N government to agree. But T.N has recently announced that it will announce the name of some Keralites who have illegally bought land in Tamil Nadu.Thus the Kerala government seems to be protecting the interest of few and forgetting millions whose lives are at stake.

All we can hope is that the country realizes our pitiful condition and help to save lives of million...

Let's bring the CLUBS back!!

Here's a shout-out to all our Devagirians out here on the blog.

As part of the whole Creative You franchise I'd paraded around during the elections, we've decided to bring the Clubs back. That's right - the social, the science, the theatre, the skating, the basketball, the dance, the social service, the sketching, the compering, the vocal, the Blah Blah - Every single one of those clubs are on the path to making their entrance back into Devagiri. Till about two years ago, we had all these clubs and seems to us that they did a pretty good job at doing SOMETHING to bring the Creative You out into the open.
I know it's really late into the year, we're almost approaching the end of the second term, and I apologize for the delay folks - but I'm confident this can be pulled off even now. There are a lot of events coming up where each club will get to portray itself, and right now is the time for you to respond to the idea. Want them back? Want to be part of a crazy group of people who are fanatics just like you? :D I'll be waiting for you in the Comments Section folks.

Children of Heaven

The tale of a young boy, Ali, and his little sister, Zahra, portrays the love, concern and devotion of a brother to his sister. The role of Ali was played by Amir Farrokh Hashemian and Zahra was played by Bahare Seddiqi. 

Ali looses his sister's shoes while returning from the shoemakers' shop. He stops at the grocers' when the shoes are accidentally picked up by the garbageman. Ali searches everywhere for them but does not find them. His parents were too poor to afford new shoes, so the two children did not tell their parents that Zahra's shoes were lost. 

Ali had an old pair of sneakers which both the children exchanged and wore to school. It was very difficult to do so as there was only a short interval between the ending of Zahra's school and the beginning of Ali's school, but they managed like this for several days. 

One day, Ali learns of a long-distance running race in which the third prize was a week at a vacation camp and a pair of sneakers. In his frantic attempt to reach the finish, he accidentally comes first. Ali, unaware that his father had bought Zahra and him two new pairs of shoes, was very upset that he was not able to win the sneakers. The last part of the film shows Ali dipping his blistered and aching feet in a pool.

The last shot of the film struck me the most. The blisters on Ali's feet showed that his emotional attachment to his sister overrides his physical pain. Ali, the lead character in the film affected me the most. He taught me a very valuable lesson in life. From him, I realized the value and importance of our relationships and the bonds we have with our family.

The film too revolved around the same theme and sensitized me to the importance of love, care, affection and sacrifice for our familial bonds, duties and roles, be it that of a parent, sibling or child.

The Sixth Sense

Computers have a huge influence in our lives these days. We use computers for a wide variety of purposes. It has brought changes in the way we communicate and undertake day-to-day activities.

Now, in the modern 21st century, we see mind boggling changes in how we interact with these computers and how elegantly simple the whole process of computing has become.

The Sixth Sense is a new graphical and gestural computing interface. Designed by an Indian, Pranav Mistry, it consolidates a pocket projector, a mirror and a camera into a small wearable pendant-like accessory worn around the neck. The projector projects images that have interactive capabilities onto any physical surface and the camera records the gestures you make with your fingers on these surfaces.

The gesture interface is neatly combined into simple computer-vision techniques, where the software takes in the video stream from the camera and intelligently interprets the gestures you make with your fingers. For this, the user wears coloured bands on the tips of his fingers, each having a different colour. The interface assigns the appropriate information to each of these coloured bands, where the way these bands are moved are configured into their proper commands with the images projected by the projector as a backdrop.

Truly, this is science fiction getting closely acquainted with our reality! 

Our iPads and smart phones will have to make way for a new revolution in computing, one that is going to surpass all boundaries of the interactive world!

For more information log onto Pranav Mistry's Website : http://www.pranavmistry.com/projects/sixthsense/

Or better yet, you could enjoy a demonstration:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Grandma

By Minha Naushad
VI-A

My grandmother is the one who's always in the kitchen
Tasting the food and checking if it tastes good or not
She is always worried whether the guests will like it
I have never seen such a one who cooks

She always asks me again and again
Does it have enough salt?
Dose it have enough sugar?

She is the best grandma
and the best cook in the world.

