February 2011 Bulletin.CDR - City Montessori School

CMS BULLETIN — POWER OF PEN 2010 FEBRUARY 2011 (6)
FIRST PRIZE
Power of Pen 2010 organised by CMS Editorial Department
The Clock Struck One …..
The clock struck one and I was still awake. It was for the
first time I slept soundly at night since I received my call
letter from Michigan University, USA. I was scared of
sleeping. I knew what would happen as soon as my lids
shut. Again those nightmares! I had been getting them ever
since I had received my call letter.
I see myself sitting on my seat in the plane. It takes off.
Memories of my home – my parents warning me at the
airport, my brother with tears in his eyes hugging me run
like a film in my mind. These images occupy my attention
and I finally realize what homesickness is all about. I start
having butterflies in my stomach. As I am thinking about
my family, my life in my city and how everything is going
to change. I feel shaking. May be it is my imagination. No,
smoke is filling the entire cabin. As I try to focus my
thoughts on what is happening I hear the pilot's voice
announcing that there is some technical fault in the plane's
engine and we will have to prepare ourselves for our
emergency landing. He can't complete his sentence
because he is interrupted by a blast and soon the entire
cabin is engulfed in flames….
I woke up bathed in sweat. My mistake. I had given way to
sleep and as anticipated, the nightmare again! Why did I
ever get the call letter?
Life had been normal till about a week ago until I got the
call informing me that I had qualified for the research
fellowship in biotechnology. This was what I had been
dreaming about since I was thirteen. My dream had finally
come true at the age of twenty. Alas! How happy I was that
day, unaware of what fate had in store for me.
I glanced at the clock, 4.00 am. The first day I had this
dream, I told my parents about it. They cajoled me and
convinced me that it was just a nightmare. I also believed
that the apprehension of being away from home for the
first time probably instigated my subconscious to play
cruel tricks with me. After all, I had to be practical. But
something happening every night can't be dismissed as a
coincidence. Even now I was skeptical of going abroad.
The most important thing was that my flight was scheduled
for today. I got out of my bed, decided to go to the kitchen
to have a glass of water to cool my nerves.
Despite the air being quite cool, I felt very hot. I looked out
of my kitchen window. The dawn was just breaking.
Watching the first rays of the sun penetrate the dark street
of the night sky was one scene I was always going to
remember.
On the brink of leaving home, everything seemed so
beautiful. For that moment, I could myself connect to that
precious soul within me that gave me life. For at that
moment I was submerged in the ocean of internal beauty.
This was the moment when yesterday was becoming
today. I was leaving home today. This thought transported
me back to reality.
I decided to take a round of my house recollecting all the
beautiful memories of my childhood. Five minutes later, I
was standing in front of my parents’ bedroom door,
smiling, the smile of a grown up child, remembering how I
used to wake up parents in the middle of the night when I
was unable to sleep. The harsh reality that I was going to
leave home today brought tears to my eyes.
How could I ever say anything? How could I tell them that
I was cancelling my plans of going abroad? I remembered
the smiles on their faces and the happy tears in their eyes
when I had broken the news to them. They had believed in
me when all of my cousins and friends were becoming
doctors and engineers, I had told them that my heart lay in
research work. I had told them that I wanted to become a
scientist.
They never forced me to abandon my dreams. They never
doubted me and now that I had finally qualified for
fellowship and in such a reputed university too, how could
I tell them that all those years had been a waste? That I was
going to leave the opportunity because of nightmares that
followed me every night. I just couldn't rely on my
hunches. After all, one decision on my part, could wipe off
the smiles on my parents’ faces.
I would definitely go and carve a niche for myself in the
great world out there. With this thought I went upstairs to
my room and hopped on my bed. I was already beginning
to feel better. I don't know when or how sleep came over
me, but I woke up at 9.00 am. I went downstairs. Mamma
was already preparing breakfast in the kitchen. “So you are
up scrambled eggs for you – your favourite dish!” With
this she gave me a peck on my cheek. Daddy was reading
the morning paper at the dining table. He gave me a big hug
and said, “My bird is leaving our nest today. We have only
six hours to be together.” My flight was scheduled for 3.00
pm. My bags were all packed.
Suddenly, I noticed my pet terrier Dan was missing. He
was very attached to me. He was usually very playful. But
since the past week, I had noticed that he had been sulking
a lot “Mamma, where's Dan?” I asked “Probably in the
garden” – She replied “Yeah, maybe.”
