www.theglobaltimes.inAIS GURUGRAM 46| EDITION VIIMONDAY, JUNE 29, 2020

Dear Amitians,Hope you allare enjoying va-cation time bystaying safe andhealthy. As theworld reelsunder the pres-sure of lock-downs, India

has emerged as a nation which hasfought the challenges in the best possi-ble way it can. Social distancing, regu-lar sanitisation, cleanliness, hygienicpractices, not spitting in open, caringfor environment, respecting relation-ships, being dutiful citizens, etc., arenow the ‘new normals’ that have be-come the new way of life. A lot of theseaspects were always being discussedand deliberated upon on various globaland local platforms. But nonetheless,for some reason or the other, these couldnever completely become a part of ourlives. Not that people were not aware ornever cared, but the strong will and de-termination to adopt these as lifestylesomewhere lacked a bit. In fact, a lot ofthese are centred around the culture andtradition of Indian lifestyle. Be it ourgreeting ‘Namaste’ or use of ‘turmeric’and ‘tulsi’ the natural immunity boost-ers in our daily diet, the Indian way oflife is – the new normal. Indeed, it is amatter of pride for us and also a hugeresponsibility for all of us to now makethis new normal the cornerstone of cre-ating a better, beautiful and happy na-tion and happy world.G T

New normal

Maansi AnandAIS Vasundhara 1, XII

Life is certainly un-certain, a notionthat COVID-19

laid bare for all. Whilemany doctors and frontlineworkers chose to risk theirlives to save others, some in-novative next-door-super-heroes did not allow theglobal pandemic to conquertheir will and chose to puttheir creativity to its best useand serve the community.In this series of ‘Corona War-riors’ brought to you by GT re-porters for the last consecutivesix editions we read stories ofinnovation, where young inno-vators, with care, compassionwith creativity went out of theirway during the lockdown pe-riod to spread the message thatno matter what happens, we

will overcome the pandemic.The stories have been brought

to you as part of WorldTeenage ReportingProject (an initia-tive of The Global

Youth & News Media Prizethat strengthens engagementbetween news media andyoung people across theworld). And as we delineated

them to you, here’s its last, finalsegment before we bid adieu. When we delved deeper intothe subject, we were surprisedto read that stories of innova-tion were not only limited tourban areas where children hadaccess to resources which canhelp them invent; they ran deepinto villages and districts whereyoung innovators took chargeto solve the problems beingfaced local inhabitants. Let’stake a look at all the wonderfulstories of torch-bearers whosedreams were much bigger thantheir size! From India’s rural topography,we found some children whocould no longer let other vil-lagers in their vicinity sufferfrom problems like intense heatand water shortage. To fix thisissue, Arjun, Mahesh andPiyush from Bhatkheri village,

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Dr Amita ChauhanChairperson

Pandemics know no boundaries,and neither do warriors whobattle them. This special series,running across Quarantineeditions of all Amity schools, isan ode to those fighters.Highlighting stories of youngchange makers from within andoutside Amity, this special serieshas been curated by youngreporters across various Amitybranches.

QUARANTINE SPECIAL

Angels in disguise

A Bow Down To Our Young Warriors

CORONA WARRIORS

2MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2020

Lockdown geniusesIf You Have A Will, You Have A Way

Manasvi Dev KashyapAIS Gur 46, XI B

Today, most of us are stumped byboredom, locked up in our homeswith nothing to indulge ourselves in;

children, more so. They have alreadywatched all the Marvel movies, re-readHarry Potter and John Green books agazillion times. But, what now? Well folks,you’ve come to the right place. We haveamassed some really cool and fun ideas,engineered by parents around the globe, foryou all to take cue from and while awayyour time whilst the lockdown lasts.

The Bin-TrainA devoted dad in Australia crafted theultimate ‘bin-train’ for his children to ride.He connected two bins and a tiny wagon tothe back of a ride-on lawnmower using along rope. Well, it took some serious bin-gineering but the kids are enjoying their newride. Worth it, ain’t it?

