MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF MH370

ADRIJA BISWAS                                                                                                                                Class- 9 Section-B

A Beijing bound Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 boeing 777-200 with 239 passengers including crew members and pilots disappeared in the air on 8th March,2014 early morning.It was reported that the plane took off from Kuala Lampur at 12:41am local time and was to land in Beijing at 6:31am. The aircraft tracking service Flightrader 24 recorded last contact of the plane at 1:19am about 38 minutes after its take off.According to the officials the plane was then 150km north-east of the Malaysian port of Kuala Terenggane. There were no reports of inclement weather or any terrorist attack.There was no trace of the boeing or it's any wreckage had been found.Even after intensive air and naval search by 26 countries including VIETNAM,MALAYSIA,CHINA,SINGAPORE and the PHILIPPINES.

The Vietnamese navy planes spotted two 15km long oil slicks along with a column of smoke in the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia close to the site of disappearance of the planes raised fears of a crash.Malaysia informed that the last conversation between the flight crew and the Air Traffic Control(ATC) 

was at 1:30am but the plane vanished off the radar only at 2:40am.

As there is  no trace of the plane,many assumptions and guesses are being made to hover above the line possibility.

European government suggested that two passengers might have been carrying stolen passports on the disappeared plane.It has raised fears of foul play although possible mechanical failure and pilot error are also being probed.The plane mystery further depends on the Malaysian air force saying a review had found that the Beijing-bound boeing might have veered before losing contact with the ATC around 1:30am on 8th March,2014.It is not clear whether the U-turn was decided because of a mechanical problem or a hijack.There was no explanation why the pilot didn't send a distress call.

Vietnamese authorities stated that a navy plane had spotted an object suspected to be a plane's door in the Gulf of Thailand,north-east of Malaysia and south of Vietnam.Later the Vietnamese authorities said that the object seen floating on the sea turned out to be the "moss covered up by a cable reel".The oil slick found in Malaysia waters did not contain jet fuel.The Malaysian officials expanded the search to a much wider area including the Strait of Malacca on the other side of the Malaysian Peninsula as air and sea searched by ten countries failed to find any trace of the airliner.       a US P-3C Orion navy Aircraft capable of locating tiny floating objects swept the northern part of the Strait,north Sumatra and hundreds of miles from  the jetliners last reported position.

India also  extended its cooperation with the search for flight MH370 to its entire eastern-coast after deploying ships,planes,helicopters from Andaman and Nicobar Island.The area of search was measuring 15km by 600km along the Chennai coast in the Bay of Bengal.According to Routers an unidentified aircraft suspecting to be the missing aircraft plane followed the coast headed into the Andaman Sea and towards the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean.So a frantic search was conducted in this region but nothing was found and later the search was abandoned.

The Australian authorities coordinating the operation in the remote Indian Ocean suggested that the plane ran out of fuel earlier than it's thought to be.An analysis of radar and satellite data that showed that the missing plane had traveled faster and would have been burnt through its fuel coal quicker.

After more than four weeks of fruitless search across vast areas of sea and land in the Eastern Hemisphere,officials might finally could not find the plane.The black boxes which record the cockpit data were also not traced.The batteries in the black box had already reached the end of their 30 days expected life.

Therefore the chance of the passengers remaining alive is very feeble if not nil still the kins of the passengers are living with the hopes of their relatives boarding the mysterious plane,camped in the hotels of Kuala Lumpur and praying for their relatives.

The Malaysian Defence Minister also apprehended in a press meet at Kuala Lumpur that all the passengers of the plane have most probably died.The passenger list includes 5 Indians

This is one of the worst tragedies this decade has witnessed so far.

The Trip I Will Never Forget

Krishitika Karmakar

Class-7 Section-A

It was 2012, 21^st December 6.30pm. We were dressing up and got ready to go to Tarapith for three days. We were total nine people. My parents, my uncles, aunts, my cousin brother and sister. We took a hired taxi and reached Sealdah Station. We were waiting for the train to come. The train reached the platform we boarded. We sat down and waited for the train to start. After few moments, the train left the station. We all took our and chatted. After that for a while we slept for five hours because soon we would reach. My brother, sister and I decided to keep awake entire night. It was a very dark and scary night, outside and we all were feeling cold. Suddenly we heard some noise after that we saw that it was my uncle who was snoring. We were scared before but laughed when we found out. 

Dawn cracked and was going to reach. We decided to stay at the waiting room till the morning because it was quite still dark to manage any transport. We took an auto and reached the hotel. We decided to stay at the Bharat Sevashram Sangha . There the behavior of the people was very rude but just because they were sages and ashram people my father controlled his temper. Atlast we got the key for our room and went it. It was quite early in the morning. We brushed our teeth and took a bath in the cold water. We changed our clothes and then went to the temple to offer puja where Goddess “Tara” is worshipped. There was a huge queue so , we stood there in the morning and we were able to offer puja at afternoon. After that we went back to our hotel and had food. After that we took a van rickshaw and went to visit side seeing. When we returned back every one was tired and we took our food and slept that night.

Next Day we prepared ourselves in the early morning and took a hired car and visited Bakreshwar, Shanitiniketan and other places. It was a very joyful trip. We returned back to Bharat Sevasharam Sangha  and took our dinner and slept early. The next morning we took an auto rickshaw and reached Rampurhat Station. 

We bourght tickets and were waiting for the train to come. It was quite late. Our legs started paining since we were waiting for the return train from morning. There was a sudden announcement that the return train would arrive Rampurhat at 10am. The train arrived nearly 10 am and as it was heavy crowd every one was trying to catch the train pushing each other. Under this hustle bustle I got separated from my parents and I was very much worried and my eyes turned gloomy in utter fear and shivering very much. After some moments I heard a loud voice from my parents. My eyes were filled with tears of joy. I ran and hugged them. I thanked God.

