2013 cjc_write angle from joy - christ junior college

August | Vol. 32 | Issue:1

Ablaze with a Purpose- EditorialThe late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was widely accepted and respected as the people's President of India. He lived by the power

of dreams and stood by the fact that it was the most important thing that brought him to his present stage from his humble

beginnings. It was Kalam's dream and hope that the youth must be educated, use available technology to the fullest extent.

They must have a questioning spirit, inventiveness, have original ideas and strive for the welfare of the country. He believed

that one needed to give back to society, not just take from it. He hoped that we could overcome greed and corruption, which

stem from materialistic desires of what one can take from this world. He believed wholeheartedly in the enlightened youth

and envisioned them as being crucial to the overall development of India. Let us not forget that we are India's youth. Let us

not waste precious time misusing our technological advancements and education. Let us use it for the betterment of our

country, to reduce the urban-rural divide, enhance our economic status and redress social injustice.

As a fellow Christite, I urge you to join hands to uphold the shared values of Christ Junior College – social responsibility,

pursuit of excellence, love of fellow human beings that would help us to fulfill Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam's dream of a better

future. It has been an honour to work with the editorial team for this issue of Write Angle: Ignited Minds. It is the immense

support and collaborative efforts of the team that have placed this issue in your hands. Let our ignited minds realize his

vision 2020. As Dr. Kalam once said,

“The best brains of the nation may be found on the last benches of the classroom.”

Shifa Zoya (II PPES O)

Doosra

CJC Newsletter | Date: August 2015

Born With Wings- My Encounter with the Late Dr. Kalam

“The hardest bat tle a human being can ever face is to fight, fight

for his destiny” - Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

The greatest of men are the simplest among them all. Late Dr. APJ

Abdul Kalam, was one of these men. He defined himself by his

character not appearance, his goals rather than his achievements. I

had the fortune of meeting this remarkable person a couple of years

ago, at a student interaction programme held at my previous school.

It was noteworthy how he did not address us as children or students

but as friends. He introduced himself and told us that before we

started with our questions he would like to talk to us all about how

we are all born with wings. Through his vocalizations, he instilled in

us the belief- that we were all unique; he emphasised on the

importance of our dreams and their transcendence. According to

him there were only four steps to success – aim, continuous

attainment of knowledge, hard work and perseverance. He told us

that we were already born with everything else that was necessary

to make our mark in the world ('fly high with wings') and most

importantly he accentuated that we realize this ourselves.

He also shared with us his equation for knowledge- knowledge =

creativity + righteousness in the heart + courage. He said these were

the prerequisites to a beautiful personality leading to harmony

amongst people; in turn order in the nation, resulting in peace in the

world. Dr. Kalam's thoughts and ideals were not limited to science or

merely our nation; he sought the welfare of the entire world.

Individually I was given a chance to converse with him on

globalization, its impact and also regarding how to make its

bearings fair in India in particular.

I was genuinely spellbound by his every word. I admired his

humility, fervor and values. He was one of the most astounding

people I have ever met and someone who has left an everlasting

impact on me as a student. I will always remember him as one of the

greatest teachers ever and am perpetually grateful for having had

an opportunity to meet a legend.

Sanjana.N (I PPES O)

Conquering Fears

Burdened by failures

Weighed down by insecurities

Pressured by expectations

Tortured by inabilities

As we continuously try to rise

We are pushed back down

Feels like life is designed

To turn our smile into a frown

Life is but a complicated game

Filled with traps of jealousy

But once we escape and win,

It is filled with pure ecstasy

Wisdom is our best weapon

No enemy can destroy

Wisdom is our best friend

In both sorrow and in joy

All these years we have rebuked

Our glorious wings of fire

Let us chase after excellence

Aiming to inspire

With wisdom, let us light

The essence of our souls

With ignited minds, let us

In our time form our own roles.