Wooden RollercoasterA grandfather from Washington, DC, built awooden roller coaster in his backyard for hisgrandson using wooden tracks suspendedfrom trash receptacles and wheels. With kidsconfined to their homes and getting bored,this grandfather decided to get

creative unlike many of us, still ‘busy’ lazingaround.

Lego LandNo, I’m not talking about the Bugatti Chironmade of Legos, I’m talking of a zoo made ofLegos! Lori Achilles, a mother of two,created the LEGO Quarantine SurvivalChallenge page on Facebook when she sawher kids getting bored at home. Eachmorning, the page publishes a LEGOchallenge for builders of all age groups toaccomplish. The first challenge was that ofcreating a zoo. The members of the pageparticipate along with their kids to make thislockdown a bliss.

The Kit-Tank And Picnic TableQuarantine has indeed been a golden periodfor our furry babies. A pet owner namedJessica Lacy built and gifted a kit-tank, atank made of cardboard, to her cat to playwith. The feline all geared up and excited,immediately began her operation ‘rat hunt’.Another man named Rick Kalinowski fromPennsylvania made a small wooden picnictable, hanging on his backyard wall, forsquirrels to enjoy their stay in his house. Helater added an extra chair to it in casesomeone wanted to make an appointment

with the squirrels. Oh, the luxuryof it all!

With so much going on in theworld around us, we oftenforget to give ourselves ampleof ‘me’ time. But, now that theworld has been brought to astandstill, go dwell on yourtalents, weaknesses andsuccesses. Channelise yourinner artists and createsomething for yourself or yourloved ones; sit close to natureand view that sunset amidst

the clouds; ponder,ponder over the worldhidden inside you;discover, discoveryour true selves and

relish it.G T

MP, managed to dig a 30-feet deep wellwithin three days, all with the help of re-sources available at home! 9-year-old Golufrom Jaitpur, Mahoba, also went ahead toprovide the luxury of cold air in the ratherhot climate to the people of her village, by inventing a mini cooler using limitedequipments. We also came across some brilliant minds,part of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) in theirschools or cities, made landmark innova-tions in limiting the COVID-19 outbreak.We delineated one such tale in our coronawarrior series, that of Shivam Mukherjee, astudent of AIS Pushp Vihar, who created awearable sanitisation band. Another suchinnovations included the corona trackermobile app, automated touch-free doorbell& sanitiser and a COVID-19 website.And the list does not end here. A team ofschool-going RJs in Kerala, kept people en-tertained under lockdown from their respec-tive homes, while others like Mihir Vardhanfrom Gurugram, created ‘The Terminator’,which can help destroy any virus whichmight travel on the packaging online orders,as well as 3D printed face shields and hand-stitched face masks to meet their unprece-dented shortage- another story that wepromulgated in our warrior series. Othersuch inventions including Bengal’s Digan-tika Bose’s ‘Air Providing and Virus De-stroying Mask’, and a unique wristbandcreated by Maharashtra’s 14-year-old HarshChaudhari, which stops us from touchingour faces, await patent approvals from theIndian Council of Medical Research. By bringing their innovative minds to theforefront and perfectly pairing them withtheir desire to serve the country - these littlecorona warriors have curated the perfectrecipe for creative utilisation of their time,as well as helping those in need. And whilethey are at it, let us all come together in ourthoughts and be a little more responsible inhow we deal with the crisis. Because, beingdistantly together is the only way we canactually distance it!G T

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Angels in disguise

3

Aditya PathakAIS Gur 46, XII B

Hi, it’s me, the asphalt.And I’m tearing up,literally. I miss the

human traffic. The highperformance cars shaking up theground, the talented driverssurprising me with their breath-taking stunts, the school-busescarrying students chatting aboutpicnics or fretting over exams,the families going out on roadtrips to hill stations, the cross-country bikers swerving throughthe chilly mountain roads andcruising over the highways. So,I decided to burn some rubberand write you all a letter!