“God Today You Gave Me,

My Parents whom

I was going to

Loose Forever, And,

My Parents were

Going to Loose Me”

“Thank you! Thank you”

“Always be with me as you have been today”

After that we reached home safely. I will never forget that day. Even today while I am writing this experience I am shivering in fear.

MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF FLIGHT MH370

Maitri Roy

Class-9 Section-A

2^nd May, KOLKATA:

“All right Good Night” was satisfactory message sent by the co-pilot of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 to their air traffic control on the ground little, did anyone guess at the time, that massage wasn't wrongly interpreted and minutes after this massage, this flight would become a world News.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 departed from Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Saturday,8^th of March and was scheduled to arrive in Bejing at 6:30PM(22.30GMT).It was carrying more about 239 passengers among which there were seven children. The flight was led by pilots Captain Zaharis Ahmed Shah, age 53 and co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, age 27.Everything about this Boeing was normal until the flight lost contact with the ground, about an hour after it’s take off. The last communication between the plane and Malaysian Air traffic control took place about 12 minute later. At first initial investigations revealed the co-pilot had sent a normal massage which read “All right, Good Night”. But later, Malaysian authorities confirmed the last words heard from the plane spoken either by the pilot or co-pilot were in fact “GOOD NIGHT MALAYSIAN 370”.

This massage sets out very clearly that the jet was deliberately diverted by someone by board. Suspicion at first naturally falls on the two pilots-Zaharie and Fariq. But investigation revealed that nothing   absurd had been found against them. In fact none of them had specifically requested to be placed in the same flight. Both of them were very passionate and serious about their work. Malaysian authorities confirmed that the plane’s tracking devices were switched off in the cockpit, the communication systems were deliberately disabled, and the aircraft knowingly steered off its route. Officials are inquiring about the pilot’s family life and connections and also focusing on their psychological profiles. More than 100 people are interviewed who were in any way connected to people on board but still nothing significant has been derived. A few minutes after the last massage at 1.19am the plane’s transponder which communicates with the ground radar was shut down as the aircraft crashed from Malaysian air traffic control into Vietnamese airspace over the South China Sea. The plane also failed to check in as scheduled at 1.21am with air traffic control in Hochi Mirth City, after 55 minutes at 2.15 Malaysian Military radar .The flight at a peat south of Phuket Island in the Strait of Malacca, west of its known location. Thai military radar logs also confirmed that the plane turned west and then north over the Andaman Sea, seven hours after the contact the connection was lost. A satellite above the Indian Ocean picked up data from the plane in form of an automatic Handshake between the aircraft and the ground station. After a week of the mysterious disappearance, the satellite above the Indian Ocean suggested the jet was in one of two flight corridors are stretching north between Thailand and Kazakhstan, the other south between Indonesia and the southern Indian Ocean. At 9.15am, the next day of the flight’s departure the next authentic contact was scheduled but there was still no response from the aircraft.

The plane planned route would have taken it north eastwards, over Cambodia and Vietnam. But it was found that the plane had suddenly changed from its northerly coast to head west ward.so, dozens of ships and planes switched to the sea west of Malaysian in a traffic search for the plane around this time baffled by the mysterious disappearance of the flight, the search was expanded dramatically to nearly three million square miles from Kazakhstan in the north to west areas of the remote southern Indian ocean. Australian search teams had also sent sighting made by the satellites. The Malaysian Prime Minister announced that the plane has undoubtedly gone down in the Indian Ocean.

After weeks of distress Australian and Chinese Vessel using underwater listening equipment detected ultrasonic signals from the plane’s black box flight recorders. This appears to be the most promising lead so far.Air Chief Marshal Augus Houston, Who is leading the search, said that further proceeding would be difficult and would take some time. The search, operation is in a race against time as the flight recorder batteries are due to run out sharing signals would no longer be `awaited. The batteries usually die in 30 days.

Regarding the passengers, these were many regiment personalities on board. Two Iranian men were found to be travelling with false passports but investigations revealed that they had no apparent links to terrorist groups. Four passengers had also checked in but did not show up at the airport. The family members of those on board were informed by phone and by tent massage on 24^th March that they must slowly give up hope.

The disappearance of flight MH370 was indeed mysterious. Malaysian authorities, assisted by international aviation and satellite exports, are new battling to piece together the plane’s final hours in the hope that they can find it’s wreckage explain what had happened to its 239 passengers. It is indeed difficult to imagine that an international airline which is exposed to so advanced technologies could just disappear into the thin air. It is a very shocking when one realizes how several innocent people old and young. Who had boarded the flight with different aspirations lie buried in the deep water of Indian Ocean. The world’s best forces are at work, frantically searching for the best flight and hopefully this mystery which has baffled the whole world will get solved soon.

THE BROKEN PROMISE

SWARNALI CHAKRABORTY
CLASS 6 SECTION B

Once upon a time there lived a prince whose best friend was a shepherd. The two boys spent most of their time together. The prince would always tell the shepherd, “Friend when I become the king, you shall not work anymore. You shall be my royal guest.” Thus the two friends dreamt of the future.

Time passed. One day the old king passed away and the prince was crowned on the throne. But Alas! As soon as he became the king he forgot all his promises.

When the shepherd went to the palace, He was turned away unceremoniously by the guards. The shepherd was shocked and sad to see his old friend turning away from him.

One morning the king awoke in unbearable pain. He could not open his eyes. His body was pierced with countless needles. He could just lie in his bed screaming in agony!

That very day, the queen went all alone to a lake. It was a hot day and she decided to take a bath. Leaving her clothes and ornaments on the bank, she plunged into the water. A farmer was passing by. When she saw the royal clothes, she quickly put them on and pretended to be queen.           The poor queen still in the water was horrified, for, who could believe, her without any clothes or jewels? The imposter gave her some old rags and took and took her to the palace as a maid servant.

The imposter entered the palace and began to live with great luxury. The king was in great pain but she did not bother to nurse him. The ministers summoned many doctors, but none could remove the needles. When they failed magicians from the whole world were send for, but none could cure the king.