The Journey of Life

THE JOURNEY OF LIFE

Life is a journey

In which we row our boat
From pain to joy and
From failures to success.


The journey of life is an endless stream
In which we have both- happiness and sorrows
But it is the journey of life-
The journey of experiences.

trip to vismaya

As you know, like every year last year our school took us for a tour. It was to Vismaya: A Water Theme Park. It was awesome. All students who came last year would say that. We left at 6 am by bus. The bus was shaking with music and dance (mostly my friend Aswati. She was dancing the most). When we all settled down, they put a Malayalam translation of the movie 'Bodyguard'.

We got down for breakfast and had idli and sambar. Next to that place there was a fort. We saw olden things over there. It was quite good there.

 Then when we reached Vismaya. Of course, every one of us was excited. We first got into all the land rides and the fun started when we got onto all the water rides. 

Some rides can never be forgotten..........

Sylvia Plath's "Mirror"

In July, Sheela Miss was teaching us a poem by Sylvia Plath. It was titled "Mirror" (I'm sure our seniors know about it).This poem had a peculiarity in it. Although the poem is short (and somewhat "peripheral", as said by our teacher), I felt the poetess was dealing with topics related to infinity and the vast bonds that tie it to this world. Look inside the mirror, you see yourself. Look inside of yourself, what do you see? Exactly.

Here's the poem:

Mirror

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see, I swallow immediately.
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike
I am not cruel, only truthful – The eye of a little god, four-cornered.
Most of the time I meditate on the opposite wall.
It is pink, with speckles. I have looked at it so long
I think it is a part of my heart. But it flickers.
Faces and darkness separate us over and over.
Now I am a lake. A woman bends over me.
Searching my reaches for what she really is.
Then she turns to those liars,
the candles or the moon. I see her back, and reflect it faithfully
She rewards me with tears and an agitation of hands.
I am important to her.

She comes and goes.
Each morning it is her face that replaces the darkness.
In me she has drowned a young girl,

and in me an old woman rises

toward her day after day, like a terrible fish.

This is my take on the poem:

A mirror is a rarely considered object. A necessity indeed, but often a neglected one. We overlook the amazing capabilities of a mirror to personify any character. Day after day we see ourselves through an inanimate entity, a very ordinary one too. In fact it would be ironical to say that god’s greatest creation can easily be emulated and personified by an object as lucid and plain as a mirror. If we consider the various possibilities that a mirror holds, we can find an insight in ourselves. Staring at the mirror in my room I saw a world, a parallel world, transfixed in it. I daresay that this world is a world of plagiarism, a world of duplicity, a world of imitation and mimicry, a world that defies the rational structure of our own, but is requisite to maintain it, nevertheless.

This is the insight I received of the mirror:

Sylvia Plath’s “Mirror”, is a delightful account of the insight she received, I feel. She uses her mental psyche to pervade the façade of a mirror, so that inevitably she reaches her trueself. In the poem, Plath refers to the mirror as devoid of preconceptions. She calls it “the eye of a little god” implying the non-subjective attribute of the mirror. The mirror, in the poem, denies vehemently that it is not what humans think of it; it is not cruel, just honest, and it understands what humans want, but never give them the pleasure. For the mirror adjudicatesnot just the outward appearances, it is an objective judge of a person’s true feeling. A person who can look at the mirror in the eye is void of blemishes. But such is the irony of the mirror; it is seldom noticed meticulously.

Finally, the poem ends with the brutality of the truth known by the mirror; old age is in close proximity to the observer. As said in the poem, each day a young woman is drowned in the depths of the murky lake concealed by the mirror, and each day, an old woman rises towards the observer like a terrible fish-an excellent metaphor suggesting the advancement of old age and the dying of youth in a woman.

This is an excellent poem to read and enjoy with deep and detailed understanding.

Friends

Q : Friends...Who are they?

A : People who care and share for you and with you.
Q : What do they do for you?

A : Lighten up your life.

Q : How?

A : By doing all the masti with you.

A friend is anybody who lightens up your heart . She is the person who makes you laugh. She is with you when you are happy and when you are sad.

A friend is somebody who lightens your heart.

Don't let go of your friends.

Be with them through their happiness and sadness

School

Isn't it weird? When there is school we are like "Oh shit! Hope there is a bandh tomorrow." When there isn't school we cry saying, "I wish there is school tomorrow..."

