Gandhiji's conversation with me

My feet dragged slowly, the overweight suitcase slowing my speed. The pristine white seats were an enormous contrast to the paan- stained walls outside the airport. A soft brown couch lay amidst untaken seats, and I gratefully sank into one. I rummaged inside my handbag for my bottle of water, and felt a shadow cross me. When I looked up, my eyebrows shot up until they were no longer visible on my face, and I stared. The man in front of me beamed, rather like one of those old, loving grandfathers who give you sweets. “Mr. Gandhi? “I asked, wondering if it was just a shocking likeliness or the man himself. In my excitement, not once did I stop to consider that this man was not supposed to be alive.

He nodded, still smiling. “Good morning sir, my name is Kiara Welde, it’s truly, it really is an honor to meet you” I spoke regaining composure but still slightly shocked.

“Hello, Kiara, how are you?” he said.

“Doing well, sir, and you?”

“ Good”

With all the niceties over, we sat there silent, until I decided to strike a conversation.

“Mr. Gandhi, may I ask you a question?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“How did you do it, sir? In the face of violence, you decided to be non-violent, to follow peace. How did you manage to get a nation to do it?”

“ Well I do not think I did it because I was not afraid. I was genuinely terrified, but something else scared me more. I was more afraid of living a life under someone else’s rule. That is why I chose the way I did and made the decisions I thought were right.

You see, I was never afraid of making decisions. I have made mistakes with my choices, many of them but I made them because I was not afraid to face them. My parents taught me to always be ready to face the consequences of the decisions I make and the things I choose. I was afraid of the British, but more than that I was afraid of becoming someone I am not. If I had encouraged violence, been violent, I would not have continued to be myself. As for the case of encouraging a change, you can always do that calmly”

I shook my head. “So, to maintain purity of soul, you let countless others die in non-violence? When the attackers come with guns and shoot people, you expect them to run away or stand strong instead of picking up guns and protecting each other?”

“ In life, two types of people hold weapons. Protectors or destroyers. Both can die. To die, being gentle, to run away instead of killing others is important. To protect others not by killing but by helping them to leave is important.”

“You can’t protect others by being gentle.” I said

“ That’s’ true, but as I have always been alone, I would not know. Sometimes, I suppose, you cannot protect others with gentleness. Otherwise, it is better to be gentle for it is then, that you can make an impact.

“No sir. Gentleness cannot work always. It cannot work against a crime. You know, it was just 2 weeks ago, a 19-year-old girl from Hathras was brutally assaulted, tortured and hurt. For 2 weeks, she struggled against life and death in the hospital. Her tongue was cut, she was beaten up. Her legs were completely paralyzed, her hands partially. She was in utmost pain until she died. But now what? Should her family be gentle and merciful, or should they demand justice, justice in the right way? Those men will be killed, yes, but will that be enough? Should they not be treated in the same way as they have treated that girl? They killed her, sir, because of her caste and because to them she was nothing. They should be killed ruthlessly. “My voice trembled with passionate anger.

There was a momentary pause.

“Daughter,” he spoke slowly, “what is a crime?”

I puzzledly looked at him, my head cocked to one side enquiringly.

He smiled and continued, “A crime is when you stop being a human. It is when you willingly choose not to be humane. Human, it is a big word. It has mercy, justice, jealousy, anger, forgiveness and above all hope. These men that you talk about, they have been inhumane. They have committed a crime. Tell me, is it better to die quickly than to be tortured as you want them to be?”

“It is better to die quickly, but these men, they don’t deserve it. You know, sir, they have taken away such a young girl’s life and stolen her future. Stolen her from her parents. Do they deserve mercy? If you kill them by torturing them, every person who thinks about doing this, takes a step back.” I said.

“ If you kill them by torturing them, you accomplish little. We are still pure, still have not committed a crime. To give justice, to mercifully kill these men is right. To murder them cruelly is wrong. It is inhumane. It is important to remember that you defy humanity if you torture them until they want to die. You want to change the world; you can do it. But remember child, to try and change people by instilling fear will not change their thinking. It will only change their actions. To change the world, with gentleness and not ruthlessness will make an impact.”

