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Covid-19 Quarantine Times – Part 2

Hello Friends!! How was your day? My day was fine! So let’s start on today’s blog. Covid-19 Quarantine Times – Part 2 – Yes! Part 2! I have a lot more to say as it has been a long time since my first article on the topic came up live. So here we go… Covid-19 Quarantine Times – Let’s go!!! Prologue For all of you who did not read the first part, click here to read it! But anyway I am going to put a summary of it here. So here it goes. A year ago I posted an article titled “Covid-19 quarantine times” and in it I wrote everything I felt about the present situation then and also how to take it positively and how this lockdown is helping nature and how nature is healing itself. Let’s continue with the article now… This year – 2021!! I thought 2021 would be a nice easy-going year. But I was wrong. I learned to never say something without thinking. This year was not as expected. I don’t know about your thoughts, so leave your comments on this now. How was your year? Anyway, let us get back to the topic… I will not be boring you with what happened to me. We will see everything in general through the eyes of a student. School… I assume that school is a little rough and tough for all students nowadays. This is all the result of being trapped in your house and not doing anything to burn all the energy we are stocking up daily. Moreover, we are not doing much work like games or anything active, so obviously everyone becomes lazy. And those online classes are really boring at times. What makes online classes boring is the lack of interaction with teachers as we do in school. I really miss those days. Sometimes the internet starts to become so slow that we sit in front of the laptop waiting for the teacher to return from the ‘freeze’ mode. But what actually happens is that during the time, she takes the important stuff and when my internet bounces back with the data she would have taken the important portion. Soon after, the totally blank student will have to answer the question related to the topic she just took when he/she saw her frozen. Next comes a plethora of scolding for not listening in class. Can anyone relate to this… comment! Teachers… I love all my teachers! I believe that teaching is an art. There are some teachers who have mastered the art and some are still on the path of mastering the art. There are some nice and cool teachers who make the online classes fun and interesting but there are teachers who bore us to the core as well. Maybe the lack of interaction with students for the teachers too does matter. I would like to bring certain things to the notice of all the teachers in society. Just because we students are at home doesn\’t mean we are always free. We do make use of our time learning new things. I have learned a lot of new things that are not taught in school and I love learning new things. We too need a break – we too would love to chill and relax on holidays. No offence – I hate special classes on public and festival holidays! This has become a norm nowadays and public and festive holidays have become working days only because we are at home and everything is online. Nowadays, teachers are teaching at top speed – doing marathon races to finish the portions, especially for high school students. Whatever, I will run my race at my own pace. My aim is only to reach the finishing point – not to reach there first – Sorry, I am what I am! Extra Curriculum… Extracurricular activities are really important for a student. It is a way of relaxation, fun, and learning new things. Earlier when covid did not exist extra-curriculum mainly meant sports, music, and arts. Well, now sports cannot be performed. So the rise of new extracurricular activity emerged – and they call it coding!!! No offence, I, myself, am a coder or a programmer (you can call me anything). But the ads that show coding like a child\’s play annoys me the most. To get a view, here is a situation… Imagine….. You are sitting in the living room with your father and mother sipping a hot coffee, your father looking through Facebook and your mom watching TV. You join your mom and peacefully sit there. And suddenly your dad starts teasing you for wasting time in this and that and not for doing something productive. He tells you about a 4-year-old kid making an app and making millions and is the CEO of his own company. And you say “WHAT” and he shows you the post he saw. If you look at it closely you will see that it is an advertisement for a coding course that claims coding to be fun and easy. First of all, let me tell you from my experience – coding is all easy and fun at first – but wait till you get your first bug!!! Whatever, you look at the ad and you see that it also provides the link to join and if you check it, you will see a lot of apps made by students. Once you join you will have to pay some crazy amount of money and they still only teach you the basics. I still wonder how we can make apps just by learning the basics and making lots of money. The next thing I have to say about this coding and computer is to all parents reading this. If your child codes an app or codes a website then ask them the language they used to make the application and look for it on the internet. Also, check for similar apps

