The road to a safer future

Karan Dhall, AIS Gur 43, XII D

The world is now in a dismal state
Where governance is nothing great
Safer future is the need of the hour
The idea seems clichéd, vision afar

Where childhood isn’t fairy tales
Where all delinquent efforts fail
Where healthy is the society
Break free from typical propriety

Where chances are open to all
And equality and justice stand tall
Where borders are flowing free
Earth will be like heaven indeed

Where nobody is ever short
Of basic needs and necessities
Be it shelter, warm food or cloth
All should possess the amenities

Where groups of all types
Are recognised and expressed
Primacy is given to human rights
Which are always suppressed

Where we have a unipolar world
Which is accepting and tolerant
Where superseding is unheard
Goodwill for all is preponderant

Where religion is associated
Only with purity and sanctity
No group shall be instigated
Into acts that conduce insanity

Where deception is a rare sight
Where one toils with full might
Backed by promises of security
Working men, working ladies

Where there are many cures
For growing poverty that looms
Where the sky is always azure
Culminating a night of doom
A world full of love and peace
Alaska to India, England to Greece
Terror will be deemed primeval
We need more composed leaders

For this we have to renounce
Our psychological citizenship
Extremism must be denounced
Let’s extend a hand of friendship

God forbid leaders who talk
Crimes against humanity run amok
To make the ideal world concrete
We need to work, not just speak

The rich should be motivated
The poor should be educated
Based on this, the venerated
Constitution should be devised

The earth we today inhabit
Is nothing but a global village
Some are perfect, some misfits
They will all cross the same bridge

Kindness and a positive attitude
Along with luck and cooperation
Will only help us build a huge
Federation of a united nation

The idea seems utopian to some
But once we all unite and come
The third planet from the sun
Shall be the most contented one

Henceforth I raise the flag
To the road to a safer future
A world free of political snags
Non-violence being our teacher

The writer of the poem won a bronze medal in the Queens’ Commonwealth Essay Competition 2018, which received over 12,000 entries. The theme this year was ‘Towards a common future.’

Little pearls of wisdom

The three turtles

Adhyayan, AIS Vas 6, VI

In a huge lake, there lived three turtles – Zunu, Tunu and Munu. Even though they were brothers, they were very different from each other in terms of personality and nature. Zunu was a firm believer in destiny, Tunu believed in solving life’s problems with his intelligence and Munu was a great thinker who believed in thinking deeply about any problem that came his way.
One day, Munu saw some fishermen approaching the lake with fishnets. He got scared and swam closer to listen to their conversation. He heard them discussing that the lake had a lot of exotic turtles, which they would catch tomorrow. Munu immediately rushed back to his brothers and the other fish to alert them about the fishermen’s plan and warn them to escape timely. But no one took Munu seriously. He suggested that they should leave the lake that very night and go to the big lake in the neighbouring town, taking the secret canal passage, but everyone thought him to be stupid. Zunu declared that he will stay back and let destiny and God decide what will happen to him. On the other hand, Tunu was pondering over the problem and thinking of a way out. Munu, though reluctant to leave without his brothers, decided to go ahead anyway to save his life. So, he escaped the lake that night.
The next morning, the fishermen came and started spreading nets over the lake. Tunu tried to act dead in front of them so that they don’t catch him, but they caught him anyway and threw him along with the rest of the dead fish in their baskets. Zunu, who believed that God will save him, kept floating in water. He was eventually struck dead by the fishermen and taken away.
In the end, Zunu and Tunu died because of their foolishness, but Munu was saved because he acted wisely. Sometimes, it is necessary to act fast. Time and tide, they say, wait for none. So, act when you have time and turn the tide in your favour.