I pondered over this, his thoughts, his wisdom. Suddenly he lifted himself off the couch, almost effortlessly.

“It is now my time to leave, daughter, it was wonderful talking to you.”

“Thank you sir, your words will remain in my mind, I learnt a lot.” I said getting to my feet.

“I learnt too” he spoke these words with an air of finality. I extended my hand, but when I shook it with his outstretched one, my hand passed through what looked like smoke.

I gaped at him, as he laughed and then walked away, fading away slowly and slowly into the distance.

Kiara Welde

X Plum

The bakery

A faint smell filled the air. Sana turned her head right and left and then sadly tuned back to her plate. Mashed beans and potatoes lay on her plate, third time this week. Her mom came over to her and ruddled Sana’s hair. “Smelling the smell again?”, she asked. Sana nodded, her face dismayed. For the past few weeks, the little girl has been able to smell something that she described as “a delicious smell”. Nobody else could smell it and after a while, they gave up trying. Her mom and dad were pretty good cooks but could not make anything sweet. The 9-year-old was convinced that the smell was from some sweets. She had relentlessly hunted for the source but could never find it. She had a faint suspicion that it came from Forest Street but was afraid to go there.

As she walked out of home to go and play with someone, she did look a sorry sight. Her mother has asked her to go to the local playground and play a little at the very least. A rather subdued Sana set off down the path. While she walked, she felt something brush her leg. She tensed and turned around, afraid. A dog sat by her leg. A beautiful black coated Labrador. He had the most gorgeous almond- shaped eyes, and practically strutted. The dog politely offered his paw to Sana. She giggled and shook his paw, noticing a bright red collar with white tasteful letters spelling out ‘Maurice’. “Why, hello Maurice. How do you do? Sana asked. As if in response, he wagged his tail enthusiastically and then sniffed the air. Sana gasped in excitement. “You smell it too, don’t you?” she asked. Maurice seemed to nod and suddenly, bounded towards the corner. She followed him and they trotted off together. A rather odd sight, they looked- Sana in a bright blue dress, her black eyes sparkling as her pigtails trailed. Right by her feet, walked Maurice, his black coat gleaming in the sunlight with a tail wagging furiously and a tongue that never seemed to stop panting.

As Sana walked, she realised that they were walking away from Forest Street yet still following the smell. “That’s odd” she thought. Of course, she was also puzzled by the appearance of this strange, groomed and trained dog. Suddenly, Maurice stopped right in front of a hedge. He glanced at Sana momentarily, as if asking her to watch and then wiggled right through. The little girl blinked in surprise and then shook her head. “I can’t possibly fit through there Maurice, there’s got to be another way.” The dog barked, bobbing his head up and down as if to propel her into moving. Sana bit her lip, took a deep breath and got onto her knees. Slowly she crawled through the gap in the hedge and cam out on the other side, her stockings all muddy and her hair filled with twigs. She straightened up again as Maurice took off. Laughing, she chased him, the smell getting stronger and stronger. They turned a corner and another one. As they stopped, Sana gasped.

Right in front of her, stood a lovely, dainty bakery surrounded by trees. “It looks like it’s straight out of a picture book.” She whispered to Maurice. Customers poured in and out of the bakery and the proud dog whisked inside. Sana walked as if in a trance, her delicate nose twitching excitedly. She had lost sight of Maurice but didn’t even realise. Sher gave a light, content sigh as she looked around. Sana stared at the different breads and pastries. She smelt the golden cakes and the brown cookies. Her fingers drummed the glass counter, absentmindedly. Cupcakes, macarons, pies and custard called out to her enticingly. Her fingers reached for a lovely lemon tart just as she found herself in front of the shopkeeper. Shyly, she smiled as the shopkeeper beamed back at her. It was then that she noticed the dog sitting next to him. “Maurice!” she exclaimed. “Ah, so you’ve met my little fried, have you?” the shopkeeper asked, his cherry red face getting all smiley. “Yes, he led me here. Umm, everything looks so lovely, could you help me choose? I can call up my parents to pay if you have a telephone here,” she said. “Of course, just give me a moment. I need to finish serving my current customer, he’s just looking around.” Sana nodded just as the current customer arrived. Her jaw dropped, seeing him. “Daddy?!: she exclaimed in wonder.