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Covid-19 quarantine times

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COVID-19 quarantine times – Yes, I mentioned this in my previous blog, World Family Day. Yes, this blog is about what I learnt about the negatives and positives of the coronavirus or COVID-19 and why we are the victims of Mother Nature’s fit. First of all, I want to clarify a common mistake that is Corona and Covid-19 are different. Corona is a virus that spreads the disease called COVID-19 whose characteristics and behaviour change according to time, space, warmth, climate, and region. Now let’s jump straight into the content. What I love about quarantine times and COVID-19 There are so many accounts of Covid-19 patients all around the world. But in these times, I feel that there are some things to be happy about as well. Now you will be thinking about how would a world disaster have positives. Yeah, everyone will think that but I am saying that nature is coming back to life because of COVID-19. I will give you an example, before COVID 19 when you wake up in the morning what is the first thing you hear other than your mobile, parents and vehicles??? Nothing, right…? But now you can hear birds chirping, right? As a result of this pandemic, dolphins have been seen in the Shores of Itali and Marine Drive. Water in Venice is as clear as crystal. Now 80% of pollution is decreased in China, Bangkok, New Delhi, etc… New Delhi is renowned for many things. The high use of vehicles and smoke has helped increase pollution over the years. The main benefit is that many families are together and united, although people are stuck in other countries without seeing their families. Yes, I forgot to tell you that there is a huge environmental benefit to this and that is about the ozone layer. Do you know about the ozone layer had a hole above Antarctica?? Yes, it is because of pollution and global warming. But, during this lockdown period, pollution has decreased so much that our Ozone Layer is healing fast according to NASA. Yes, I know that COVID 19 has taken so many lives I agree with that. But look at the positive side. Why We??? We have hurt our nature for many years that we started to exploit nature. Not for our need but our greed and our greed never ends. We are the ones who crossed the line a long time ago. If we didn’t come back at the line of limitation that we have crossed early then I don’t know what disasters will happen to erase us forever. We are like a virus to Nature, to our home, to a place that gives us everything. If we don’t stop… I don’t have words to say what will happen to us. But we still got time to stop everything we started to exploit the world. It’s not too late for a change we must come back to reality from our little imaginary world where we live. We don’t realise the danger we are in now and is to come. These changes that are happening now is temporary and because after the COVID-19, we will go back to fulfil our greed. Whatever we do, it must be eco-friendly. There is hope!!! We are near the end but, If we do everything for our need and not for our greed then we may survive. We just have to be selfless. There is always a positive and negative side to everything in the world. We just have to find them and go with the positive perspectives of everything. Let us be kind and generous to all. Let us bring back happiness, kindness, gratitude, and all other emotions back to lead a simple and happy life. Be Safe Be Happy Lets Fight COVID-19 together!!!

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Happy World Family Day

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Happy World Family Day!!! Family is a great treasure. Don’t you think so?? And 15 May 2020 is a special day for every one day know why?? Yes, It is World Family Day. We all have families and we all love them dearly. They are the only ray of hope when we have troubles. They help us with everything and we actually spend less time with them. Now we don\’t even remember some of our family members birthday due to the busy schedule each one of us follows. This drawback has been there for years. Nowadays people don’t stay with their parents or with their children and wife which break the family bonding. How many people do you know whose entire family lives together under one roof?? Yes, I am talking about a joint family system. Covid-19 Quarantine Times This year, Family day is special. Do you know the reason why? It is because it is the time of the major crisis of a virus called the Corona Virus which spreads a sickness called the Covid-19. You will be thinking about what is special about this time. There is a lot of stuff that changed the world, but that will be for another blog I think. The main thing it did was to unite the families into one. I didn’t even know that there was a day called World Family Day. Did you know that millions of people live without families, their love, care, and togetherness? Appreciate them, respect them because they live without a family which is the greatest treasure in one’s life. In our school, St Mary’s English Medium School, we have a theme for every year, and for the year 2020 it is “Time Spent With Family Is Worth Every Second”. This theme inspired me a lot. But again it is a story for another blog. Though the quarantine and lockdown have impacts on everyone’s life, there are a few good things too. Did you realize that, in the past 40 days, you were only with your family, knowing them better and enjoying every bit of the day? So don’t forget that ‘Time Spent With Family Is Worth Every Second’, and keep respecting your family. Happy World Family Day!

