The term length is used every day, whether it is centimetres for physics, inches for height, or even kilometres in a rickshaw. What if this length is enlarged to such an extent that it would be difficult for us to imagine how long it would be? A light year is the distance light covers in one year in the Gregorian calendar and helps us find the distance between astronomical bodies. We know the location of the planets, stars,and other objects in our solar system because of mathematical contributions over centuries, but what about those stars beyond? How do we know about bodies outside our solar system?

We apply the concept of Parallax which is defined as the difference in direction of a celestial object as seen by the Earth from two widely separated points. It tries to find an angle from the star to the earth by utilising the Earth's position on opposite sides of the sun in the revolutionary orbit (Earth's position in November and May). Thus, by applying this concept we get an angle of the star from a distance to us (the angles are extremely minuscule), but we still need the distance and here we turn to trigonometry where since we know the distance between us and the Sun, we use the distance and multiply it by two to account for the other position and use a theorem to get the distance between Earth and the Sun. Now we have a theorem for this but how do we even get the angle in the first place? We use our satellite telescopes for such angles. This is how we determine the distance between the Earth and a star. To verify that they are right, scientists often attempt to photograph a star, and sometimes they

are successful, or get it by other means.

Fun fact: In our own backyard, the solar system, as  most of us would answer, has 8 planets. These planets are the major ones, however there are 9 more, which are Pluto, Eris, Sedna, Gonggong, Makemake, Quaoar, Orcus, Haumea and Salacia.

-Shrirup Chakravarty IXC

I am a student aspiring towards becoming a doctor. I have a liking for science and I blend in with almost everyone. Singing and Dancing are the things I do in my free time and they act as stress busters. I love to explore and learn new things which are fascinating. My main goal in life is to make my family proud and be independent. I am often intrigued by realistic sketching and often try my hand at it. I always follow the inspiring quote “When you have a dream, you've got to grab it and never let go.” This line has a powerful meaning which encourages me to conquer my dreams. I don’t care about what other people say about me and I just continue listening to my heart. The best version of myself is when I am genuine and not just pretending to be others and comparing myself with them. My real self is when I am happy, content, grateful and kind to everyone around me. It is when I am not angry and rude. I believe I am the best in my own original way because everyone is different and beautiful in their own way. My values are not there to show the world but they are there so I can help others and not be selfish but selfless. I should be satisfied and grateful to be privileged and have my family with me who support me because I do not want to fall in the trap of being unappreciative and start comparing myself to others who have more than me. I will be the best version of myself as long as my personality does not change and I don’t feel low due to others. I am not perfect but will always try to improve myself. As long as my thoughts, traits and values are good, I will always be the best version of myself.

-Taashvi Doshi VIIC

The environment is the basic life support system for all living things on the planet Earth. Human beings play a huge role in the making and breaking of the environment. Being the supreme  power on Earth, human beings influence the wellness of the environment to a great extent. The impact of the environment on all living beings is directly proportional to the way human beings treat the environment. Any kind of existence would not be possible without air, water or land. Nothing to eat, not a drop to drink and nowhere to go is not what we or

our future generations should expect to have. Every living thing depends largely on the environment for survival, and having a clean and safe environment is solely in the hands of the human beings. So, it is a request to everyone to help save the environment because protecting the environment starts with you. Steps you can take as an individual are: -

 Segregate the waste

 Walk, cycle, carpool

 Use less water

 Avoid use of plastic

 Conserve electricity

-Aariya Shah VIIB

Thanos; arguably the most evil and powerful villain in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, popularly known as the MCU,he is  probably the most important character in the plot of every Marvel movie.  He made his

appearance in the first ‘AVENGERS’ movie where he sent the Chitauri force to take possession of the ‘Tesseract’; the most powerful stone from the remaining five; and to destroy everything that came between his Tesseract and eventually become the conqueror of earth. But it's power in the right hands of the Avengers sent him and his monkey-like minions packing. There were a few sneak peaks of him in the upcoming movies, yet no one thought much of him at first, it was only later that they realized his actual potential in combat.

The sound of cries from the people of Zen-Whoberi made him smile. The mad titan ruthlessly killed all those innocent people and wiped the planet clean; all just to obtain the space stone. The sound of the gunshots was terrifying. The shrill sound of a mother trying to protect her child kept ringing in my head. The moments before her death,later,  broke my heart. Silence scattered everywhere as Thanos left Zen-Whoberi destroyed in such a way that it was unable to salvage anything from it.

The movie ‘Avengers Infinity War’ was an absolute thrill. I was eating my popcorn while watching the movie.The caramel just melted in my mouth like candy floss. The final fight scene made my jaw drop to the floor. The

popcorn felt tasteless compared to the editing and VFX of the movie.

After countless days of struggling, the Avengers finally emerged victorious over the mad titan. Yet, however evil or vile Thanos may be; he teaches us about the balance in life. When Thanos was young he was made painfully aware of his deformity. Everywhere he went, he was treated like a monster, something to be

feared, shunned, and put down. No matter what he tried to do to help those around him, they feared him. Thanos grew to desire not only acceptance but praise.

When he discovered the inevitable death of his planet, he sought desperately to find some way to save those who hated him. But his solution wasn't pretty, half of all inhabitants needed to die, in order to save the other half and the future generations. He went from planet to planet, saving them from

themselves. It wasn't genocide, it was salvation. Thanos then discovered what he feared most, he wasn't fast enough and the entire Universe was at stake. He knew his solution could save all future life, but he couldn't enact his solution planet by planet anymore. He needed the Infinity Stones. Not to kill half of everything, but to save half of everything. Thanos wanted to be a hero, he wanted to save all that he could, but he was past asking for permission.

-Aliasgar Bhopali VIIIB

 A letter from a daughter to a mom ,who is away for work 

Dear  mother , since you left for work a few months ago, a lot has changed. I have grown up a lot. I am now far more mature. No really! 

See, maturity can be judged by many things, such as age, behaviour, experience and so on. But apart from the obvious, one of the biggest giveaways of maturity comes in the form of - Karela! Yes, the bitter gourd. 

The other day, daddy cooked some Bitter Gourd for dinner and… I ate it! 

So now, I believe, if one can pick up a piece of cooked bitter gourd, bite into it, let the bitterness sting your tongue and enjoy the flavour rather than cringing, you've officially entered the world of the mature. 

If you have befriended the bitter gourd, you are a certified adult and no one can challenge that. Not even you mum :)

So be rest assured to meet a far more grown up me when you return from your annual work trip.

Love,

The daughter who now eats and enjoys all homemade food, including Karela

-Roma Khemani VIIA

I am a great fan of Agatha Christie. She is mainly known for writing about two detectives –Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. I really like Hercule Poirot books more than Miss Marplebooks.

Hercule Poirot is a Belgian detective. There is not a single mystery which he has not been

able to solve. He is a very famous line – “Use your little grey cells, mon ami” which he says

to his friend and associate – Captain Arthur Hastings. The main characters of his books also

include his secretary – Felicity Lemon and Chief Inspector James Japp.

Some of his famous mysteries are- Murder on the Orient Express, ABC murders, Five little

pigs and Murder of Roger Ackroyd. He is known for his funny moustache and his walking

stick. Hercule Poirot is a sharp observer and always traps the murderer. He believes known

all over the world for his ways of solving a mystery.

Poirot is often mistaken as a French which angers him. Being a Belgian, he is really fond of

Belgian food and criticises the English breakfast by calling it a heavy meal. He is possessive

about his country and hates London even though he lives there.

Poirot’s mysteries are really interesting and keep you on your toes till the end. His style of

interrogation and finding out the murder is mind- blowing. No matter how old I grow,

Agatha Christie’s books will always have a special place in my heart.

-Anushka Aklujkar VIIIB

The policy of “Live and Let live” is the terrible need of the time. Our

environment that serves as our lifeline, is of immense importance to us.

It is getting polluted. It is not the same environment now as it used to

be centuries ago. As the needs of some people are growing and they

are becoming ambitious, they are destroying the environment for their

own use. This is leading to environmental issues.

Environmental pollution is one of the biggest problems of the world

today. Pollution is becoming acute and is troubling us economically and

physically. Air pollution is mainly caused by motor vehicle emission.

When the fuel is burnt, these vehicles throw out the smoke that

pollutes the air. To prevent this from happening we must avoid using

petrol and diesel in vehicles. Instead, they must opt CNG as fuel to run

their vehicle.

The other main issue is the pollution of water through various ways.

Mainly, water sources like rivers, ponds and lakes are polluted by

wastes from factories. Wastage is dumped in the river which dissolves

in the water and contaminates it. Therefore, to prevent this we must

pick up the litter and throw it in the garbage can.

Noise pollution is seen mostly in metros or big cities. It is largely

because of the honking of vehicles. Machines make a lot of noise too.

Hance, to stop this we must shut the windows while using noisy

machines and control the noise level in sensitive areas.

Many organizations working for the environment are spreading

awareness to keep the environment clean. We must try to keep our

country clean, free of pollution just like the way we try to keep our

homes clean. Lastly, our country is our home, we must keep it clean.

-Jiah Lakhani VIIIB

The best fictional character, arguably, is Naruto Uzumaki from the anime series ‘Naruto Shippuden’.

Naruto was an orphan as his parents died protecting him from a demon called the ‘Nine tailed fox’,

which his father sealed inside of him using a magical curse. Due to this reason he was treated badly by

people , as they thought of him as a threat to the village because he had a bloodthirsty demon inside of

him. He was unaware of the demon inside him until he was twelve years old. As all people treated him

like a threat , he wanted to prove the people wrong and be the next leader oh his village when he grows

up.

Naruto had spiky , blonde hair and has fiery whiskers like a fox on his face as he has a demon of a fox

inside of him. He had a comforting , trusting attitude and always smiled, no matter what happened in his

life. This trusting attitude helped him get through hard times and having an unbreakable bonds with his

friends. This is also why no one ever doubted him. Due to this trusting attitude of his he could team up

with the demon fox and fight battles fusing their power.

Having a demon of a fierce fox inside of him he had a very keen sense of smell which helped him in

many things. The keen sense of smell is very useful in the ninja world. It helps him to smell on his

enemies during battles.

He was the hero of the world in the fourth great ninja war. He activate several new powers during the

battle . one of the most useful from those were the power of light on his left palm , which helped him

heal people with just a touch . This helped many ninjas recover and fight with all their might.

