Joy to the World -KV COD

True joy of the heart and peace of the soul is what you will experience. A bewitching view is what thou shall see. You will stand mesmerized. And the place you would have reached will be my alma-mater Kendriya Vidyalaya COD. Sitting in the lap of nature, amidst serene, scenic surroundings, away from the blare of horns and noise of city traffic stands this institution. The school building has the backdrop of green hills giving it a picturesque view. When on a misty day, grey-black clouds float over the hilltops, the view is breath taking. When people talk about the panoramic landscapes that nature creates, they mention Shimla or Shillong, conversely; I will speak about my school.

Nature has bestowed its riches lavishly on the school. But, so has KVS administration. It has given the school a cluster of marvelous teachers who leave no stone unturned in their pursuit of leading students to their goals. I say that KVS has been generous to the school because it has also given competent staff apart from the teachers. As a student, I have found them really kind and helpful. And so have the others. While we were deciding the gifts for teachers on Teachers’ Day, there was a strong demand and consequently a unanimous agreement that we shall give the same gifts to them too.

Destiny gave me the company of these wonderful people only for one year. A year, which began with apprehensions on my side and expectations on the teachers’. The year ended with rewards and glory for me and uttering of “She could’ve done better” from the teachers. Whether I received any rewards or not, the year would have been special to me as it was spent in the company of fantastic classmates. You can perceive them as a bunch of teenagers whose high spirits rub on everyone around them. The pep and liveliness with which they approach life could leave you chirpy and cheerful until hell freezes over. Above all, our class shares a warmth that I can all but hold in my hands.

Friends are bound to be dear to a person. But, you know that it is something exceptional when you can say the same for your teachers. During the year gone by, I have shared a bond of intimacy with my teachers. I shall say that the world looks rosy when you know that somebody cares, and I mean really cares about you. You can sense the concern in their voices even when they are shouting at the class for not performing. You can see the pains they take, in the beads of sweat on their foreheads, when they’ve stayed after school to teach in sweltering heat; just, to ensure that your doubts are cleared. Remarkable people, aren’t they?

When I had to say goodbye to this magical place, I did not feel sad instead I felt as if my heat was being torn apart and would forever bleed for my friends and my teachers. The year shall be written with golden letters in my life, studded with diamonds. All that I can now say is:

“I am on a ship thinking of you. When I looked down, I dropped a tear into the ocean. And, I promised myself that until I find it, I won’t forget you…..”

A Street Kid’s Guide

(How to get from here to there)

It’s hard to get from here to there

If you never get out of bed.

You lie a lot to fool your friends

But you fooled yourself instead.

It’s harder to get from here to there

If you set your goals too high;

Then nothing ever works out right;

Too soon, you no longer try.

But the hardest way to get from here to there

Is when all you ever do

Is count up the years, and miles to go.

Then you’re through before you’re through.

So how do you get from here to there?

Well, you first must believe you can

Let no one tell you differently —

It’s your life and it’s in your hands.

Then turn your dreams into your goals

And see what you need now

To satisfy the requirements:

The why, the where and how.

At first you’re overwhelmed, of course;

There is so much you don’t know.

But keep your faith, be strong and sure,

For you do have a way to go.

Take careful steps and do them right,

Take pride in each thing done.

Don’t look too far ahead of yourself,

Just that next step yet to come.

Before you know it you’ll be there, friend,

Your dream will then be real.

And you’ll be standing where I am now,

Telling others how good it feels.

You’ll tell them not to quit themselves,

To have faith, though it’s hard to bear.

So they will know it can be done —

They, too, can get from here to there.

Jennings Michael Burch

Note: This poem was written by a person who was brought up in foster homes, did not even finish high school but succeeded on the basis of his own efforts. He wrote his autobiography “They Cage the Animals at Night”. Maybe a word here or a line there that might help you get through a rough time. I hope so…

Taken from the “Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul II “.

My thoughts on Teachers and more...

A teacher is generally described as a subject expert who passes-on the knowledge of past generations to the new generation. But a school teacher is more than that. A school teacher is somebody who shapes his/her students' identities and changes the fundamental definition of what they are.

When young impressionable minds are placed under the care of school teachers, they learn not only that which is taught to them but much more. They learn to be honest and hard-working if their teachers are so, and learn those moral values that they see being practised and not those that are preached to them. In this respect, the importance of good teachers cannot be overemphasized. There have been umpteen cases where the effects of bad parenting have been overcome by good teachers. Teachers serve as role models for their pupils. They must be even more cautious of the imprint their actions shall leave on their students than parents. Due to the limitless problems of life, parents might not always be able to demonstrate righteous behaviour in front of their children. But, for teachers this is a comparatively easy task. After all, to be mindful of your Ps and Qs for six hours a day, for six days a week is not all that hard.