I miss the wheelsI never thought I would hearstudents say, ‘I miss going toschool’. But don’t worry, Itotally relate with you; even Imiss the 30 million vehiclestravelling over the roads ofIndia. Crazy, right? Well, I ambored of carrying a merefraction of that amount. But Iwill get used to it and, ofcourse, it’d be tough to supportall of you when you’re back,especially with naturerecovering from the damageyou’ve caused to her. At thepresent moment, I’m doing mybest to help the essentialservices, but I am so not readyfor the upcoming back-pain.

An emotional journeyI’ve picked up a lot ofemotional baggage from thestreets while you’ve been busyrunning revolutions throughyour tweets. I’m saddened bythe plight of migrant labourers;I keep them company, give

them a way to go in the day andtry my best to accommodatethem at night. My potholes fillup with tears when I see peoplebeating each other up over casteand religion. However, it makesme happy to see fewer accidentson the roads, though I’ve a badfeeling that it might just be atemporary relief.

Never a boring momentTalking about the revolutions,you all spent so much time homethat you started noticing theinjustices around you and startedstorming your feet on me inprotest! I’m with you! What Idon’t support are theincidents of violence andlootings; I have seen

blood being spilled hundreds ofyears back, and it wasn’tpleasant, to say the least.Peaceful protests are the way togo. Being black myself, I’mproud of you all! And thisreminds me, I miss the colourfulpride parades from last year! Iwish all the power to everyone.

Great expectationsI can’t wait to ferry you allagain, and I’m sure that you areplanning to go on many longdrives, road trips, and basicallyspend as much time away fromhome as possible

(don’t lie to me, the smell of tarhasn’t blocked my nose). Well,how about you become moresensitive the next time you sit ina car? Don’t get over-excitedbehind the wheel and lead to anaccident, respect other drivers,care for the fresh environment,just follow road etiquettes andit’s a win-win for everyone!

I’m eagerly waiting for you allto return as mature and awaredrivers and passengers. Till then,why don’t you spend time withme online? What, you think I’mold-fashioned? Play racing

games or watch car movies onNetflix, the need for speed is

virtually amplified andabsolutely felt!G T

MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2020

The road(s) not takenDear Lord, Please Bring The Usual Action On The Road

Illus

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MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2020 4

Lockdown 2020…Lockdown 2020…Vyakhya GuptaAIS Gur 46, XI S

These past weeks oflockdown have notbeen easy on any of

us, and you probably havebeen having a wide range ofextreme emotions, fueled byoverly negative news andnever-ending assignments.Don’t worry, you’re not theonly one. Quarantine has hada toll on everyone’s mood.Here, take a look at how itcoursed.

Stage 1Apprehension

Your first few days ofquarantine are spent with yourmood shifting constantly fromanxiety for yourself and fear foryour family, to paranoia abouttrivial things. The wholecountry is going underlockdown for who knows howlong and you can’t imagine howyou are going to last even aweek. Apart from cancellingtravel plans, you find yourselfhoarding masks and sanitizers,and washing your hands almostevery ten minutes, discoveringthe unknown world of hygiene.

Stage 2Boredom

Now that the initial fear hasworn off, you look aroundyourself and realise that there isabsolutely nothing to do. Youare overwhelmed by how yousuddenly have more time onyour hands than you everimagined. You can’t go out of

the house, and what’s worse isthat you’re stuck there withthe constant nagging andnudging of your parents.Everyone is a little crankybeing cooped up for so longand there are frequent outburstsof that irritation too, with yourhouse practically becoming awarzone.

Stage 3Being productive

Well, the situation doesn’t looklike it will end anytime soon andthere is only so long you canbrood about it, right? Feeling asudden wave of optimism, youdecide to spend all this extratime doing the stuff you’vealways wanted to. Youimmediately dial up all thefriends and relatives you kind oflost touch with and have long,satisfying conversations. This isthe phase where you finallyhave the time to clean and

arrange all those messycupboards, work out at home,practice your hobbies andcomplete all your unfinishedprojects.