After all he did for the village, the kindest person to Naruto was the owner of the world famous ramen

shop ‘Ichiraku Ramen’ , he went there since he was a child. The man in the ramen shop was the only one

who was kind to Naruto knowing he had the power to annihilate the village and turn it to dust just in

one moment of rage . The man also let Naruto eat from his shop for free when he was a child. Naruto

has a special bond with the scrumptious bowl of Ichiraku ramen , it is one of the things that gave him

happiness during times of grief or at the end of a tiresome day. These are the main reasons Naruto loves

ramen with all his heart.

Naruto had maximum control over his emotions , it is the main reason as of why he could control the

enormous amount of demon power sealed in side of him. If Naruto could not control his emotions and

let them control him , the demon power would spread in his body and destroy everything in its path.

Every ninja has their own ‘ninja way’, which means a rule by which a ninja lives. Naruto’s ninja way was

that he would never go back on his word or decline to help. The main reason I like Naruto is because he

spreads a wave of positivity wherever he goes.

-Rehhan Shah VIIIB

Sitar has been a very important part of my life , I have been listening to its melody ever since I was

born and started playing it since the age of six . My father is a professional sitarist while my

grandfather was a padhmabhushaan sitarist .

As I said before I started playing at the age of six and by the time I was seven I was better than most

of my fathers students , even my relatives said I played beautifully. Enough about me Let me tell you

about my grandfather , his name is Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan he was considered as a siatr legend . he

was a part of the famous ‘Sitar Trinity’ of India, which included the late Pandit Ravi Shankar and the

late Ustad Vilayat Khan not only that he was considered the youngest of the three. He received the

national awards Padma Shri (1970) and Padma Bhushan (2006) and was awarded the Sangeet Natak

Akademi Award for 1987.

He also started academy , The Halim Acadmy of sitar where he spread his gift of music to other

people . He passed away on the fourth of January 2017 , his legacy was passed on to my father ,

Zunain Halim Khan who was not as great as my grand father but good . My father also like me

started playing sitar a t the age of five and always said my grandfather was very strict but my

grandfather was very nice to me so I did not mind.

The day my grandfather passed I was 8 years old I didn’t realise what was going on at the start but

later I did all good thing may come to an end and nothing lasts forever . I did not touch the sitar for 5

years till 2022 when I asked to play for the school . Things changed since that day I started playing

again and it was all good .

I even have a concert on 26 th January I have to play the national anthem in the Bandra promenade

with some of my fathers students and my father himself . It is a programme organized by the MLA so

I feel kind of prestigious .This is why the sitar is so important to me.

-Khaleel Khan VIIIB

Most people when asked what they cannot live without answer-food, oxygen, water, sleep. True, these

things are necessary to survive, however the thing I cannot live without is a photograph because it

carries a lot of memories. Photographs may seem very ordinary but they carry a lot of meaning.

Clicking a photo for many people is just very casual whereas for some it is a hobby while others consider

it as a career. Without realizing it photos that are clicked and the referred or seen years later always

manage to lift us to a brighter mood. Not only can a photo lighten up a room but also a person.

Sometimes what we cannot recollect is fondly brought to life via photos. Many moments in our lives can

be immortalized via photos.

A photos of me dressed a s miss world for a school event is still reminisced by me as it brings back

memories of my old school life, and reminds me of that stage in life where I was a playful young girl

dressed up for a school event and how my dad had taken a photo of my first dress up for a school

event.it remind me to be as confident as I was in the photo and the happiness that was from within and

not just for a photo.

Another photo that inspires me is of my First Birthday where I cut my three tier cake and I was in a very

beautiful dress. I remember seeing that photo of how free and happy and carefree I was. Every time I

see that photo, I begin to feel happy seeing all my cousins, and family members and the magical

moments with all of us dancing. I also fondly remember the photo that recorded my first trip to a

foreign country where I was sitting on a suitcase of ours in a yellow hoodie excited about my journey.

Without photographs I believe people would not know about the past and be able to remember the

small but meaningful moments in one’s life. People would not learn from their mistakes, smile while

seeing something if it would not be for photos. That is why I personally cannot live without photographs

and believe they are immensely important and of great significance.

-Ummehani Gadiwala VIIIB

Jasudben M.L., an ICSE school in Khar West, Mumbai, firmly believes that reading is the

best gift that can be given to children. The teachers and staff do their best to integrate this

into their teachings and the library is always open to the students. In accordance, J.M.L.

organised a Lit Fest on 22nd December 2022, as an early Christmas gift to the students.

This provided an opportunity for students to get more exposure to books. Quizzes were

conducted that tested students’ knowledge of literature, both old and new. The Most

Splendiferous Literature and Language Quiz was tremendously popular as students from

grades 5-12 raced to prove their standing on all things published. Workshops were held that

showed pupils different perspectives on writing, such as comic book writing and graphic

novels. Renowned authors were called to give author talks, talks that provided JMLites

opportunities to learn about new books and the authors’ journeys. Students were given

chances to personally talk to the authors and discuss their books. Both students and authors

loved these talks, and Ms Joeanna Rebello Fernandes especially did.

Ms Joeanna Rebello Fernandes is a children’s book

writer based out of Mumbai. She has written three books (Treasure at the Train Station;

Journey to the Edge of the Earth; and The Blockprinted Tiger) and was invited to J.M.L’s Lit

Fest to talk about the second book. She delighted ninth to eleventh graders by recounting the

adventures of Naval Officer Abhilash Tomy on the rocky seas. The following is an interview

of hers conducted by Sahana P. Suresh, an eighth grader at the school. Read on for more!

1. How was the experience of visiting Jasudben M.L.? Have you visited this school

before?

It was my maiden visit to the school. I didn’t get a chance to tour the campus, but as I

had a cup of tea in one of the classrooms, I watched a short reel of the transformation

of what I took to be the basement walls—painted over by students. As I watched it, I

privately saluted the management for valuing student art and using school property as

a canvas for it. My spirit has been stirred far more vigorously by the artistic

expression of children on school walls, than by dry quotations and insipid landscape

posters.

2. What were your expectations before visiting? Did the school live up to them?

I hate public speaking and quake in my Kolkapuris when I have to address a roomful

of people. The older the people, the more nervous I become. Having only addressed

upper primary students during my previous book readings (my first book was for a

younger readership), I anticipated my interaction with JML’s high school students

with some trepidation. I imagined being pelted with questions that were impossible to

answer, and pictured the mass of teenagers doubling over with derision at my

ineptitude. Worse, they’d yawn with boredom!

The reality was quite the opposite.

The students were friendly, gracious, and warm. They asked probing questions and

seemed to enjoy the presentation I’d set up. So in the end, my expectations were

dashed, and I’m quite thankful for it.

3. How was the author-student interaction? Do you think the students responded

well?

I remember walking into the class assigned to me and spotting just a handful of

students inside. I moaned internally, presuming the session had few takers.

Thankfully, the room started to slowly fill up, and I was relieved to see every chair

claimed.

Since my book is about a sailor and the sea, I started the session by inviting the

students to share their own sea anecdotes. I proceeded to read passages from the book

and ended with a quiz on sea idioms and was happy to see the audience responding

enthusiastically (and often correctly) to my questions. The students were faithful

companions throughout the journey, and I’m relieved to report no one jumped ship (I

think!).

4. As an audience, how do you suggest we can contribute more to the author-student

interaction?

This depends on what a school and its students want from such interactions. If the aim

is to simply become acquainted with a published work, the sessions as they stand, do

their job. But if students want to extract more from an author—like, for example,

understanding their process better, or wanting to learn more about publishing or dive

deeper into the subject of the book, the time allotted to them may not suffice.

Moreover, not everyone may be interested in these questions. Students could then

prepare a set of questions beforehand and request a separate, 20-minute session

following the main one, for a more involved interaction. The school could send the

author these questions in advance, to help her prepare her response.

5. What is your perspective on these author talks? Do they help the students?

Would you like to be invited to more of them?

As an avid reader, I’ve always enjoyed author talks. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at

the making of a book, and who doesn’t enjoy going backstage? Learning about the

author’s journey, her struggles and inspiration, humanizes the work and breathes life

into it. Sometimes, a revelation throws new light on a part, or the whole of the book,

and allows you to experience it differently. The author’s own personality or history

may warm you to the work, or conversely, throw you off it. Either way, it adds a new

dimension to one’s encounter with a book. Moreover, the author almost always,

intentionally or not, leaves you with a lesson or two. A recurring piece of advice I’ve

picked up from all the author talks I’ve attended is: Read broadly and deeply and seek

new experiences in life.

I’d imagine students would benefit from such advice as I have.

And yes, I would like to be invited to meet students more often. Such interactions

keep me on my toes.

6. What advice would you give to young, potential authors?

Don’t take an author or a book at its word. Don’t be afraid to question, challenge, and

disagree with a text. Writing is a mix of fact, opinion, and expression, and if you find

an opinion biased or an expression trite or formulaic, make a note of it. This will help

you become a more critical reader, and hopefully, a more self-aware writer.

If you want to make a career in writing, you should enjoy it. Don’t choose it only

because you have a way with words and can write compelling essays. Consider it only

if you are truly passionate about it and are willing to put writing before everything

else.

7. Which authors do you look up to? Also, what do you think has been a milestone

moment in your writing journey?

Writing isn’t easy, because it calls for a great deal of discipline and faith in your skill

and story. And yet, despite its inherent challenges, you have writers who’ve struggled

against the odds to produce works that belie the trials they have undergone, be it

poverty, alcohol or substance abuse, poor health, or war. Among the writers, I most

admire for having persevered and published stellar works despite the circumstances

that surrounded their writing are Charles Dickens, JK Rowling, and George Orwell.

As for my milestone moment, it was when I was invited to write a children’s

book—an opportunity that set me on this journey in the first place. I’d worked as a

journalist before moving to book publishing to write and edit travel books. It was at

this publishing house, Goodearth, that the publisher asked me if I’d like to write a

children’s book set in Mumbai. I agreed, and that’s how it started. I’ve now published

three books for children: Treasure at the Train Station; Journey to the Edge of the

Earth; and The Blockprinted Tiger. So my milestone moment was taking that pivotal

first step.

*

Such interviews often give us perspectives on others that we may otherwise not have. An

interesting piece of advice that Ms Joeanna Rebello Fernandes mentioned is that we should

read broadly and deeply. Explore more books and dive into more adventures. Traverse the

fantastic land of literature and make the most of every book that’s out there. Not every book

is brilliant, but once you find one that is, keep it close to your heart and treasure it. I 

guarantee you that a moment will come when a book just clicks with you - and when it does,

that moment is worth a hundred pearls.

Sahana P. Suresh VIIIA 

Alexei Vinogradov a Russian boy grew up during the Perestroika and

Glasnost era. His family lived in a small apartment in Moscow, where his

father worked as a factory manager and his mother was a school teacher.

