Thursday, March 31, 2011

IT'S HARD TO LET GO!





Where there is love the grief of separation is inescapable. But though the separation brings in grief, it also helps people realize how much they mean to each other. It is when we miss our best buddies that we realize how much we had loved them. The separation of friends during the school days, when we move forward as teenagers to the last pursuit towards adulthood, can make a few ripples in our life. The memories of these days last forever and the friends we gain during these days would have a large influence on determining the direction of our lives and they stay in our hearts for ever.

It therefore is very necessary to have a social gathering before we part. Under the vision of our principal we've been able to put together a wonderful social, a day when we were able to portray our love towards the school and our dear teachers. all of us would cherish those memories and would part with those memories afresh in our hearts.... we leave with a silent promise of meeting together whenever possible and that none of us are forgotten!

Having such a prominent role in our life its hard to let them go and its even harder when we are devoid of choices because I have got to cling on to devagiri and my friends have to leave! As rightly said by Anjana Soman... it was a phenomenal change! All we can do is hope for the best and keep in touch.... we shall never be forgotten! We shall all be proud to say that "I AM A DEVAGIRIAN" and that we have been a part of a great vision of our dear principal, a great leap forward.... yes we are the 'actual' first batch of devagiri!!! :)

Friday, March 25, 2011

The Tour!! :D

          Oh! I still remember that morning after a sleepless night full of excitement and joy. I hadn't slept all night because of the excitement running through my veins. That night was the eve of our class picnic which was why I was so excited. We were going to Cochin for 2 days. 
          We were to leave at 5:30 in the morning on the 3rd of Feb. I had all my things packed and ready the day before. I reached the school at around 5:15 in the morning. All my friends had already reached and were loading their luggage into the back of the bus. I too did the same. I dumped my backpack at the back and just took my money and a bottle of water with me in a small cover. As soon as everyone had loaded their bags into the back of the bus, Vijitha ma'am told all the girls of Class VII A and VII B along with the VII A boys to get into the big bus. The VII B boys were in a smaller bus.    
          After everyone got into the bus (I was in the big bus), Shija ma'am took the attendance to check whether everyone had reached. After that we were all ready to leave.
          After loving goodbyes to our parents, the bus started moving. We were so happy that everyone started howling and shouting. We played some good music and before we knew it we were all dancing away. It was a lot of fun. We danced for about an hour. By then everyone got tired and settled down in their seats. The journey was quite tiring and many people slept off. 
          We stopped at Thrissur for breakfast in a hotel named 'HOTEL AARYAS'. After breakfast we continued on our journey to Cochin. The journey from Thrissur was not very long and we were in Cochin before we knew it.
          The first place we visited was a palace called 'HILL PALACE' where a Malayalam movie called 'Manichitretayam' was shot. We had to go barefeet into the palace. We went in at around 11:15 am and came out at around 12:15 pm. We were really hungry by then. 
          We saw a lot of interesting things inside the palace. We saw gold ornaments, inscriptions, texts, chariots and a lot more. We then went back to the bus. Our next destination was the marine walk from where we were to go on a ship cruise.
          We reached the marine walk by around 1:00 pm. We then boarded the ship. We were the only people on board the ship. We had lunch on the ship and then they played some music for us and everybody danced. The teachers also danced. Some of the teachers sang a few songs too. We were on the ship whole afternoon and got off only in the evening. 
          We were then divided into groups of eight. Members of each group were to stay together. After this, we went to oberon mall were we had one and a half hours to do a little shopping. After all the shopping, we went to the bus again. Now,we were going to go to the hotel we were to stay in.
          On reaching the hotel, we had a magic show awaiting us. It was 'THE MAGIC OF CLIFFORD'. After the magic show, we all settled down and had dinner. After dinner each group was given the keys to its apartment. Each apartment had two rooms. We all settled in and went to bed.
          In the morning the teachers woke us up at 6:00 am .We had to get dressed by 7:00 am and then go down for breakfast. We got ready somehow and went down. After breakfast everybody was playing with the baby goat in the garden. They had a lot of animals over there. There were even Emus. After all this we headed back to the bus. Everyone was very excited because we were going to Veegaland.
          On reaching Veegaland, we were given our tickets and were told to stay with our group. We did the dry rides in the morning and the wet rides in the afternoon. We really had a blast over there. By the time we were leaving, everyone was hungry and exhausted. Everyone slept off in the bus soon after dinner and before we knew it we were back in Calicut. 
          We reached the school at around 1:00 in the morning of 5th February. We had left on the 3rd of February. We slept in the kindergarten till 6:00 in the morning. Parents started coming and everybody went home. The tour was over and we were back home to face another month full of studies and Exams! : (

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Leaves

I love to look at dried leaves
in different shapes and colours.
I love to see them fall gracefully
from the trees and
how they dance in the wind.
I love to see them scattered on the ground.
They look like brown carpet on the earth.
I love to walk on them as they give this
cracking sound.
I love to see them turn into dust
and join the earth.

