What 'Women's day' means to me?

Mrs. Shweta Vartak
English Secondary Section

        It's 8th March today. In the morning I received a message wishing me  'Happy Women's day'. My first thought - Wow, its my day, I'm proud to be a woman. Throughout the day I was receiving the same type of messages, in different words but all were praising women power, her courage, her abilities and her outstanding multitasking quality. I felt really pleased to receive such comments and praise from the people, men and women too. But, is really a specific day needed to praise and honour women ?

        Today's women are not only taking care of their house as dictated by ancient culture, but they are also standing beside men and shouldering their responsibilities in all fields. At the same time, a woman is performing different roles in her life, such as a mother, daughter, wife, sister, daughter-in-law etc. She not only takes full  responsibility of her family but also works towards developing the society. As a homemaker, she follows various duties like being a  teacher to her children, a cook in the kitchen making Tiffin for her family, a financial planner managing the household expenses etc. She does all these tasks without expecting a word of encouragement.

        As per my opinion, Women's day should not be limited to one day when everybody applauds women, and the other 364 days of the year they treat a women like an inferior part of the family and society. Being a woman, I would like to say that if someone really wants to appreciate women, they should not wait for a so called 'Women's day'. Respecting her and taking note of her opinion should become a part and parcel of our psyche. So long as women are abused and looked upon as objects of desire, celebration of Women's Day will only be a farce, lacking in any intrinsic value. A woman of calibre does not expect anything from anybody and so she feels astonished on receiving a word of appreciation from the person she loves or cares for. She is so strong and complete in herself that she is an inspiration for the rest.

        According to me, Women's day should  be the day when all the ladies will feel secure in this world. The women should be able to live freely and follow their dreams without obstacles.

                                                              

                                                                

                               

Common mistakes made in life

Parth Nirhali - VI A In day to day life of the people, they make a lot of mistakes. Such mistakes should be avoided for their health and convenience also. Some myths are also followed by them. Today I will share some of the wrong practices that people usually follow. 1. Wearing a bag- People usually wear a bag on their back, facing the back. This is not the way to wear a bag. If people continue wearing a bag like this they will have to face problems like back ache and their height will also decrease . The reason behind this is that wearing a bag facing the back puts force on the vertebral column which can be a cause for your back ache or problem of shortage of your height. I have a simple solution to these problems.  The solution is that – you should wear your bag on the front, facing your front side . This will reduce the stress on the back and also not lead to shortage of height.  2. The right way of sleeping-            Mostly people sleep straight on their back or sleep on the right side of their body. Unfortunately these are not the ways of sleeping because usually people sleep after eating some food at night. The process of digestion takes four hours to complete. So sleeping directly after eating is wrong. You should at least have a walk for half an hour after food. Still some of you may not have time for this so I have a tip for you. Digestion occurs even while sleeping. For this you should know the right way or posture to sleep. The right posture to sleep is to sleep on the left side of your body. The scientific reason behind this is that when you sleep on the left side of your body digestion can take place. This is because the front side of your body does not contain your stomach; it is only your fats. The stomach is present on the left side of your body. Sleeping on the left side also helps in removing bad toxins of your body. Sleeping on left side is also beneficial for blood circulation as our heart is present on our left side. Thus keeping our heart in its natural position while sleeping helps in blood circulation. 3. The right way of breathing-              Breathing is the most important process of inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide. Everyone knows to breathe but the right way to breathe is not known. When  people breathe, their chest moves  up and down. You should learn the proper way of breathing by observing a baby. While the baby breathes his/her stomach moves up and down as the air reaches every part of the lungs. The diaphragm moves up and down. More impure air is thrown out. This is the right way of breathing. When we take deep breaths and our stomach goes in and out, we get more oxygen. By breathing through this method, the oxygen also reaches our brain. This also makes our brain happy. This method helps to reduce heart problems. Cortisol, a hormone, that makes us feel stressed  gets destroyed by breathing diaphragmatically. These are the benefits of deep breathing so all of us should consciously adopt this technique. 4. The duration of brushing-            When you wake up in the morning the first thing you do is, you brush your teeth. Some of you think of completing brushing quickly and hurry towards your next daily rituals, but if you brush only for a few seconds it is useless. Dentists speculate that your tooth paste takes at least two minutes for completing its work. Science says if you brush regularly for two minutes, you will have no problems related to your teeth. So the right duration of brushing is two minutes. 5. Some myths about catching cold-                    Whenever you catch cold, your mother stops you from drinking cold water and wetting your hair. You refuse to eat ice-cream when you have cough and cold but all the above things are myths. The reality is that they have no connection to cold and cough. Cough and cold are simply some viral diseases. When someone sneezes or coughs on you, you catch the disease. You must have seen that your parents stop you from drinking cold water or eating your favourite ice-cream   but all these things are myths. So now you have understood that cough and cold are viral diseases. So you must follow the above tips and avoid the above myths.