His father, a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, had

long been a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms.

For most of his young life, Alexei had grown up in a world where the

Soviet Union was a powerful and dominant force. The government

controlled almost every aspect of life, from the schools and hospitals to the

factories and farms. Despite the many challenges they faced, Alexei's

family was proud to be Soviet citizens.

But everything changed in 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed and the

Russian Federation was formed. Suddenly, the government was no longer

in control and the country was thrown into chaos. Alexei's father lost his

job at the factory, and his mother struggled to find work as the school she

taught at had shut down. The family's savings quickly ran out, and they

found themselves struggling to make ends meet.

Alexei watched as his country underwent sweeping changes. The state-

controlled economy was replaced with a market-based system, and prices

for goods and services skyrocketed. Many people, including some of his

family's friends, lost their jobs and their homes as the economy went

through a difficult transition.

Things took a turn for the worst in 1993, when the Russian Constitutional

Crisis erupted. Alexei remembers the tension and uncertainty that filled the

air. His parents were worried and anxious, and they spent long hours

huddled around the television, watching the RTR news channel and trying

to make sense of what was happening.

The crisis was sparked by a power struggle between the Russian president,

Boris Yeltsin, and the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation (the

Parliament). Yeltsin, who had been elected president in 1991, was seeking

to implement sweeping economic reforms and to strengthen the powers of

the presidency. But the parliament, which was dominated by hardline

communists and nationalists, resisted these changes.

The crisis reached its climax in October 1993, when Yeltsin ordered the

parliament building to be stormed by Russian troops. It was dissolved, and

new elections were held. The crisis ended, but the effects were long-

lasting.

Looking back on those tumultuous years, Alexei can see how the events of

1991 and 1993 changed his family's life. It was a time of great uncertainty

and turmoil, but it was also a time of great hope and possibility. Despite

the challenges they faced, the family remained resilient, and they worked

hard to build a better future for themselves and for their country. He slowly

began to understand the significance of the changes that had taken place in

his country. He knew the struggles his country faced had helped shape a

new future for Russia. He was also happy that his family had each other

and were grateful for the things they had with them.

-Kovid Manel IXC

My school is very near to my house.

My school building is very beautiful and has a playground.

I have many friends at school.

My teachers at school are very kind.

We celebrate all festivals at my school.

We read many books in the library

I love to go to school as I learn new things every day.

-Arrsh Parikh IC

Climate change is already having harmful effects on India, and it’s only going to get worse. The

country is home to a large number of people who are already struggling with poverty, and climate

change will only make these problems worse. Climate change is having a severe impact on

agriculture in India. Indian farmers are struggling to provide enough food for their country’s

growing population. India is one of the world’s largest producers of rice, but climate change is

having a negative impact on its production. Farmers who rely heavily on irrigation for their crops

are facing widespread water shortages as a result of the changing climate. Many of them have

been forced to abandon their farms in search of work in other sectors of the economy. More than

200 million people in India currently suffer from food insecurity, which means that they are too

poor to buy enough food to feed themselves and their families.

India's efforts to address the climate crisis have been recognised by the international community,

and the country has been given the presidency of the G20 in 2022. This presents a unique

opportunity for India to showcase its efforts to combat the crisis and to encourage other countries

to take similar action.

The G20 is a forum for international cooperation on financial and economic issues. Consisting of

19 countries and the European Union, it represents roughly 85% of the global economy. Climate

change has been a key issue for the G20 in recent years. The G20 countries have committed to

taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to provide financial support for poorer

countries to adapt to the impacts of climate change. In its role as G20 president, India has the

opportunity to use its position to push for greater international cooperation on the climate crisis.

This could include working to secure commitments from other countries to reduce their

greenhouse gas emissions and to increase their use of renewable energy sources.

India's efforts to address the climate crisis are not only important for the country itself, but also for

the global community. The impacts of the crisis are already being felt around the world, and it is

important for all countries to work together to address the crisis and mitigate its effects. By taking

a strong stance on the climate crisis and working to reduce its own emissions, India can help to

lead the way in the global fight against the crisis.

-Kovidh Manel IXC

Vibrations are feelings,but some one told me that there is some physics,or some kind of Science behind it.Whereas some one said it is a Rhythm or a pattern, but for me Vibration is my Heartbeat,the air I breath,things that I see and my Mother's sound that falls on my ears,which makes me the most Happy.

"SO WHATS YOUR VIBRATION,"

-Beejal Sanghavi IIC

As individuals, we depend significantly on our mental and enthusiastic wellbeing to help us flourish in

our regular day to day existences. Nonetheless, getting it and controlling our feelings may be one of the

most troublesome boundaries to beat; and presently, the pandemic has made us feel more forlorn,

frightened, restless, and all the feelings on the range.

Being a student, it can be difficult to balance a healthy lifestyle with school work and other

commitments. However, it is important to make time for yourself and make sure you are taking care of

your mental and physical health.

First and foremost, make sure that you are making time for yourself. This can mean taking time to relax,

meditate, or practice self-care. It is important to take regular breaks from studying and doing homework

so that you don’t become overwhelmed. Additionally, make sure to get enough sleep and exercise

regularly. This will help you stay healthy and alert during your studies.

Another way to live a happy life as a student is to stay organized. Keep track of all your deadlines and

assignments, and create a schedule for yourself that allows for enough time for studying and leisure.

Staying organized will help reduce stress and keep you on track with your goals.

Finally, make sure to stay connected with friends and family. Having a strong support system is essential

for a happy life as a student. Make sure to take the time to stay in touch with loved ones and let them

know how you’re doing.

Living a happy life as a student is possible with the right balance of self-care and organization. By taking

the time to make time for yourself, stay organized, and stay connected with your loved ones, you can

ensure that you live a happy and balanced life.

-Manas Sodah IXC

Sometimes in our life we face situations and challenges which may

not seem pleasant to us but we need to believe and understand that

God allows these situations in our life to test our faith as Jesus

said, "In the world you will have troubles but behold I have

overcome the world". So in difficulties we should stand strong in our

faith believing that God will work out things together for our own

qood.

God will not teach you how to swim, you will have to do that by

yourself but he will never let you drown!

Christianity is not a religion , It's a relationship between you and God

and every relationship must be two-sided. God knocks at your

hearts door every single day waiting for the day when you will open

it so that he can help you and give you peace.

Instead of doubting the existence of God we should pray more

because prayer is not just a scripted speech, its a communication

between you and the creator of this universe. When we are in

trouble our first instinct is to seek advice from family or friends or

councillors. Instead of this go to your room lock your door and pray

because God is your family, God is your friend and God is your

councillor.

God does not expect you to be perfect. He expects you to let him in

your life so that he can make you perfect. Your past, your

appearance, your race does not matter to him. The only thing that

matters to him is YOU. His love for you is deeper than the oceans

and getting touched by Gods love the most beautiful feeling in this

world.

One of the things that I love about Jesus is that he answers our

prayers in the most beautiful and unexpected way.

I asked for Strength and God gave me difficulties to make me

strong, I asked for Wisdom and God gave me problems to solve, I

asked for Courage and God gave me dangers to overcome, I asked

for Love and God gave me troubled people to help.

My prayers were answered!

-Meher Sabarwal XI Commerce

India is a land of rich culture. It also has very unique culture and

mythology.

However, kids of today are not very aware about our country’s heritage.

Also, kids found reading books every single day is quite uncommon because

of the rise of modern technology. In the olden days, kids would visit their

grandparents’ house and listen to stories passed down for generations.

We have mobile phones, laptops, televisions, iPad, iPhone, etc. Joint

families are also decreasing and nuclear families are becoming more

common.

Thus, to stop kids playing with modern devices every day, a prolific writer

– Sudha Murthy, has intervened and is writing books about mythology. She

is famous for her mythological books. She has written a series of

mythological books –

 The Serpent’s Revenge (Unusual Tales from the Mahabharata)

 The Man From The Egg (Unusual Tales about the Trinity)

 The Upside-Down King (Unusual Tales about Ram and Krishna)

 The S age with Two Horns (Unusual tales from Mythology)

 The Daughter from a Wishing Tree (Unusual Tales about Women in

Mythology

She has written other works too – The Gopi Diaries being the most

famous of them. She writes about her pet dog Gopi in two simple book –

Coming home and Finding Love. In the first book she writes about how

Gopi came to their house and the second one is about how Gopi found love

with grandfather.

Reading is a dying pastime. Nowadays kids feel they’ve better things to do

rather than just lying on the sofa reading books. Because of this Indian

culture and mythology is being forgotten from India. The works of Sudha

Murthy will help revive not only the hobby of reading but also Indian

Culture and Mythology in the young minds of kids.

-Anukul Pai 

Marie-Sophie Germain was a French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher who considerably faced opposition and discrimination from society and even her parents under the circumstances that she wasn’t a man. Owing to the partial gender restraints at the time, she was unable to pursue a career in mathematics. Sophie was not even allowed to attend university. All these hardships and opposition did not stop the bright and ambitious woman.

 Sophie worked tirelessly throughout her life to achieve her goal. Besides being one of the best in the field of number theory, Sophie became the first woman to win the grand prize from the Paris Academy of Sciences for her pictorial and ingenious essay on the subject. She proved people to be mistaken for their ignorant assumptions based on her gender and showed them that women could be brilliant mathematicians too. Her steady determination and incredible courage made her the first woman to make crucial original contributions to mathematical research and in doing so, she also paved the path for women mathematicians who hoped to follow in her footsteps.

Sophie is mostly acknowledged for her elasticity and number theory, mean curvature, Germain-Lagrange plate equation, and numerous more. In 1829, She learned she had breast cancer. She ignored the pain and continued with her work. The historical and rebellious Marie-Sophie Germain unfortunately passed away on 27th june 1831 at the age of 55.

-Fatimah Zamindar VIIA

It is unrealistic to be happy and satisfied all the time.

Happiness is born from the gentle power of gratitude.

Whether it be a millionaire or beggar ,wildly successful

dancer or struggling beginner ,perfect times and less

ideal times are not defined by what you have but by

your attitude towards that situation.

I am thankful to be a dancer.

I am thankful for the family I have gotten, wheather it

be a dance team ,project ,studio ,group of friends you

can jam with ,those who share your passion become

your second family. They are the ones you look

forward to seeing after a long day and the ones you

can talk to about anything dance-related or not

I am thankful for the freedom I have gotten, after 6-7

hours of struggling in school im thankful for the safe

space where I can let go of all else and be myself

Sometimes, my mind feels like a hurricane. But the

walls of the studio takes me to another realm. It’s a

sacred place where my brain can calm down and let my

body take over.

