A touch of blush: Children of Nivedita Mission English-medium school, in Behala, celebrated Holi on March 15 with singer Snigdha Mitra

The students and staff of our school put up a special programme at the farewell of our principal, M.C. Alexander, on February 10. He served the institution for more than 30 years, from when it started on January 1, 1974. No wonder, for most of us he is still an inseparable part of our lives.

At the function, the junior school students presented him with flowers and then performed a song and dance item. The school management gifted him a cheque as a token of their love and respect for him.

The principal in his address recounted how as a child he had faced a lot of difficulties in pursuing studies after the death of his parents. At the end of the programme, he generously donated his gift cheque to the management for the benefit of a needy student.

We will all miss you Sir.

Sufia Khatoon,
Class XI, Grace Ling Liang English School

 

All ears: The Nihil Ultra Debate 2006 on ?Sting operations must be banned? kept the audience engrossed at St Xavier?s College on March 18. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Telly terror

Adie, my 12- year-old brother, is an ardent fan of, or is rather addicted to, a particular television show in which some men flaunting their huge tattooed biceps brutally beat up each other and then get applauded in the name of entertainment. For quite sometime now, an increased level of aggression is discernible in his behaviour. We often receive calls from our neighbours complaining about his conduct. He either comes back home with a scar or sends back his friends with a swell. These traits are, however, found among most children who watch more violent shows on the telly.

Violent scenes that children are most likely to follow or play out in real life are the ones in which they identify with the perpetrator of the violence. It is a scientific fact that exposure to violent imagery results in increased heart rate and high blood pressure. Researches have also proven that children on a diet of violent entertainment are more likely to get into trouble with the law as teenagers. As adults, they are more often convicted of use of violence on their spouses and children.

It is rather ironical that the media, which is entrusted with the responsibility of bringing about social welfare, is partly responsible for the present trend. Parents also need to make the children aware of the dangers of being exposed to media violence.

Priyadarshini Chatterjee,
Rani Birla Girls? College

 

The Diary

The end

Incisive words
Sharp as swords
A decisive mind
One of a kind
An impure soul,
A finite goal
Delirious haste
Delicious taste
Thoughts astray,
Let?s call it a day.
Two hearts need mending
....an abrupt ending.

Reeti Roy,
Class XI, Modern High School for Girls

 

An evening in Chandni Chowk

Choked dry of words, this cold winter day
It was warm in the subway
The stifling heat of huddled togetherness
The cold wind braced me in the street,
The crowd on the parade ground now dispersed
Wry faces litter the street,
Flags flapping on their sleeves
Placards in hands, drifting into the mist;
A frail network of naked twigs
Black streaks like ink-marks
Etched across the distant haze,
My senses like frost-bitten flesh
Shrink from the prick of things,
This discordant junk
Where nothing to nothing relates;
Yet, somewhere beneath the fabric of conscious
Some latent force weaves
A kind of cryptic sense,
To toss and tumble on dark waters
Cut across the murk and grease
Clamber out on hands and knees
To re-hash dead matter
To feel the pulse beneath.

Swatee Sinha,
MA English, CU

Is it wrong?

You close doors to me who loves you
If sound of remembrance at haunting hours of navel night
Disrupts your sleep
Is it wrong?
And you lock doors
Every neckless night worse than last
To wait for snake charming sleep
Of waking nightmares
And you lock doors

Adwaita Das,
Jadavpur University