Thought for the Day

“Peace is not God’s gift to His creatures.It is our gift to each other.”~ Elie Wiesel (1928)

Pride and  Prejudice: Book review

by  Jane Austen

As good a love story as they come. Although, I can’t connect entirely with the setting for I am from a far off land, I can see that the basic emotions of humans wherever they live are the same.The treatment of women, the development of a romantic relationship and every other basic human characteristics run through all civilisations in more or less the same way. This was one of the lessons I learnt from this book.And did I tell that I was enthralled by the romance that happened between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy. It was simply epic.

Reviewed by

Nirjhar

Class XII,Sc

Clear Light of Day: Book review

by Anita Desai

I consider Anita Desai’s “Clear Light of Day” as a poetic novel as it considerably deals with symbols and suggestions. Her use of “the house” imagery is at the center which signifies dust, dullness and decay. As the novel begins, you’ll notice that the house of the Das family does not change except decays. Like Anita Desai’s other novels, the setting is Old Delhi. The interesting thing you’ll notice is she skillfully synthesizes the image of house with the lives of the Das family. The house is associated with sickness, dust, and disorder. And for that reason, the “grey” color is described again and again. So, the house reflects the mentality and sickness of the entire Das family. In other words, nobody in the Das household enjoys life, all merely exists! The sickness and disorder pervade in the mind of the family members. This house is exactly in contrast with the house of Haider Ali and that is why Raja gets attracted towards it. For this house of Das family, the symbol of “web” is described which is apt from every point of view. As I say the house does not change but decays, it is fair to remark that because of such sickness and dusty atmosphere of the house everybody feels “suffocated” and that is why they try to find escape in one thing or another. For that reason, Raja is attracted towards Haider Ali’s house. Tara often goes to Mira Mansi and finally, she succeeds in escaping completely by marrying off Bakul. Baba seeks escape in music and plays his gramophone all the time. Bimla becomes the professor of history. In this way, the house plays a vital role behind the escapist nature of the Das household. Anita Desai beautifully describes the state of the Delhi city. Sometimes, the whole city seems to be dead and the houses are referred to in the novel as the “tombs”. The house of the Das family seems to be deserted and therefore, Bimla does not prevent Baba playing his gramophone loudly because she thinks that the silence of the house is more dreadful. For her, the noise produced by Baba’s gramophone gives peace to her. Even when Mr. Das and his wife were alive, they were just like the outsiders as Mr. Das was known for his entrance. The mother was either engrossed in the cards or confined to the bed. That is why Tara sometimes feels that even the ghost of her father could create the noise of papers and nothing else! The decaying aspect of the house is felt on the Das family and this why the whole family gets scattered and only Bim remains with Baba in the “dead house”. This is how, the house has symbolic significance, which plays a major role in the actions and deeds of the Das household and becomes the central episode in the novel.

Reviewed by

Aditya Malik

XII Sc

Indomitable Spirit: Book review

by

Dr.A.PKalam.J Abdul

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul kalam was born on October 15,1931and has the unique honour of being the recipient of the country’s top civilian awards : the Padma Bhushan in 1981, Padma Vibhushan in 1991 and the Bharat Ratna in 1997. Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam became he eleventh president of India in July 2002.

The book Indomitable Spirit is an awesome book written by Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam.It is the experience from his own life’s journey from the shores of Rameswaram to the hallowed portals of Rashtrapati Bhawan. In this book Dr.Kalam has showed great respect towards women and says that “womanhood is a beautiful creation of God” and this is explained in chapter-9 (Empowered women) which particularly depicts examples of women who have defied society norms and have done well to rise beyond their expectations. According to him, “there is no other profession in the world that is more important to society than that of a teacher” which is explained in chapter-2 (My Teachers). And this is what is liked the most as I aim to become a teacher. It gave me more interest towards that profession. He has great hopes towards the youth of the nation. Indomitable spirit has two components. The first component is that there must be a vision leading to higher goals of achievement.The second component is the ability to overcome all hurdles coming in the way of mission accomplishment.