Stage 4Binging

Unfortunately, the former stagelasts for only about two days,after which your inner slothsurfaces again. The pages-longto-do list lies forgotten in someforlorn corner of the study table,and you spend your days(probably nights too) binge-watching movies and shows toyour heart’s content. You knowthat now even your parentswon’t yell at you, because eventhey are busy watchingRamayana every day.

Stage 5Getting comfortable

Despite how much youcomplained at the beginning,you realise this routine isn’tthat bad after all. When youhear that the lockdown isslowly lifting and that schoolsmight open soon, you suddenlyregret whining about youronline classes. Apart frombeing worried about catchingthe virus, you know you’regoing to miss texting betweenclasses, getting to attend themfrom the comforts of your bedand not having to go throughthe trouble of putting on theuniform.

Well, they do say that the grassis always greener on the otherside of the fence. So, the best wecan do right now is to resignourselves to reality and makethe most of it, isn’t it? G T

…And A Look At It’s Various StagesIll

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MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2020 5

Kartikey SharmaAIS Gur 46, XII J

If you think that thispandemic has taken a toll onyour lives, let me introduce

myself. I am Oliver and all thelemons that life had, it squeezedthem straight in my face,specifically my eyes. Yes, I amblind and I am deprived ofcomplete vision. My wholesurvival is based aroundphysical contact and now, it iscatching up.Not surprisingly so, my wholelife depends upon touching tocommunicate and now thattouching is prohibited, it feelslike my existence has come to ascreeching halt. What’s more, adistance of six feet is to bemaintained at all times. It’salmost as if the universe

pinpointed me out (along withhundreds of other blind people)and thought, “there, that guy!He’s the one whose life we haveto destroy.” It was hard enough,living in a normal world. Withthese new prohibitions, it hasbecome an entirely newlemonade, only a sour one. The two months were thehardest. Sitting at home, doingnothing, that was the easy part,honestly. Going out there to getthe groceries? That was tough.Holding a week’s purchase inone hand, and a white cane in theother, makes navigation achallenge; it’s a nightmare,keeping the balance. Believe me,Hercules would’ve failed if itwould’ve been one of the 12Labours. I’ve been blind for a fairly longtime now ,so I’ve caught up onto

the travelling and all but I stillneed help, help which no onewas ready to provide. Of course,I didn’t go out there, armsstretched out wide, yelling,“Hello, sir! Yes, please hug meand give me the corona. I didn’twant the virus. A wide-spreadfear swept across the globe forevery disabled person the daythe pandemic broke out. In this time, with a shortage ofdoctors, medicines, hospitals,beds, would they be willing towork with me to devise a way ofsafe physical contact? Wouldthey be patient enough? Theseare just some of the doubts inour minds. Surviving in daily life is just atad easier because of theArtificial Intelligenceapplications that help us getaround. New devices and

applications are developed everyday to help us cope. The peopleI worry about are the ones whodon’t have access to thesetechnologies. But there’s one thing. Ourstrategies and resilience maysometimes put us at anadvantage in tough times. Wealways have a lot to concentrateon, it’s ten times harder for us sowe’ve got no choice but to keepour sense of humour alive, wellI think I’ve managed to developone of the finest over these darkmeme less years, which by theway I’ve heard are hilarious(guess that will be a mystery). All in all, it’s hard to live in apandemic when you’re lookingat it from behind a black veil.But what do you know? Wehave been training for it ourwhole lives. G T

A new perspective…A new perspective……About What This Pandemic Means To A Blind Person

Illustration: Mansi Gupta, AIS Gurugram 46, X J

6

Arshiya TyagiAIS Gur 46, IX H

Imagine being a quarantinedkid, deserted at home withnowhere to go; desperate to

pass time and constantly lookingfor stuff to do, but with no par-ticular hobby in sight. Don’tworry, we’ve got you covered.Here are a few ways you can findyour ideal hobby and excel in it.

Nostalgia driven:Maybe, just maybe, you had ahobby but forgot about it? Well,it’s time to bring it back. Takethose miniature models of carsout or create a masterpiece outof the blank canvas. Go back toyour childhood days and recallall that you loved doing to passtime. Try and remember whatmade your dopamine levelsshoot up; that which got lost inthe shadows as you grew. Findout and do it now, do it today!