Im thankful for the opportunites ive gotten and the

crowd, we dance for ourselves first but hearing the

validation and applause gives any dancer the

motivation they need. Art is a gift. And dance gifts me

with the freedom to create, to express,to be.

-Kavya Desai XIC

I’ll get straight to the point. I love music. I absolutely love it. Whether it’s playing instruments or just listening to music, I love every part of it. As the title says, Music is life. Atleast, that is what I think. I think that there is still so much we don’t know about ourselves, that we can find through music. Music, in a specific way, is very emotional. And sometimes….actually most of the time, things that we can’t say with words for whatever reason, can be said through music. It just has it all. 

I’ve been listening to music from a very young age. Of course I wouldn’t understand most of the lyrics because I was very young, but I just enjoyed the beat and the rhythm and the melody, etc. It was…fun. I used to go for piano classes too, but then I stopped, I don’t really know why to be honest. I loved singing. Although I’m no good at it, but that doesn’t matter. “Those who wish to sing always find a song.” Between the ages of 8 and 11, I had probably stopped listening to the music that I had been listening to, not because I stopped liking it, but I would be out of the house most of the time playing sports like cricket, badminton, football, etc. And at that age, I was more interested in playing sports rather than listening to music. Then, when the virus took over the world, and we all were quarantined, I got back to listening to it. And by the age of 13 I had my own phone, so I had my own separate playlist too, which I found pretty cool at the time.

The very first band/artist I listened to was One Direction. I absolutely love their music. I literally know every single one of their songs by heart by now. I would hear their songs every single day, repeatedly, which would irritate my parents a lot, but I didn’t really care to be honest, because it’s music. Whether you play it 5 times or 50 times a day, it’s still music. After One Direction, I discovered the Jonas Brothers. I’ll be honest, I really do love their music, but some of their songs….I didn’t really understand them. When I listen to music, of course I want to enjoy it, and I do, but I also want to find the meaning behind why they wrote it. And there were a few songs that I didn’t really get the full meaning of. The Jonas Brothers actually had broken up in 2013, and finally reunited in 2019, after 6 long years. They put out a documentary that explained why and exactly how the break up came to be. In short, they had broken up because, at the time they were really young, in their teenage years and were already megastars…..and they broke up because they realized that they had lost sense of who they were originally, as individuals, and because of this their relationship as brothers had become….toxic in a sense. They were way too focused on the band rather than their relationship with each other, which is three brothers who loved playing music together. I mean, that’s all it is really. And after watching the documentary, the songs that I didn’t really understand or relate to, well, now, they had a whole new meaning. Their song ‘Rollercoaster’, basically sums up what I just said, and I would definitely recommend anyone to listen to it to really understand what they went through. I also recently have been introduced to the band BTS, a Korean pop band(K-pop), whose songs are absolutely amazing. To be honest, I didn’t think I would like their music only because it’s in Korean, a language I don’t know, but once I heard it and saw the English translations to some of the songs, I loved it, and the Korean makes it even more emotional. And I’m thankful that I was introduced to them. I do listen to other artists as well, but these are probably my top 3.

Music has had a very big impact on not only my life, but probably every person’s life in some way or the other. It has kind of a….healing power is what I like to call it. In the past few years, it has definitely helped me grow as a person. I’m not going to get too personal here, but in short, it has definitely helped heal some of the past experiences I’ve gone through. It’s got me through some tough times. Whenever I listen to music, if it isn’t a fast, up-beat song, I always close my eyes and listen to it, because…I need to find my sense of home per say. I get very emotional when I listen to songs like that, especially if I relate to the lyrics. Music has got me to open up a lot more than before, and if it weren’t for music, and few very very special people in my life, I probably would’ve never been the confident person I am today.

-Cyrus Gilder XI Commerce

“We always believe that what we buy will do well and even if there’s a deep

correction in those markets we still hold on to it because we don’t have a human

tendency to book losses,”

Individual and institutional investors come together on stock exchanges to buy and

sell shares in a public market. When you buy a share of stock on the stock market,

you are not buying it from the company, you are buying it from an existing

shareholder.

The stock market is fire! It’s not alibaba’s cave that u can make money out of it , you

need different strategies to make it a success in the market.

People ask me why am I so engrossed in the stock market ? The reason is the

downtrends uptrends excite me , the volatile attitude of the market excites me to work

hard and earn profits!

They ask me what if u incur a loss? I bluntly say “Every loss is a learning”

I only want to make mistakes that I can afford and I want to learn from those

mistake’s

I like to predict the uncertain nature of the market , sometimes I’m right and

sometimes I’m wrong , when I’m right I’m elated and when I’m wrong I don’t hold

my head and sit but I learn from those failures

And in the market I feel “Nothing Can Reward You More Than Patience”

People more often criticise the capabilities of our country , I see India As a Paragon

In all industries including finance so for me the greatest risk in investing in india is

NOT investing in india!

“Don’t dream it until u can wish it and don’t wish it until u can acquire it “

-Kewal Mehta XI Commerce

Believe it or not, hygiene was once not a thing, and people believed that making holes in one’s skull could ward off disease! Here are some interesting discoveries made in the history of medicine up till the 1800s. 

There were curious practices in medicine in the prehistoric times. Common diseases were accepted as a part of life and treated with herbs and other natural medicines. But serious diseases were thought to come from the invasion of an evil spirit into the body, or a curse from someone’s enemy. People tried to cure these diseases by magical and religious means: potions, rituals, spells and witchcraft. To provide a path for the disease to escape, a practice called trepanning came up. In this method, a hole around 5 cm in diameter was made in the patient’s skull, from which it was believed that the evil disease-causing spirits could escape. Prehistoric trepanned skulls have been found in various places in Europe. Methods like these along with other charms and talismans were the medicine of prehistoric people. 

In around 400 BCE, Greek thinkers came up with an idea about disease: if all natural matter is made out of four elements (earth, fire, air and water), then the body must also consist of some four main fluids that correspond to the four elements. They called these four fluids ‘humours’. The four humours were blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm. If these four humours were in balance with each other, a person was believed to be healthy. But an excess or reduction in any of them was believed to cause disease, either physical or mental. For example, a person with more blood was believed to be confident and optimistic, but also selfish. So if a person had a psychological disorder that made them behave selfishly sometimes, they were deemed to have too much blood. This led to the practice of bloodletting: making tiny cuts in people’s veins to release ‘excess’ blood, and by doing this, creating a balance in the humours. Although this theory was wrong, it was the first time that people began to think of disease as something to be rationally understood. 

It was only in the 1500s that the humoral theory began to be questioned. A Swiss physician, Paracelsus, argued that disease occurs not when humours are imbalanced, but when a ‘poison’ enters the body. He believed that this poison could be treated by an antidote and that sometimes a small quantity of the poison itself could act like an antidote. He used this theory to treat syphilis (a bacterial disease) using small doses of mercury. 

Here’s another interesting advancement in medicine from the 1700s. For many centuries, armies that had to be at sea for long periods of time used to be struck by a debilitating disease which made their gums bleed and their bones porous. In the 1700s, a Scottish naval surgeon, James Lind, began to investigate this problem and realised that it was caused by the sailor’s inadequate diet. He picked out 12 sailors with the disease and gave them different foods to eat. Within days, the sailors to whom he gave oranges and lemons showed improvement in health. He realised that the disease, scurvy, could be cured by eating citrus fruits. We now know that this is because scurvy is caused due to a lack of vitamin C, which citrus fruits provide us. A clear connection was established between nutrition and its importance to health.

Two great discoveries were made in the 1800s. It’s pretty obvious to people today that keeping things clean is important to stay free from disease. But it was not obvious to people earlier. They used to reuse surgical equipment without sterilising it, believing that disease was spread only through contact with contaminated, musty, smelly air; not contaminated surfaces. In the late 1800s, a surgeon named Lister started to search for a chemical that he could apply to patients’ wounds to stop the contaminated air from taking hold. He had heard that phenol was used to eliminate the bad smell from air near sewage, so he used it on a boy with a leg fracture. The boy made remarkable recovery and didn’t contract infection. He instructed the surgeons to all use phenol to disinfect their equipment before performing surgeries, and that is considered as the origin of hygiene. 

Another great discovery during the time helped people believe that what Lister was doing made sense. Louis Pasteur was trying to find a solution to a disease in silkworms, and found that it was caused by a microbe. This led him to believe that diseases in humans, too, were caused by germs, and not bad air. He conducted a series of experiments to research and prove this. And this is where the theory of germs that comes so intuitively to us now really began. Only about 200 years ago.

-Anuja Randery IXC

CRISPR ( clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a revolutionary new technology in the field of bioengineering that can change the world as we know it. For the first time, we can manipulate and edit the genes of innumerable organisms with high precision.  One day, CRISPR could make it possible to do everything from resurrecting extinct species to developing cures for chronic disease.

So, how does this revolutionary technology actually work? The Cas protein present in certain bacteria acts as immunological defense. After an encounter with a foreign virus or plasmid, the Cas protein cuts the DNA of the foreign pathogen and adds it to the bacteria’s own DNA sequence so as to identify it in case of another attack by the same pathogen. 

Similarly, scientists began to use the same Cas protein to alter the DNA of plants, animals and even humans by cutting undesirable traits caused by expression of certain DNA sequences and adding desirable traits with more precision than ever before. CRISPR has also been adapted to do other things too, such as turning genes on or off without altering their sequence.

So far scientists have used it to reduce the severity of genetic deafness in mice, suggesting it could one day be used to treat the same type of hearing loss in people. They have already used the technology to create malaria resistant mosquitoes, already being released and tested in Florida, which will drastically reduce rates of malaria across the world. They’ve created mushrooms that don’t brown easily and edited bone marrow cells in mice to treat sickle-cell anemia. Down the road, CRISPR might help us develop drought-tolerant crops, create powerful new antibiotics and even resurrect once-extinct species like the passenger pigeon.

However, CRISPR also poses certain ethical dilemmas as, in the near future, CRISPR will be safe enough to edit the human genome to not only eliminate disease but even increase athleticism and intelligence to create so-called ‘designer babies’ which has left scientists questioning ethical and moral consequences that the technology may have.  

Despite the many ethical and moral dilemmas that CRISPR poses, it also creates an opportunity for improvement of the lives of the next generation and advancement of mankind as a whole. 

-Divya Madhavan IXC

Burgers, pizzas, nachos and many other tasty snacks feel incomplete without cheese. But is the melty cheese on your fast food really cheese? Well, maybe not. 