The queen was having a bad time too. She was given little food and was made to do all sorts of work. One day when she was washing clothes, by the lake she fainted. The shepherd who was happening to pass by took her home and nursed her back to health and treated her with great respect. But the queen 
could still not be happy.

One day the shepherd asked “Sister tell me what worries you?” when he heard the whole story, he at once realised that the king’s plight was due to his broken promise. However he loved his friend dearly, and wanted to help him.

At night the queen and the shepherd made their way to the palace. They climbed up to the king’s room by a ladder. The sight of his friend groaning in agony brought tears in his eyes. He took out a reel of magic threads and chanted:

                    

“Thread thread enter the needles

Take them out and make my friend fit as a fiddle.”

At once the thread looped itself and slipped through the holes of the needles. Gently it began to wind into a reel and pulled the needles one by one. Soon the king was free. After so many days he was able to open his eyes and sit up again. He saw the shepherd and the queen in his room. He was shocked to see the queen in this condition.

Hearing all this commotion, the imposter queen bustled in. seeing her king shouted “Who are you? How dare you wear the queen’s clothes?!”

The real queen then told the hold story. The king, at once banished the imposter from the kingdom.

The shepherd was made the Chief Advisor and they remained good friends ever after...

HAPPINESS UNLOCKED

It isn't about how we define happiness. What do you think happiness is? Your favourite tennis stars battling it out at the Roland Garros? A skating race with your cousins? A stroll to the church? To smile at the old beggar round the corner? A chocolate cake fresh baked? Sunday brunch? The mid summer rain? A new umbrella? Watching children play in a dirty puddle? Bathing your dog in the lawn? A holiday with your partner? A candle lit dinner by the beach? A bonfire? Facebook? Scoring full marks in maths? Your girlfriend wearing that blue dress to the date you had gifted her on her last birthday? A new gold fish in the jar? Smoky pizza? Being able to unlock the toughest level of the game most of peers have failed to? A chilled bottle of beer? A hearty chat with your granny? Your child uttering his or her first word? What is happiness?

What is it? Isn't it actually just being elated because you have lived another day? Isn't it because between getting and not getting your dreams come true, waking up to yet another sunrise? Isn't happiness the breath you just took in knowing you're alive? We get some things we want. We get some things we never wanted. We want some things that we might get. We want certain things we know we will never get. Does that really change life? Is anything more important than life itself? Even love? Hear the chirping of the pigeons from the ancient arches of the cathedral. They chirp every morning. They interrupt the prayers. They don't know what prayers are meant for. But they can fly higher than us, touch the clouds and spread their wings and brush against the storm. It's us who close the windows when it rains in gushes. It's us who crave for more and more, and still don't value what we get. And then one day we die... leaving everything behind we go... alone... exactly the way we had arrived. All our worries are buried and burnt along with our pale corpses. What remains? The happiness we have given. The happiness we have spread.

Aryani Banerjee

Ex-Student (ISC 2006)

and Author of the book Little Longer Than Forever.

Mysterious Disappearance of MH370

Meghna Mukherjee

Class-12  Section-C

All the children were busy playing in the park. One among them, a little boy of six fell down and hurt his knee. The man sitting in the bench near by helped him with his wound and asked “Where is your mother little boy?”

The brightly lit face of the boy suddenly darkened and all he could manage to say with trembling lips was that “I don’t know.” Isn't it strange that a son does not know where his mother is? True indeed, this particular boy had no idea about where his mother was and in what condition. A feeling of uncertainty resided in his little heart which perhaps he will have to carry on through out his life as long as he will live. He was a victim of the mysterious disappearance of MH370 which had taken away his mother from him.

The world has been recently very disturbed by the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 on 8^th March, 2014. It was a scheduled international passenger flight which was traveling from Kuala Lumpur International to Beijing Capital International Airport. It carried 12 crew members and 227 passengers from 15 nations and regions, the majority of passengers being Chinese citizens. On that day, contact with the aircraft was lost and the last known position on 8^th March at 01:21 local time was 6^o55’N, 103^o34’E, corresponding to the navigational way point in the Gulf of Thailand. The crew was expected to contact air traffic control in Hi Chi Min city as the aircraft passed into Vietnamese airspace just north of the point where contact was lost. The captain of another aircraft attempted to reach the crew of Flight 370 just after 1.30 a.m. to relay Vietnamese Air Traffic control’s request for the crew to contact it; the captain said he was able to establish contact, and just heard “mumbling” and static. However, the Malaysian Airlines issued a media statement at 07.24, one hour after the scheduled arrival of the flight at Beijing, stating that contact with the flight had been lost by Malaysian ATC at 02.40. MAS stated that the government had initiated search and rescue operations. Neither the crew, nor the aircraft’s onboard communication systems relayed a distressed signal, indication of bad weather or technical problems before the aircraft vanished from radar screens. The last words heard were those of the co-pilot saying, “All right, good night.”