Try and explore: Since, learning never ends, ex-plore the various new activitiesand see what makes you feelgood and what doesn’t. Discoveryourself! Whether it is baking,cooking, reading, organising,writing stories and poems oreven starting a YouTube chan-nel. Think! Think about the lastthing that made you forget to eat.

What made you forget the time?Recall that day or moment andrevert back to it. But do remem-ber that hobbies aren’t alwaysmeant to include physical exer-tion. Improvement can be ahobby, observing can be ahobby, and even dreaming canbe one! It all sums up to whatsuits you the best and makes youhappy; that which makes youforget all the fuss around.

Turn it into a career:After rigorous researching, youcan also transform your interestsand hobbies into your profes-

sion. Had it not been Walt Dis-ney’s early interest in drawingand creating characters, wewouldn’t have gotten ourfavourite Mickey Mouse andother Disney characters as we dotoday; Had Bill Gates not spenthis free time in the computer lab,we wouldn’t have been workingon such reasonable and userfriendly softwares. Someonesaid it right when they said that,“The best inventions are solu-tions to everyday problems”.Under-Armour’s founder cameup with “moisture- w i c k i n gathletic cloth-

ing” while playing football, hisfavourite hobby. Had he notworked out in sweaty gym wear,he wouldn’t have come up withthe million-dollar idea. He nowhas a back balance of $2.1 bil-lion. So, while the lockdownlasts, search within yourself,find your interests, and then turnthem into business when it allends. For, it’s now or never.

Being quarantined for such along time can certainly have atoll on one’s health but withhobbies that keep us busy, ex-pand our minds to newer hori-

zons and are fun to do, itisn’t exactly so

bad, isn’t it? G T

This Lockdown, Discover Your Hidden TalentsNow or never

MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2020

7

Let’s Pay Attention To The Animals We Keep IgnoringThe silent voice 

MONDAY, JUNE 29, 2020

Sayantani DubeyAIS Gurugram 46, XI I

Their eyes gleam with compassion,paws long for comfort and tails wigglefor love, while human beings continue

to mistake their ineffable kindness forweakness. The world is dealing with a ragingpandemic and dense clouds of uncertainty fogour future. People are losing loved ones andlivelihoods. And in times like these, animalslook up to us for comfort, only to be treatedwith hatred. With the lockdown in place, animal crueltyhas increased manifolds in our country. Ourstrays are looked down upon as disease-bearers and are shooed if they even comenear anyone. Not just them, but many evenhave abandoned their pets in the same fear.Dairy animals and other livestock are locked

in shelters without adequate food and fodder.They stand in their own muck with no one toclean them up or feed them. Any injuriesfaced are ignored. As per the revisedlockdown guidelines by the Ministry ofHome Affairs, animal food and fodder are“Essential Items”, and their interstate supplychains are exempt from the lockdown.However, there are reported challenges andcomplaints of short supply and preventedtransportation of fodder. Our neighbourhood furry friends, the strayswho depend on small eateries and feeders,are victims to starvation. Scorching heat andlack of enough water to keep them hydratedmakes it worse. They dig through dustbins,scraps of metal and plastic, trying to getsomething to save their children from dyingof hunger. Despite the state allowingveterinary hospitals to remain functional

during the lockdown, there has been poorimplementation of the same. No concrete proof has been found thatCoronavirus can affect animals, let alonetransferred from animals to animals or fromanimals to humans. Still, cities all across theworld are seeing disturbing increase in thenumber of abandoned pets due to the fear ofbeing infected. In a world where species co-exist, livepeacefully with each other and celebrate oneanother, animals shouldn’t be left to sufferbecause of our apathy. A pandemic doesn’texcuse our responsibility to take care of thosewho depend on us. Every time an innocentanimal starves to death and is found lifelesson the street, we fail as a society. They can’tspeak, they can’t shout, but we have to listen.Do your bit in making the world a betterplace, little by little, step by step. G T