Never think school is trouble for us kids. Never call it a disaster. This is what the students and teachers of Devagiri CMI Public School taught me. A school of love and fun is what you can call this school. Such a school with  love and care is surely quite rare.

Well it's vacation now and I am crying thinking of all the masti we did and all the fun we had. The teacher is the lighting lamp of our hearts and our friends are the happiness of our life. I cry thinking of my friends who I wish would be there next to me teasing me, laughing with me, and playing with me. 15 more days! I would be happy when these 15 more days of not seeing my dear friends gets over in 15 more seconds.

I wanna see u guys......................:(

Even while I write this I wipe my tears asking, 'When would be these 15 days of sadness without friends get over?'

My Remarkable Experience of Onam Celebration

How can I ever forget the 26th of August? It was too blissful. All the 49 children of my class were having fun, I guess. We were very busy with our flower carpet. It didn't come out well as we expected. The flower carpets of classes VII B and VIII A made us desolate, that we weren't that experts in doing it. Whatever it may be, we had lots of fun. We were eclectic for our design. My friends and I were very busy talking. No rest was given to our tongues. We were blabbering something or the other. 

          I appreciate my friend, Mishal. For he was the only one wearing a dhothi (in the 7th standard). Then at the auditorium we were dancing at our best as if we were alone. Ms. Vijitha, Ms. Roona, and Ms. Shija danced with us. Roshan sir too. And moreover, Fr. Johnny danced with us. I didn't ever think he could really be that friendly. Next was the Tug-of-War. It was great. Though I didn't have my lunch that day, I was really energetic. I wish we had Valsaraj sir with us. We really miss him. Anyway, I just enjoyed very much on the day.

A Film Review of Deivathirumagal

      An emotional dad-daughter relationship - this is what I found in the film. A mentally challenged father shows great care to his cutie pie. Her mother dies at her birth. Krishna, then brings her up with great pains and a lot of love showered on her. But fate intervenes in the character of the girl's grandfather who separates the father from the child. A legal battle takes place and at the end of a heart-breaking scene, Krishna gets united with Nila, his little diamond. Then the story takes an unexpected turn, which I shall not disclose for you.

I think it is a wonderful film which all of us should go and see.The fascinating music takes me to the top of the world. Each song contains the feel of the situation.

Vikram has shown great mastery in acting. Sarah, who has played the role of the little girl is also a promising artist.

The film with its powerful visuals picturising a touching relationship between the mentally retarded father and the innocent baby girl is sure to bring tears to our eyes.

Dedicated To A Wonderful Father

I can see only care in your eyes, my father

I saw a tender affection in your deeds

when I eat, your appetite is gone

when I cry, your eyes are wet

I don't know...

GOD cannot be with everyone

So, He had sent you to be with me saying...

Take care of my own child as yours 

She is my little angel who needs to be cared for,

who has to be guided and watched.

My father, I wish you to live long 

As no one can care for me
like you...

The Girl In My Dreams

There's one person who's always on my mind...

24x7, in class, when I'm with friends, 
when I'm taking a bath, 
when I'm trying to get some sleep, 
when I'm supposed to do my homework.
That person's always there.

But she doesn't exist. 
And I have to keep dreaming, in vain.

That is the life of this soul, oscillating between reality and fantasy.

Devotion to a being that doesn't exist, 
obsession with a person who I'll never meet.

Perhaps that is what I am, and will continue to be, a 
hopeless dreamer...

When I pick up my pencil, my hand immediately draws her face,

When I erase, I lose a part of myself in it.

I write, and the first word that appears on the paper, is her name.

The bell rings for the interval, she walks into my mind.

I forget everything, and she's all that's left.

I try to think of another, but that name echoes on.

She's sitting here, she's standing there.

In times of crisis, I look to her, asking, "What would you do?"

She tells me an answer, and I take the plunge

If it's right, I thank her.

If it's wrong, I blame my incompetence.

Is that the path of a dreamer, Or that of a lonely soul?

The last light in this world of fear, or a place for the lazy to go?

Will this become something worthwhile, or merely confuse?

Is this what hope is, or a mere illusion for fools?

My Ramadan

Nombthura

I have a really tough time during my Ramadan. Even though it's tough we all will fast to know the poor man's hunger.We practice 30 days of  fasting, prayer, recitation of the Holy Quran, etc. 