The police had earlier said they were investigating whether any passengers or crew on the plane had personal or psychological problems that might explain its disappearance, along with the possibility of a hijack or mechanical failure. On 11^th March, a very close inspection of the video footage taken at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport was done, studying the behavioral pattern of all the passengers. A huge search operation for the plane was mostly focused on the shallow waters of the Gulf of Thailand off Malaysia’s east coast, although the Strait of Malacca has been included since the second day of the search. Navy ships, military aircraft, helicopters, coastguard and civilian vessels from 10 nations crisscrossed seas off both coasts of Malaysia without success. The fact that at least two passengers on board had used stolen passports has raised suspicions of foul play. But Southeast Asia is also known as a hub for false documents that are also used by smugglers and illegal migrants. On 13^th March, India sent warships surveillance aircraft to the Andaman Sea on request from Kuala Lumpur. The hunt was turning away from the eastern waters and towards the vastness of the Indian Ocean in the west. Four Indian ships, two of them with on board helicopters and three fixed wing-aircraft was deployed by the Indian Navy and the Indian coast guard from the Andaman and Nicobar command and from Arakonnam in Tamil Nadu. Information emerged that communication satellites picked up faint electronic pulses from Flight 370 after it was reported missing, but the signals gave no information about its fate. On 15^th March, the Malaysian government asked 13 countries including India, to initiate background checks on their nationals among the 227 passengers on board as the search for Beijing bound Boeing 777-200 ER, which disappeared off fro Kuala Lumpur early on March 8, which turned into a criminal investigation. ‘It is an almost unprecedented request they want us to share data from both civilian and military radars to help search for the plane’, a senior Indian official involved in processing request from the Malaysian government told the Telegraph. Aviation Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) was disabled just before the plane reached the east coast of Malaysia. A few minutes later, near the border between Malaysian and Vietnamese air traffic control, the aircraft’s transponder was switched off. This aroused suspicion in many and Mikael Robertsson, a founder of Flightradar 24, said the way communications were shut down, pointed to the involvement of some one with considerable knowledge of the air route. Mackey, a pilot and an aviation safety specialist in Florida told, “There is no where to land along the southern corridor if the intention was to crash the plane, then why fly it for seven hours.” This statement struck a chord in the ones who were suspecting pre-planned suicidal mission. The police even investigated the suicide theory, in case, the two pilots of the missing plane (Zaharie Ahmad Shah and co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid), attempted in doing so.

On 20^th March, the investigators saw a new light when satellite cameras spotted new objects floating in the southern Indian Ocean that might be parts of the Malaysian Airlines. The Australian Prime Minister, Abott told the parliament in Canberra, the capital after analyzing the images that “two possible objects related to the search have been identified.”

On 24^th March, Malaysia’s P.M. said that an analysis of satellite data had confirmed that the missing airliner went down in the southern Indian Ocean. The airline officials said that all 239 people on board were presumed dead. The announcement narrowed the search area but left many questions unanswered about why the plane had flown to such a remote part. P.M. Najib Razak said “This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, Flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.” Relatives of some Chinese passengers screamed, cried and collapsed on the ground after the Malaysian P.M.’s announcement. China immediately demanded that Malaysia share all information and evidence. On the morning of March 25, relatives and friends of many of the 153 Chinese passengers on Flight 370 Gathered outside the Malaysian embassy in Beijing to demand the truth about the fate of the flight. The group shoved past the police officers and arrived on foot at the embassy. One diplomat came out to talk to the protestors, who presented the embassy with a scathing collective statement saying the families wanted an answer and would consider Malaysian officials to be ‘murderers’ if the families found that mis-steps have led to the deaths of their loved ones.

In spite of its havoc, the missing MH370 does not stand out alone because if we dive into the depths of time, we will find a series of mysterious disappearances of aircrafts that occurred in the past. Perhaps the most famous plane disappearances of all time as it involved aviation pioneer and the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, Amelia Earhart. She disappeared during an attempt to fly around the world in 1937 along with her navigator Fred. In her last known transmission at 8.43 a.m. on July 2, Earhart broadcasted, “We are on the line 157,337. We will repeat this message. Wait.” But nothing more was heard from the American aviation pioneer. A massive multi-million search effort was abandoned and she was officially declared dead two years later in 1939. The Bermuda Triangle mystery rankled in the minds of the people for about almost two decades. Labeled as the ‘Devil’s Triangle’, this vast area of ocean that has imaginary points in Bermuda, Florida and Puerto Rico has seen scores of ships and planes vanishing without trace over the decades, in effect giving  the region an unshakeable notoriety. The instances of disappearance of planes have occurred mostly between 1940s and 1960s. These include two passenger jets in January and December in 1948, carrying 25 and 36 passengers on board in January 1949. In 1945, five American bombers were on training mission in the same area. But an hour and a half into their flight, they complained of disorientation and said they could not recognize the landmarks below, one of them even saying that their compasses had stopped working. No trace of the aircraft was found. What’s even weirder is that one of the planes sent to look for them also disappeared. Even today the mystery remains obscure and unsolved. Another example follows in 1947 when a British South American Airways flight named Star Dust with 11 people on board, vanished in the Andes Mountains during a routine flight from Buenos Aries to Santiago in Chile. Searches for the aircraft came up blank and conspiracy theories soon emerged. The air France flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris plunged into Atlantic Ocean in 2009, killing all 228 passengers and crew on board. It took five days for crews to even find wreckage and another three years to determine the crash’s cause and nearly two years before its “black boxes” were found. Most of the bodies were recovered in the months that followed, but 74 passengers were never found. It became known as the deadliest crash n the Air France’s history.

So, it is clear from the above examples that time and again the world has been inflicted with these mysterious disappearances. This leaves us in doubt once again, regarding the age old question of whether science is a ban or a boon. Had it only been a machine, then the problem could be given less importance. The fact that those machines contained hundreds of valuable lives makes it a serious issue. The reaction to these incidents might be short lived but yet there are things beyond what the media could show the world. The effects of these incidents on the near dear ones and on the relatives of the victims are long lasting. Especially when the fate of the plane remains unknown, even after a lot of investigation, a fear of uncertainty imbibes in the minds of the relatives of the victims. Fears regarding a lot of things, for example, in exactly what condition their relatives are, exactly what amount of pain they went through when they died haunts them through out their lives? Lots of questions remain unanswered and doubts unclear.  We talk of technological advancement, we use big and sophisticated terms like ‘globalization’ where a nation promises to assist another nation in times of distress yet when it comes to practical application  we start thinking politically safeguarding the interest of our own nation, thus ignoring the essence of humanity. Even at times like this the leaders of the nations reach the height of their selfish interests by trying to utilize the situation to their own advantage, blaming the entire thing on its rivals. Today we are living in the 21^st century and we call ourselves ‘modern’ and we like to think ourselves as the supreme creature in the living world. But where is this modernism and supremacy leading us to? Science has gifted us with problems, yet it is unable to provide us with solutions to these problems. I know it sounds like I am an old-fashioned, orthodox, techno phobic but I can’t help saying these because the faces of those grieved people in the newspapers torments me. The hundreds of victim of the disappearance of MH370 will never meet justice as the as the world will term it as an ‘accident’. The tears behind the havoc remain unseen. We can only hope that someday in the near future we will be able to avoid such situations. 