The problem with a lot of cheese starts first with the milk it is made out of. Many farmers inject growth hormones and antibiotics into cows to make them increase the amount of milk they produce. These chemicals are passed on to the milk they produce, and later the cheese that is made out of the milk. So the cheese has unwanted added hormones too. 

The next problem with cheese on fast food lies in its meltability. Most types of pure cheese don’t melt. They separate into a solid mass and a watery liquid when heated. There are some pure cheeses that do melt well, but they aren’t used in your everyday fast food, because they are too expensive. The cheese in your burger is American cheese, a type of processed cheese. This is how the FSSAI* defines processed cheese: 

“‘Processed Cheese’ Spread means the product obtained by grinding, mixing, melting and emulsifying one or more varieties of cheese with emulsifying agents with the aid of heat and may contain cream, butter oil and other dairy products. It may also contain natural carbohydrate sweetening agents and other non-dairy ingredients not exceeding one sixth of the weight of total solids of the final product on dry weight basis.”

So, processed cheese is made by mixing a bunch of different cheeses along with some chemicals to make it melt quickly and smoothly. But wait: that’s not the end of it!

Cheese companies have tricky ways of legally hiding what percentage of their product is really cheese. There’s a difference between processed cheese and processed cheese food. Processed cheese is what was described above, but processed cheese food has even more additives, and less real cheese! In fact, American cheese, processed cheese and processed cheese food contain only about 51% cheese! And it is this not-entirely-cheese that gives you that smooth, silky, stretchy, yellow product that you eat every time you eat a burger. 

So using this cheese is a win-win for companies. It’s cheaper for them and appeals more to their customers. Fast food companies use similar replacements for other food items too. This is a bad thing for consumers because the replacements are often made from vegetable oils and are SUPER FATTENING. Obesity is a pandemic that is not just a problem of appearance. It is one of health. 

It makes people, especially young children who eat a lot of fast food, vulnerable to other diseases. For example, the excess fat stored in an obese person’s neck can make their airways thinner and make it tougher to breathe, leading to sleep apnea (a condition where a person’s breathing stops for periods of time when they are asleep). 

It can cause the muscle and bone density to decrease, leading to weak bones and muscles. Add this to an obese person’s increased body weight, and you get an increased risk of fractures and joint problems. Apart from this, it can also cause a higher risk for strokes, heart attacks, and even cancer!  And we eat these fake, fattening foods all the time without knowing it!

So the next time you see an ad with a pizza whose cheese stretches temptingly as someone takes a bite out of it, remember: the cheese probably isn’t cheese. It’s a stretchy, yellow counterfeit. And the rest of the pizza might not be authentic either.

-Anuja Randery IXC

Ria had lost her way and came to a haunted house. She

opened it to get shelter because it was raining outside.

Suddenly she heard a sound. It was a door which was

clanking. Ria saw a lock on the door and a key near it. She

opened the door. As soon as she entered the room, she

saw something, but it went so fast that Ria could not see

it properly. So, she walked a few steps ahead, and she saw

a white tiger. She ran around and saw a skeleton, so she

ran towards the door, but unfortunately the door got

locked from outside because of the wind. Ria shouted –

help, help, but remember it is a haunted house so no one

was inside. But soon she found out that the tiger was very

weak, and it would not hurt Ria. So, she decided to help

the tiger. And the skeleton was just a puppet hanging

from the ceiling because the house belonged to a doctor

who treated bones. Now she needs to get out of the

room. So, Ria got a hammer and broke the door open.

Now, Ria wanted to get out of the house. To thank her,

the tiger came to Ria’s rescue and showed her a secret

tunnel and they reached outside in the daylight. Ria took

the tiger along and kept it as a pet.

The End

-Saishaa Gaur IIIB

All of us are probably between 13 and 17, the most critical stage of life. At this age, we

are figuring out our passions, building up our portfolios and deciding are future. This is the

biggest step to take in life as it decides our future. There are so many expectations from our

parents, relatives and ourselves that it starts putting stress on us. This stress increases day

by day which is unhealthy for our body and may cause high blood pressure, heart diseases,

etc. Other than causing diseases, stress has a huge impact on our thinking process causing

anxiety and being sad all most all the time. To stop stress from ruling over our brains we can

increase the release of endorphins to reduce stress and improve our sense of well-being.

But, what are endorphins? Endorphins are natural chemicals produced in the body to

reduce pain and boost happiness. To cut to the chase, how do we increase the release of

endorphins in us? Simply, by making small changes in our lifestyle we can increase the

endorphins in us.

1. Exercise- The pandemic has caused us to spend more time at home than

going outside. Now that the pandemic is over, it’s about time to start

exercising. It has been proved that working out in a group can improve

mental health by 13%. Keeping this in mind, start exercising daily for at least

an hour to stay fit as well as stay happy

2. Listen to music-Listening to music is something I am sure everyone has time

for. You should listen to music for at least half an hour to create a positive

mood so that you can study with that same mood as well as release some

endorphins to keep yourself healthy and happy.

3. Laugh-You can’t say no to laughing it’s the best medicine in the box! Laughing

is an excellent way to suppress stress hormones, like cortisol. This helps you

to improve your mood, reduce stress, lower blood pressure and support a

stronger immune system.

4. Meditate- I am sure that you have heard that meditation helps in a lot of

things and releasing endorphins is one of them. Meditation is the best way to

start your day. It helps you become more mindful, calm and present. Other

than endorphins, it increases other happy hormones like dopamine.

5. Perform an act of kindness- Acts of kindness benefit you as well as the people

you help. When you help another person, you might lighten their physical or

emotional load. You will also feel happier and positive about your

surroundings and yourself.

This may look daunting at first, but rest assured a few of these in your daily routine can help

change the way you feel, every day, about yourself and the world around you. Get your

endorphins flowing for a new year and a new you.

-Raaga Joshi VIIIA

Ever heard the expression, ‘To step into someone else’s shoes?’ That’s alright when it’s metaphorical.

But when it’s literal, i.e. you are transformed into someone else, it’s not that fine. It’s not fine at all, I

realised. And how do I know that? Because I’d suddenly transformed into my class teacher, a week ago.

I was late for school that day. Sixteen minutes and twenty-three seconds late, exactly. If it was another

teacher, then the fact that I was stuck in typical Mumbai traffic would be enough to help me avoid a late

remark. But no, I had to get stuck with Ahara Miss, the strictest and most partial teacher in the whole of

Wonder Kids School. And I’m not kidding! A month earlier, she deducted seven marks from my twenty-

mark biology project because I asked my classmate the spelling of paralysis. And, ignoring that, she’s

always blacklisting me for having water in her class!

I skidded into the class, panting as I had run up the stairs. Everyone looked at me in surprise and then

started giggling, my friends leading the crowd.

“Sorry, Miss,” I gasped out. “The traffic – I – Khar -”

“Breathe and then explain.” Ahara Miss gave me her traditional, piercing glare. “After all, you’re already

sixteen minutes late; I suppose two more couldn’t hurt.” She resumed talking to the class. “And, much

like the parasitic strangler fig, here is Myrah. And I’m the host – as usual.”

This prompted more hysterical laughter.

I already disliked her so much, I think the dislike burned down to my veins and scorched into my blood.

My breath grew loud in my ears, I could hear my heartbeat and I felt my fists clench. I’m pretty sure my

absolute hate for her curved the usual course of the universe, because the next thing I knew, I was

inhaling jasmine perfume and henna mehandi, which I never wore.

I looked down and almost tripped off my pumps. I was wearing Ahara Miss’ pink sari, which shifted

around me uncomfortably, for I’d never worn a sari before and my midnight-black hair had changed to a

ghostlike grey which hung around my shoulders in wiry strands. Fingers trembling, my fingers prodded

my chin; sure enough, I had her double chin and her wrinkles!

I looked at Ahara Miss – or, I suppose me; this thing was so confusing – and saw her do a double take.

Ahara version of me looked uglier than the real me – she was fiddling with my braids and messing them

all up while she seemed to be in deep thought, which made me look like a dumbo.

Something dawned on me. Somehow, Ahara Miss and I had switched bodies, but it wasn’t all to my

disadvantage. Of course, I did have to teach biology and mathematics to my own class and make sure

they didn’t fail, but I could also forgive myself – I mean Ahara Miss – I mean myself…?

“Actually, Myrah, I believe I owe you an apology,” I said in a brisk tone. “Mumbai traffic is very

unpredictable and you couldn’t possibly have known that Santacruz to Khar would take this long. All

past wrongdoings are forgiven.”

I did a pretty good imitation of her, I think. I saw the class pass perplexed looks. One moment, she was

telling me I was a parasite and the next, she was declaring that she had forgiven me for everything I’d

ever done wrong (and I have a pretty long list of that). Even then, it couldn’t be helped. I had to make

sure that I was not granted a late remark by – ahem – me.

“Take your seat, Myrah,” I commanded her.

Myrah’s – my – jaw dropped open and she started to glare at me in disbelief. I could almost see her

blood boil beneath her skin.

“Now,” I emphasized the word.

Grinding her teeth together, she strode over to sit beside Ansh. She shoved her – my – bag underneath

the desk and sat down daintily. Oh my gosh!

“Now, class, where were we?” I snapped my eyes away from my Ahara-self’s tantrums.

“Parasites, Miss,” Diva, the world’s biggest teacher’s pet, informed me.

“Thank you, Diva.” She flushed with pleasure. “Also, tell your parents to come up to the school this

Saturday. I have to speak with them.”

Seeming confused, she slowly nodded.

“Great, now parasites!”

The end-of-class bell rang in ten minutes, in which I’d convinced the class that parasites were nothing

else but fancy terms for leeches and that teacher’s pets were to be abolished. I ran out of the classroom

in undisguised relief, thankful to have a minute to myself to process all that had happened –

“Ahara.” Our physics teacher, Tasha Miss, stepped out of a classroom. “Ready for the meet?”

“Er – what meet – Tasha?” She and Ahara Miss were obviously on a first name basis.

“The staff meeting, of course. What else?”

Saying so, she dragged me away to the staff meeting.

Two hours later, in which I’d been thoroughly grilled, I escaped – to find out that Ahara Miss had a class

with the tenth grade. Grinding my teeth, I made my way to the second floor. There, I granted them a

free period, in which I played UNO with some faculty in the staffroom. Then, I left for the sixth-grade

classroom and gave them the same instructions.

I’d never realised that Ahara Miss had so many classes. Between playing UNO with the staff, I kept

racing up and down, bumping into teachers who were more than happy to talk in the corridors. By the

start of the lunch break, I was exhausted.

I collapsed in the chair and started to open Ahara Miss’ lunch bag when I noticed a blue diary tucked

away. Curious besides myself (because I wasn’t the type to just go around reading teachers’ private

diaries) I pulled it out and started reading it.