ANNUAL GATHERING OF OUR SCHOOL

Mandar Prabhu - VI A

Our school is very special as it provides an opportunity to every student to showcase their skills. It organises separate cultural programmes for every section. Today I am going to write on the Annual gathering of VPM's Vidya Mandir, English Secondary section. As always, it was a grand success.

Every standard was given a theme by our HM, Mrs Tharval. The theme for standard VI A was 'BOOK' and the theme of VI B was 'HAT'. There was a good selection of songs for dance and attractive dance steps. The days of practice were very exciting. The choreographer who was teaching was very friendly with us. A funny incident that happened was that Shubham`s leg got crossed and he fell on the floor in a comical manner. We all laughed very loudly. Fortunately, he was not hurt. There was a step which was very difficult and only the choreographer could do it. At last he changed the step. When the dance got set , we thanked the choreographer for setting the dance so quickly and skillfully.

The final day, on 21st of December, was a grand success. There were a few skits and many dances.

Everybody loved and enjoyed the dance Mahishasuravadani. Everybody had performed well. Everybody- the students, teachers, parents and other staff members had put in all their efforts to make this programme a grand success. The programme concluded with the singing of VANDE MATARAM.

10 unique scientific facts

Aayush Shitut- VIII C

1. There is enough DNA in an average person’s body to stretch from the sun to Pluto and back — 17 times

2. The average human body carries ten times more bacterial cells than human cells

3. It can take a photon 40,000 years to travel from the core of the sun to its surface, but only 8 minutes to travel the rest of the way to Earth

4. At over 2000 kilometers long, The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth

5. There are 8 times as many atoms in a teaspoonful of water as there are teaspoonfuls of water in the Atlantic ocean.

6. The average person walks the equivalent of five times around the world in a lifetime

7. When Helium is cooled to almost absolute zero (-460°F or -273°C), the lowest temperature possible, it becomes a liquid with surprising properties: it flows against gravity and will start running up and over the lip of a glass container!

8. If Betelgeuse would explode transiting from the red supergiant stage to supernova then our sky would light continuously for two months. It can happen anytime, within a couple of thousand years, tomorrow or even now

9. An individual blood cell takes about 60 seconds to make a complete circuit of the body

10. The known universe is made up of 50,000,000,000 galaxies. There are between 100,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000,000 stars in a normal galaxy. In the Milky Way alone there might be as many 100 billion Earth-like planets. Still think you’re alone?

reference : www.ZMEscience.com

जीवाश्मांच्या दुनियेतील फेरफटका

Intro - मुंबई विद्यापीठाच्या एक्स्ट्रा म्युरल स्टडीज या विभागाने गेल्या महिन्यात मुंबई विद्यापीठाच्या कालिना परिसरात आयोजित केलेलं भूशास्त्रविषयक प्रदर्शन देखणं होतं. दगडांच्या अंतरंगात दडलेलं स्फटिकं, जिओड्स, मौल्यवान रत्नं, जीवाश्म यांचं अद्भुत जग भान हरपून टाकणारं होतं. यंदा या प्रदर्शनात आपल्या शाळेत आठवीत शिकणाऱ्या अगस्ती देशपांडे या विद्यार्थ्याने आपलं जीवाश्माचं कलेक्शन मांडलं होतं. या प्रदर्शनात सहभागी झालेला अगस्ती सर्वात लहान प्रदर्शक होता. मुख्य म्हणजे त्याने जीवाश्मांचे जे कलेक्शन मांडलं होतं, त्यात प्रामुख्याने त्याने स्वत: गोळा केलेल्या जीवाश्मांचा समावेश होता. अगस्तीशी बोलून जीवाश्मांच्या त्याच्या कलेक्शनबद्दल जाणून घेण्याचा प्रयत्न केला आहे. अगस्तीच्या या अनोख्या छंदाविषयी, त्याच्याच शब्दांत...