I love to see dried leaves....

But...
I love to see small, green leaves more,
as they grow from big, brown branches.




Monday, March 21, 2011

Good Bye

This is the end
Of another trend
That has to end
But it has left its
Dent
A dent that can't be mended
This life I've spent
Tryin' to fend
But this isn’t the end
The end of the road
Break the code
It says
Lose the load
never fold
Just be bold
So this is a bye
But I rather die
Than live without another "hi".

Our "Scary Night"

Sancharam
Class VIII
27th to  29th January 2011

          It was my first trip to Kochi. The travel was interesting but I had problems such as headache, blocked nose, etc. The trip started at 6.00 in the morning with an energetic prayer song led by Fr. Sibi. Then, as it was early in the morning, we all slept for a while.
         At 7.00 am we started listening to music, dancing and all such stuff. At 9.00 am we reached Trissur and had our breakfast.
         We reached Veega Land at 11.30 am. First, we had a ride. Oh, god! It was a freaky and thrilling ride! Then we enjoyed the other rides and also the Wave pool. We played there 'till 6.00 in the evening. Then we had dinner and went to a flat to rest for the night.
          That night was awesome. We were divided into small groups for sleeping. In our group, there were four members: Ann Maria, Bincy, Gayathri and me. That was our "Scary night". The most interesting part was that four of us were afraid to turn the lights off. Ann, the bravest among us, switched the lights off and all of us started screaming, including Ann herself. Gayathri was the one who was afraid of everything including "ghosts". That night Gayathri and I didn't sleep at all.
          Next morning, though it was very early, we were told to bathe. We took bath, dressed up and boarded our bus.
         First, we went to a museum and then for a cruise in a ship. Then we went to Oberon mall for shopping. That was pretty cool. We had our dinner and then the bus started to return back to Calicut.
          We reached school at 3.30 in the morning. At 6.00 I called my dad to pick me and we came home. I slept the whole day!
                                                                                                                                                                                By Atheena Krishna
                                                                                        Class VIII

Sunday, March 20, 2011

GOOD BYE


A GOODBYE TO ALL MY FRIENDS IN 10TH
WHO ARE LEAVING THE SCHOOL.

It's hard to say a good bye right now .
After all those paths we traveled together.
All those days we spent together.
All those mountains we conquered together.
All those memories, old but still very beautiful.
The trees under which we took shades.
The beautiful valleys were we ran together,
ALL those foot prints we left behind, still intact and waiting.

Now your drifting away, leaving
All those memories with me, those memories both
sweet and bitter.
Now your are going to venture new lands .
New friends, new world, new style.
Just never forget this co-traveler,
and never lose the hope to meet again.
with that i say my farewell to you.
GOOD BYE...........


Saturday, March 19, 2011

Beware: Students on the watch!

It was on a weekend when I went to Calicut beach. The beach was actually beautiful with its neon lights, flute music, flying kites, and of course families, friends, lovers and teens, enjoying each other's company.

I was walking on the shore watching the different scenes at the beach. In one corner, I saw hot dishes like red chilies, tomatoes, green peas, egg fry, etc. being sold. My tongue started to raise its taste buds and I, too wanted to enjoy the colorful, mouthwatering, mix masala dish!

I gave Rs.10/- and got a plate of that delicious dish. Slowly, I started eating and was happily enjoying the dish.  When I was half way through, a child came to me and said, "Good evening ma'am!" I said good evening and I invited her to taste the mix masala dish. She said, "Ma'am, you are eating this open food. In our science class you said that children should not eat food items which are kept in the open air."


After saying that, the child moved away as her parents called her. I was left standing there, shocked, with the spoon in my mouth, thinking whether to choke myself or not!

Plate Of Memories

This is part of a long story, which I've been working on for a while now.

Disclaimer:Just know that, If you're planning on saying you wasted your time on this, It's your own fault for reading it, not mine or any of the members of this blog.

So, here I serve you, Plate Of Memories, Part I. Enjoy!