Her dad looked bewildered as he spoke, “Sana, whatever are you doing here? I thought you were afraid of Forest Street. Sana gave a light laugh and smiled at Maurice. “I took a shortcut, daddy, it’s a long story. Why don’t I share it over a lemon tart?”

Kiara Welde

X Plum

The betrayed queen

She stood by the palace window, tall and still, gazing absently at the blurred distance. She had two choices: both unattractive, out of which, she would have to take a decision. Mandodari turned looking pale yet flourishing; worried yet beautiful. She bit her lips, her brow creasing in thought. Mandodari, Queen Consort of Ravana was a true sight to behold. Soft cheeked, red lips and as always luxuriously dressed. She wore a kalamkari black gown embroidered with red and white on all edges. Maroon and green jewellery studded with traditional kempu(temple) stones adorned her slim body.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. Mandodari spoke, “Enter and make haste to deliver your message.” The manservant entered and bowed low to Mandodari “Raajmata ko pranam.” She made a motion with her hand and he stood. “What is your message?”

“The Great Atikaya, Firstborn of Queen Dhanyamalini and Second born of the Majestic Glory King Ravana of Lanka and the rakshasas, son of Vishwashrava and grandson of the great Pulastya and...”

Mandodari cut him short, “I am not interested in knowing my husband’s family tree. What is the message?” The servant gulped, “Prince Atikaya asks for your presence in court as King Ravana’s chariot will soon arrive.”

“Thank you. Tell him that we will be there as soon as Queen Dhanyamalini gets ready and tell him this the way I told it to you without having to drag my enter family into it. Now go.” Mandodari walked up to the mirror and straightened her necklace. She stopped and looked at herself while pity for her entire family rose and formed a single teardrop which fell forming a line on her face. This was the first time she had cried after her marriage. It had been so many years. She thought about Malini and her parents.

The fanfare of trumpets was heard, and she banished her thoughts, gathered her gown and walked out gracefully. Her anklets tinkled as she reached her sister’s palace and Dhanyamalini came out, her eyes weary. In silence, they walked to the court where their unfaithful husband would bring the beautiful and gorgeous Sita of Ayodhya. They entered to the usual cheers and claps. They sat in their seats to the right of the main throne while their sons sat to the left. Suddenly the great golden doors opened and this time the entrance was nothing short of glorious. While the Royal Announcer raved on about Ravana’s greatness perhaps in hope to get a better salary, rose petals were thrown from above and the crowd cheered loudly Oh! How it hurt Mandodari but at least she had her sister by her side. She grasped her sister’s hand, staring straight ahead ignoring her husband as he walked and smiled. Then, Sita was brought in, surrounded by women rakshasas. She looked beautiful. Her clothes were torn, most of her jewellery missing, but oh so achingly beautiful. Her face positively shone and glowed, but then Sita looked up and Mandodari saw in the girl’s eyes only hurt and anger. Mandodari’s heart ached when she saw how bewildered the poor girl looked but composed herself and kept her face simple and reactionless. Malini was unable to conceal her own awe and let out an audible gasp. Sita stood there while the crowd ooh-ed and aah-ed and then was taken away. Ravana stood and spoke in his booming voice “My fellow subjects of Lanka, as you can see, I have brought home yet another beautiful woman who will soon be my bride. However, I am saddened to tell you that in the process of getting the vivacious Sita, we lost one of my greatest friends and one of the most talented and smartest Rakshasas that this kingdom knows, the rakshasa Maricha. His absence on today’s great occasion is saddening but we will honour him, my kingdom, I promise you that. His companionship will be missed, hence, to remember how Maricha touched every one of our lives, close your eyes and honour our fallen friend for a minute.” A gong struck and everybody closed their eyes while Mandodari pointedly kept her own eyes open.

“So, what do we do?” asked Malini and immediately Mandodari knew she was asking about the choices. She took a deep breath and said, “We either leave and go back home hence forever leaving Ravana or we stay and watch him shower love on someone else who doesn’t even want his love. Either way, we are hurt.”

