The Autobiography of an Umbrella

I was born in Delhi as a portable canopy of coloured cloth, extended on a portable frame, which could easily slide on stick. I was bright red in colour, one among the most beautiful umbrellas. One day, my friends and I were packed in wooden cases, closed and sealed and loaded on a train. It was a very long journey, for several days where we were kept imprisoned in that box. Sometimes, we even got tossed up and down. There was no air and not even a single ray of light penetrated through the gaps in the box. We were all stacked in darkness and suffocation.

After several days of this suffocation we finally reached our destination – Kolkata. We were then conveyed on truck to a large warehouse. Someone came and opened the box and we breathed a sigh of relief.  I felt a little bit awkward, being touched by human beings speaking a different language. At first I could not understand anything as the language was new to me but gradually I started to understand and speak Bengali.

One day, my friends and I were conveyed to a shop. The shop was really beautiful, there we were placed attractively on the shelves. I was kept in the ‘Kids’ umbrella section. The kids opened and folded me several times. I was tried by the customers hundreds of times but no one bought me, maybe because I was too costly.

Some of the mean umbrellas even said that no one would buy me and I would remain in the shop forever lonely and frail, but I never lost hope. And then, one cloudy morning a man who apparently looked somewhat rich bought me. I was so happy to start a new life and help somebody but at the same time I was sad to leave my friends and the shop manager. The manager was the best human I had seen, he took care of me and the other umbrellas so well that we couldn’t have been treated better.

The man gifted me to his son who seemed kind of naughty. The kid used me for various purposes sometimes I protected him from the sun and sometimes gave shelter from the rain. He kept me in a metal basket with the other umbrellas.

And there I met Julia, she was mom’s umbrella and was pink in colour with small cupcake designs around the corner. She was the most beautiful umbrella I had ever seen. First, we became friends and then best friends and soon soul mates. As time passed I started to wear out because the kid didn’t take care of me well but Julia was still looked as young and as beautiful as ever.

One day, I realized there was a hole in my body, I tried to cover it up from the the world but in vain. I was immediately taken to the tailor. He stitched the torn piece and made me useful again but I didn’t look as beautiful and attractive as I was earlier.

When I was new I was so proud of myself for being this pretty and would boast about my handsome appearance but now that pride suddenly vanished into thin air. After returning home from the tailors place I found out that there was a new umbrella in the basket. He was blue in colour and shined like a diamond. And Julia had now become great friends with him, which made me feel sad.

Even the kid started using him so frequently, that I felt as if I was nothing more than the leftover crumbs of a pie on a plate.

The kid gradually stopped using me as I grew old and lost my beauty and strength. I lost my popularity and even Julia stopped talking to me and I always stood in the corner away from the group with a heap of dust on me. I felt like an outcast. It was miserable.

And then one day I was given to the ragman, who took me and put me in a box with other broken and worn-out things, and since then I live inside the box.

Life is a little hard here and I have grown old and lost my strength and sometimes I even feel useless. But my companions here,  a broken nip of a fountain pen, a monitor with cracked LED screen,  two torn shoe-brothers, a group of plastic scraps, though very different from me, are no more than a family. They again make me feel special and valuable.I have finally reached a place where every one values me regardless of my appearance.

It took me all this time to finally realize that outer appearance isn’t everything. One's personality and character is what really matters. I believe certain things only comes with maturity!

Megha Roy

Class - IX B

That Night...

It was a rainy day, and I was all alone at home. It was pitch dark outside. Suddenly, I heard someone knocking at the door. I am Jeremy Saunders, a microbiologist. And that was a stressful day.

I used to teach at the Queens Park College of Biology. I am a bachelor and used to live alone in 23/6, Lindall Street, London then. I was correcting the annual papers of my college.
"Mitosis is a type of cellular division" I was murmuring to myself when I heard the knock.
A few minutes later, I was sitting in the drawing room with Mr. Oliver, my senior. He was a man aged around 55 years with a yellowish beard, stern eyes and brownish hair. He was wearing a blazer.
"Do you want one? "he asked offering me a redhawk cigar.
I refused his offer politely.
He said to me "So, completed checking the paper Jere! Oh Lord! Oh!".
After this, I saw the most horrifying sight in my life. Mr. Oliver's face blackened, his eyes looked as if they were going pop out.
As I was aware of his medical condition, I rushed into my makeshift home lab (for all the late-night research ideas I had while I could not access the Departmental Lab) and brought with me an injection (WHRLS-211) and injected it to Mr. Oliver thinking that it would give him relief.
To my horror, Mr. Oliver died on spot and I was arrested and was given a death sentence.
It is my execution today. I can hear them coming but I know I am not guilty. Something happened that night, something I cannot explain.

Rajbir Chakraborty

Class - IX A

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel: Celebrating National Unity Day

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was born on 31^st October 1875 in Nadiad in Gujarat.

He was the first Deputy Prime Minister of India. He played an important role in the integration of the Princely States during the partition of India.

Before joining politics, he was a successful barrister. Later, he became inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and participated in the Bardoli Satyagraha.

He later joined the Indian National Congress to participate in the freedom struggle whole-heartedly. He expired on 15^th December 1950.

His birthday is commemorated as National Unity Day. A 182 m statue was inaugurated in 2018 in honour of Sardar Patel in the Narmada District in Gujarat. It is the tallest statue in the world.

Shaunak Ghosh
Class IX A

Who was that?

“Make sure you finish your dinner on time. Be a good girl, okay?” said mom.
Granny was seriously ill and mom was supposed to visit her, meanwhile dad was out of town. It’s not that I did not care for my grandma, but I rather preferred staying at home. Mom left soon.