Most of it was boring, drab stuff like need cheese – go to the grocery mart or owe the cook six rupees but

I chanced upon some interesting stuff.

Today, Myrah made the funniest joke in class – but teachers can’t laugh at jokes about other teachers;

what a shame, I could have told her tidbits about Ruchi no one ever knew! I remembered this day, I’d

been talking about the chemistry teacher to one of my friends during Ahara Miss’ classtime and Ahara

Miss had demanded to know what Aarush was hysterically laughing about, so I’d told her. She had told

me off quite severely.

Another piece –

8A is so fun! The class makes me crack up with all their idiotic jokes and brainless answers. It’s a pity

Myrah and Anika don’t use their potential to the full – they could really excel with a bit of hard work. If

Myrah doesn’t buckle up and score well, I may have to talk to her parents.

My hand stilled on the way to my mouth; I almost dropped the PB&J sandwich. Ahara Miss talking to my

parents? Me not using my full potential? What rubbish! But then, I realised that so much of my time was

eaten away by imagining Ahara Miss eaten by a Cyclops, I never really paid attention to my studies. And,

judging by the number of times ‘Myrah’ was mentioned in the diary, she paid a lot of attention to me.

But, I realised, all her attempts at disciplining me were just the ways she was trying to “bring out the

inner potential”.

Maybe I was feeling extremely thoughtful or sappy, because suddenly, I felt my skin bubble over and my

bones started to feel lighter. My vision started to blur over and my knuckles started to crack and then…

well, I was Myrah of 8A again.

(inspired by Freaky Friday) 

-Sahana Suresh VIIIA

Capoeria is an ancient Brazilian martial art. No one knows for

sure but some of its roots are believed to have come from

Africa. The martial art is fought bare-handed without any

weapons. In about the 16th century Africans were enslaved and

taken to Brazil to work in the plantations. There were people of

many different ethnic backgrounds. They had no common

language and thus, no way to plot for rebellion. However,

slowly they created a language of their own and perfected their

fighting techniques to escape and survive in hostile

environments. In 1888 when slavery was finally abolished,

slaves found themselves with no skills other than capoeira.

Some were used as bodyguards, mercenaries, or hitmen while

others would gather in criminal organizations and terrorize

cities. Soon capoeira was banned and anyone found to be

practising the art was punished. In the 1930s as the pressure

on capoeira was relaxed Mestre Bimba founded the first

capoeira school. He brought back the forgotten movements and

added his own. He also added a systematic syllabus and strict

discipline and reintroduced the world to capoeira. Now the

martial art is practised and taught all over the world. I started

training capoeira when I was six years old. I have been doing it

for eight years. It has benefited me in many aspects of my life.

Of course, it has kept me in good physical shape. It's taught me

to be disciplined, perseverant, and determined. It has also

taught to me think on my feet. When you spar you have hardly

a few seconds to react to your partner's attack. But capoeira is

more than just a martial art for me. The masters, instructors,

and students that I have been training with for years are truly

like family. I have shared so many joyous memories with them

that I will never forget. I am so thankful to have found capoeira

and hope to be able to keep doing it for a long time.

-Myiesha Chullani IXC

Can your biggest weaknesses become your biggest strengths ?

You only live once is an inspiring story of self-discovery, friendship . I love how the author describes the

story from the standpoint of each character. One could connect to each of them, each one has a story to

tell, a journey to witness.

Stuti Changle is author of the inspirational book, You only live once

Stuti dreamt of being a storyteller since childhood and one day, she packed a rucksack and left her job in

search of her true self. She met people with extraordinary stories, travellers, entrepreneurs, artists,

visionaries and saints, who gave her the inspiration to start her new journey.

Stuti is a post-graduate in management from the prestigious B-school IMI, New Delhi, and a graduate in

Computer Science and Technology.

Alara is a broken but raising star on YouTube who loves singing and has a tremendous fandom of people

who love her singing. But Her mother Elisha goes missing

Aarav is a final year engineering student who bagged a summer internship in Pune at HSBC in their IT

team and his boss is all praises of him. He had always wanted to become a stand-up comedian but could

not because of his family’s wishes.

Ricky is the owner of the house and he loves Goa and its beaches in their entirety. He loves to run every

morning by the beachside which has become a routine for him.

All three of them end up in Goa and find the truth about the suddenly missing singer Elisha

Will they be able to find the truth?

This book is filled with underlying emotions and it was good to read such a heart warming climax to the

story. The author’s main motive for the readers is to pursue their passion what I learnt that even if we

are deceased we will still remain alive in the heart of other.

The book helped me realize how much I am capable of. How much capability we all have. How we

should let friendship be the remedy on our aching scars of past and present.

“Life is imperfect and all you can do is seek happiness in the imperfections. You’re my adventure and I

seek all the thrill in your imperfections.”

-Shivani Gangishetti VIIIC

 ‘Cogito ergo sum’, a famous philosophical statement by René Descartes, shows the importance of thoughts. It means ‘I think, therefore I am’. Thoughts play a vital role in everyone’s life and are a reason that we know that we exist. Different thoughts have different outputs to them. For example, the atom bomb was first created as a thought and was then created, which led to severe consequences. On a different note, when an apple fell on Newton’s head, he thought differently, leading to the discovery of gravity.

According to me, any thought which is harmful to us in terms of its content and might lead to damage in terms of our actions and health is a type of pollution – thought pollution.

In these current times, if thoughts are not protected, they can lead to violent consequences. The pandemic has become one of the chief cause of people’s mental sufferings. 

I strongly believe that everything is created twice, first in the mind and then in reality. We need to monitor whatever we are creating in our mind since thoughts lead to actions and thought pollution is the root of all evils.

From my interest in computers, I have realized that our mind is just like a software and our brain and body are like the hardware. Thought pollution is like a virus corroding our software (our mind) which furthers shows an effect on our brain and body.

Gradually, this negativity leads to mental illness and depression. There are so many causes for depression, like stress, isolation, physical or mental abuse, poverty, debt, failure in love life, failure in career, etc. The recent deaths of the Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, and a female wrestler Ritika Phogat are very prominent examples relating to mental illness. The death of Sushant Singh Rajput is still a mystery, but Ritika Phogat committed suicide just because she lost a wrestling tournament. She was only seventeen years old, but her dreams were huge. She wanted to win an Olympic gold for the nation.

Just as an antenna attracts frequencies, similarly our mind attracts thoughts, which leads to a cycle. To prevent thought pollution, one needs to recognize a polluting thought and stop it from multiplying.

We have our mind full, but are we mindful? Our mind is full of thoughts, but they might lead to unproductive things. Hence practicing mindfulness and being watchful of our mental diet by monitoring what we consume through people, media or any form of negative influences will lead us to consciously sowing fruitful seeds of positive thoughts while removing the detrimental weeds of polluting thoughts and create a positive impact in the world.

-Aaryan Vyas IXC

A phone number has 10 digits. We can represent them using boxes with each box containing a digit of the number, like so:

Box 1

Box 2

Box 3

Box 4

Box 5

Box 6

Box 7

Box 8

Box 9

Box 10

Each box can hold a different digit from 0 to 9. That means that each box can hold one of 10 digits. 

Box 1 can hold any one of the 10 digits from 0 to 9. That makes 10 possible unique 1-digit phone numbers. 

0

Box 2

Box 3

Box 4

Box 5

Box 6

Box 7

Box 8

Box 9

Box 10

1

Box 2

Box 3

Box 4

Box 5

Box 6

Box 7

Box 8

Box 9

Box 10

…

8

Box 2

Box 3

Box 4

Box 5

Box 6

Box 7

Box 8

Box 9

Box 10

9

Box 2

Box 3

Box 4

Box 5

Box 6

Box 7

Box 8

Box 9

Box 10

Let’s say that your phone number starts with a 9. Now, Box 2 can also hold any digit from 0 to 9. That means that there are 10 unique 2-digit phone numbers starting with a 9 formed when two boxes are filled. 

9

0

Box 3

Box 4

Box 5

Box 6

Box 7

Box 8

Box 9

Box 10

9

1

Box 3

Box 4

Box 5

Box 6

Box 7

Box 8

Box 9

Box 10

9

2

Box 3

Box 4

Box 5

Box 6

Box 7

Box 8

Box 9

Box 10

…

9

9

Box 3

Box 4

Box 5

Box 6

Box 7

Box 8

Box 9

Box 10

If your phone number starts with an 8, Box 2 can still hold 10 possible digits from 0 to 9. The number will be unique because the digit in Box 1 is different. So you can have 10 more unique 2-digit phone numbers starting with an 8. 

8

0

Box 3

Box 4

Box 5

Box 6

Box 7

Box 8

Box 9

Box 10

8

1

Box 3

Box 4

Box 5

Box 6

Box 7

Box 8

Box 9

Box 10

8

2

Box 3

Box 4

Box 5

Box 6

Box 7

Box 8

Box 9

Box 10

…

8

9

Box 3

Box 4

Box 5

Box 6

Box 7

Box 8

Box 9

Box 10

Similarly, you have 10 unique 2-digit phone numbers starting with 7, 6, 5, 4,... all the way to 0! 

In short, what you’re doing is filling Box 1 with numbers from 0 to 9. For each of these 10 digits in box 1, there are 10 unique combinations formed by the digit in box two. So the total number of 2-digit combinations will be 10 times 10 (10 numbers in box 2 for each of the 10 numbers in box 1), which is 100. 

Now let’s add the third box. To each of the 100 2-digit combinations, you can attach 10 numbers as the third digit. So our total number of unique combinations is now 100*10, which is 1000. 

We can repeat this process for all ten digits. And we get that the total number of unique combinations is 10*10*10*10*10*10*10*10*10*10, which is equal to 10,000,000,000. That means, with just these 10 digits, we can make 10 billion different phone numbers! 

The world population is 8 billion, so we probably won’t run out of phone numbers if they’re 10 digits long. 

But what if 2 billion people in the world own 2 or more phones?

Every country has a special 2 or 3 digit code prefixed to the phone number. For example, the country code of India is +91, so you dial +91 before calling an Indian phone number. There are 195 countries in the world. Assuming every country has its own country code**, the total number of phone numbers is 10 billion times 195, which is equal to 1.95 trillion phone numbers!

This means that even if everyone in the world owns more than 100 phones, we won’t run out of phone numbers. 

There are certain rules while making phone numbers, though. Certain providers can only start their phone numbers with a certain digit. So, people may start to create 11 digit phone numbers to make sure that we absolutely, never, ever run out of phone numbers. 

