“Do not believe what your teacher tells youmerely out of respect for the teacher.”

Gautama Buddha06 MY SPACE

"One must always be careful ofbooks and what is inside them, for

words have the power to change us."- Tessa Gray, The Infernal Devices

Reading is a beautiful and re-markable way to enjoy yourself.No matter what your type —

mystery, romance, horror, fiction, fan-tasy, or anything else — there is always

something there for you. In books, you canlose yourself, floating in the limitless abyss of

your own imagination. No matter how manytimess you read a book, you never tire of it.

It is a blessing that we can read, but it’sa great tragedy that some of us choose notto. Those who don’t read are missing out

on vivid imagination and visualthinking. The way each char-

acter comes to life on thepages is beautiful, and it

is a real shame that someof us instead, are turning to ourphone screens in search of "en-tertaining content". An-

other reason for not reading is the lack of "pic-tures", cited by many which really annoys me.Books are like movies in your head, and youdon't need pictures to help you visualise any-thing. Your imagination is more than enough.

Reading may not be for everyone, but it is def-initely worth a try. And it is the greatest weapon

in existence.“Libraries were full of ideas — perhaps the

most powerful, dangerous of all weapons.” —Celaena Sardothien, Throne of Glass

CHAITRA VARTAK, class IX, SSPM's Sri SriRavishankar Vidya Mandir, Mumbai

AND SHE BRAVELY FOUGHT

MALISHKA VEMU, class VIII, Bombay Scottish School, Mahim

A drop of bloodFell on the mud As she shed a lone tearHer body dropped as shewas lead out of the doorAnd soon like the othersshe was no moreHer family was torn apartWar and bloodshed rippedapart every kind heartThe people were beaten,cut and whipped Until from every man atleast a drop of blooddrippedEveryday pain and torturesuffered she Until her heart was filledwith miseryEveryday she prayed to

theeThat one day her countrywould be freeThen finally came that fate-ful dayWhen the forces clashed inthe month of MayA warrior entered on awhite horseStanding tall amidst thelying corpseThe way he fought, the wayhe walkedGained admiration amongpeoples’ thoughtsPraised was he for his kindeyes and smileHis bravery was known formiles and milesHe was known as a legend

to make historyHowever to everyone hisface was a mystery Finally towards the end ofMay The battle was to end thatdayA hundred soldiers chargedat himBut he fought his waythrough thick and thinAll of a sudden the battlestopped All of a sudden his armourdropped Everyone let out a gasp For it was a woman underthe man’s mask Her lovely long blonde hair With her eyes made a per-

fect pair Before she hit the groundshe said "Fight for freedom untileach one of you is dead "Her eyes held sorrow, griefand pain As she remembered theenemy's chain The chain of pain and suf-fering they had caused Until every good man's lifewas lost A drop of bloodFell on the mud As she shed a lone tear Her body dropped as shewas led out of the door And soon like the othersshe was no more.

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I t is every man's secret fan-tasy to be a perfect gentle-man. To be at ease with his

own self and be respected inevery social circle and claimthe exalted title of being a 'gen-tleman'. For a layman, a gen-tleman is a person in a well-tailored suit and trousers witha smart tie, smart shirt, etc.But in reality this is not true.

A gentleman doesn't need tobe a dignified personality witha high status in the socialranking ladder. So what doeshe need to be?

Being a gentleman is noteasy. There are various prin-

ciples which need to befollowed. The most im-portant is never to inflictpain upon others with-out the need to do so, forpain always comes at aprice. A gentleman isn'ta person who believes in par-tiality and should not be bi-ased towards a certain groupof people. He always looks at

others from an equal height.Hence, he should be able to un-derstand every problem andevery aspect of it. He shouldbe frank, open minded andstraightforward with his opin-ions. He should never beat

aroundthe bushand dither.He shouldhold his power

in words rather thanin violence. Therefore,being polite and courteousshould be in his blood. Agentleman should never sulkand feel down all the time. Thefeeling of being sad should bealien to him. A true gentlemanis one whose mind is notclogged with thoughts ofmelancholy; instead, heshould always be cheerful.

In reality, a true gentle-man doesn't exist; he neverdid and never will. It is sim-ply against human nature tobe able to have all these per-fect qualities. But trying to beat least a sliver of a gentle-man is possible. It is difficult,yes, but it can be done. So weall can try to be gentlemen, ifnot for ourselves, but at leastfor society

RAMANA, class X, New HorizonPublic School, Mumbai

LONESOME CREEK: RITIKA JYALA, class X, DAVPublic School, Nerul

GOING BACK TO THE PAST

I return, a long time afterCarrying the future meHiding the past in the corner of myheart.My hometown is not the sameThe sun hides behind the horizonMy mind and the place are of thesame colour - lost light - Black!I walked to the past

Through the same foot-steps that I once tookThe house is not a houseanymoreIt doesn't have the hopes Icarried a long time agoMy heart beats, as I getcloserI found the torn past in the

corner of the houseCarrying the burden ofuseless papersEven the papers forgotsomethingIt cannot get together nowThe torn pieces of papersare the same in my heartIt remains always torn!