Bullying

Zainab Ali
CLASS-6 Section-B

There was a little girl whose name was Martha. She was timid and quiet .She would study in ST.MARY’S High School. All the students would tease her. Thinking that the students would disturb and tease her, she stopped going to school. 

When Martha's mother saw she was disturbed she got tensed. For this reason she stopped talking with her society friends. The only friend who helped Martha was John. He was very kind-hearted. One day it was John's birthday and she did not tell Martha, but she told her that he wanted to play with her. In the evening when Martha went to John's birthday and many boys and Students were present there.Those boys and Students started talking with Martha. Martha also ate and chatted with them. By 8'o clock Martha returned back home happily. This way she grew better every day. This happened only because of John. After that Martha and John even went for shopping to nearby malls, markets, and shops. Somehow like this Martha again started to go back to her school. This time also the Students started bullying her. But this time, Martha was not quiet, she had her self confidence. She went to her class teacher and complained about those Students. Their class teacher warned those Students not to do that again and also gave those Students severe punishment of one month suspension. 

When Martha's mother got to know this from their class teacher, she hugged and kissed Martha and tears fell down from her eyes. She told Martha that if anything happened to her she would first inform her parents she promised Martha that they would help her at any cost .She also thanked in return.

After that, Martha threw a party where John got a warm welcome .At the party, Martha with her cousins acted on a play on John and her friendship. After that they both lived very happily ever after.

      People there are many, But real friends very few,        

Respect friendship. Treasure friendship. The world will bully you and point fingers at you wherever you go. Only a real friend will protect you and save you and give back your lost confidence.

Birthday

Ayushi Tiwari  

Class-5 Section-A 

The word “Birthday“is so fascinating that it can victimize from six year old child to sixty year old person by its charm. Everyone spends a sleepless night in order to make it large and remembered by all. The sweetness of cake, brightness of candle light and expectation of presents all hovers around our dream.

Last Friday was my tenth birthday party. It was a nice day to me. My mother bought for me a beautiful dress. I put on the dress and went for blessing to my grandmother. She blessed me and gave me a gold ring. A grand party was held in the evening. My friends and some relatives were present. The guests brought nice gifts. I enjoyed myself very much and it was a happy day too.

Space Tour

Firnaz Khatoon

Class-8 Section-B

Everyone has  a  goal  or  wish  which  they  want  to  achieve  or  they  want  to   fulfill. When I was a child around 5 – 6 years old then I always used to admire the stars in the sky at night and always wanted to be on the moon have a space tour in future. I admired the sky for almost 5 hours at night. One day my grandfather (paternal) came and asked me that why am I admiring the sky for so long? I just simply replied him saying.” I want to be a scientist and want to have a space tour instead of having a world tour.

After I passed my high school my grandfather told me that  whatever you want to do in your life just do it  because i know  you will do  things which  will make your parents and me proud of you. On hearing this I was encouraged more than before. I went to Bangalore for my further studies to Bangalore. I achieved many diplomats in all the branches of science. I had more than 100 diplomats. While I was honoured for my diplomats I missed my parents and my grandfather very much. But still I continued with my work because I remembered my grandfather’s sayings.

I first went to mercury it was a beautiful planet but quite warm. Venus had a pleasant atmosphere, much suitable for a human being to survive. Mars was a colourful planet the sky was in pink and bluish colour. Jupiter had water on its surface; Saturn had colourful stones on its surface, Uranus – as I stepped on the surface of this particular planet I felt that I’m back on earth. The planet was very beautiful. Then I went to Uranus this planet had a lot of nitrogen. Then I went on the moon and even walked on it and last but not the least saw the Milky Way galaxy -the beautiful part of our universe. It took me nearly 3-4 years to have the space tour. I was back on earth after few months after my tour was completed. My spacecraft landed and without any further delay I went back to Kolkata to meet my parents. 

There I got to know that my grandfather had died but I smiled because I knew that he must be feeling so proud of me as I was declared to be the first Indian to have a space tour that time i was again on clouds 9.the   next  day  I got a call  on my  phone  and  the  person  who  called me was  none other than  A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. I was awestruck that   time  he congratulated  me   for   my  diplomats  and  offered me to work  with him in  his  lab. that  time  I felt  very  proud  of  myself  and  said  yes  to him. That   time  I  was  on  clouds 9.the   day  I joined  this profession  on that  day  itself  Kalam sir came  and  told  me  that  we  have  to  soon  arrive  for  space  as there  is  some important  research  we  have  to  do  and our  space craft is ready. Without delaying a second we were off   to go to the space. In the spacecraft I told Kalam sir about having the tour and even he agreed to it and permitted me of doing so. after we finished our research I saw a new spacecraft I asked sir  he  told  me  that  he  has  some work  so he has  to go back on earth. I had an extra spacecraft and started my space tour.

Loving Pain

Name: Ria Sinha

Ex-Student

College: Shree Shikshayatan College (Journalism 1^st year)

Well, I guess my story is like any other person out there. But I like to think that it is special, but everyone has their own special story too. This tale of heartbreak is recent and even now I have a hard time talking about it.

                                It all started back in class 11. All my life I had studied in a girl’s school and this was the first time I was getting a chance to study in a co-educational school. I was really so damn excited about it. I distinctly remember, it was the second or third day of school when I saw the face that attracted me and also would be the cause of my sorrow later on.