Sanjana (I PPES O)


Hatrick

His Vision- Our Mission An eternal optimist with amazing energy, Dr. Kalam has been an inspiration to me like to billion others in many ways. It is

still hard for me to cope with the fact that he has left us, but his thoughts and inspiring words still resonate in me and to all the

people of this nation. It is amazing to see the achievements of this man and the plans he had for this nation. His character,

commitment and inspirational vision shine through his life. He was unencumbered by ego; flattery left him cold.

He was equally at ease before an audience of urbane, globe-trotting ministers and a class of young students. He had the

unique combination of the honesty of a child, the zeal of a teen and the maturity of an adult. His contribution to our nation's

defense is immeasurable; his thought was that power was not born of aggression, but of understanding. His contributions

to nuclear and space achievements have given India the power to be confident of her place in this world. He saw the

harmony of nature, and the energy that could be harnessed in the wind, water and sun. Simplicity and discipline is what Dr.

Kalam was made up of and success and more importantly respect is what seemed to follow him. The power of his words is

what fuels the youth. We should learn to look at our world through his eyes, and with the same missionary zeal.

Tears rolled down my eyes when I got to know of his passing. Words simply cannot express my sorrow. As I saw his body

being buried on television, I could envision his soul reminding us that dreams are not what we see while sleeping but are

something that does not let us sleep. It is our responsibility to fulfill these dreams, Dr. Kalam's dreams of a prosperous and

advanced nation because his vision is now our mission.

Naveen Balaji (II PCMB - C)

Book Review: IGNITED MINDS

Ignited Minds is a book written by the late scientist-patriot Dr. A.P.J. Abdul

Kalam. The book was first published in 2002 and the full title of the book is

Ignited Minds- Unleashing the Power within India. Dr. Kalam has dedicated

Ignited Minds to a school child named Snehal Thakkar, whom he met at a

school. While he was addressing the students, the question ‘Who is our

enemy?’ came up. Kalam got many answers but the one answer on which all

agreed was given by a child named Snehal Thakkar. The answer given by her

was “Our enemy is poverty”.

The book begins on a sad note of an incident which took place on 30

September 2001. Kalam Sir’s helicopter, while on its way from Ranchi to

Bokaro crashed, but all abroad miraculously survived. He was administered a

tranquilizer that night and he recalls having seen a vivid dream. He wrote in his book that he saw himself in a desert with

miles of sand all around and there he visualized five men namely, Emperor Ashoka, Albert Einstein, Caliph Omar, Abraham

Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi. He recollects the words of these great personalities.

All the chapters include and emphasize certain important facts that would help in making us good human beings who

contribute in making a peaceful society and a successful nation. The chapters emphasize the importance of our parents and

our teachers as our role models. It also takes into account the modern visionaries like J.R.D. Tata, Vikram Sarabhai, Satish

Dhawan and Dr. Verghese Kurien. The book also deals with the spiritual heritage of the Indian nation and with developing a

model of development based on India’s inherent strengths. It also exhorts India, constituting of more than billion people with

multitude faiths and ideologies. It calls for a change in the mindset of people to take pragmatic risks, which lead to success.

One of the chapters also include Thirukkural which states that Wisdom is a weapon to ward off destruction and that it is an

inner fortress which enemies can’t destroy. The book ends with a song of youth, with opening words “As a young citizen of

India, armed with technology and love for my nation, I realize, a small aim is a crime.”

The teachings of Kalam Sir and his inspirational thoughts have motivated us Indians to a larger extent to contribute towards

the development of our country. Fulfilling his dream would be a tribute to him and that day his teachings would bear fruit in

the real sense.

Sharmistha Mondal ( II PCMB - C)


Half-Time

AN

GLE

WRITE

Re-igniting the spark within

The famous Indian writer Chetan Bhagat once said,” It’s kind of

cool to say- I come from a country of a billion sparks.” One

might be then tempted to ask, what sparks are these? Well, these

are the sparks within us, the sparks that will, if properly nurtured

and nourished, ignite our body, soul and minds in times to

come.