(Inspired from a famous Panchatantra tale)

GT M@il

Dear Editor,
The Global Times has always encouraged keen students to share their write ups. Through The Global Times today, I want to talk on the role of technology in a student’s life. The youth today is obsessed with technology. They use it in all ways possible, social networking being on the top of the list. The most technologically challenged people too find it mandatory to use it in everyday life.
Face it, don’t you like it when you ask Siri something and in seconds you have your answer. Studying has become somewhat facile due to technology. I say somewhat because, you do have to learn and memorise yourself. Google any word and every detail of the word appears on the screen. Making projects is now easier than it ever was, even for visuals. Netflix-and-food has become the go-to pastime. Technology for a student is both a boon and a bane. A boon as it helps us with studies, write stories and connects to the world. A bane because when we should be doing our homework, we are busy playing games, mostly PUBG or Fortnite, and when we are confronted we tell that the Internet was down. At one point, it is a saviour and at another point it is a total destruction.
Hridyanshu, AIS Saket, VIII A

Dear Editor,
The Global Times has empowered our minds to voice our opinions and vent our emotions through literary expression. It gives immense pleasure to see our thoughts/opinions getting published in this esteemed newspaper. It works like fuel to the rocket which is ready for launch to soar high in the sky and reach its destination. As for the social connect, it unites all Amitians and showcases our talent and creativity to rest of the world. The amazing output of GT teams across Amity Schools inspires me so much. I eagerly wait for my copy of GT every Monday. Regular mentoring and guidance from our respected Chairperson ma’am,
Dr (Mrs) Amita Chauhan and school counselors is a must read. I love to participate in the Brainleaks Quiz which tests my learning in Science, Maths and Social Studies. It’s so engaging and enriching to read about various emerging issues, famous personalities and participating in GT Polls/contests. Today, all I want to do is to simply thank Chairperson ma’am for this gift of knowledge and creativity handed to us in the form of this newspaper. I feel so fortunate, being an Amitian, to be able to contribute and grow with GT.
Pratishtha Batra, AIS Saket, VIII B

Back to roots

In the last few decades, the world has made huge strides towards development. We  have managed to built high-tech cities, big factories, exemplary smart phones, PCs, laptops, smart gadgets, etc., to make our lives easy. But in this process we have also ended up emptying sewage waters and releasing toxic waste into lakes and rivers, exuding toxic fumes in the air and creating tonnes of e-waste. As a result, our world today stands at the crossroads between development and junkyard.
And the entire process of development has offered us rapid climatic changes and choking lungs. We have suddenly woke up to the harsh reality and started looking out for better solutions. Ironically, the solutions are once again directed towards developing yet another technology - air purifiers for clean air, water sprinklers for clearing smog, thereby creating more e-waste. Therefore, we are creating more problems to find solutions of earlier problems which is nothing less than a vicious cycle.
So, isn’t there any possible way out to come out of this vicious cycle? Thankfully yes, there is. We need to peruse the pages of times to find how our ancestors used to cohabitate with their ecosystem. Buildings in olden times were built to be energy efficient. The congested Chandni Chowk that we see today has not always been like that. The havelis here were built with huge central courtyards and two storeys high that allowed ample of both light and air inside the house. In greed for more space, man added lot more floors and rooms making it congested. Almost every village of Rajasthan then had baolis, homes in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu boasted of their water harvesting systems. And now there are very few households practicing the same. It’s time for us to ponder and take lessons from our ancestors to solve all these problems. It is time that we go back and take inspiration from our heritage, our roots.

Taste of water

The top story of this edition reminds me of my visit to my ancestral home in village with my then 10-year-old son. While returning home, I asked him what he liked most in the village. “The sweet taste of water,”  he replied. All this while, staying in town, I had never given a thought to the ‘taste’ of water. His answer actually set me thinking. What have we done that we can no longer feel the taste of water. I promptly looked around and noticed that everything for green and clean environment, we city folks talk about, strive for, huddle for, was actually there in the villages. It has always existed there, but we never valued it in our race for more development, thereby creating more damage to the enviroment. I couldn’t help but notice how the mud houses (what we call green houses in cities) were energy efficient and the way they were maintained regularly with a mix of clay, cow dung and neem leaves to keep insects out. The 3Rs we try to adopt in our day-to-day city lives is actually a lifestyle in village. Case in point, sugarcane agriculture. The waste generated after taking out sugarcane juice is further used to make vinegar or compost or feed cattle. In villages, instead of polybags, villagers make paper, jute, bamboo or cloth bags to run errands. The better and more developed lifestyles in cities have taken its toll on the ‘taste’ of water. A closer observation only calls that while we adapt to city lives, let us not exchange our roots, our basics, our traditional sustainable lifestyle for modernity and upgraded status. Only then will we all feel the ‘taste’ of water.