However, since we didn't want to get late, we got ready by
1.00 pm and apprehensive of the infamous traffic jams of
Mumbai, were getting into the car when we heard the
screeching of tyres outside our gate and there a dog's
whimpering, “Dan!” I rushed outside and what I saw
scared the wits out of me. I saw Dan lying in a pool of blood
evidently run over by a car. For a second, I forgot
everything – my nightmares, the incomprehensible grief
of leaving home, leaving behind my family, hopes of a new
future, everything, only one thing remained, Dan. I
regained my wits and rushed to Dan. My father followed
me. I gathered Dan in my arms and sat in the car asking my
father to drive to the nearest vet. “Your flight?” “We'll see
about it. I can't leave Dan alone like this.”
We were soon in the vet's clinic. Dan had a couple of
stitches and his paw was fractured. But he was alright. My
T-shirt was soaked in blood so I had already changed into a
new dress. It was already 2.30 pm and we had to rush to the
airport.
Unfortunately, we were caught in a traffic jam. There had
been an accident and one of the drivers had lost his life. My
heart was already pounding “What if I miss the plane?”
This definitely was a lifetime opportunity. I was already in
tears when we reached the airport at 3.15 pm. I felt awful.
Although I was scheduled to leave today, but I was
supposed to join two days later. So may be if I was lucky
enough to get an emergency ticket for the next day's flight,
I could still manage to join.
We reached the information desk, and as expected, were
informed that my plane had already taken off, and yes, one
passenger had backed out so I was lucky enough to book a
ticket for the next day. This thought consoled me.
However, I felt bad. Resignation is no sudden thing. Part of
myself was still happy that I would be leaving tomorrow.
We returned back home. I went to my room. As I was
changing my clothes, I heard my mother call my name. I
rushed to my parents’ room. I saw my parents sitting in
front of the T.V and what I saw made me feel as if my eyes
we going to pop out of their sockets. What I heard sent
shivers down my spine. Boeing 707, the plane I was
scheduled to board on, had crashed ten minutes after take
off. Investigations were being carried on. There was
probably some problem in the engine. Nobody survived.
The very thought that I could have been sitting on that
plane scared me. I noticed Dan licking my feet – so happy
after seven days.
Was his accident just a coincidence? Was the accident on
the road that day just a coincidence? Was I destined to die
or to live? My nightmares? Were they subconscious
warnings?
I joined Michigan University a week later. Today the world
recognizes me as a scientist who has contributed a lot to the
field of biotechnology by discovering a cure for
hemophilia and thus giving a second life to 1.5 lakh people
around the world. But to this day, I have never forgotten
that I have got a second life by escaping death by a
hairline.
Was I the chosen one? Did God take somebody else's life to
save mine? Sometimes fate has a totally different thing in
store for us than we can ever imagine. Maybe I was
destined to die that day but coincidences made me survive.
Maybe I was destined to live, but my actions and decisions
could have taken my life so God had to take somebody
else's life to save mine. Did I defy destiny or did destiny
favour me? All that I can say is that God has strange ways
of signaling us his presence.
Dr. Anam Qamar, A-33, Walt Whitman Street, Michigan,
U.S.A.
Anam Qamar, XII D
CMS Gomti Nagar
Results of Senior Section (Classes IX to XII)
I Anam Qamar XII D Gomti Nagar
II Damini Rani Shankar IX B Mahanagar II
Ameena Akhlaq X A Mahanagar I
III Sadaf Fatima Jafri XII A Chowk
Vaibhav Singh X A Station Road
Shraddha Singh X A Mahanagar I
Roop Chaudhary XI G Kanpur Road
Cons. Nimesh Saxena X A Station Road
Varsha Sachan X B Mahanagar II
Ekta Shukla IX A1 Kanpur Road
Neelesh R. Saxena XII B Station Road
Tushar Lall XII B Station Road
Juhi Batham XII A Chowk
Samiya Zehra X A Mahanagar I
Shailendra Singh XII A Mahanagar II
Shubhi Agarwal X A Station Road
Anchal Chaurasia XA Mahanagar III
Mohd. Ali XII A Chowk
Sleep in heavenly peace,
for me no sleep and no peace
Spl. Shivam Vaish IX F Kanpur Road
Men. Zara Asad X A Station Road
Shantanu Sinha X A Station Road
Shiva Bhalla XII A Chowk
Sandeep Singh XII A Chowk
Shweta Yadav X A RDSO
Shivam Seth XII A Chowk
Shubhashini SrivastavIX A Rajendra Nagar II
Jagjot Singh X C Rajendra Nagar II
Aishwarya Singh X B Mahanagar II
Radhika Pandey X B Mahanagar II
Sidhant Kandpal X A Mahanagar III
Aakriti Agarwal X H Gomti Nagar
Parul Srivastava IX H Gomti Nagar
Pankhuree Gupta XII A Rajendra Nagar I
Harpreet Kaur XII B Rajendra Nagar I
Vandita Chandra XII A Rajajipuram I
Shubhi Jain XII A Chowk
Atul Kumar Vaish X A Station Road
SECOND PRIZE
No, I did not cry. It was a special day. I knew it. I just turned to ice. But,
but the fire of emotions raged within me. The image of a bride leaving
her parents' home flashed before my eyes, We just see a traditional
crying but it is definitely much deeper. Overnight she becomes a guest
in her own house but it was never going to be that way for me.