The very interesting thing is that we don't mind our hunger even though we are tired. During Ramadan we use to have a long prayer in the night and in the morning before the sun rises, we will have our food. We  break our fast when the sun sets amd my mother makes delicious food and after that we will have our prayer. For me, as I am going to school, I don't know how the time goes. At school we will have our prayer when others are having their lunch.

So my Ramadan, even though it's difficult...I enjoy!!!!

The Story of Water

"Mummy!"said Anushka while getting into her home,"Mummy! We have a project based on water.We have to answer some questions given by our teacher. Can you help me?" "Oh!Sure dear!" her mother said. Since she was a child of the modern generation, she checked out the internet. Only some information was there in the internet. She observed the nature and found out the rest.

Anushka understood that drinking water comes from one of two sources: Ground water or Surface water. Ground water comes from precipitation that seeps into the ground, filling the open spaces. Surface water comes from precipitation that recharges rivers, lakes and wetlands.

She wondered, "I got the information for 'where does water come from?'. Now I want to know 'where does water go'. Her mother had the answer. She said, "Rainwater flows through rivers and streams. All rivers finally meet ocean. Some of the water is absorbed by the ground. The remaining goes to ocean."

"I don't know which living things use water",she said. Through her observation of nature, she came to the answer. It was, 'All living things use water'.

"I want to know 'how does water become unusable'.", she said. This time the internet had the answer. There are many ways for water to become contaminated, including sewage leaks, human or animal feces in areas near reservoirs, garbage, industrial waste and even air pollution which will contaminate water when it mixes with rain.

Her mother told her that diseases like Amoebiasis, Dracunculiasis, Cholera, Hepatitis A are some of the water borne diseases.

Anushka understood that wastewater is treated with the use of biological, chemical, and physical processes. Wastewater treatment removes solids and biological pollutants, treating the water to acceptable levels before returning clean water, called effluent, back into the environment.

Anushka wanted to prevent scarcity of water. She found how to do that from the internet. One possible solution is the use of desalinization technology. This system is described as filtering salty water through membranes and removing the salt through electro dialysis and reverse osmosis. Another one is to develop and mandate more efficient household water heaters. To prevent scarcity of water, we can also compose new multinational treaties to specify water sharing.

Her mother told her that all living things use water in different ways for different uses. It is used for cleaning, for irrigating crops and landscapes, for cooling, for recreation and for dust control.

She also found some slogans about water. They are:

'SAVE WATER, IT WILL SAVE YOU LATER'

'DON'T LET THE WATER RUN IN THE SINK, OUR LIFE'S ON THE BRINK'

'PUT A STOP TO THE DROP'

'DON'T WASTE IT, JUST TASTE IT'

'WATER,WATER EVERYWHERE BUT NOT A DROP TO DRINK'

'WHEN YOU CONSERVE WATER, YOU CONSERVE LIFE'

'SAVE WATER, SAVE LIFE'

'SAVE WATER, SECURE THE FUTURE'

'SAVE WATER...IT DOESN'T GROW ON TREES'

'STOP THE DRIP TO SAVE THE DROP'

So friends, save water to save your life.

Thank you for your time.

Water

By: Ms. Anuradha V.
Vice-Principal

Water... the very womb of nature, where life began....
A good part of all the living, and an integral part of our existence.
Water... timeless and omnipresent in myriad forms
- the canopy of clouds... the icing that caps lofty peaks...
dew drops on misty mornings... teardrops...
Water, its many moods - tranquil in the lakes, turbulent in the high seas,
powerful -yet beautiful - as waterfall...
Water, the very support system of our planet Earth.


Nature gives to every time and season a beauty of its own.

Our Earth, the third planet from the sun in the solar system is the only planet with an oxygen rich atmosphere with both liquid water and frozen ice. More than two third of the earth's surface is covered with water. All living things need water for all their daily activities and to live.

In nature water occurs mainly as rain, surface water and underground water. Water exists in different forms or states, undisturbed in the lakes uncontrollable in the high seas which is so powerful that it can gulp a large area of land, life and property. It is beautiful as compared in rhymes, poems and songs, enjoyable waterfalls of natural beauty.

Water - transparent, odourless, colourless liquid, is precious. So lets not pollute or waste it. Let each one of us be responsible to preserve this natural beauty.

THE CHANGE!