“Is there no other choice?” Mandodari shook her head as the gong beat again.

“Alright.” said Malini her voice raspy. “We will have to decide.”

The next day, the Queens’ were called to meet Sita. The second Mandodari entered the room, she wished she could leave. She felt pity for Sita and that made it ultimately worse as she was unable to hate the girl. Mandodari and Dhanyamalini sat quietly, unable to say anything but hoping Sita would understand how they felt too. Ravana entered and looked quizzically at them, then laughed “Now, now why are my wives not getting along?” Mandodari spoke looking directly into her husband’s eyes, “She isn’t your wife Ravana, not till she says so. It was wrong of you to do what you did by getting a young innocent girl to fall in a trap especially since she is married. It was wrong.”

“You do not understand the situation Mandodari, I had expected better of you.”

Before Mandodari could retort, Sita got up from the bed where she had been laying all along and spoke, “How dare you? Your wife speaks nothing wrong. You have not only taken a married woman away from her husband, you adharmic(irreligious) but you have also betrayed your wives by trying to achieve another bride. I would be better fit as your daughter, yet you wish to marry me. People call you intellectual, but I see you as nothing short of a fool.” Mandodari and Malini stared in astonishment while Ravana growled in rage and seized Sita’s hair trying to drag her to the dungeon and Sita shrieked in agony. Immediately, Mandodari faced him blocking the doorway while Dhanyamalini pulled Sita away from him. “Before you make any hasty moves Ravana, I suggest you think about the fact that this may be your future wife. Tormenting her this way will not favour you.” spoke Mandodari. “Yes Ravana. Stop threatening her. We will talk to her.” Dhanyamalini said gently. Angrily, he stormed off while the two Queens comforted the crying Sita the entire day. That night as the Queens left Sita’s room, Mandodari stopped and turned towards her sister. “I have decided. Whichever way we choose, it does not benefit us. So, we must decide for somebody else. Although Malini knew the answer, she asked, “Who?” Mandodari sighed and continued, “We cannot let Sita suffer this way. So, we, we...” she faltered. Malini completed her sentence, “Stay.” Mandodari nodded and spoke with a sense of finality in her voice “We stay.”

12 Months Later

The grounds of Lanka were laid to waste. Ram and his triumphant army had taken away Sita who had thanked the Queens for the love they had shown and bid them goodbye. Ravana was dead but not because of Ram, because of his own arrogance. Mandodari was asked to marry Vibhishana, her brother- in- law for political reasons and for her kingdom’s sake. But it did not matter to Mandodari. Nothing mattered, her sons were dead. Dhanyamalini was practically dead, an empty shell now, she had lost all five of her children. Nothing was left. Yet the betrayed Queen never regretted her decision. For while her family was dead, the girl she had stayed behind to protect, Sita, was alive.

Kiara Welde

X Plum

To study birds well, I did few observations in the last year. The observations are about birds nests, their food habit and their fight for survival. This article summarizes various experiments and observations done by me.

Once a sparrow family was making a nest in our terrace. Two parents and three children (I could recognize the mother, father, and children) were regularly coming to my terrace and observing the bird nest. After a few days, a robin family started coming to my terrace and they had a fight with the sparrows and won it. They made a nest and laid eggs. After one month, we saw a baby robin on our rose plant. We spotted two more. They played in our terrace and flew away. On that day, even that family of sparrows came to play with the robins. They never came back to nest after that day.

Another story is about a black kite and a family of crows. It’s about survival. A black kite family decided to steal the eggs of a crow family. First, the Kites tried to fight with crows, but they lost. Then, they tried to attack in groups. A group of them tried to distract the crows and took them away to distant places. But then the crows started to lose the fight and they ran away. But I think kites had found the crows. After some days, crows came back, but they were less in number. But they might be hiding. This story tells us that birds need to fight with others for their survival. We saw same crow family stealing eggs of Lapwing. We also saw Cuckoo family replacing eggs from Bulbul’s nest. All of these examples are of fight for survival.