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अगस्ती देशपांडे - VIII

जीवाश्मांच्या जगाविषयी मला नेहमीच कुतुहल वाटत आलंय. पुस्तकांतून, इंटरनेटवरून मला या संबंधी पडणाऱ्या प्रश्नांची उत्तरं शोधण्याचा प्रयत्न मी नेहमीच करतो. २०१४ मध्ये आई-बाबांसोबत मेघालयात फिरायला गेलो तेव्हा तेथील काही खाणींमध्ये पूर्ण छताच्या आकारातील शार्क माशाचं फॉसिल्स पाहिलं तेव्हा मी हरखून गेलो होतो. २०१५ मध्ये मी आम्ही स्पितीला गेलो होतो. तेथील काही विशिष्ट प्रदेशात फॉसिल्स मिळत असल्याचे माहीत होते. तिथेही आम्ही आवर्जून फिरायला गेलो. समुद्रसपाटीपासून साधारण १२ हजार ते १४ हजार फूटांवर असणाऱ्या स्पिती प्रदेशात फिरताना खूपच अडचणी येत होत्या. ऑक्सिजनचा अभाव, गार वाऱ्यांचा मारा आणि गारवा असूनही समुद्रसपाटीपासून खूपच उंच ठिकाणी असल्याने प्रखर सूर्यकिरणं असं विचित्र हवामान तिथे होतं. तिथे शोधल्यानंतर मला काही फॉसिल्स हाती लागले आणि एक मोठा खजिना हाती आल्याचा आनंद मला झाला.

त्यानंतर काही महिन्यांतच येऊ घातलेल्या मुंबई विद्यापीठाच्या भूशास्त्र विषयीच्या माझ्या आवडत्या प्रदर्शनाची मी वाट पाहात होतो. त्याआधीही मी तिथे अनेकदा गेलो आहे... तिथे मांडलेले निरनिराळे तेजस्वी, रंगीबेरंगी खडक बघायला मला आवडतं. तिथले स्वयंसेवकाच्या भूमिकेतील दादा-ताई, सर-मॅडम प्रत्येक दगडाची कितीतरी माहिती द्यायचे आणि ते ऐकताना माझा आ वासला जायचा.

पण फॉसिल्स हाती लागल्यापासून मला हे प्रदर्शन कधी भरतंय असं झालं होतं. याचं कारण मला त्या प्रदर्शनातील जीवाश्मांच्या विभागातील तज्ज्ञांना भेटून त्याबद्दल अधिक जाणून घ्यायचं होतं. मला वरचेवर पडणाऱ्या काही प्रश्नांची तर मी लिस्टही केली होती. आणि मग २०१६ च्या डिसेंबरमध्ये भरलेल्या या भूशास्त्र प्रदर्शनात एकदा नव्हे तर दोनदा गेलो. पहिल्यांदा प्रदर्शन पाहिले, जीवाश्मांबद्दल काही प्रश्न होते, ते तिथल्या सरांना विचारले. त्यावर सरांनी ‘तुझं कलेक्शन घेऊन ये दाखवायला,’ असं सांगितलं आणि मी पुन्हा तिथे गेलो- फॉसिल्स घेऊन. जेव्हा त्या सरांनी सांगितलं की, हे फॉसिल्स १५० दशलक्ष वर्षांपूर्वीचे आहेत, तेव्हा तर मला आनंदाने नाचावंसं वाटलं. आमच्या घरातील सर्वात ‘यूनिक’ वस्तू ही आहे, याचा जणू साक्षात्कार आम्हा सर्वांना झाला. अशी आहे माझ्या पहिल्यावहिल्या फॉसिल्स कलेक्शनची गोष्ट. मी जेव्हा सरांकडून माझ्यापाशी असलेल्या फॉसिल्सविषयी अधिक जाणून घेत होतो, तेव्हा मुंबई विद्यापीठाच्या एक्स्ट्रा म्युरल विभागाच्या संचालक मुग्धा कर्णिक मॅडम यांची भेट झाली. त्यावेळेस ‘पुढच्या वर्षी तुझं कलेक्शनही मांड या प्रदर्शनात,’ या त्यांच्या बोलण्याने मला जणू शाबासकी मिळाल्यासारखी वाटली.