I had been all set to be a plus one student. Accepting the fact that it's completely a new world out there

which wants me to do nothing else but learn, I had set sail for a new journey which everyone told me would

change the way my life is. In the first few days, I was able to say "they are right.. it did change my life..

but i doubted if its for the worse.." I was told that everyone else at this age faced the same problem. But, my heart gave a feeble reply to this, which I felt only I could hear. How can one move on when there's something that's holding him back? There was no answer... and I couldn't afford to get someone who would find out the answer.

I was wrong. Now I realised that everybody knew what I was feeling but they were helpless or may be they didn't want to interfere. I had to accept that I'm all on my own now and moving on was the only option I had. But I was wrong again. I had found the right person who could help me and who actually did! Gradually... I feel I've become a plus one student now, accepting the change and helping the call to be stronger and leaving behind memories, which are cherished every moment,  helping to adapt to the new world.

YES... I've changed. Though this change has brought new friends.. the gap between me and the friends who didn't like the way I changed widened. But, I still hope that they'd understand me and come back soon... Those special people in my life..! And, I made sure that the new friends and new class didn't replace the other. Rather, they took up another space.

And all I would do now is smile.. so that I remain happy always.. and spread smiles all over! :)

Children Artistes of Konark Natya Mandap

Child Artistes of Konark Natya Mandap of Orissa
performed Golipna, an Odissi Classical Dance
at the auditorium on Friday, 22nd July 2010.
Students from std I to XII attended the programme.

It was surely a wonderful experience for all of us to see the talented young boys, called Gotipuas, who performed ever so gracefully with all their acrobatic stunts. Those boys were taken from their families, with families' permission of course, when they were about six years old and have stayed in the Konark Natya Mandap Ashram every since. They have their normal education and training in the ashram and they visit their families during holidays or vacation. They remain Gotipuas till 16 years of age. After 16, they move to another form of dance.

If you want to read more about them, click this link Konark Natya Mandap.

Reading.....

DCMIPS GETS “VAYANAKKALARI”

          20^th June 2011 was a memorable day for us. It was the day when the reading club was inaugurated. Only the Std.IX students witnessed the programme. Here is the report for the entire school…

          The function began with a prayer song by Mr. Nandankumar after which Fr.Johny Mathew CMI and Mr. Anand K. welcomed the guests.Then, the newspaper was handed over to the school in the presence of former chairman and vice-chairman, Shereef Mohammed and Elsa Anna Simon and present chairman  and vice-chairman, Sachin P and Anjana P Soman and the school leader, Nabeel Najeeb Kassim.

          Then it was the turn for our guest, Prof.Dr.O.A.Joseph, Professor, KMCT College, to say a few words. Here is a brief of what he said: “A successful human being doesn’t just mean being a doctor/engineer. It is about social commitment - knowing about the society.” His speech was short and to the point.

          Then came the next guest, Mr.P.J.George, Executive, Malayala Manorama. He started with the words told to Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam by his father,Jainulabdeen:

“Who knows others is clever; who knows himself is the cleverest.” George Sir also reminded us that only 10% of our brain power lies in our conscious mind. The rest 90% lies in the sub-conscious mind. He also advised all of us to be good human beings, he concluded.

          Next, we had our very own Mr. Paul Kallanode in front of the mic. He said that a newspaper makes us travel all around the world. He also said that there is no life without language. In his speech, he mentioned that the electronic and visual media have destroyed the spirituality of reading. Also, people have lost the value of relations. This can be overcome through social contact, that is, through reading. Mr. Paul Kallanode, asking us to improve collective consciousness and to make our soul happy by reading, he concluded.

  Then we had Nandan Sir with a poem recitation entitled Kanathayavar by Sugathakumari which mesmerized us all.

    Then came Ms.Vasantha, Department Head, Malayalam. She told us that reading gives the society good personalities.

        As a student’s representative, Neha Mariya gave the Vote of Thanks. In behalf of the teachers, Mr. Preman CP expressed his words of gratitude and told us a story with a moral lesson: If we change, the world will also change. He also emphasized that we can make a better world through reading.

   The function ended successfully in the presence of all Malayalam teachers, Fr.Johny Mathew CMI, Ms. Anuradha V. Mr. Anand K, Mr. Nandankumar and Mr. Gireesh Kumar.

 On behalf of the entire student community, I thank the organizers. 

 “THANK YOU”