Chapter I


The boy walked cautiously onto the battlefield, where the dust flew, and the battles raged. He wondered whether he would be able to win the final, for that was the phase of the tournament. He took a glance at his opponent,Clad in dark yellow armour, A helmet on his head, a brown cloth across his jaw, leaving only his eyes revealed, as dark and mysterious as you could get.
The boy gulped. Was this really the one he had to beat to win the tournament? He took a step forward, then another, till he reached his starting position. His opponent seemed to be staring right at him, as if going to eat him for dinner.
The boy heard the ring, signalling the start of the battle. His opponent raised his sword, Large, yellow and translucent. The boy held up his bow, taking aim, he fired, but his opponent merely stepped to a side, dodging it effortlessly.
The boy gulped. What could he do now? He kept firing arrows like there was no tomorrow. His opponent slashed them away, feeling a bit of difficulty this time. The boy pulled a special arrow from his quiver, then aimed it at his opponent, on his knees, still tired from the assault. The arrow shone, The boy concentrated on his opponent's chest, then fired. “Blast shot!”
His opponent held his sword in front of him, the arrow hit it, but kept trying to break through, he understood that it was impossible to block, he tilted his sword to a side, sending the arrow on its way, ripping a part of his sleeve on the way.
The boy panted. “Oh no. My strongest attack...”
then, as he blinked, his opponent was nowhere to be seen. The boy gulped. “I'm dead.”
All of a sudden, he felt a warm presence behind him, but that wasn't all, there seemed to be something flat, and sharp at his throat, The boy didn't dare move, if his opponent sword so much as touched his neck, it would slit his throat, killing him A tear rolled down his cheek.
“You lose.” He heard his opponent say, in a genderless voice.
“The winner, is BranchedIce diner, plate 639! Congratulations!” came an announcement, as the large broadcasting screen turned off.
The boy felt the sword at his neck disappearing, he fell to his knees. He was glad to be alive, for then. But for some reason, he felt suspicious of his opponent, he was just standing beside him, like a shadow, maybe he still wanted to kill him and was only waiting for the broadcasting to stop.
The boy looked at him. He noticed something he hadn't noticed before, his opponent was only as tall as him,and from the look of his pure, black eyes, he seemed as young too.
His opponent took a look at him, then started walking to a side, the boy watched, as he seemed to suddenly dash in front of him. Holding his sword away from the boy, horizontally, like a shield, the boy heard a clink.
“Oh darn, it seems I've missed.” he heard a voice, far in front, The boy stood up, peering over his opponent's shoulder. There was the boss of his chain of restaurants. With a lower-status person near him, but what made the boy gasp was what that man had at his side, a little girl, with white hair, and deep red eyes, scared to death.
The boss tossed the gun to the grunt. Who caught it.
“Sister!” The boy cried. As the grunt pointed the gun to her head.
“Now, my order,” The boss said. “Kill the swordsman.”
The boy caught his opponent from behind, pointing an arrow at his neck. But, his hand was shaking, He had to, but could he? Tears of hesitation rolled down his cheek.
He closed his eyes, not wanting time to pass, hoping that somehow, He and his sister would both be alive at the end of this dilemma. He wished in his heart, that time itself could stop for a while, and he could stand staring into his sister's eyes for one last time.
But instead of a gunshot, the boy heard a cry. “Ice!”
He waited for the bang of the pistol, which would signal his sister's end. He waited, in fear and anxiety. For ten long and cold seconds. Nothing was happening. He opened his eyes, slowly. The grunt and boss, they seemed to be frozen in time, just as the boy had wished, was this a dream? his sister seemed as confused as him.”Hey um, what just happened?” she asked,
The boy's opponent struggled to speak. “Can you let me go now?” he stuttered.
The boy did so, as his opponent fell to his knees, panting. “Now.” he said, “Go free her. And then come with me.”
The boy looked at his opponent in surprise, “What?”
“I'll explain later,” he said, standing up. “Now let's go save her.”
they ran to the girl's side, pulling away the grunt's arm around the girl, as well as the gun. She was free now.
“um, What's happening?” she asked the boy.
The boy looked at his opponent, who seemed to be signalling them to follow him, they walked to the doorway through which he came, where another girl with black hair and eyes was standing, “Come on, there's not much time.”
The boy saw his opponent nod.“You can release them now.”
The girl muttered. “water.”, then ran with the other three through the room, to the main corridor of the building, turning left.
“Um, can you please explain to me what's going on?” The boy asked his opponent.
“I'll tell you later,” he replied, then turned to the girl. “take them to the station, while I get the tickets.”
he turned to the boy. “take this.” he handed a note to him. “that should explain a little.”
The boy read it, as they ran through.

I request feedback on it, since I want to know whether it is as lame as I think, or whether it isn't that bad. Please, If you have time, tell me what you think. I don't mind mean comments, I just want an honest opinion. If you have an opinion and time, please post it.