                                    Anyways, when I saw his face, I could not keep my eyes off him. God!!! He was so handsome, had a perfectly toned body, was tall and smart and had a never dying spirit. His name was Siddharth Kapoor. The name was just as charming as him. Thanks to my lucky stars, I had a chat with him that day and also found out that we have so much in common.

                                            We became friends and promised to stay friends forever (needless to say that I broke the promise by falling in love with him first). As time progressed, our bond of friendship grew deeper and deeper. Our friendship was the main cause of jealousy for the other girls because Siddharth was so handsome. We even flirted with each other, but it was just a joke. But this joke made me realize that I had fallen in love with him. I kept this from him because I did not want to ruin the friendship we had.

                                         We had played a whole load of pranks on teachers. One fellow student also was not spared. I had bunked school for the first time with him. I went with him to the night club for the first time. It was with him that I had my first drink, my first puff, and many other things. So obviously, he held a very important place in my life.  The end of school life approached. I had dreaded this day because this meant separation from the person whom I loved very much. So, for the last few days I used to be like a shadow to him. I wanted to spend as much time as possible.

                          The day we had our last board exams was the day which changed my life forever. I even remember the date and place when it happened.

                                   On the 27th of March, our board exams got over at 5:00 in the evening. After that I said, “Why don’t we all go and celebrate?” Fortunately, no one agreed to come except Sid (I used to call him this). So I was extremely happy. We went to a park, and we were enjoying ourselves when I decided to tell him everything about my feelings. I said,” Sid, I have something to tell you”. He replied,” What a coincidence!! Even I have to tell you something”. Then Sid said,” Okay you say”. Just as I was about to begin, his cell phone rang. He excused himself. When he came back I was shocked because he came back with a girl. I was shocked, not because the girl was one of my group friends named Sonia, but because of the way he was standing with the girl (his hand around Sonia’s waist). My mind stopped functioning at that moment. Sid said, “Ria!! I have kept this as a secret from everybody. You are the first one to know this. This girl, Sonia here has been my girlfriend for the past 2 years and I love her so much”.

                                       At that moment, I was numb at the shock that I just could not speak. I just sat there like a statue and smiled. It pained me to see him with some other girl but just because he was so happy I controlled myself. I said, “Congratulations!! Hope that this relation goes on forever. I excused myself and left them alone. Just as I turned, someone’s cell rang. It is not unusual but the ringtone was the song which was expressing what I was feeling right then. The song was “Emptiness”:

  Tune mere jaana.... kabhi nahin jaana..... ishq mera..... dard mera.....

                                      I rushed back home and went directly into my room. I cried till my eyes could produce no more tears. Sid had called me so many times but I decided that I would never express my feelings to him.

                                                 I learnt a valuable lesson that day. We should never hide our feelings from the person we love. If we do, then maybe when we express our feelings it would be too late just like in my case. I don’t blame Sid for whatever happened. It was not his fault. He had already told me that we were friends forever. I was the stupid one to fall in love with him.

                         Now we are just very good “friends”. I have moved on in my life now.

                                I have shared this story so that the boys and girls ( who are shy to confess their feelings) would understand what it is like when they don’t confess their feelings. I hope that no girl behaves as foolishly as I have done. Whenever you love someone just go and tell them directly on their face. If you cannot do that then you are weak hearted. Remember love is not for the weak.

Winning the Magical Idol

Dola Banik

Class-8 section-B

I always like adventures and mysteries. I even love to read stories which are full of adventure and I play games of that sort.

One night before going to bed, I read a story which was of that genre .When I went to bed; I had a wonderful dream. I saw that I was a part of an adventure game.

Level 1: I found myself in a dark cave. My goal was to win the magical idol which was hidden in a secret place in a temple.

All of a sudden, I heard a noise, a scary noise, and some dangerous growls and after some time I saw two eyes shining. It came towards me and tried to pounce on me and eat me up. It was some huge dinosaurs. I ran away as fast as I could. That was the start of my journey.

Level 2: It was a difficult way. I had to take sharp turns, at times jump over the tree roots, slide down the trees and much more. Once if I stopped anywhere I would be eaten up by dinosaurs or if I fell down in the water then I would be the prey of anacondas and big alligators.

Level 3: After running for a long time, I came upon a scary road. I was tired but I couldn't stop. Here I had to run faster as it was the area of the ghosts. There were scary ghosts at all sides of the road and there were fire at times in the middle of the road .I had to jump over them and run swiftly for my safety. At the same time, I had to get the gold coins, which were scattered all over the road. As I moved forward towards the temple of the magical idol, roads became more and tougher to run. Sometimes they were narrow, sometimes surrounded by fire and sometimes by ghosts.

Level 4: I entered a forest area then. There I had to be careful about snakes and dangerous spiders and wild big tigers. I had to fight with them and kill them and once again run on my way. Once I was caught by a huge snake, largest of all the animals which I came through. It held me so tight that couldn't even breathe. Then all at once, I found a magical sword. I however freed my limbs from the capture of the snake and then jumped at the sword with all my might. Then I cut the snake into two halves and it died. Then I continued to move on. I heard all sorts of scary noises which made me tremble.

Level 5: Finally I reached the temple. It was a marvelous one, golden in color and really gorgeous. It was so beautiful that I was not at all able to move my eyes from it. I entered the temple. The beauty of the temple made me forget all the troubles and difficulties and restless running. Next I entered a huge room which was decorated with golden statues and beautiful flowers .I gave a sigh of relief and moved towards the magical idol. But no! It wasn't that easy. I was so much attracted by the shine and beauty of the magical golden idol by the shine of which the whole room was lit up that I failed to notice the protector of the idol-a dangerous huge and scary spider .It came towards me running with its long, thick and hairy tentacles. Its eyes were red like fire. Its look at first scared me but finally I overcame my fear and fought as bravely as I could use the golden sword which I found in the jungle. At last I won the battle. My wish came true and I got the idol and became the savior of the temple from those dangerous creatures. All the scary creatures at once disappeared.