**Some countries do not have a country code and some share country codes with others. However, the main purpose of this article is to explain the mathematics, so this simplification has been made for the sake of convenience.

-Anuja Randery IXC

My Boat

My papa bought a new boat.

It is a very pretty and colourful boat.

I invited my friends for a ride in my Boat.

We went far into the sea.

We saw huge waves.

We also saw many clouds in the sky.

There was a beautiful rainbow in the sky.

All of us were very excited.

We had a wonderful trip.

The end.

-Anaaya Gupta IA

He knew he must be very still while he waited. After all Franklin spared no one who tried to even

unintentionally move away from his plan depending on the situation.

Well, I think it’s time for me to introduce myself. I am Robby, Robby Delecourt. Franklin and I have

been best buddies since childhood.

One day while we were at the ATM machine, Franklin punched the machine so hard that it resulted

in not only giving out excess money but also alarming the security guards of our presence. The

guards came in rushing thinking that ‘we’ were stealing the money and so called the police on us.

We are here at the Monista Prison in Russia and are now planning our extraordinary prison break!

Franklin had served in the army for about ten years and was a professional boxer. Apparently, there

are illegal boxing matches conducted at the prison where ‘when victory belongs to the most

persevering then they get to choose their meal for the day.’

Franklin’s first match was against Munroe Moose and surprising he won! While celebrating his

victory the next match was scheduled between Franklin and me. We Decided that this was going to

be the time when the ultimate prison break happens. There is a sewage vent in the middle of the

court that remains closed and that’s it, THAT WAS THE KEY TO OUR ESCAPE! Twenty-five seconds

into the match I was being phlebotomized by Franklin. He suddenly dropped the smoke emitting

crackers to distract the guards and began to escape. He told me to stay still and not move but left

me there bleeding all alone.

No sooner did he leave than all the guards ran behind him while I mustered up the courage to get

up. I managed to reach to the opposite end of the sewer and crawled through it finally escaping!

Hurrah! What a relief! Nevertheless, a part of me felt the dry sorrow of Franklin betraying me.

This just made me realize that ‘the saddest part about betrayal is that it never comes from enemies.’

-Jiya Punjabi IXB

Lionel Messi is probably the best player in the world today. He is one of the

finest and most exciting footballing talents in the world. He had this never-

ending comparison with Cristiano Ronaldo.

How did he attain this place at the top of the world?

A forward or attacking midfielder, Messi is blessed with outstanding ball

control and pace and has the potential to become one of the finest players the

game has seen. He showed all the signs of having a promising footballing

career ahead of him but at the age of 11, he was diagnosed with a growth

hormone deficiency that required expensive treatment.

His parents could not afford it but after some tentative signs of awareness of

Messi’s talent from Barcelona, they decided to move to Spain. Messi tried out

for Barca and the club was so impressed it agreed to pay for his medical

treatment. Until leaving the club in 2021, he had spent his entire professional

career with Barcelona, where he won a club-record 35 trophies, including 10

La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey titles, and four UEFA Champions Leagues.

He joined Paris Saint German earning 41 million euros a year. He played

for Argentina his home country where he won the 2022 FIFA World cup

held in Qatar holding the trophy for the first time.

-Manthan Mehta VIIIB

My grandparents who live in Pune get to see me rarely and so when I do visit especially on my own,

they seem to be on a mission to make up for lost time. They always try to get more done together in

my summer holidays by way of instilling boundless energy in the otherwise lazy me and showering me

with love and attention, which sets the tone of my usual summer holiday at their home.

They live in a bungalow with a garden having many trees. Life is busy admiring the small things

outdoor in the garden. Their eyes are searching just like mine. Birds, funny shapes of clouds, spiders,

fossils are some of the most important discussions of the day. When I was a much younger child, they

set up a small mud pit for me in the garden and I was actually permitted to play in the mud endlessly.

We made mud utensils and by the end of the activity I was almost unrecognizably and blissfully

covered in mud. Our days now are about jam sessions on the piano, silly jokes and my art work on

walls. I am never pushed to ‘hurry up’ which is really the opposite of my usual life in Mumbai where

the words ‘Lavkar Lavkar!’ are almost like an alarm clock reminder.

Once on a small trek to a nearby hill my Grandmother carried the stones that I had collected on the

way, in her purse as if they were her treasure only because they were special to me. My Grandfather

taught me all about the formation of crystals which we saw en route and I got to know of Mother

Nature and her beautiful ways in that endless chatter. I am encouraged to explore on my own and it

gives me a sense of feeling free! The summer I turned 10 was one of the most momentous trip to

Grandparents’ house. My grandfather who is a paragliding pilot himself took me paragliding. After

about four days of training at the flying site and studying the technique in classrooms, I took my first

solo paragliding flight and was one of the first 10-year-old solo pilots in India. That experience took

me to another level of happy. After landing I saw the big grin on my grandfather’s face it was like a

beam of pride shining brightly.

Failing to get a good score in any of my exams does not affect my grandmother at all. She is almost

like my lawyer taking my side in every situation against the world. My sauce droppings on the couch

and breaking of the glasses due to my football, my clumsiness of never knowing where my stuff is,

misplacing a water bottle almost every trip means nothing to her. She loves me anyway. She still oils

my hair while I play, cuts my nail while I read and cooks my favorite meals when I am there constantly

fussing over me in front of others and forgetting my faults easily.

Especially now when I cannot visit them so often as life catches up with us, I am reminded of honest,

simple and pure heart touching moments that have been spent with my grandparents that have now

become lifetime memories… ones which I will treasure forever.

-Aryan Kasbekar VIIIB

1. Every odd number, when written in English, contains the letter

“e”.

2. Even though you take any shape with the same perimeter, a

circle possesses the largest area.

3. Folding a paper in half 103 times gets you the thickness of the

observable universe.

4. Fibonacci series is a series of whole numbers starting from zero.

The sequence follows the rule that each number is equal to the

sum of the preceding two numbers.

The sequence is - 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34 etc.

5. When many Fibonacci series are plotted on many graphs and

placed into one graph in a particular order, it resembles the

shape of a sunflower.

6. The two sentences, “twelve plus one” and “eleven plus two”,

both have 13 letters and both their answers are 13 as well.

7. A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second

8. If you shuffle a deck of cards properly, it’s more than likely that

the exact order of the cards you get has never been seen

before in the whole history of the universe.

-Darsh Punjwani IXB

We started for our holidays a day before Christmas at 5 am in the

morning. We drove down to the coastal side of India. We saw many

mountains on the way and different types of monkeys such as red and

brown face monkeys, baboons which were huge. lt was lovely to spend

all our time driving over the mountains, zigzag and bumpy roads.

On the way there were jetties,

RORO boat called as the ferry

which took vehicles from one side of the water to the

other side of the water. The beaches were amazing and

covered with brown, black and white sand along with

jelly fish, crabs and many other small creatures covered

in shells. There were birds like white storks and bald

eagle hunting for their food.

Once we reached the hotel, I made new friends and

started with different activities. The zipline was scary at

first and felt goosebumps on the arms. Then suddenly,

I felt brave and went zoop in 1 second to the other side.

ln archery, got to use my full potential energy to release

the bow. Bullet shooting was interesting but missed all

the shots. The most relaxing activity was going to the

beach playing in sand with small creatures, collecting

shells and enjoying the fresh cooling water with sunset.

The last and the most adventurous activity was trekking on the

mountains where we saw temples and forts. Finally, after a long trek we

quenched our thirst by sipping on some sweet, energetic coconut water.

The food at Konkan side was different but delicious and enjoyed on

some fresh and yummy pomfret. My favorite McDonald's outlets were

not visible at the countryside but once we reached towards the town-

side, we got to see few and bought some French fries.

This was the most wonderful holiday and wishing to have these adventurous holidays in my life

Forever.

-Agastya Samtani IIA

She looked around and suddenly fear gripped her heart in a vice-like hold,lost in her thoughts scarcely had she realized when it all came back to her,when she came back to her. Priya still has a bright clear image of the day she met her, the day her life changed forever.The energy surrounding her rapidly changed as if a parallel universe was setting in.Spending time with her changed Priya into a better person and surely the best version of herself.Those memories were worth more than gold.With her , Priya spent every second of her life as if it was her last. Nothing cam ever be enough,can it? Her name was Amber.How did Priya know that Amber from being her best friend from the minute they met in the school hallway would become the biggest mystery of her

life. Their moments together was nothing less than magic.Priya felt alive for the first time in her live.She could finally breathe after all the times she had been suffocated. She liked herself better with Amber. Amber was a creation beyond imagination.Amber was not a human but the affection Priya had towards her was too strong to let that get in the way.Her last memory of Amber is not what she was expecting.Amber pulled her though clouds until they suddenly reached a cliff.The last thing Amber said was," What you

seek is seeking you but they only way to find it is a leap of faith." After that Priya pretty much went crazy. Tears rolled down her cheeks. The tempest of her eyes was not even close to explaining the feeling in a heart.Loosing a friend your soul breaks,heart sinks it's like loosing a part of yourself .Twenty five years passed by and there Priya was living a normal boring life until one day a note was slipped under her office door.Looking outside the was no one to be seen.In the note was written," Help me"Priya was deprived of peaceful sleep that night. Something was wrong. There was something pulling her.Priya didn't know where she was headed to but that didn't

stop her. Everything was surrounded by mist so she could not see anything. Her emotions went for a toss. The sky was as red as blood.She could hear whispers in her ear, none of which she could understand.She could smell death as her body slowly became numb. The moment was as brief as lightning in a collided night. The moment felt like all the bright things were ending and it was the start of something unexpected. The path ended with a house and just like everything else in Priya's life, it was anything but

normal. Her body shivered with fear but there was excitement in her heart. Feeling a touch on her shoulder she turned back in a heartbeat.It was Amber!How was she there?Amber hugged Priya but Priya pushed back.It was too hard to believe.Was she in a dream?Priya felt like the passed which she wished would return was now coming back but she did not want it anymore.What she did want was answers. Twenty five years back Priya forced herself to believe Amber died but there she was standing

right in front of her.What happens next she guessed only time will tell.

-Aariana Ghanshani VIIIB

There was once a pair of twins named Sara and Kiara. Since moment they had learnt to walk, the two of them would play pranks on everyone around them, learnt how to fool people into believing the false. First the pranks were quite childish, and simple, however, they grew in complexity as the twins grew older. 

Even though it sounds ridiculous, the very idea of toddlers pranking people ten times bigger, and many more years older than themselves, but it did happen, and that is true. Now, at the age of ten, their love for trickery was still going strong. 