Thank you for your time.
Amita

Friday, March 18, 2011

A Fairy Story

Part I
           In March, the summer officially arrives.  We renew an annual tradition at home. Children are given small shiny bowls to collect pieces of nature that remind them of the coming season. We all have our small bowls and go for a walk in the nearby fields. It is fun. Then comes the interesting part. We keep the bowls on the stairs of my house and go to play. Guess what? The bowls are then filled with mouth watering strawberry ice creams.
          This summer, we had my brother with us. He was new to this traditional festival because he lived in a boarding school till last year.
          We all started eating the ice cream without no amusement because it was something usual for us. We left the bowls. Went to play. Came back. Saw the ice creams. And, GULP! It was all over! Actually, none of us knew how the ice cream came. The thing was that none of us ever cared about who supplied the ice cream because everyone was afraid that the ice cream supplier would stop giving us ice creams.
          I noticed my brother staring at the bowl in his hand. He didn't know what to do with it. I ignored him because he had that "I aM hApPy WiTh WhaT i HaVe" attitude.

Part II

          At night he was told to sleep near me. I always hated sleeping near him. I had my reasons. He would kick me 'till i fall off the bed and I would have to sleep on the floor. But today was a bit different. He stared at me for quite a very long time. At last he asked me, 
          "Who did it?''
          'Who did what?' I asked.
          "The ice creams."
          'Oh, you still have that in your head?'
          "Yes. Tell me the reason. Was it the fairies?"
                    Obviously, a ten year old would think something like that. But I had to say something. I was too tired to argue with him. I had to think of a reason that would do good for both him and me.
          'Yes, I did it! I took the neighbour's help.'
          "Liar!"
         He actually thought that it was the fairies who did it. He would wink at me each time we saw the ice cream filled bowls. But who is going to tell me the truth?
        I still think about this when every one else was having his good night sleep.
                                                                                                  Aiswarya Keyan
                                                                                                         Class VII

Thursday, March 17, 2011

It's finally holiday time for the ninth standard students. Sixty days of pleasure before we begin our final year of secondary school. Here are some sayings to muse on during the vacation: 
* Always shoot for the Moon; Even If You Miss, You'll Land Among the Stars - Les Brown 
* You were born an original...Don't die a copy Unknown  
* I am the Author of My Life but I am Writing in Pen and Can't Erase my Mistakes  
* "A loser doesn’t know what he’ll do if he loses, but talks about what he’ll do if he wins, and a winner doesn’t talk about what he’ll do if he wins, but knows what he’ll do if he loses." - Mario Puzo 
* "In the book of life, the answers aren’t in the back." - Charlie Brown 
* "Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint you can at it." - Danny Kaye  
* "Life is like a taxi. The meter just keeps a-ticking whether you are getting somewhere or just standing still." -Lou Erickso 

And last but not least, to all my fellow ninthies, as you look back on this year, 'Don't Cry Because It's Over, Smile Because It Happened'.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Life's Lessons

Ok here is the first post by me and hopefully the first of many if I'm not too lazy. This post is here only because a certain someone has been behind me to write something.

          It's amazing how much one learns by just talking to people on a train journey. Every Friday I make a journey to Calicut from Angamaly and on Sunday I make the return trip. In the past two months of travelling I've met so many interesting people and all of them in their own way have taught me something.
          I've always wondered whether a formal school education is really necessary to ensure success in life especially in the competitive world we live today. I met this incredible person who spoke five different languages and played chess like a grandmaster. This man had studied only till the 5th grade!!! His English was impeccable, Hindi- flawless, Malayalam- had its flaws but hey still good enough to put some of our TV anchors to shame, Kannada- had to be good since it was his mother tongue and French- learnt during his stay in France where he works as a travelling salesman. Pretty good for a guy who studied till the 5th grade. He spoke intellectually on almost any subject. Very well read and passionate about literature and the arts.
          So this left me wondering whether our education system is all warped. We have students who reach the 9th grade and still not sure about what they want in life. I see a total lack of drive in kids today. Well there is a lot of drive when it comes to harassing teachers for higher grades but that's not where their heart should be. They need to give direction to their own lives in a different way and I don't think it is wholly the role of the educators and parents to do that. Some of it needs to come from within too.
          It amazes me to see how self absorbed kids are today without a thought for the world around them. Words like empathy, compassion, social service etc are usually met with a "duh" like expression. Schools definitely need to rethink their educational strategies lest we end up producing generation after generation of shallow human beings. Parents need to instill the right values without being too preachy. And of course the students need to give meaning- a very deep meaning -to their lives. This meaning should be their raison d'etre.
         Ganesh, the guy I met on the train turned out to be such a good citizen of the world because he was willing to open his mind and learn from what life itself had to offer. His lessons were learnt from the great book of life. The world was essentially his classroom. He regrets the fact that he never completed his school education and could never go to college etc. But he never let that regret get better of him and stop him from doing the things he loves doing. His reason for being was his drive to better himself in spite of all the odds stacked against him.
          Children who are lucky enough to complete their formal education need to learn from this life lesson It really doesn't matter if you don't come first in everything you do. It doesn't even matter if you don't score straight A's in every subject. A, B, C, etc are just alphabets not heartbeats. They don't determine the person who you truly are nor do they determine your immense potential. If you are willing to free your mind and look- truly look- at where your life is going those alphabets would remain just that - alphabets . You could still climb every mountain you ever wished to climb if you just have a purpose in what you pursue. 