Then I heard the temple bell ringing but it rang so loudly that my ears started paining. I tried to stop it but it didn't. Oh no! It wasn't the temple bell; it was my alarm clock ringing .I woke up quickly, it was time, and I had to get ready for school. I was happy that I was able to cross all the levels and was also very excited to tell my friends about this wonderful dream.

                                                                                                                    

                                 

Once in a lifetime

Upasana Biswas

Class: 12

Ex-Student

My last year. Yeah, it is, the very last year of my school life.

A yell came from below. “Avantika! We’re getting late!”

‘Coming!’, I shouted. I grabbed my tennis racket and my small suitcase and ran down the stairs.

As I got inside the car, Dad looked around in astonishment. “Where is your Mom now? I saw her right here. Oh! There she is.”

“Sorry, I had forgotten to give this to you Avantika”, Mom said, and handed me a small idol of Lord Ganesh. “Bye dear, be a good girl, eat well, sleep well and study well. Mumma will miss you”, said Mom and a drop of tear rolled down her cheek.

“Don’t worry Mom, I’ll be fine. But, I’ll miss you too.”

“If you all are done, shall we go?” , Dad asked impatiently.

“Yes Dad, let’s go.”

The journey was long and quiet. Dad drove while I spent three hours listening to my favourite songs and munching some snacks. As we reached Vidya, I felt a queer sensation in me. With its four great towers, one at each corner, the big, grey stone building with the hoarding “VIDYA RESONANCE”, my school looked like an old castle.

As I jumped out, clutching my racket and bag, I was immediately engulfed by a crowd of excited girls.

“Avantika! Didn’t get even a single text from you!”

“Hi Avantika! How were the hols?”

“Hey Avantika! Have you seen Julie?”

Finally I met my best friend Keya. “Long time my friend. Gosh! You’ve grown fat!”, Keya exclaimed as we hugged.

“Oh really? Had no control over my apetite these hols”, I said.

Keya and I went up the steps and into our small, cosy room that we shared.

“I wonder who’ll have this room next year”, I said, going to the window and looking out. “It’s one of the nicest.”

We dumped our luggage on our beds and went down to have a look around.

And there we met Zara.

‘Hello!’, Zara said. “Had good holidays?”

Yeah, and yours?, I said.

‘Fair’, said Zara.”

The same old Zara, conceited, snobbish and silly.

Inside the class all the students were making a racket as usual, and hey look, there’s a new girl. Ms. Roy entered and turned to the new girl. “How do you call yourself?”, she asked the sturdy new-comer.

“Stefani Jones”, she said.

“Yes. So class, you have a new friend here. Poor Stefani – her school got burnt few months back. St. Peter’s High School – it exists no longer.”

“Gosh! Yes, I did read about it”, said Keya, remembering. “St. Peter’s! That’s about the most famous school for sport in the country, isn’t it? I mean – you win every single match you play, and you win all the tennis shields and swimming cups?”

“That’s right!”, said Stefani. “Well, it’s gone. There wasn’t time to find another building in a hurry, so we all had to scatter, and find other schools. You don’t have much of a name for sport; do you, at Vidya Resonance?”

This was rather too much from a new girl. I stared at her coldly.

“Perhaps you’d like to give us little coaching?”, said Julie, in a smooth voice that most of us recognized as dangerous.

“I might”, said Stefani, and said no more.

We glanced at one another. “If you are so great in sports, I suppose you’ll be going in for the Olympic Games,” said Alice meaning to be sarcastic. “They’re held next year in...”

“Oh yes. I should think I shall go in for about five different events”, said Stefani, calmly. “My coach at St. Peter’s said I ought to win at least two”.

We gasped. Alice looked taken aback. Stefani was a great hefty girl, about five feet ten inches tall. I shall find it hard to deal with her. Although I am the head girl, yet it was going to be difficult to give orders to her.

“Well class, do maintain silence, I’ve got some work in the office”, Mam said and walked out.

Immediately, the entire class had turned into a room full of monkeys. We made sure to enjoy to the peak during our last year. We jumped around, danced, sang, and ended up forming a line and playing ‘trains’ behind Smriti, chuffing like engines.

Stefani watched disdainfully. “What a school!”, she said. “Now if I was in St. Peter’s, everyone would be out practising tennis strokes or something.”

“Hold it, Stefani, hold it!”, said Smriti, suddenly spotting the unpleasant look on Stefani’s large face. She took out her sketch book and started drawing.

Smriti was famous for this. She had some hilarious sketches of Ms.Roy’s face too.

“Hey! I didn’t look like that”, said Stefani enraged, and tried to snatch the book but Smriti dodged out of the way.

Stefani went to the corner and began to fiddle with the wireless place there and managed to find a recording of some sporting event.

I nudged Keya and nodded to the window. It had stopped raining. Keya grinned. Keya and I made signs to the others to creep out of the room without disturbing Stefani and I slowly closed the door. We slipped in our tennis shoes, grabbed our rackets and ran out to the courts.

“Let’s hope she sees us!”, panted Maanvi.

Stefani did. The recording came to an end and she was immediately struck by the silence in the room and swung around. She went to window and scowled, “Beasts! “

The girls came back, laughing, when the bell went. “Pity you didn’t feel like a practice Stefani!” I said. “Never mind – better luck next time!”

The days went by, studying and preparing for the board exam. The thought that we would be sitting for class XII boards itself haunted us. Soon we got bored of the same, monotonous pace of life. There was no fun, no entertainment. I couldn’t afford to see my last year being wasted; wasted as in spent without enjoyment, until one day, Alice asked Julie about the magnet. Julie grinned at her and put her hand into her pocket and pulled out the neat, powerful little magnet.

Ms. Sethi entered the class. Lessons began. And just before the end of the lesson, Ms. Sethi gave her usual order. “Clean the blackboard, please.”

Julie stood up and walked steadily to the board near Ms. Sethi. Ms. Sethi was searching for a book in her desk. It was a great chance to use the magnet.