Now we did a very simple project about food habits of the bird. We kept food for birds. But keeping cooked food is bad for them, as they have a habit of eating raw and healthy food. So, we only did it once.

Day 1: we kept cooked food to check which birds like it. We wrote all observations in a diary. We saw that most of the birds (Sparrow, Bulbul, Crow, Mynah etc) came and finished it before the noon. This tells that these birds are used to cooked food. However, its not good for their health. I did this experiment only once or twice.

Day 2: This day told us about keeping healthy food. We kept a banana. Only bulbuls came and ate them. They took a day to finish. This means, we should never keep cooked food. Birds like healthy food and they eat that slowly.

Day 3: On this day, we kept some Papaya and saw a very rare thing. A crow took it all in its beak and it went back to its nest. The next day, we found a solution for not allowing the crows to steal the papaya. We kept the papaya in pieces. This made the crows come many times to finish it.

Day 4: We kept grains for sparrows, but what happened was, our most well-known enemy came, Pigeon! Some of you may like it because of its shining sparkly blue-green neck, but most of us don't like. It started eating and eating, we only had to throw a stone at it to shoo it away. Even a single sparrow didn't eat it at all!

Day 5 : Some days we kept other fruits like Cherry, Grapes , Strawberry, But, most of these birds did not like those fruits. Then we started keeping only Banana, Fig, Papaya and sometimes Apple for the birds.

Another observation is about Nesting Habits of birds. We tried to observe when and where birds make nest. Birds like Bulbul, Robin, Sparrow, Crow starts to build nest in March-April months, however, mynah and kites make nests in different months. A mynah made a nest in winter in the exhaust pipe of kitchen Chimney. May be, so that, she doesn’t feel the cold. Good thinking, right? A robin made nest in a Bird House, but not in bad-weather-condition-time. Which means it didn’t do it in autumn, winter, summer but it did it in spring.

A kite made it on top of a mobile tower! But why? Don’t know. A sparrow also makes nest where a robin makes. But My imagination is baby bulbuls don’t like heights because bulbuls made nests in the parking of my building. A Munia makes nest in plants on high floors of building, it uses Grass Leaves to make its nest. Crows make nest on top of tree with few sticks and straws.

Nishad Homkar

III Oyster

The magical frog

That day, as I walked back from school to home, the sky turned dark and soon it started to rain heavily. The lightning was shining as if clicking my photo and the thunder roared with a big loud speaker. Puddles formed everywhere instantly and roads got flooded.

I reached home tired and wet, and as I went to freshen up, Mom told me to take off my wet clothes and change into dry ones. I walked out to the terrace, and as I was taking off my clothes ,I saw something terrible. It was a frog with its mushroom umbrella. It was staring at me as if it wanted to tell me something.All my clothes fell down to the floor in a heap and the frog started to laugh. His body heaved and head bobbed as he laughed at my discomfort.

Then mom came up and said “ How long do you need to change?” With a breaking voice I told her , “there is a frog who was laughing at me.” Then mom asked, “Where is it, I can’t see any frog anywhere!!’

The frog had disappeared leaving a puddle behind on the floor, and mom was angry at me for making up stories for my delay and from that day I… am… scared of frogs. I still wonder if that was real or my imagination playing tricks on me?

Arnav Jagtap

VIII Honeydew

A coronavirus conversation

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to channel 19, where today we have a very special guest, novel Coronavirus, or as you all know him, COVID-19.” The reporter greeted the audience through his mask.

Beside him on the couch, sitting about six feet away was coronavirus.

“In this special edition of channel 19, we will be interviewing COVID-19 and hopefully will be getting some answers to our many questions,” The reporter continued.

“So, Mr. Coronavirus, our first question is one many times asked by the common folk of the world; why have you decided to attack humans now?” Coronavirus grinned nastily at the question.

“The reason for my thriving existence,” it began, “Is due to the negligence of humans. People nowadays rely too much on modern medicine, and thus expect me to disappear completely by the magic of some shiny new cure.”

The reporter nodded, now turning back to the camera. “As you can see, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Coronavirus has clarified that we rely too much on vaccines and cures to stay vigilant ourselves, a sad truth of the modern world.