“The difference between school and life? In school, you're taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you're given a test that teaches you a lesson.” Tom Bodett

Sunday, March 6, 2011

The Best Poets!


         I realized how babies see their world when my baby cousins visited me a few days before.

         Babies...They find something that is more than what it really is in each and everything they see. They find something extra ordinary in everything. They think two leaves put together is a butterfly. They scold the butterfly that fly around if it doesn't come to them. They ask the fishes to come out of the water and eat something. Babies are fascinating. Really very fascinating.

        A very funny thing happened when my cousin and I were simply trying to draw something. She drew 2 curved lines parallel to each other, joined both ends, put a dot in the middle, scribbled in the end and said, "Grand ma, meemee." She meant a fish that was quite old. I always wonder why fishes are called"'meemee".

          Another funny incident was when we were eating apples. She took a small apple, placed it on the ground, tried to stand on it and  balance herself with 2 sticks and said, "The earth is going boing boing!!!"

          Babies would be the best poets in the whole because they just are so imaginative that they have another earth near the blue-green earth.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Change the method and grab the sucess!

It was in December when I started to change the method of learning in my classes. I chose two sections of students, Classes V A and V B, to apply an easy learning method.

The students of both sections were given 5 questions and were asked to learn each question, write the answer in their own words and get their work attested by their parents. The students of VB were regular in writing and learning and they got their work signed by their parents.

Everyday, I made sure that I would spend time to check their papers.  To my surprise, out of 43 students, 31 students got above 43 out of 50. My amazement did not stop there. Six students who always got average marks, got above 43/50. I wish to congratulate them and express my appreciation. They are the following: Sreeram, Jovel, Johnson, Anikaanandan, Dhanush, Vijay, Amala and Joseph .

The result did not only give me happiness but also self-fulfillment as a teacher.  If I can change one student and make him/her learn better, it's a great success for me. This success is also attributed to the children's willingness to change the methods of their study in order to grab the success.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

വെളുത്ത സൂര്യനെ തിരയുന്ന കറുത്ത കുട്ടി


വയനാടിന്‍റെ വനസ്ഥലികളില്‍ നിന്ന്
വേരറ്റു പോവുന്ന അനുജത്തിയാണ്. 

പ്രിയ സഹോദരാ! 
നീയിപ്പോള്‍ എവിടെയാവും
നിന്‍റെ നാടെനിക്ക് അന്യമല്ല
എങ്കിലും അകലെയാണെന്നറിയാം
എനിക്ക് ഉളള് കായുന്നു
നീ വീട്ടിലെത്തിക്കാണുമോ? 

എന്‍റെ സ്വപ്ന സുതാര്യതകളില്‍
ഗ്രീനിച്ച് സമയരേഖ പോലെയാണ് നീ
നിനക്ക് വീടിപ്പഴും ഒരഭയകേന്ദ്രമാണോ? 

അമ്മ പറഞ്ഞ പുരാണകഥകള്‍
മുഴുവന്‍ കേട്ടുതീരും മുമ്പ്... 

എന്‍റെ വാക്കുകള്‍ നനഞ്ഞു തീരും മുമ്പ്
നീ, ഓര്‍മ്മയാവുമോ? 

കോവര്‍ കഴുതയുടെ കാലിലെ വ്രണം പോലെ
ജന്മം നീറുന്നുവോ.....? 

ചീവീടുകള്‍ പോലും നിശബ്ധമാവുന്ന
രാവില്‍
കാലനും കാലന്‍കോഴിയും മാത്രം
വഴിതെളിക്കുമ്പോള്‍
സഹോദരാ...... 

ഞാനിവിടെയുണ്ട്‌
പുല്ലിനും പുല്‍ച്ചാടിക്കുമിടയിലൂടെ
തേനെടുത്ത് മടങ്ങുകയാണ്.