One day, they decided to prank their best friend, Aabinta. And so, they made preparations. Long, intense, detailed preparations to prank poor, unsuspecting Aabinta. It would be a hard prank to play, because she knew how much the twins loved to trick people. Therefore, they had to make sure she wouldn't actually get hurt (they were the best of friends, after all), and that she wouldn't be too angry. But at the same time, the prank had to be good, after all their reputations were at stake. 

Their plan was simple, but technically tricky. They planned to balance an open bottle of water, between the door frame, and a partially open door. As soon as Aabinta would open the door, she would be soaked. So, they proceeded to do just that. And, as you would have guessed, the prank was a roaring success. You can imagine Aabinta's reaction. She yelled, and ran after the twins, because she knew no one but them would have set it up. But to the twins' and her own surprise and horror, she slipped in the puddle of the water which had been created, and fell face-first onto the hard, tiled floor! The resulting scene wasn't pretty, and neither were the consequences for the twins. Aabinta received a deep and nasty cut on her chin, which had her as well as the twins’ parents, rushing her to the emergency room of the local clinic. Meanwhile, the twins were grounded, and banned from watching television, and reading books for the foreseeable future. And a long list of chores was prepared by their parents and handed to them. All three of them were miserable for days. 

Finally, the day came when the twins' parents lifted the curfew on them. Can you guess what was the first thing they did? You guessed correctly. They ran out the front door, across the street, and straight into Aabinta's home. On ringing the bell, the door was opened by none other than Aabinta herself. She had a large dressing on her chin, with the adhesive tape stretching right till her ears. "Well, I hope you've come to apologise!" she grumbled at the twins, a frown on her forehead. "Yes, we have! Please-forgive-us-we-swear-to-never-play-another-prank-ever-again!" the twins cried out in unison. Aabinta was taken aback. "Never again?" she questioned. "Never. If this is how pranks can hurt people, then we won't do them," Sara and Kiara replied as one voice. "Well then," Aabinta smiled, and said, "I forgive you. Don't forget about what happened this time. Now come in! I was gifted a remote-controlled toy helicopter, as a recovery gift, by my parents!" Kiara answered solemnly, "I don't think you should fly that indoors, Aabinta." Aabinta threw the twins a question look, and asked, "Why not?" Sara replied, with a innocent straight face, "You might hurt someone, that is why." Aabinta could not hold back her smirk, as she rolled her eyes and retorted, "Don't tell me, have we swapped roles, now?"

-Imanmeher Sharma Merchant VIIIB

When thinking about a few books that I have read like “Romeo and Juliet”, “Sorrows of Young Werther”, “The

Catcher in the Rye” and “Ordinary People” noticing a strange trend in all of these book that involved

Young people and suicide together. Now here comes the vital question “What does it mean to be a teenager?”

which arises after reading these books and also provides and answer to “Limbo”. Here Romeo and Juliet kill

themselves while Werther shoots himself. Holden contemplates suicide and Conrad tries to kill himself by slashing

his wrists.

This kind of phenomenon called “Limbo” happens when you can’t be with the person you love like Romeo and

Juliet or Werther or you lose the person that you love like Holden or Conrad. There is a reason why when every

author from Shakespeare to Salinger writes about young people that they can’t avoid the truth that being young is

so painful it is almost like too much to feel.

It also occurs when your parents pressurize you to succeed. Your friends pressurize you to do stupid things that

you wouldn’t prefer to do while social media pressurizes you to hate your body. It is hard even if you are a kid from

a decent family.

Everyone has to depart from this world one way or another but no one actually thinks of what it would be like to

just not be here anymore. None of us say thoughts like this casually but we do need to express as keeping it inside

of us and not saying it is going to make it worse. What we suffer through should be talked about. The teenage

years are limbo. Teens are somebody between a kid and an adult, then the world tells you to be mature and

express yourself but the minute you do that it tells you to hold your tongue. The thing is, adults are scarred kids

who were lucky enough to make it out of like alive from limbo. Now what is limbo?

The teenage brain goes through an upgrade before it matures to an adult brain, and so the upgrade is like an

explosion of connections and synapses as we figure out what is right or wrong, what we like and dislike,

who we want to be and not? Each page of the issue is the brain refining itself out or figuring its way out until

eventually it is out of “Limbo”.

-Naomi Correia IXB

The sun spread its balmy glow to all parts of the world. Mother nature was enjoying the warmth of the sun after a rainy night. As I sauntered towards my school, the birds sang their sonorous songs and the trees swayed and danced. The wind blew past them. While ambling suddenly, a man who was as ancient as the mountains called me. He was wearing tattered clothes. His hair was long and like a shaggy dog. The old man had a stick which looked a lot like something a wizard would have. He beckoned me towards him and showed me a golden bracelet which was studded with precious stones and was gleaming like the sun. The old man told me that there was a genie inside it and to use it wisely. I did not believe him but as I went to say no, he disappeared and then out of nowhere, the bracelet appeared on my wrist. I quickly removed it and put it in my bag and went to school. Later that evening, I was in my room reading a book when, in the blink of an eye, the bracelet commenced glowing and showing me visions of me as a very wealthy man or me as a superstar or my family and I living in a castle which tempted me to summon the genie. Therefore I took the bracelet and rubbed it but nothing happened. Then I wore it and wished for the genie to appear. Within seconds, a purple coloured genie appeared in front of me. He said that I had only one wish and after granting it he would disappear. I thought for a long time and then resolved to ask for my wish. I wished that I became the most popular person in town and then went to sleep. The next morning I woke up nice and fresh. Suddenly my mother barged into my room and said that I was all over the news. For a split second I thought that my wish had been fulfilled but when I saw the news, next to my picture was the same old man’s picture who had given me the bracelet. The head line was ‘ Boy kills old man for a golden bracelet.’ I was flabbergasted as I had not done anything like that. Then it hit me like a hundred pound sledgehammer that the genie was a mischievous one and had fulfilled my wish but in the worst way. I started to panic and told my parents the whole story. They reprimanded me and told me never to accept anything from strangers. They then told me to destroy the bracelet. My parents and I tried very hard to break it but all our efforts were in vain. Then, like a bolt from the blue, my father sprinted to our house temple and brought out the bottle of holy water and sprinkled it on the bracelet. Immediately the bracelet erupted into flames and burned to ashes completely destroyed. We all went to sleep hoping that everything would become normal again the following day. Once we got up the next day I switched on the news which showed that they had mistaken me for another person. I heaved a sigh of relief as I was innocent and vowed never to accept strange things from strangers.

-Shaurya Bhojwani VIIIB

“Achhoo!” I sneezed, sending germs flying through my nose all around the attic. “Ugh! This science project is taking forever to complete,” I grumbled like an old man as I was holed up in the dingy attic in quest of materials instead of relishing my leisure time. I kept coughing as I ransacked the dirt ridden shelves where I stumbled upon a box studded with pink sequins I had never seen before. It had my mothers name on it. I wondered whether something confidential could be inside it. However, the pesky, inquisitive side awoke within me and I opened it only to be left stumped.

I took a shaky breath in as I held the parched letter with faded words in my quivering hands. A tear rolled down my cheek and splashed on the ink. My head felt too light and my heart felt too heavy. I was unable to fathom the secretive behaviour of my parents. I slumped down on the attic floor, a cloud of dust enveloping me and tickling my nostrils. I was muddled at the revelation of the truth which came to me like a bullet.

I fought back my tears as I was overwhelmed by a lot of harrowing and wistful emotions. My head started throbbing as a million questions raced through my mind. I stifled a cry. “She lied to me! How could she?” I questioned out loud but the only answer I received was my own voice after echoing off the walls of the disarrayed attic. The continuous flow of brackish tears drowned the remaining ink on the dainty paper. I dropped the letter and rubbed my bloodshot, swollen eyes which were laced with fatigue.

My rage escalated as I recounted a five year old memory of my mother telling me that my father had died in an abominable car mishap just after she brought me into this world. I was crestfallen that I had never had the opportunity to meet him and here I was paralyzed  with consternation, reading letters written by him to my mom. All of them dated from the day  I took my first breath till last week. 

That proved that my father is not dead. So…Where is he now? Why did he leave? Why did my mom lie to me? None of the letters mentioned that. A nauseating feeling developed in the pit of my stomach and I felt goosebumps run down my back. Abruptly, my mothers melodious voice floated to my ears, puncturing my thoughts. She was calling for lunch. I shoved the letters back into the box and hastily made my way downstairs, seething.

My mother gazed at me and sensed something was wrong. She noticed the attic door open so her face wore a mask of apprehension. “Tr-Tracey, what is wrong?” she said faltering. “You lied to me all these years about dad” I choked. She gasped and took a step back, dropping the plate which shattered into a million pieces forming a carpet of exotic crystals on the floor. Tears trickled down her cheeks like a waterfall. “Your father, he is a spy. If he stays with us we will always be in peril due to his numerous enemies.” 

Like a bolt from the blue, the door of our house burst open. A raucous sound reverberated everywhere and the world went black.

-Shrita Bhojwani VIIIB

In the entire Hindu Arabic number system, there is only one number which can be spelled with the same number of letters as itself which is FOUR.

In the Indian number system, when we write numbers from 0 to 1000, letter A only appears first in 1000 (one thousand).

People texting in Thailand will send the digits 555 to indicate that something is funny. In the Thai language, 5 is pronounced as ha which when translated becomes ha-ha-ha.

Two and five are the only prime numbers in the entire number system which ends with two or five.

26 is the only natural number between a perfect square number (25) and a perfect cube number (27).

18 is the only number that is twice the sum of its digits.

The word “hundred” comes from the old Norse term, “hundrath”, which actually means 120 and not 100.

The square root of 2 is known as Pythagoras Constant.

-Ariana Shahani VIIIC

I think the best way to clear any misconceptions regarding maths is to remember that maths is about being a creative thinker not a calculator. Honestly, maths is about applying concepts you learn and each question demands a different combination of multiple concepts. If one just stops taking maths at its face value - as a subject - solving questions can be an exhilarating experience. Your maths textbook is your brain’s gym, where it becomes flexible in its approach to various problems and also becomes sharper.

It teaches you beyond just algorithms, formulas and theorems; it teaches you that each question has a solution and there are multiple ways to reach it. I used to dislike maths once, with a passion, as though it had personally offended me, but the realisation that maths isn’t about computations and formulas but about understanding causes me to reconsider. 

Maths has an extensive portion, vast enough to faze anyone. It is crucial to remember hence that maths is a journey, not a destination. It is abundant and there is always more to explore in it. 

I find Maths simple, yet confusing; dry, yet beautiful. I think this is what makes it so endearing.

-Mishita Mhatre XB