गेल्या उन्हाळी सुट्टीत मी माझ्या मनिषा मावशीकडे राहायला इंग्लंडला गेलो होतो. लंडनच्या सायन्स म्युझियममध्ये फिरताना तिथल्या जिओलॉजी सेक्शनमध्ये मला वेगवेगळे खडक, जीवाश्मं बघायला मिळाली. काही छोटे दगड तिथून मी खरेदीही केले. शीतल मावशीने आम्हाला वेल्स परिसर फिरवला. तिथल्या ग्रेट आर्मे हिल या आधी खाण परिसर असलेल्या भागात फिरणं हा माझ्यासाठी ग्रेट अनुभव होता... टिपिकल हेल्मेट घालून त्या खाण परिसरात पर्यटक म्हणून फिरता येण्याकरता आवश्यक ती सर्व सुविधा तिथल्या प्रशासनाने तिथे केल्या होत्या. खाणीत प्रकाशाची सोय, जिथे काही वेगळ्या प्रकारचे दगड आहेत, त्यावर प्रकाशझोत पडलेला असणे हे सारं कमालीचं प्रेक्षणीय होतं. तेथील सोव्हेनियर शॉपमध्ये काही वेगवेगळ्या प्रकारचे दगड तिथे मांडून ठेवण्यात आले होते, त्यात काही फॉसिल्सही होते आणि मी जाम खूश झालो... काही खूपच वजनदार, काही प्रचंड महाग... काही अत्यंत दुर्मीळ, वेगळ्या प्रकारचे फॉसिल्स खरेदी करायची मुभा मला आईने दिली आणि या ट्रिपमध्ये मला आणखी काहीही खरेदी करायचे नाही, असे वारंवार सांगत मी तिथे काही दगड आणि फॉसिल्स खरेदी करण्यात यशस्वी झालो. त्यामुळे माझ्या फॉसिल्स कलेक्शनमध्ये भर पडली.

मुग्धा मॅडमनी सांगितल्याप्रमाणे, प्रदर्शनात सहभागी होण्यासाठी त्यांच्याशी महिनाभर आधी संपर्क केला. त्यांनी माझं कलेक्शन पुन्हा एकदा पाहिलं. मी ते कसं जमवलं हे त्यांनी जाणून घेतलं आणि त्यातील मी जमवलेली फॉसिल्स प्रदर्शनात मांडायला त्यांनी परवानगी दिली. खरं सांगू, या प्रदर्शनात सहभागी होईपर्यंत केवळ छंद म्हणून मी फॉसिल्स कलेक्शन करत होतो. पण चार पूर्ण दिवस भूशास्त्राच्या वेगवेगळ्या विषयांबाबत जाणून घेतल्यानंतर त्यातील विविध शाखांविषयी कळले. भूशास्त्राच्या दादा-ताईंनी कितीतरी माहिती दिली. विविध अमूल्य खडक, फॉसिल्स यांचे कलेक्शन करणारे ज्येष्ठ तज्ज्ञ श्री. मक्की सरांशी संवाद साधता आला. त्यांनी प्रोत्साहनपर मला जेव्हा काही फॉसिल्स दिले, तेव्हा मला किती आनंद झाला, मी सांगू शकत नाही.