“Our next question is: Why do you infect innocent people and kill them?” The reporter asked, holding out the microphone.

“The only reason I infect new people is to save my species from extinction. That, and the fact that you humans are messing up nature too much.” The reporter’s eyes widened. “Messing up nature? Could you elaborate on that please?”

Coronavirus continued. “Humans are- in my opinion- the most dangerous creatures on earth at this moment. You have been inventing new machines and robots to make jobs easier for you and are the only creature in the universe to achieve such a feat.

“Surely, you must care about the Earth, the planet you live on and the very reason you are here? That is to be expected of your species, but instead, you built large factories that pollute the air. You mass-produced plastic, a non-biodegradable material and now it’s everywhere.

“You dumped your garbage into the ocean, and now oceanic life forms are dying out at an alarming rate. All of this, and I mean all of this is human’s fault. If only you could move past your mistakes and wholly focus on saving this precious planet, the quality of life will be a lot better.”

The reporter nodded in haste. “I strongly agree with you, Mr. Coronavirus. This last question is from one of our regular viewers, who felt the whole situation is unfair, and I quote: ‘How could you do this to the human race? If this continues, we could go extinct!’”

Coronavirus looked deeply annoyed, and narrowed its eyes at the reporter, who looked back uneasily.

“The only reason I could do this to you humans is solely for my ensured survival. I am a life form on earth as well, and I would like to not die out, thank you very much. So if any human feels that this situation is unfair, that’s cause it is; both for you and for me.”

The reporter smiled nervously under the mask. “Well said, Mr. Coronavirus. That, my friends, concludes our special report for today. Stay tuned!”

Atharv Bhide

VIII Ivory

Spaceship surprise

One night as I was lying in my bed, I heard my dog barking. I went outside to see what had happened and to my surprise I saw that a spaceship had landed in the middle of my garden. The spaceship looked like a disc with many nails here and there. It also had a hatch on top made of glass, but I could not see through it. I was curious to know who was inside and my heart was beating faster than ever due to excitement. On the other hand, all my flowers were destroyed, but my garden was big enough, so the fence did not break. Even though it was the middle of the night, I was ready to explore. I went closer to it and saw a letter that said, “This spaceship is from Mars and it contains Mars’s most precious stones. Keep them but do not use them. Also, the person here needs medical attention. Please help him. You need to crack this code to unlock the ship.

Enter a code… A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

1^st 2 of January

1^st of May

6^th of October

1^st of September

I understood how to crack the code and unlocked the door. I found those precious stones and a man who looked very kind. So as the letter said, I got him medical attention. After he felt better, we became best friends. His name was James.

I turned the note over to see that there was a letter penned on the back. This is when I realized that the letter was from my grandfather who was an astronaut, as my dad told me.

Psst- the code was “James” because …

1^st 2 of January means the first two letters of January (ja)

1^st of May means the first letter of may.(m)

6^th of October means the 6^th letter of October. (e)

1^st of September means the first letter of September. (s)

All these make the word “James”

Dishi Gandhi

V Canary

Clever Avira

There lived a 10-year-old girl named Avira. She likes to learn new things at her school.

One day, when she was playing in the ground at school, a boy approached her and introduced himself – “I am Mohan. I study in 12^th class”. Avira also introduced herself. The boy said, “I have a challenge for you. Can you break the water in a glass?”.

Avira thought for a while and said, “I will try”. Saying this, she returned home and went into deep thoughts. Then she got an idea. She took a glass full of water and kept it in the freezer till 6 PM.

Mohan came to Avira’s house and sat on a blue sofa and said to Avira, ” Now, show me how to break the water in a glass.” Avira went to the kitchen, got the frozen water out of the glass and dropped it on the floor. And the frozen water broke into pieces. After watching this, Mohan turned into Lord Ganesha. Avira was stunned and joined her hands showing respect towards God. Lord Ganesha said “ I am glad that you solved the riddle, my child. Always use your intelligence in any situation. Everybody will remember you as Chatur Avira (Clever Avira) for centuries”. Saying this, Lord Ganesha disappeared. From then onwards Avira always used her intelligence to overcome any difficult situation in her life.