We are all born with a million sparks inside us, and they make

us excited. As children, our sparks are more in number and

more easily seen. Our eyes twinkle at the mention of ice cream,

and we are overjoyed by the prospect alone of watching our

favorite cartoon. As we grow older the sparks slowly die out. We

have them, but they don’t show. What we need to do is to make

or find the fuel to reignite these sparks and rekindle the fire.

Often we are posed with a question of passion or fashion. Must

we follow what we’re passionate about, or must we do what is

socially acceptable? It is quite easy to say idealistic things like,

‘Follow your dreams’ and ‘Live your life like it’s your last day’;

but truly, how brave must one be to follow through with the

whims of the heart? I maintain that the sparks in us are directly

linked to these very whims. To do as one desires is tough, it

requires courage, because in doing so, there are going to be

people who hate you and envy you. However, in not following

ones desires, we are killing the sparks in ourselves by ourselves.

In a country as huge as ours, with more fire in each soul than in

any other place, why then do only a few sparks that lead to

ignition? To answer that, one has to look within oneself. We

need to realize that great people are not great because they are

better than us, or have more ‘sparks’ in them than us, so to say.

Rather it is because they took the risk and focused on their

sparks. They did as they deemed necessary to make sure they

achieved what they planned to. They took encouragement from

people and treated failures as stepping stones. Like the frog that

won the race because it was deaf, they ignored people who said

that they couldn’t be what they wanted to be. They believed in

themselves, and in the end, when the storm blew over, their fire

still burnt, but now more bright and intense.

When we are younger, we want to grow up and be presidents,

astronauts and superheroes. When we grow up, we find these

ridiculous and replace these dreams with more ‘reasonable’

ones. Why not take these ridiculous dreams, and make them

commonplace? Why become doctors, engineers and lawyers

when we can be sky-divers, mountain- climbers and president of

the World Health Organization? Take a leaf out of the lives of all

these accomplished people. Ask yourself, what is it that you

really want to do? Now ask yourself, ‘Why ever not?’

Former president, Late APJ Abdul Kalam, an

inspiration to young minds everywhere, was an

ordinary man, like you and me. The difference

between him and us is that he worked hard. He

worked to keep his spark alive, and then he worked

hard to ignite other people’s sparks. He appreciated

what he received, and his humility is one of his

greatest virtues. He said in his book titled, ‘Ignited

Minds’: Thinking is the capital, Enterprise is the way,

Hard work is the solution.

Let’s all find our sparks, let’s all find our oil, and let’s

all set alight the ‘beacon shining bright’ that is our life.

We are all born with a divine fire in us. Our efforts should be to give wings to this fire and fill the world with the glow of its goodness. - A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Wings of Fire

Niranjana P.Shenoy (II PCMB C)

Five Pointer

All the World's on the Stage

The excitement in the air is palpable, the deafening applause and

hoots of encouragement from thousands of eager students sets a thrill

to the walls of an institution where no week passes without

exhilarating performances. Welcome to Class Culturals, 2015, or

rather, welcome to the world. With the theme for this college's most

relished programme set as 'Travelling Around the World in 21 Days',

Class Culturals 2015 started out with a promise to take us to a wide

range of countries and experience their culture in a span of 15

minutes.

We started out from the land of the rising Sun, Japan, travelled all the

way to the land of the Tsars, Russia, made a pit stop at enchanted

Mexico and now departed from Deutschland, where we experienced

the blast that is Oktoberfest. We covered almost all continents yet we

haven't even seen half of what exists out there.

With colourful displays of culture, peppy tunes, ancient dance forms,

magnificent history and of course, the sheer amount of excitement

strumming through thousands of souls in the building, this year has set

an agenda to be the best in the history of Class Culturals.With this

cosmic scale of performances, we can be certain that the beats of this

year's Class Culturals will reverberate through the walls of Christ

Junior College and all our minds for years to come.

The show has just begun.