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Happy Mother’s Day

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Hi Friends, Mothers is said to be the gift of God to us. Don’t you think so?? Today 10 March 2020 is a special day for all of us, can you tell me why?? Yes, it is Mothers Day!!! First of all, let me wish you and all your mothers a Happy Mothes’s Day. Now let’s start… A special day for everyone in the world who loves their mother. Whoever is studying in foreign countries will surely miss their mom on this very day. Yes, we all love our mother dearly and always want their love, affection, help, and her presence in our life. We do fight with our mom but how much we hurt her doesn’t matter because she loves us the most in the world. My mother has always stood up to me to help me do everything. Even though I have hurt her millions of times she still loves me and helps me in everything I do. This year it is different because of the Coronavirus I salute all nurses and doctors who are mothers because they’re risking their lives to overcome this situation. They don’t know if they will meet their family, children, parents, and friends again. God has given permission to give birth to nature and women. So respect all mothers on this mother day in a different way today. Happy Mothers Day!!!

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Anna Sewell – First and the Last Masterpiece

Arundhati Roy

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\”I do what I do, and write what I write, without calculating what is worth what and so on\”.These are the words from the famous Indian author of books like The God Of Small Thinks, The End Of Imagination, The Cost Of Living and much more. Can you guess who it is? Yes, the renowned Indian author Mrs Suzanna Arundhati Roy Or most commonly known as Arundhati Roy. She was born at Shillong capital of the city Meghalaya, on 24 November 1961, her first book was the \”The God Of Small Thinks\” which she started in 1992 and completed it in 1996. It was her first and the most successful book. Arundhati Roy is also a social activist but she is best known as an author. She got National Film Award for Best Screenplay in 1989,Man Booker Prize in 1997, Norman Mailer Prize for Distinguished Writing in 2011, Sydney Peace Prize in 2004 and much. She also declined the Sahitya Akademi award in 1997. Now let\’s talk about the words \”I do what I do, and write what I write, without calculating what is worth what and so on\”. These words show that she is an independent, honest and a perfect model for women empowerment. She has been a human rights activities for over a decade and continues her work even now as an author and as an activist.

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Experiences Are Great

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Hi friends, It\’s been some time that I wrote something on my blog. Today, I am here to share a wonderful experience that happened to me a few days before. I got an opportunity to explore an expensive 360-degree camera. Now, this incident happened a few days ago, when I went along with my parents, as always, for a meeting. The reason, we are a nuclear family and I used to accompany my parents for their official meetings after school hours and on school holidays. This time, I met with Mr. VK Pratheesh or Pratheesh Uncle (as I call him). He is the founder of Micromart. He had learned about my achievements from my parents and my blog. To my surprise, he handed me a 360 degree GoPro Max camera and asked me to keep it for a couple of days and test it. For a moment, I was shocked as well as happy. Not just me, even my parents. I was really surprised that he trusted me with such an expensive camera and I could handle it on my own for 3-4 days. The reason for my joy was that even my cousin does not allow me to use his toys or his tab saying that I will damage them. I used to get very hurt when he says that. But when I got the camera, I realized how blessed I was and I also understood how much God cares for my feelings. I thank God for all the wonderful things he gives me in my life. Now, about the camera. The 360 Go Pro Max Camera is a black-colored square-shaped camera with a half camera on both sides. It is as small as the palm of a hand. It is stylish, small, and compact and when I got it, it had a protective camera lens and case. It also came with some accessories like head straps, hand straps, and handles. You can connect the camera with the accessories to capture a perfect picture. Uncle told me to take some images of various locations and check on the quality of the camera and the pics taken. I was ecstatic. We went to the beach at night on the same day, we took some images there. They were high-quality 360-degree images. For 4 days I carried it around wherever I went. The next day, I also took it to my school, after school hours, to take an image of the school campus. My Principal, Sr. Anice was very kind to allow me to take pics of the school. She was also happy with the image quality. Later we went to another beach in Calicut and took pics of the sea. It was in the evening and I could capture the lovely hues of the sunset. I was mesmerized by the quality of the images. It was fascinating that a small camera can take wonderful images. This camera costs nearly $700. I gave the camera back to Pratheesh Uncle and thanked him. Thank you once again for giving me the camera and for trusting me.