Hansika Pamarthi

V Oyster

A friend in need is a friend indeed!

Hi friends I am sure you must of heard the saying “Friend in need is a Friend indeed”. Our entire story is based on a little girl named Maya who is been rescued by a new friend from the most terrifying situation, she had been put in the difficult situation by someone who she thought was her friend even though she bullied her. Want to know more? Read ahead to know what happens to Maya. I hope this gives you the courage to stop the wrong which has been happening to you or to some one else.

The new girl

One day while everyone was helping the leader a new girl stepped into Maya’s class. As soon as she entered Anisha went to her and started telling her rude things like ‘I am sorry I can’t stop laughing by looking at you.... I have never seen such an ugly and skinny girl in my entire life…. Don’t you eat anything? Or does your mom not give you food to eat? The group leader started laughing loudly and along with her all the other girls and boys of the group also followed her. Maya was not happy after listening to what the leader had just said she thought ‘Anisha started judging the new girl very soon…I think I should talk to the new girl so that she feels better.’ It was lunch break and Maya went to the new girl’s desk. The girl seemed very sad , perhaps it was because of what had happened in the morning.

New girl opens up-

Maya asked ‘what happened?’

New girl-Hi , I am Roma .I have recently shifted here . My dad’s company has moved here so we had to come to Mumbai from Pune. If you don’t mind may I ask you a question?

Maya- Yes sure.

Roma-Was Anisha always so rude?

Maya-Yes… she was always like this….

Soon they got in a fun conversation and became good friends over the days . Anisha was watching all of this.

The strange machine

My uncle is an inventor. One day I was searching through the attic of my uncle’s house. I found a very strange machine with many buttons, knobs, dials, and levers. I had never seen a machine like it before. On one side there was a button that said “ON”.I pressed the “ON” button-Mummoo !! And soon I was in the land of ice-cream. Wow!!!

There were all sorts of ice-creams, but the ice-cream which I had never seen or imagined before was the RAINBOW ICE-CREAM! After eating the chocolate and butterscotch ice-cream, I started eating the rainbow ice-cream. To my surprise, I got turned into a rainbow ice-cream. It was magical! Wooo!

Soon there was a report released on the machine screen which said that there was someone in the ice-cream land. After seeing that report, my uncle came to that mysterious land. He was shocked to see one rainbow ice-cream eating another rainbow ice-cream. I saw him and was scared that he would eat both the rainbow ice-creams.

I hid in an ice-cream tree with a big hole inside it. He saw this but did not dare to come nearby as he had seen an ice-cream ghost in that tree hole when he had visited there earlier. The ice-cream ghost ran up the tree on seeing me. That ghost did not try to catch me because the last time he had done that, he was locked inside an ice-cream mountain. It was very difficult to escape, but he had managed somehow to escape.

I felt happy as I came out of the tree hole seeing my uncle nowhere. I finished eating rainbow ice-cream and turned into my own self. Then I took an ice-cream shower. Walking in that adventurous land was bit difficult as ice-cream from surroundings kept melting over me. I pressed a button called “OFF”, and I was back in my uncle’s attic.

My uncle held me as if I were an ice-cream and gave to my aunt. She took me very close to her mouth and in the nick of time, I shouted and said- “I am not an ice-cream but a human being”! I rushed to the bathroom and took bath and all the ice-cream over me was washed away.

Sanvi Ujalambkar

V Oyster

A rant-filled quarantine diary page

This is an extract of my thoughts that I had during the first 6 months of being in lockdown . Although these were never physically penned down, I remember most of them very clearly.

Sunday

22^nd March 2020

9:54 pm

Dear Diary

Today was the day I would have been bundled up with my parents and my sister in a train headed for Pune, but the Fates played a trick and I’m not going to leave anytime soon. It’s weird isn’t it? I wonder which one would be worse: Staying with my annoying cousins for more days or travelling in an uncomfortable situation. Believe me when I came here, I wore a mask through the journey. We got curfewed to cull the growing cases

Since this is a HUGE coincidence and also a dumb possibility given that a Sunday would be easy for people to stay inside, but it looks like the start of something more sinister or just plain pain. And I, for one, with a tendency of not being able to sit still for more than two minutes, definitely find it to be a problem. Even the walls of a double story won’t conceal this thunderstorm for long. I’ve been worried that this will be extended for god knows how long. And I have already started climbing and skinning the golden wallpaper right off the walls of this house.