Sujitha Prabhakar (II HEPP N )


Super 'Six'er!

There had been an air of mystery surrounding the newly

introduced XITE event, Project X. For those who still have no clue,

Project X was a high profile robbery.

It started off with a video challenge. In the video challenge, teams

of 3participants each were to make a thirty second video. Based on

the judges’ acceptance of the video, the team went through to the

subsequent round.

The second round included the teams answering a questionnaire

based on a theme. It was black, yellow and related to bats. You

guessed right, it was the most famous superhero of the DC comic

series “Batman”. Once the teams figured the theme, they would

move on to the next round.

In the third round, the participants were introduced to something

new called the Unobtanium which had the gift of bringing people

back to life. Sounds crazy yet? What was more interesting was that

the Unobtainium was placed inside an igloo shaped vault on the

moon!

The Unobtanium had beeb captured by none other than Adolf

Hitler. Yes, you read that right, Adolf Hitler! The last task required of

the teams was to retrieve the Unobtanium from Hitler. The team that

was successful in doing so were declared the winners of Project X.

Project X was a very different concept that most of us regret not

taking part in, but it’s like they say “There is always a next time”.

Sharon Christopher (I PPES O)

Project XX

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Lucky Seven


Pieces of 8

The Editorial TeamMrs. Soumya Anna Jason

Shifa Zoya - II PPES O

Sujitha Prabhakar - II HEPP N

Sanjana N - I PPES O

Sharon Christopher - I PPES O

Seventeen year old Niraad Bose, a fellow Bangalorean and student of II

‘O’, has several hobbies, like most of us including music, reading and

running (not necessarily in that order). But he is most passionate about

football, which he started playing in 2009. He plays left back and has

participated in the International Children's Games, Bahrain in 2010,

which he describes as an unforgettable experience where he met people

from more than 50 countries and made a lot of new friends. He is also part

of the Bengaluru Football Club Youth team.

When Niraad was about 10 years old, he started playing football during

his lunch breaks and “felt something [he] never felt before – pure joy!” After

that moment, he was addicted to the sport and couldn't stop! He believes

the overall experience of being on the field with his friends and opponents

has taught him a lot about life – the values of respect, punctuality, humility,

hard work, and pushing his physical and mental boundaries. Niraad has

come to realize that balance in life is crucial – football with academic

pursuits. This would give him wider job opportunities once his football

career is over. “It doesn't hurt to have a bachelor's degree!” he says in jest.

Niraad strongly recommends playing a sport, or plain exercise, not only to

his peers but to every person on this planet. It drastically improves a person’s life as well as the happiness quotient (“It's the

endorphins!” he says). “For us students, it can help relieve us of our stress and more importantly, it helps us use our brains

more than our phones!” Niraad opines.

At this point, Niraad feels he has an opportunity of a lifetime playing for the Bengaluru Football Club Youth team headed by

a qualified and passionate coach. He hopes to earn a spot in the main team (Bengaluru FC). This, he feels, would be a huge

achievement, taking him one step closer to his dream of becoming a professional footballer. Winning and losing is part of

the game, and the game of life for that matter. Winning is just a bonus but real happiness is derived from playing. Losing is

probably one of the worst feelings Niraad has come across and it takes him time, but he does get over it as we all should.

As Dr. Kalam indicated, when the learner and the teacher are enthusiastic and love what they do, they both learn from each

other. Niraad’s story is one of hard work, dedication, believing in and loving what you do to make it happen, with just the

right amount of fun! You win and you lose, but most importantly you pick yourself up and keep going. It’s not the end of the

world, though it may seem so; things can only get better from there! So don’t give up on your dreams. Spark your passion,

light the fire of hope and ignite your minds. Don’t forget to enjoy every moment and experience – pick up new ideas and

friends along the way. Give it your all, because, as Wayne Gretzky once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”

Shifa Zoya (II PPES O)

Football Fire

For private circulation only

2013 cjc_write angle from joy - christ junior college

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