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Visit To The Central Silk Board Of Coonoor

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Here I am going to write about my trip to Coonoor, India, especially my visit to Central Silk Board of Coonoor. I, along with my parents started the journey to Coonoor around 5:30 a.m. on a holiday. I was so excited that we were going. We travelled by car and the road taken was through Nilambur – Gudalur to Ooty and then to Coonoor. Before starting our journey, we researched the places we should see on our visit to Coonoor. Apart from the regular parks and other scenic places, one place interested us. It was the Central Silk Board of Coonoor. After reaching Coonoor we went to the Central Silk Board of Coonoor where silk is made, to know more about silk and silkworm. We took some time to find the location and to get permission to visit the place. We thought that place would be too crowded, but to our surprise, it was not at all. We were welcomed by the members there. Thanks to Mr M.S Mohan (The scientist of the Central Silk Board of Coonoor) and Mrs Sharada who helped us to navigate through the knowledge of the production of silk and the life cycle of a silkworm. It took a whole day at central silk board. The members of the Central Silk Board of Coonoor showed us Cocoons of the silkworm, mulberry farm, handicraft items made with cocoon and a video about the life cycle of the silkworm. It was a very interesting video. I learnt a lot of things from there related to silk making, cocoons and silkworms. Pure silk comes from an insect called silkworm. Its scientific name is Bombyx mori. At the Central Silk Board of Coonoor, the silkworm is grown on mulberry trees and these worms eat a lot of mulberry leaves.It was a wonderful experience in which we gained the knowledge of silkworm and the weaving of the silk. HOW IT\’S MADE When I heard about silkworm, I remembered the lesson my teacher took in history class that Silk was first found in china and they kept the production of silk a secret.Silk is made by taking the fine thread from the cocoon of the silkworm, also called Bombyx mori. It is first cleaned in boiling water which extracts fine thread from the cocoon. This is processed to make a silk thread, and then it is bleached to remove unfavourable colour and odour. Later, it is dyed to any colour according to the requirement. THE HISTORYWhat I learned from there is that, silk was discovered 8500 years ago by the Chinese empress Leizu. They kept the weaving of silk a secret till Korea founded the way of weaving the silk in 200BC. It is then followed by the ancient kingdom of Khotan in 50AD and was spread to India in 140AD. Silk is very popular and is widely used. It is used to make bulletproof jackets, cosmetics, medicines, clothes etc, and it is used as a biomaterial, that means that it is used in surgeries and other operations. It is also the most luxurious material available to date.