Staying outside your own house for long is terrifying. It’s not a familiar landscape. (who am I kidding? I have spent two months of my holidays here each year. I am very familiar with this place) I am far from friends with whom, I mind you, had planned an entire summer of movies, Monopoly and other summer-ish activities. This day ends with immense doubt of the future. But hey at least I got to beat a metal plate with a spoon at 5pm in appreciation for the health workers and sanitary staff. It was cool and good way to calm the restless and panic that literally everyone was feeling in every waking moment of today. And therefore, I end this day and diary page by quoting FredBear Plush from Five Nights at Freddy’s 4 (which by the way I was playing right before writing this, Helloo Nightmares, Literally) “Tomorrow is another day.”

Thank You and Good Night !!

Rishima Singh

XII A

Trapped inside a fort

It was a cold winter Sunday when my friends and I started our excursion to Mount Abu.

Soon the sun had reached over our head and we had explored the mountain. Just then, I saw a fort a few meters away and ventured to see it from inside.

The fort was well built and had a huge door. I went inside and to my surprise the door locked itself. I looked around it in the daylight and never realised that I had spent a good 5 hours exploring it

I got anxious and ran towards the door to get out of the fort but I was shocked when I realized that I was actually locked inside.

I tried to get help by calling my friends on their cell phone but there was no network. My food packets and water were getting empty.

I was about to cry when a thought motivated me to open the main door on a last try.

The main door had three large latches placed 4 feet apart. When I tried to open the first latch, I heard an echoing sound.

" I will let you go if you answer my three questions".....

Initially, I felt scared but then I thought why not?

Question 1: " Which fort did Shivaji Maharaj defeat Afzal Khan?"

My answer: Pratapgad.

The first latch opened.

Question 2: "Which fort was earlier named Kondana and is 2000 years old?"

Thanks to our SST subject enrichment assignment on forts, I answered loudly " Sinhagad"

The second latch opened!!

The last question... "Name any coastal or ocean fort in Maharashtra?"

I was super excited and said I will name two.... " Murud-Janjira & Sindhudurg".

The door opened and I was relieved. I ran towards my friends who were anxiously searching for me.

On our way back, I was wondering which is that fort that I got trapped. However, no one believed me as there was no fort found on Mount Abu!!!

Rutu Jamdar

VII Auburn

The black phone ...

I felt nervous when the phone rang.I was scared since I was home alone and I didn’t know what to do.Finally, I decided to pick up.A strange,dark, and very creepy voice said “Hi, Nikki! I know everything about u and even the fact you are sitting in your favourite chair as I speak!”in a high pitched tone like as if he was reciting a nursery rhyme.I was super creeped out as I never heard this voice before and this person still knew my name.Still, I gathered courage and spoke in a whisper for some strange reason and I said,”How do you know me since I have never spoken to you before?”and he replied,”I know all this cause I have been spying on you for a long time and I have been waiting to get you but there always was someone around and today it is the perfect night since u r alone.I am coming for you!!!”Just then a rock burst in and broke the window.I screamed for help as loud as I could.”Help!,Help!Someone is out to get me!!!!”No one responded.Now I was really terrified.I ran downstairs for my life.And I saw silhouettes of people coming in through my window with really sharp knives.I screamt even louder for the last time and kept running since no one was responding to my cries.I watched them come closer.I couldn’t identify their faces as they were covered with black cloth from their attire.And I really thought I was gonna die.Just then,they unmasked themselves.I started laughing since these people were my best friends all along.Then they told me they asked my parents to leave me alone in the house since they wanted to pull off a prank on me and that they already replaced the window frame so they don’t have to buy another and this was being planned for a week.I started laughing profusely and my parents came home and joined us in the laughing.I was really glad this wasn’t real.Or was it?

Sia Shukla

VIII Honeydew

Onwards leading backwards