Watched by twenty-two breathless students, Julie held the magnet to the back of Ms. Sethi’s head, about two inches away from the bun of her hair and all the hair-pins that Ms. Sethi used for her beautiful bun flew and attached themselves firmly and silently to the magnet.

Ms. Sethi’s bun opened and her bald head was revealed. What a scene! Keya stuffed her handkerchief into her mouth to control herself from bursting into laughter. But then, the entire class was already laughing into tears.

“All my hair pins are gone!” said Ms. Sethi, her grammer going too. She searched frantically every nook and corner of her desk for her pins but they were nowhere. She turned red. I was laughing helplessly. Smriti produced several explosions and even the dour Stefani went off into fits of laughter. Ms. Sethi walked out of the room bewildered. We laughed and laughed till our stomachs started aching. I hadn't laughed so much for months.  

After class, Zara who had been having ten thousand cash in her pocket, walked towards her room but somehow the notes fell off her loose pocket one by one. Maanvi, who was in-charge of discipline, found the notes. Having such a big amount without handing it over to the safe custody of the principal was strictly prohibited in Vidya Resonance. Maanvi handed over the money to the principal.

Zara had taken that money from her father to go for night parties and discos.

As she entered her room and put her hand into her pocket, she discovered that the elastic was broken and her money was gone. Zara trembled. She ran along the corridor searching for her money but she could find no trace of it.

She found a notice by the principal on the notice board. “The student who dropped ten thousand rupee note on the corridor is expected to come to me.”

Zara was petrified. There was no use claiming her money because the principal would never give her money back.

“I must screw up my courage, snoop into her room, and see if I can spot where she has put my money.”

That night, Zara went to the principal’s room when she had gone to her garden. There was a pile of notes on one shelf. Zara grabbed some notes, stuffed them in her pocket and fled.

In her room, she discovered that she had taken fourteen thousand rupee notes.

Never mind!”, she said and went to bed, satisfied.

Next morning the news spread in the entire school that a theft had taken place in the principal’s room. “I give only a day for the guilty to own up. And if no one owns up, I’ll set teachers to search every room”, was the principal’s order.

Zara was now trapped. The only way she could escape was by running away. And she did. The next morning at dawn, she escaped the hostel gates. On the way, Mr. George, our horse-riding teacher who was out with his horse for an early morning ride had seen her from a distance but didn’t recognize her.  Zara took rest in a shack on the road and meanwhile the news went around the school, “Zara’s gone!”

The police were told. Our principal rang up Mr. Ahmed, Zara’s father and informed him that his daughter was missing, but she was amazed at Mr. Ahmed’s reception of the news.

Down the telephone came a below of laughter. “Ha, Ha, Ha! If that isn’t exactly my Zara! She’s just like me, you know. The times I played truant from school! Don’t worry about Zara. May be she’s on her way home. I’ll inform you when she arrives.”

“Mr. Ahmed, the police have been informed”, said the principal disgusted at the way Zara’s father had taken her news. “I’ll try to keep it out of the papers as long as I can.”

“Oh! Don’t bother about that”, said the surprising Mr. Ahmed. “I’d like to see my Zara hitting the headlines in a spot of adventure. Great girl, isn’t she?”

The police sergeant came to the principal and said, “Two of those stolen notes were given at an alcohol shop by a student of your school.”

Soon it was clear that the thief was Zara. Mr. George informed the principal that he had seen a student in the school uniform at dawn on the road, and no one had left the hostel except Zara.

There was a thorough search all over the town and Zara was found sleeping in the shack.

The dirty and frightened Zara was brought to the principal’s office. Mr. Ahmed was also called.

“What’s so serious about it?”, exploded Mr. Ahmed. “It was just a bit of fun. Zara is a high-spirited girl – nothing wrong in it at all.”

“There is a lot of wrong”, said the principal. “I want you to take your daughter home today and we cannot have her back. She’s not a good influence to the school.”

Zara and her father got the shock of their life. Zara expelled!

“But you can’t expel her for that!”, complained Mr. Ahmed.

“You see it’s not only running away, it’s a matter of stealing too”, said the principal.

“What? Zara can’t steal! She always had heaps of money. Okay! Let me pay – I’ll double the amount!”, said Mr. Ahmed.

“Dad, you always said that I needn’t bother about rules and could break them as long as I enjoyed”, said Zara.

“Good-Bye Mam, I know it’s me who is to be blamed not she”, Mr. Ahmed said and left the principal’s room with her daughter.

The car roared off down the road and Zara was gone – gone forever from Vidya Resonance.

“How important parents are!”, thought the principal. “Really, I think somebody should start a school for parents too.”

The next thing that happened was a good deal pleasanter. Exam fever was on. Two whole months of undisturbed studies and finally we, the class XII students sat for the board exams. Again one whole month of exams including the practicals and then at last we had got the exams behind us. But this time, the end of exams did not at the least make us happy; because this time end of exams meant end of school!

“LAST day, Avantika”, said Keya, when we awoke on our very last morning.

“Our last day! Do you remember the first day when we were little shrimps of twelve?”, I said. “How time has flown!”

Keya and I packed our luggage and went out to get a last sight of the roses in the garden, the blue water of the swimming pool, our horses that we rode, and bid good-bye to all of them.

We bid good-bye to all our teachers and took their blessings. Ms. Roy, Ms. Sen, Mr. Malhotra, Mr. George and of course Ms. Sethi.

“Next time be careful with your hair-pins Mam”, I said to Ms. Sethi.

“Ah! You naughty girl!”, Ms. Sethi said with a shy smile on her face.

“Good-bye everyone. And good luck!”, we told each other. I tried to control my tears but I failed.

“How much I’ll miss everyone, everything! These days I’ll never get back. Truly, there’s no place like school, which you get to enjoy only once in a lifetime”, I thought as I sat in the car and headed towards home.