Time Pass

(Award winning essay in the Tata Building India School Essay Competition 2011-12) The world is passing through an era of technolgical bloom since the beginning of the century. We are accustomed to watch colour television with options of more than hundred channels since we were born. Parents say that in their childhood they had only transistors and black and white television with only one channel. A house without a computer, we simply can't think of. But its so extensive existence is only over a decade. Our parents talk about writing letters, posting it at a post office, and then waiting for weeks, at time for months for a reply to come manually through the snail-mail. We do it in moments through punching some keys in our computer or in our mobile phone. Internet is a boon to the world; we are exposed to science from our early childhood. We can't even imagine a World without world-wide-web! Scientists in every sphere are now engaged in proper incorporation of technological input...

How can you make the world you live in -your home, your city, your nation - a cleaner and greener place ? Mother India is a and of vast cultural heritage with nonviolence and universal brotherhood. Nature provided all the magnificent gifts imaginable to our country. It has vast expanses of green plains, snow capped Himlayas in the north and blue oceans in deteriorated a lot with loads of pollutants. Once considered to be the heaven, now deteriorated a lot with loads of pollutants. We must take an immediate vow - to "make it a better place, for you and for me" by keeping it a cleaner and greener thus healthier place to live in. Any 'mission' should start with 'me'. Cleanliness should begin at home with good hygienic practice by an individual. Adopting sanitary method for disposal of house-hold wastes is the cornerstone of healthier living. Scarcity of safe potable water has been observed, hence judicious use of water with minimizing wastage should be stressed...

If you are a student of this school you'd have no problem in finding our class. But if you're not.... here is a guide for you... ascend to the first floor... take a right turn and keep walking till you hit a wall-take left and advance to room number 21. There! You have reached your destination! You are standing at the entrance ot the notorious class of IX-D. Iisten, my class folks consider me as an honest person. So, I Wouldn't try to tell you false things about my class. Our class is popularly known as the 'WORST SECTION OF CLASS IX,' and we seem to take great pride in it! So, I guess Ill spare the teachers-say-students-are-very-bad-they-disturb- the-class-don't- allow-to-teach-and-have -no- discipline' part. Once you have reached the entrance, better take a peek inside our so called 'Worst Section' (ever since my entry in to the school, I was always promoted to the worst section of the class what a sad conincidence!). If there is no teacher - I can...

Charulata When I got to the airport, there was a large crowd waiting for me. Coming home from England was totally an exciting experience. For more than five years I was away from home, completing my graduation, getting a job and now on my first long term holiday. When I got home, everybody was asking how England was and I was busy narrating my experiences in the foreign land. Everything around me seemed so new, so different. Next morning, I woke up and I was sitting on my window sill with a mug of coffee. My eyes fell on the small playground. Immediately the fond memories of the good times I had spent with my friends flashed in my mind's eye. It was then that I remembered Charulata . Taking my shawl quickly, I went out. Jumping two steps at a time I ran to the playground and towards that small hut. I found the door locked. I rushed to the neighbouring house. Minu Mashi opened the door, she said, "When did you return? Ignoring all her questions I said "Mashi, where is Char...

Sachin's Favourite Once I was a willow tree in my years of youth. I used to stay with my other willow friends, laughing and talking to them as well as enjoying the time with nature. Suddenly, the day came when we were chopped off in to logs of wood by the wood cutter with their saws and axes. The day was the most painful and saddest day of my life as I parted from my home. All of us were unaware of the fact as to what our future would be. Some of us had trembling premonitions of being burnt in the fireplace to warm and save the elite citizens from the discomfort of cold while the rest were guessing a long journey to the factories tor making boards and papers. But something else was in store for us; our doubts were cleared when we went to a factory manufacturing Cricket Bats. We had to go through a lot of pain when the workers shaped us into slender and sturdy bats. Then they painted us in splendid black and energetic red colour. Being the most superior quality of willow, I was sent...

The Incomplete Sentence I was some what surprised. Or should I say, I was anxious? It was nearly half-past ten'o clock, a Monday night, 8th November 2012. T'he people around, in our neighourhood were long asleep. London was used to keeping early hours, as usual. Tiffany hadn't called me up. We were best friends, and lived together in the same apartment, and were completing our higher studies. We first met in Rebecuilla University and at first, lived separately, on our own expenses, but grew quite intimate friends within half a year, and shared the same apartment by working out a part-time job and managing our transactions. I had taken a leave that day from my work, as it was my birthday. At first I didn't want to do so, but Tiffany forced me to take one. She pleaded a lot, and somehow, I gave in to her beseeching pleas. I remembered what she had said when she left for her work "You'll be receiving a great surprise today, Tulika. I will be back by seven pm. Afte...