Storywala

Bugs in the mind

Megha Chattopadhyay, AIS Vasundhara 1, XII A

Nitayuvani was standing in the balcony, sharing a cup of tea with her beloved grandma. She had finally come to her granny’s house after months of busy school days. Suddenly, she heard a crash as her grandma’s cup fell on the floor and broke. Grandma started behaving abnormally and continuously tried to brush something off her left arm, though there was nothing. She cried with agony, “Why aren’t these bugs falling off my arm?”
Nitayuvani tried to tell her that there were no bugs. But she  looked at her blankly and asked, “Who are you? What are you doing in my house?” Nita was taken aback. As she stood there stunned, grandpa rushed in after he heard the glass breaking. He gently patted grandma’s back, brought her inside a well-lit room and played her favourite music. She became normal again in some time.
Nitayuvani then came to know from her grandpa that her granny had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and her strange behaviour was due to hallucinations, a very common symptom of the disease. Grandpa also mentioned that since grandma showed such symptoms, their caretaker had left the job, scared that her mistress has caught a demonic spell. Nita was shocked at such ignorance about the disease.
She requested her grandpa to take her along with them on their next appointment with the psychologist. She did her research work and when she met the doctor, she bombarded him with tonnes of questions. The doctor smiled, and patiently answered all her queries. He later told her grandfather, “Your granddaughter is very sharp for her age. You’re lucky to have a granddaughter so sensitive and caring like her.”
From that day onwards, Nita took charge of her granny’s medicines and gave special attention to her diet. Gradually, the frequency of the hallucinations dropped. Next time her grandma would hallucinate, Nita knew exactly what to do.
She held her grandma’s hands, and said, “I know this is frightening for you, but the bugs are only in your mind, they are not actually on your arms. I’m here to take care of you.” The grandmother slowly zoned out of her hallucination and gradually became better. Nita also slowly understood that bugs in the house and in the mind, both can be avoided with a little attention and a lot of care. 

Bottle Octopus

Materials required

• Medicine wrapper with round and transparent pill pocket
  
• One plastic bottle
  
• Acrylic paints
  
• Scissors
  
• Black and white thick paper
  
• Pencil
  
• Glue

Method

• Cut off the bottom part of a plastic bottle.
  
• Start cutting the bottle from the base along its length so as to make a long incision.  Now, make similar cuts ½ inch apart from each other till you cover the entire bottle this way.
  
• Curl those cutout segments outwards so that they look like octopus feet.
  
• Mix white and blue acrylic paint in equal quantities to make light blue colour and use it to paint the whole bottle light blue.
  
• To make the googly eyes, take a medicine wrapper with round and transparent pill pocket.
  
• Cut out two pill pockets of the same size.
  
• Now, draw an outline of pill pocket on a white paper and cut it out. Cut out another such circle.
  
• For small eyes, cut out two smaller black circles, almost 3/4th the diameter of the white circle.
  
• Place the black circle in the pill pocket and stick the white circle from behind using glue. Repeat the same with the other eye.
  
• Stick the two googly eyes on the neck of the bottle at ½ inch distance.
  
• Your googly eyes octopus is ready! Decorate it on your tabletop.

WORDS VERSE

A diary’s saga

Khushi Saxena,  AIS Noida, XII I

I’ve been with her
Since she was five
She was my girl
Naughty, yet so naive

Her hopes were sharper
Than her pencil tip
Quite stronger than
Her little hand’s grip

She was happy
When I was gifted to her
Even heavier than
Her heavy coat of fur

Afraid of the challenges
Of this enormous world
Outside the dreamland
Of simple pen and paper

She tells me her tale
Of turning sweet thirteen
As she wraps me
Into a new cover

She thinks differently
Thinks she has seen enough
Little does she know
That this is the start

My girl, she is yet to win
More smiles and a million hearts
She is now a youth
Shining bright at eighteen

She believes sky’s the limit
With her graduation degree
She tells me
Time is flying by so fast

She strolls her fingers
On her past pages
And thinks again
Of her first book release

Wonders that finally
It’s time to achieve 
My pages are filled
With her desires

My friend moon

Garima Minocha,  AIS Pushp Vihar, XII

Hello moon, my old friend
I look at the stars and wonder
Are they all your children
Or people who surrender
 
You’re so bright
The brightest in the sky
I think you are lonely
Sometimes I wonder why

Are those dazzling stars
In your close vicinity
Mirrors who reflect you so high
Or specks like me so nigh

Have you been able to confide
Or are all away because of light
As colours in the welkin above
Is that your blanket of love?

You look so perfect
You look so impeccable
But still those silly creatures
Describe you despicable

They say you’re a fabulist
And you beg for attention
And all your craters
Are signs of detention

I know for sure they lie
Because moon o moon
Who would dare not spy
The apple of our eyes

But listen my old friend
I trust what my eyes will see
For all I see in thee
Is you and me