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The day I met Sanjeev Kapoor

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Hi Guys Have you ever wanted to meet a celebrity? If yes please comment below who it is. Now you know what I am talking about when you read the title itself. Yes, I met a famous celebrity Chef recently. I am a die-hard fan of this chef whom I normally see in cookery channels and MasterChef India, a program on Star Plus. Yes, I met a famous celebrity, Chef Sanjeev Kapoor. It was indeed a dream come true for me and an exciting one too. Here goes the whole story. My mother has a passion for cooking and she shares her recipes in her food blog, Cooking Revived. One morning, Liju Aunty (a very close friend of my mom and the Owner of Paragon Group of Hotels, Calicut) knowing her love for cooking and food, called my mom to tell her that Chef Sanjeev Kapoor is coming to Hotel Paragon and asked her to come over. She did not want to miss the golden opportunity and went to meet her favourite chef. My mom had a nice time and the opportunity to meet and speak to him. Chef Sanjeev Kapoor was here as a part of his journey to know more about Biriyani’s and how can we, the people of Calicut forget Paragon Biriyani!. It was a Monday and obviously a working day. My school finishes at 1.45 pm. My father came to pick me up and he told me that Chef Sanjeev Kapoor was in town. At first, I thought that my father was joking. I believed when I saw the pics my mother send him. I was super excited to meet him. By the time I reached there, Chef Sanjeev Kapoor was leaving. Thanks to my rotten luck, his car passed by as we came in. I was really disappointed and seeing my disappointment Liju aunty made arrangements to meet my favourite chef in the evening. She also packed some yummy biriyani for us. Thank you Liju aunty for that yummy and my all-time favourite biriyani. So we went to Malabar Marina Convention Center, Feroke in the evening to meet Chef. On the way, I was super excited and was talking continuously about the things I will talk to Chef – regarding the cooking shows I see, Masterchef India Program, and I wanted to show him the snaps of the cookies I made and much more. We had to wait there for almost 2 hours as Chef Sanjeev Kapoor and his team were on the houseboat and were on their official schedule. It was the first time that I waited so patiently without getting irritated for so long and my mom was teasing me for that because I used to get irritated very soon and I had little patience. After the long wait, the boat arrived and went to meet Chef. The moment I saw him, I just could not believe my eyes. I was stunned to stand near him. Not even a sound came out of my mouth. I could only nod and answered only in a word or two to the questions he asked me. I felt as though someone has hit my head. I forgot all that I planned. We took some snaps together and I will treasure them all my life. He is a very down-to-earth, kind and good-hearted person and he always had a smile on his face. He spoke to me very softly and was very loving. I love you, Chef. When we travelled back home, I could think only about the meeting with my favourite chef. It took two days for me to come out of the magic spell he had cast on me. It was really a dream come true.

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From Struggle Comes Strength

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From Struggle Comes Strength – aren’t these words inspiring? I think These words are inspiring. Do you think so? (Please leave your opinion in the comments) It is very much true that without any struggle you will have no strength. Have you seen the poster that is hung on the walls of any gym – “No Pain, No Gain”? Yes, you thought that right, both the wordings or phrases are very similar to each other in meaning. Both have a lot of meaning and you need strength to reach your goals. To have a fit body, you need to take a lot of pain initially. Similarly in life too. Here is another quote that has a similar meaning- “A diamond cannot be polished without friction nor a man perfected without trials”. For a diamond to shine perfectly, it has to go through a lot of cutting processes. Only then it will sparkle brightly. Similarly, the trials that a person faces in their life only make him perfect – it makes him wiser, better, and stronger mentally. To be as perfect and to be as strong as a diamond you must be polished with friction. In other words, you must face trials and struggles to shine like a solitaire diamond and succeed in life. Here is another example related to sports. Imagine that you are in the game of hurdles. The track in the game that you run in is your life and the hurdles in these tracks are the struggles you have in your life. Each hurdle is higher than the previous one. When you start jumping over the hurdles, initially you fall because you are not used to it. But with practice and constantly trying, you succeed. The fall will make you determined and strong enough to jump over the next hurdle which is taller than the previous one. The initial struggles make you strong enough to jump over the next hard hurdle. The meaning of strength in life is not just physical fitness, it is knowledge and wisdom which you can only gain through struggles and trials. So do not stop running when you fall in the path of life. Get up and move forward. If you quit, then you will not be successful in your race and in your life. So remember, “From Struggle Comes Strength”.

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