It was midnight and I was all alone at home. Moreover, the lights went off. I slowly stepped towards the inverter in order to switch it on. Suddenly, I felt someone’s presence just behind me. I turned back, but no one was there. I knew, it was just all in my mind and nothing else. I quickly switched the inverter on and ran to my room.
The room was so silent that every tick of the clock felt like a drum beat. I switched on the television to divert my mind. Astonishingly, no channel was available.
"Maybe its some signal problem", I consoled myself. Just then the clock stopped ticking and the lights went off once again.
A chill went down my spine. I felt cold and afraid.
“The rusty inverter is busted or what!”, I moaned.
I thought sleeping was the best thing one could do in that particular situation. So I grabbed a blanket and covered myself from head to toe and tried so hard to fall asleep. But all efforts were in vain. I ended up staring at the blanket in the darkness and feeling suffocated.

After some time, a peculiar sound became audible…as if someone was scratching a surface. I got bitterly scared. I unwrapped myself from the bedroll and followed the sound, with the belief that I wasn’t hallucinating.
The sound came from our storeroom. I struck a matches and lit up a candle. The sound was coming from beneath a broken sofa. I slowly marched towards it. Each step brought with it a terrible vague feeling and a faster heart beat. I took a glance. The actual sight was not anticipated at all.

It was none other than my pet dog Luca who was trying to catch a mouse. I have always had a special bond with Luca. And of course it was my best birthday present from granny till date.  I sighed with relief. At last I got a companion. I washed its paws and took it to my bed. I slept hugging it like a side pillow and the scene seemed more like a ‘happily ever after’.

The next morning, mom returned with a pale face. I assumed, it was a bad news. Granny has suffered a lot, and finally she made a way out of this selfish world. I wisher her soul may rest in peace in heaven forever.
“But both dying at the same time cannot be a coincidence. It will be hard to overcome the grief of both of their deaths.” , said mom.
I was confused and asked for clarification as to what she meant by ‘both’.

The previous night, mom informed that she did not go alone. She took Luca with her, as granny had been wanting to see her since long.
At the time of granny’s death, it rested its head on granny’s chest, leaving its last breath, it died eventually.
I was spellbound. I did not know whether mom had any misconception.
But as I never saw Luca ever again, it is still an unsolved mystery. If Luca and granny died at the same time, then…

Who was that?

Samrajnee Bhattacharjee

Class IX B

Unbreakable Bond!

My brother, one in a thousand                       

Never has his mind imprisoned.                

My memories sways along,                      

To the land of Thames and further beyond.

We will be staying together after studies

Where no one will hinder our flurries .

We will travel together without worries 

And joy will appear, with hurries.

Richik Banerjee 

Class IX A

NEW HORIZONS - to Pluto and beyond...

One of the most important space achievements made by humans was “New Horizons”. New Horizons is an inter-planetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's new frontiers program. It was supposed to be a flyby mission to Jupiter and Pluto but it proved out to be having a much greater goal as it went past our imagination into the deepest of the space crossing and dodging millions of asteroids and space dust.

It is the fifth space probe in human history to achieve the velocity to escape the solar system. It was engineered by John's Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and the South West Research University with a team led by S.Alan Stern.

It was launched on January 19, 2006, from Cap Canaveral Air Force Station. It was launched directly into the earth-and-solar escape trajectory with a speed of about 16.25 km/s. It became the fastest man-made object ever and on July 14, 2015, it became the first spacecraft to explore the dwarf planet “Pluto” from just 12,500 km away from its surface and by 2016 it gained a speed of more than 84,000 km/h.

New Horizons is powered by radio-isotope thermo-electric generator (RTG), which transforms the heat from the natural radioactive decay of plutonium dioxide into electricity.

Now, one of the hardest and also the most dangerous phase of the mission was to face the Kuiper belt. Kuiper belt is a long, broad belt of asteroids that are present on the boundaries of our solar system. Having completed its flyby mission of Jupiter and Pluto on January 1, 2019, it successfully reached a new Kuiper belt object (KBO) 2014MU69 also known as “Ultima Thule”.

Many scientists believe Ultima Thule to be a dwarf planet present in the Kuiper belt but due to the lack of evidence they are not able to prove so and hence it is still regarded as a Kuiper belt object (KBO).

With the help of New Horizons, scientists confirmed the existence of a hydrogen wall at the outer edges of the solar system.

Till date, New Horizons is zooming through the space reaching the deepest secrets of the universe that are yet to be solved.

Tarun Binay Das 

Class - IX A

Magical Transformation

The word 'Nature' has a variety of context in it. The Beauty of Nature is mesmerizing to look at during the monsoon. The trees get dressed up as if in the finest clothes of the year. The beautiful lush green leaves and the vibrant colors of the flowers makes the atmosphere as pure as Heaven. 

Mother nature is best known for her beauty and the way how she dresses herself. 

During the monsoon season, in times of rain the pitter-patter sound of the drops on the leaves and in small lakes in the lap of  nature one is left to silently sit and admire.
 Wordsworth,the father of Romanticism beautifully describes nature as the bliss of solitude. According to him the sky looks like a color of peacock feather reverberating thunder and announces its arrival. There's nothing more beautiful than to look at the beauty of nature to man, which is the greatest blessing god has showered on us.

Monsoon brings a unique diversity of color and god the supreme artist creates the finest painting of all time. The smell of the earth after the rain is something one cannot express in words.

The recreation of nature gives  us a chance to choose places for the sake of recreation. The restoration of nature has inspired artists of all times all over the world to wonder and ponder upon the magical transformation of nature. Thus, celebrating  the beauty and charm of Mother Nature.

Ayushi Gupta
Class IX A