A teacher can change his/her students' lives forever.When a child enters the primary school; he/she learns simple things which are the foundations of future knowledge. Along with these, the moral values of an individual are also shaped during this period. Primary teachers contribute less in terms of degrees and diplomas but more in terms of persons and characters.Their words are the ultimate verdicts for their pupils.

Moving from primary to higher classes a kid grows and teachers begin to look more like human-beings than gods. Pupils discover that their teachers are not perfections but have their own frailties. And when the tidal waves of adolescence hit, teachers may be thought of only only in terms of their faults and shortcomings. But, this is neither the students' fault nor the teachers'. It is just the 'rebel-cool' syndrome that teenage brings with it. The right guidance and support from teachers can transform a confused kid trapped in an adult body into a mature, grown-up individual.

These basic tenets of a person's character which school and parents together instil in him/her are the real treasures that he/she owns. Looking at the modern world with its cut-throat competition, you might want to bring me back to reality. A reality in which values have become obsolete and the right degree and over-smartness is the path to success. But let me take you to a reality at the higher-level. When companies recruit, the qualities which they search for, even in IIM pass-outs, are - being a team-player; an honest worker; a go-getter attitude and devotion towards the goal. And where do these virtues come from? From learning Maths and Economics or from learning Physics and Chemistry? Or do they come from knowing how to walk all over others? They come from the basics of what one was taught, the ideals one believes in. This, in turn brings us back to the old idiom but with a new touch, “Honesty is always the best policy even if it’s not the trend”.

When I was in Sagar.....

This is a statement that our class had to hear often and was always succeeded by Upadhyay Sir's golden memories and reprimands for us. Upadhyay Sir, a marvellous, first-rate teacher had spent many years teaching in Sagar. He used to be really disappointed with the level of students he was getting to teach here. I have heard that the class learnt a lot about Sagar in the four years he taught them. Sir was quite a rage there. His coaching was sought after by the creme de la creme of Sagar. In fact, he got so tired of teaching from dawn to dusk that he voluntarily took a transfer to Jabalpur. But, there is one thing special about him. He has a strong policy that he would not tutor his own students. In this respect, he relents on no account. Sagar gave a lot of brilliant pupils to Mr. Upadhyay. There was that boy who used to come to school only to give tests and cleared IITJEE with his self-study. And then there was a batch of exceptional students with whom sir completed the entire course in two months (daily 2 hrs.). His batches consisted of only 8-9 students each. In one year, one of his students got 99 and the other 100. Another year, one got 98 and another 100. And sir came to know that CBSE merit certificates end at 99. So u see, when he was in Sagar,

When a friend leaves

This piece was written on November 20, 2006.

Recently, my best friend at school left the city. She was selected among the top 40 students in her coaching. She shall now live in her coaching's hostel and study devotedly for JEE. It is a beautiful opportunity for her and I am glad for it. But inspite of my happiness at her finally getting that for which she had been studying for the past month, her absence at school makes me sad.
She and I have been friends for quite a short duration, just five months but she is quite a close friend nonetheless. And at school, she and I always stay together. In all our free periods, the two of us could be seen studying somewhere in the school grounds. As the class is too noisy a place to study, we used to go out and sit and study somewhere. In fact our teachers were often astonished at finding us studying in the oddest of places.So, all in all, we spent our entire day in the company of each other and only each other. it'll be so lonely without her. When she used to be absent for even one day, i used to miss her and now....

One of our favourite places to spend recess was an empty booth near the school gate which was originally built for the watchman but never used by him ( he stays at the main gate and not at the side gate). We were always seen there during recess and even our teachers knew where to find us. The conversation that took place one day between me and my English teacher indicates our penchant for the place and our friendship.The bell for recess had just rang:
Sir: Go and enjoy your recess in your 'outhouse'
Me: Sir, I don't go there alone.
Sir: Preetika is absent?
Me: Yes, sir.
sir: Take somebody else.
(I shook my head.)
Sir: Nobody there?
Me: No, Sir.

I think I'll never again spend my recess there.

P.S. I think I got very sentimental at that time.

Memoirs of KV COD

I've spent less than a year in COD. But this year has been great fun and has been very rewarding too. COD has great teachers like our class-teacher and Physics teacher Mr. P.C. Upadhyay; English teacher Dr. M. K. Jha; Chem teacher Yadav Sir and Guttuvan Sir for Maths. The year was fun because I had a wonderful group of classmates and rewarding because I got an excellent result.

The memoirs will include many things. I am also reprinting the posts that I wrote during the year.

Mangal's Aaloobande

Christ Church does not have a canteen. Instead a guy named मंगल used to come with foodstuff at recess time. You could get आलूबंडे, cold drinks, Lays' chips, toffees etc. He was the one-man-army on a Bajaj scooter. The best stuff used to be his आलूबंडे, really delicious and कैथे की चटनी.Keeping with standard M.P. custom, everybody used to call him भैया , even though he was way older than our fathers. On Annual Sports Day, मंगल used to be a great hit. He used to bring his stove, pan and stuff and cook right in the school compound. Another special thing about मंगल was the difficulty in getting आलूबंडे during recess time. There used to be such a great rush that after bearing all the pushing and pulling, when one looked at the आलूबंडे in hand, one felt like Alexander the Great. My friends made me become Alexander many times.

