Thursday 30 March 2023

Love of books -Isha

When I was small I was in India. I was in Bengaluru. My father made a small library in our house. There were thousands of books, some for kids. Me and my twin sister used to go there and just flip the pages because we did not know how to read or write.

Then we moved to Canada. When I was in grade 1, my teacher used to give us 2 books everyday. We used to take them home and read them. After reading, we had to write about the book even though we were not good in spelling or vocabulary. By the end of grade 1, I had finished reading almost 200 books. The books were for small kids that had only a few pages. My teacher also put me in a Reading Club. I first came to know about the 'Syllables' in the reading club. My Reading Guide taught us how to read a book in a fun way. There were students from all the classes, many were my seniors. At the start it was very hard but slowly I learnt how to read. Slowly my vocabulary grew and my love for books. We used to play language games if we had extra time.

At home my father slowly started to get books and hundreds of books made a small library here in Canada too. Once we finished our homework he used to ask "pick a book and read!". The fun fact is he will also sit with us and we all read together. He got tens of story books, series of Asterix and Obelix, Tintin, Chota Bheem, Calvin and Hobbes, many science books, literature, Indian mythological books. Oh!! You name it, he has it!
And my mother always says, "write, write and write your thoughts". So after reading every story or book, I pen down my thoughts about it. This is how I developed reading and writing.

So far I have read many books but my favorite book is "White Fang" by Jack London. It's a Fiction story and published in 1906. Story goes like this...

White Fang was a wolf. He was in a forest. Once a man feeds him and takes him to a village. White Fang was happily staying with him. One day the man went somewhere, and did not return. White Fang got curious and went out to search for him. He gets lost in a forest and goes to a nearby river. He makes a big leap and crosses the river. There he saw a group of people having fun watching a dog fight. They saw White Fang and caught him. They made White Fang fight with a Bull dog where White Fang lost the fight. A bad man took White Fang and tied him to a log. He used to hit White Fang with a whip and White Fang used to cry loudly ( I did not like this part in the book ). When he was away, a good man unties White Fang and takes him to his home. He takes care of White Fang with love. They played together, ate and slept together. But he had to go to New York for a new job and he was sad that he could not take White Fang along with him. He asks a person to take care of White Fang. The caretaker doesn't love White Fang , does not feed or play with him. One fine day, White Fang escapes and travels to New York city. He finds his friend who takes him to his home. The man was very happy and proud about White Fang. White Fang was happy as well. They lived happily ever after.

That's the story.

My love for books is still on and I now want to complete a book - Adventures of Dennis by Victor Dragunsky - which my father has given me recently.

-Isha Acharya (Grade 4)
Submitted by: Isha
Submitted on: Thu Feb 16 2023 09:21:02 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time)
Category: Article
Acknowledgements: This is Mine. / Original
Language: English
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[category Article, English, This is Mine. / Original]

Friday 24 March 2023

यस्मिन्यथा वर्तते यो मनुष्य:... -देवसुत

Bhishma responds to Yudhishthiras' question

यस्मिन्यथा वर्तते यो मनुष्य: स्तस्मिंस्तथा वर्तितव्यं स धर्मः ।
मायाचारो मायया वर्तितव्य; साध्वाचार साधुना प्रत्युदय ।।

yasmin yathā vartate yo manuṣyas; tasmiṃs tathā vartitavyaṃ sa dharmaḥ ।
māyācāro māyayā vartitavyaḥ; sādhvācāraḥ sādhunā pratyudeyaḥ ।।

English Translation:
One should treat another as the latter does to him. A deceitful person should be thwarted with deceit, while an honest man should be treated with honesty.

Editor's Note:
This stanza is from the Mahabharata (Chapter 110 verse 26) where Bhishma is responding to Yudhishtira's question: How should a person act who wishes to follow virtue?
Submitted by: देवसुत
Submitted on: Sun Mar 22 2023 09:21:02 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time)
Category: Quote
Acknowledgements: Rishi Ved Vyaas
Language: संस्कृत/Sanskrit
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[category Quote, संस्कृत/Sanskrit, Rishi Ved Vyaas]