F riends are many but trueones are rare to find. Hav-ing a friend doesn't mean

we have a person to lead or followus, it is rather a person to walkwith us. A true friend loves youand hurts you to help you grow bet-ter. They will be the one who willmake you feel you are on top of theworld when you are crushed to theground. True friends arelike mirrors who reflectyour emotions, becomingsad when you are sad andshare your joy. They arehappy when you are hap-

py. True friendship is not just tofocus on the similarities but dif-ferences, and accept the fault ofeach other. He/ she is the personwe can go to in any situation inour life. So it's good to make friendswho will be a strong support foryou and back you in rain or shine.From darkness to light, there was a long distancebut she took me by the handFrom a kingdom of isolation, shetook me to the world and madelife more than what it was before.Once she said,I am a little gift for her.But she is the biggest for me.

RINI A K, class XII, KV INSDronacharya, Ernakulam

CYCLINGAROUND:ELISHAGOPIKA,class VIII,Auden School,Hosakerehalli,Bengaluru

TAKING OFF: ANAKHA S, class IX, St Mary's Public School,Poojappura, Thiruvananthapuram

THE PERFECT GENTLEMAN

PEACOCK’S PLUMES: JASHCHEDA, class VI, Scholar HighSchool, Mumbai

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A HEAD FULL OF DREAMSAND STORIES

Marvel's Spider-Manis a 2018 action-ad-venture game de-veloped by Insom-

niac Games and publishedby Sony Interactive En-tertainment. It is often re-garded as the best Spider-Man to have existed. Mar-vel's Spider-Man is the fifth-best-selling PlayStation 4video game with over ninemillion copies sold.

The story follows the lifeof Peter Parker, a 23-year-old college graduate,who has held thes e c r e tidenti-t y

of Spider-Man for eightyears and settled into hisrole as protector of NewYork City. In

addition, he is work-ing at a laboratory

as a research assis-tant to Doctor Oc-

tavius. After re-cently defeating

criminal Wilson Fisk, Petermust now investigate a newgang known as the Demonswhose members are takingover Fisk's territory. The sto-ry of the game is very cap-tivating and has incrediblewriting. The voice actors andmotion capture artistes havec o n -

tributed a huge part to theplayers’ experience.

Apart from the cam-paign, players are free toroam the city of New York;notable locations includeEmpire State Building,Avengers Tower and so

much more. The essence ofNYC's buildings, people andculture has been perfectlycaptured in the video game.The game is minutely de-tailed and graphically ad-vanced. It offers a sur-prisingly realistic expe-rience as Spider-Man.

Side missions andother objectives offer

countless hours of fun andextra gameplay. A cleverlycreated upgradation systemis also implemented in thegame, motivating the play-er to play the side acts moreand upgrade their ‘suit’. Ahealthy balance betweencut-scene and gameplay ex-ists, making the experienceas cinematic as possible.Downloadable content in-

cludes new suits, brand newstorylines and more game-play. Spider-Man is an epit-ome of good single playeraction video game in amarket filled with online

players.

– ESHUPRIYEH BELGOTRA,

class X, NESISM, Mumbai

IMP: All the articles and poems are published with bare minimum editing.

I 've always considered my-self to be an atheist, scoff-ing at anyone who tried to

convince me that there is a'God' that I had to 'pray' to,and grudgingly performwhatever religious proce-dures I had to, to placate mygrandmother. Recently, I readabout Elizabeth Gilbert'sjourney to self-love, and howimportant finding her godwas for it. Taking a page outof her book, (almost literal-ly), I accompanied my fami-ly on a pilgrimage to the Cityof Temples; if not self-loveI'd at least get a vacation outof it! But surrounded by anatmosphere full of so much

devotion and passion I dis-covered my peace, contrivedas it sounds.

The religion I was borninto emphasises the impor-tance of forgiveness, whichis a rather useful lesson inlife. I learnt how to let go ofthings that were beyond mycontrol by simply forgiving– forgiving the people wholed me to lose control in thefirst place, forgiving the peo-ple who didn't help mewhen I was down, andabove all, forgiving my-self for losing control.

Ironically, thoughI've barely seen any-thing but idols of a god

these past few days havetaught me that religion isnot about believing in an all-possessing superpower. It issimply about learning to ac-cept whatever life throws atyou, by believing that thingswill improve. Fifteen is tooyoung an age to have an in-formed opinion on delicatetopics like religion and self-love; I still have a lot to learn.By opening my mind to var-

ious other options be-yond atheism, I'm onestep closer.

PRAKRITI SHAH, Grade X,

Podar Intl School CAIE

IN THE WOODS: MICHELLE VINNY, class III,Navy Children School, Mumbai

MANISHMA N M, class XII, KV INS Dronacharya, Ernakulam

V IDEO GAME REVIEW

M A R V E L ' S S P I D E R - M A NPi

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DISCOVERING MY PEACE

MY GIFT

Did you go on a vacation with your family recently?Do you wish to put down your thoughts aboutsomething that’s troubling you? Did a speech ortalk inspire you to be a better human being? Areyou a budding poet or painter? Whatever be yourinterest, use this space to speak up.