Prayer

Oh God!...
Help me log on without fretting
Guide me as I am interneting
Bless my downloading and uploading
Keep my browser from uploading

May my website be protected
Let not my password be rejected
Keep my line always connected
And all my inputs be accepted
Please keep all my programs alive
And to remember to backup my hard drive
And protect my computer from a crashing drive
From a virus that would make it a nesting hive.

Author - unknown

Drop

I'm thinking of taking a drop. No dream colleges coming my way this year.There is a slim chance of getting something worthwhile in BITS or something through AIEEE. But anyway, I can't complain. I had originally thought that I'll do 12th this year and competitives next year. I know that's not the best scenario but I knew my capabilities. Especially after spoiling 11th, doing everything at the same time would have landed me in the ditch. If I get admission this year, it'll be a bonus. Truthfully, I was rather surprised by my AIEEE rank, given that I had not worked much for AIEEE.
My mother wanted to send me to Kota. But, I wish to remain here and study.

The most awful thing about taking a drop is that I'll have to leave my passions reading and writing for another year. As they say, बिना मेहनत के मोती नहीं मिलता ।
And, so u'll be getting very few posts to read from now on.

P.S. Coachings beginning at Radiance from 26 June

Harry Potter- something rare

General Facts Not Disclosed in the Books
(Facts go from newest to oldest, with newest on top)

• Prefects can take points; Ron got it wrong in Order of the Phoenix, which makes him a pretty poor prefect, eh?

• Fred and George Weasley were born on April Fools' day (no joke).
• Ginny Weasley's first name is Ginevra, and she is the first female Weasley born for "several generations," says JKR.
• Molly Weasley's maiden name is Prewett.
• Crookshanks is half Kneazle.
• Dean Thomas's father was killed by Death Eaters when he refused to join them. Neither Dean nor his mother know.
• Hogwarts has about a thousand students. (True, that number doesn't seem right, but J.K.R. said so, and she's the boss.)
• Hermione's birthday is September 19th; Ron's is March 1st.
• James Potter inherited lots of money and didn't need a well-paying profession.
• James Potter inherited the Invisibility Cloak from his father.
• Witches and wizards have longer life-spans than Muggles.
• The Gringotts' goblins return the Muggle money they acquire back into circulation.
• The approximate value of a Galleon is about five pounds ($7.30 or 8.00 Euro), though the exchange rate varies.
• Dumbledore is 150, McGonagall is 70 (and is really an old softy; she just doesn't act like it), Snape is 35 or 36.
• Hogwarts' school motto, "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus," means, "Never tickle a sleeping dragon."
• If placed in front of a mirror, the inscription on the Mirror of Erised ("Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi") reads, "I show not your face but your heart's desire."
• The happiest people do not become ghosts (Therefore, we can assume that ghosts are people that died while sad, angry, etc. Myrtle was teased; Nearly Headless Nick didn't have his head completely chopped off; the Bloody Baron was...lonely?)
• The Hogwarts teachers do not stay at Hogwarts during the Christmas holidays. However, Filch, Hagrid, and Dumbledore do.
• A few of the Hogwarts professors have spouses, but that information is restricted for reasons we will find out about later.
  
• To remove the tail that Hagrid gave Dudley in the hut on the rock, the Dursleys went to a private hospital where the staff was very discreet, and said that a wart had gone out of control.
  
• There is more to the cats in the story (Crookshanks, Mrs. Figg's cats, Mrs. Norris, etc.) than meets the eye.
  
• The animal an Animagus turns into is a reflection on his/her personality.
  
• For Hagrid, keeping dangerous creatures is all about overcoming something that could kill him.
  
• Azkaban is in a sea north of the North Sea. A very cold sea.
  
• You can do unfocused and uncontrolled magic without a wand (like when Harry blows up Aunt Marge), but to perform really good spells, you need a wand.
  

Memoirs of Christ Church

I consider two decisions to be the best decisions in my life.
One, To take admission in Christ Church. Second, To leave Christ Church.
Funny, I know.

Christ Church has given me a lot. I owe it all the sophistication and refinement of my personality. Class IX and X were wonderful years of my life. Class XI, was not so good experience, so I would rather not remember it. So, let me take you on the journey to remember those beautiful days.

The World of Books

Books-the one-way route to joy, pleasure, knowledge and entertainment. The world of books is bewitching. You can experience the joy of a happy child, share the experiences of a wise sage or feel the grief of a wounded soul. You may travel the world and explore the universe by reading a book. You could feel the giddiness of being in love or know the terror of war. Such is the amazing and fascinating world of books-forever enthralling its people.