इतकंच काय, प्रदर्शन बघायला आलेल्यांमध्येही कितीतरी तज्ज्ञ, भूशास्त्रज्ञ, प्राध्यापक, शिक्षक होते. माझं वय आणि कलेक्शन पाहून ते सगळे माझ्याशी आपुलकीने बोलले, कितीतरी नवी माहिती दिली. या सगळ्यांचाच मी ऋणी आहे. छंदाच्या पलीकडे पोहोचत त्यातील अधिकाधिक गोष्टी जाणून घ्याव्यात, असं मला वाटू लागलंय.

HOBBIES

 Aayush Ghatgar – VI B

Having a hobby is very important in today's stressful life. Hobbies are the greatest stress busters. They give us a chance to relax ourselves. Hobby is not just a time pass activity but it adds value to our time which helps us to understand the importance of time in our life. Having a hobby can help our social life and create a bond with others. A hobby leads us to enhance our power to concentrate and develop our interpersonal skills.

A hobby can be converted into passion. Passion is the next step of hobby. But there is a difference between hobby and passion. Hobby is what you like to do and passion is what you love to do. Hobby is what you do in your free time and passion is what you do even if you don’t have free time. The desire for pursuing the passion is much stronger.  When one is passionate about something, one continuously wants to improve his skills. 

I too have a hobby in the field of music.  My hobby is playing the Tabla. I have been learning Tabla for the last five years. Recently I gave Praveshika Poorna, the third exam in Tabla and got distinction in it.  From the age of 3 years only, I began to show my liking for Tabla.  At the age of six, my Tabla education started under the guidance of Ashish Mahajan Sir but there I couldn’t give any Tabla exam.  So after three years, I went to Siddhesh Kamat Sir who developed my Tabla playing skills and prepared me for competition within two years.  I got first runner up prize in the competition held by Sri Guruji Art Academy which is my first ever achievement in Tabla. I know that this is just a beginning and I have a long way to go but this experience helped me to understand the importance of this hobby in my life. I learnt the value of discipline too.  My guru explained the importance of daily ‘Riyaz’. He also takes me for a 3 day workshop to a place which is away from noise and air pollution of the city. This also gives me an opportunity to practice with other sincere and senior students and get guidance from Tabla maestros. 

But the most important thing is I get relaxed from the daily stressful routine. I enjoy playing Tabla. It has helped me in my studies also.  I have increased my concentration ability to a great extent. As we have to memorise Tabla notes, it has helped me to improve my memory. Recitation of difficult notes developed my pronunciation.   Above all my hobby helped me to overcome stage fear and to gain confidence.

                                                                                                           

SPEECH – Science Day

Vinay Vaidya - IX/C

Good morning teachers and my dear friends.

I am Vinay Vaidya from Std. IX/C. Today I am going to speak a few words on the wonderful occasion of ‘Science day'.

But first, I would like to ask you, What is Science? 

Let me tell you that Science is an intellectual & practical activity encompassing systematic study of a structure & behaviour of physical and natural world through observation & experiment. If I am not mistaken, science is the most favourite subject for most of us. So you might be aware that 28th February is celebrated as National Science day, so we all are here to celebrate this day . Don’t you think we should know why we are celebrating this day with great enthusiasm? It's because, on this day in 1928 the great Indian scientist Dr C.V. Raman discovered the phenomenon of scattering photons which was later named as Raman effect. C.V Raman got the Nobel Prize for his remarkable discovery.

This was the first Nobel prize that India got in the field of science so let me tell you all what is Raman effect in short, as we all must be aware of this. Raman effect is the change in the wavelength of the light that occurs when the light beam is deflected by  molecules. Dr C.V. Raman got knight bachelor award in 1929 and Hughes medal in 1930. He also got the Bharat Ratna in 1954. Science Day is celebrated to give an opportunity to scientific minded citizens in the country to showcase their new inventions and discoveries and spread the message about the use of scientific applications in daily life of the people . India has had great scientists like Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Dr. Homi Bhabha, Dr. Subrahmanyan Chandrashekhar, Vikram Sarabhai, & Shrinivasa Ramanujan who greatly contributed to the field of Science . Finally I  conclude saying, let us put the knowledge of science into application by planting more and more saplings, taking care of them so that we can reduce pollution and live a healthy & happy life. 

Wish you all happy Science day .

               🍁 Thank you.🍁