No, it was never going to be the same for me. My cradle of love was
going to be left behind. I had to move on in life. But today was my
farewell day. I was numb, my tears seemed to have dried out. I felt
speechless and frozen.
For days I had been crying on my grandmother's shoulder at home and
sometimes alone in school. I had been dreading this moment, the
farewell day of our Class VIII.
“Damini, fetch me the books from the cupboard!” “Damini, will you
carry my purse to the staff room? “Come and help me with the posters
for Innovation Day!” These and so many other instructions by my
teachers kept ringing in my ears as I stared blankly at the school black
board.
The classes galloped faster than I had imagined. Suddenly I was in class
VIII, “And Miss Industrious is, Damini Rani Shankar!” Kahkashan
Ma'am made the announcement giving us the titles on the Farewell Day.
“Why did I have to be Miss Industrious? Why didn't I stay in the same
class and get more love and affection of my teachers? How can I leave
so soon?”
Life's harshness suddenly gripped me on the last day- the point of no
return, it seemed. I looked longingly at my teachers and my Principal,
Perhaps somewhere, someone would have a heart and ask me to stay.
But they all smiled and wished me luck. It seemed ominous! I must
obey as always.
Jopling Road Campus was for me, a home away from home. The
Ashoka trees, the shed, the classrooms brimming with life and activity,
the library where we chose our favourite books and were under the
watchful eyes of my teachers, the Principal, Mrs. Manju Nautiyal's
office where we were taken for reward and naughty students for
punishment and where I first sat as a two and a half years old when
Mrs Usha Francis was Principal and created tantrums. Also, the water
cooler where we filled our bottles and also chatted in between classes.
All this was a part of our daily lives and we were so used to it. And now,
all would vanish after today…
I can still recall the Nursery Rhymes “Be careful little eyes and the
beautiful song “A hundred miles”. That day I crossed an ocean of
childhood experiences and felt as I never felt before. I left behind a
childhood. A tsunami of emotions surged inside me, I wanted to burst
into tears but felt a sharp pain inside. My feelings were too deep. I did
not cry on the last day and the pain remained. I still carry the pain inside
me. I feel sad, I want to return, I want to do something for my school, I
want to repay my Principal and teachers for all the love and affection
they showered upon me and I miss my friends.
“We look before and after and pine for what is naught.
Our sincerest laughter with some pain is fraught
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought” - Shelley
Perhaps, if I can live up to the ideals of my school and promote love,
peace and unity in the world, I will find true happiness.
The first experience of bidding farewell to my school has also given me
a kind of hidden strength. I am empowered with the love of my teachers
and I know I have to make my life worthwhile so that I can make my
institution proud of me. I will make the tears welling up inside me now
turn to gems of wisdom and dew drops of knowledge. It was no ordinary
day, after all!”
Damini Rani Shankar, IX B
Mahanagar Campus II
...more on page 8
Sharan, Kindergarten A
Rajendra Nagar III
Anshika, Kindergarten B
Indira Nagar
Abhishek Gupta, Nursery A
RDSO
Muskan Shukla, Nursery A
Mahanagar III
Kartikeya Raghuvanshi
Montessori -A, Mahanagar II
Harsh, Kindergarten D
Gomti Nagar
"The man who can drive himself farther once the effort gets painful is the man who will win." — Sir Roger Bannister