In this book he tells the young men and women, “success can only come to you by courageous devotion to the task in front of you”. Since I conclude that the youngsters should read this book as it is very inspiring, and by reading this book one becomes self – confident courageous and determined.

Reviwed by

Manish

XII Sc

Raj of the Rani: Book Review

“Freedom is the oxygen of soul”

by TAPTI ROY

This book of Tapti Roy deals with the life of a warrior queen from history – Rani lLkshmibai , who was a figure in the gallery of heroes of the ‘First war of Independence’. Apart from the descriptive events of the freedom struggle,the book also presents the life of common man during the time of British rule in India.It is more than a fiction,realistic more than being dramatic in language.This book deals with the different phases of Rani Lakshmibai’s life – transition from Manikarnika (daughter of Moropant Tambe) to Rani Lakshmibai,queen of Lhansi is depicted very clearly.The life of energetic,vivacious and brave child, brilliant and expert queen is being presented with different versions of same story. As the information is collected from reliable sources, it is a good source of reference too.It salutes the valour of the nation’s heroes who sacrificed their lives to provide the freedom we enjoy today.It presents the chain of historic events which ultimately led to the freedom.We feel the patriotism while reading each and every line of this book and it honours this brave woman who found out her place in history.

Reviewed by

Diksha Singh

IX B

Anamika Jha New Member of the Club.

It was the initiative of this media centre to form a Book worm club under which children of class VI  to XI .The club members meet regularly to help plan out implement the library media programme in School, discuss book and voice the views and ideas of student body about the running of their library.

KENDRIYA VIDYALAYA NO.2

FEROZEPUR CANTT

CHAIRPERSON: Mr. HARI SINGH (PRINCIPAL)

CONVENER:  Ms. ANJALI DWIVEDI (LIBRARIAN)

OTHER MEMBER: REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SUBJECT DEPARTMENT

Mrs. SAVITA ARORA

Mrs. GARIMA ARORA

Mr.  PRASHANT

Mr.  J.RAM

Mrs. MANISHA

Mrs.TEJINDER KAUR

Mrs. DAVINDER KAUR

Mr.  B.M. SINGH

Mrs. SUDHA SOI

Ms   NAVNEET KAUR

STUDENT MEMBERS:

MANISH             XII   Sc

SONU JANEWA  XII

HARSHA            IX A

RIHA                   VIII B

Click to view slideshow.Click to view slideshow.

Questions
1. To celebrate which influential thinker’s birthday is January 12 i.e. today observed as ‘National Youth Day’ in India?

2. What distinction has the prodigy Magnus Carlsen achieved recently?

3. Which Asian country will host the inaugural Summer Youth Olympic Games in August 2010?

4. Fill in the blank: The United Nations has declared 2010 to be the ‘International Year of ______’

5. ‘Makara Sankranthi’ celebrates the transmigration of Sun from which ‘rashi’ (zodiac) to which Makara rashi?

6. What was the surname of the siblings Barry, Robin and Maurice who made up the popular band Bee Gees?

7. The State Peace and Development Council runs the affairs in which of India’s neighbours?

8. Joseph Nicephore Niepce is considered an inventor and a pioneer in which now common field of visual communication?

9. If Antananarivo was your Capital city, in which country are you in?

10. After which drug were the two Anglo-Chinese Wars fought in the 19th century named?

11. Aptenodytes forsteri is the scientific name of which big flightless bird?

12. Playing for which club did James Vaughan set the record for being the youngest scorer in the EPL at 16 years and 271 days?

13. Leveret is the young of a…?

14. What is the nationality of the popular actress Catherine Zeta Jones?

15. Which South American country is called ‘Corazon de America’ or ‘Heart of America’ because of its central location?

(Competition start 4.07.2011)

Your thinking can make hell out of heaven and heaven out of hell. Take the example of the great Napoleon Bonaparte and Helen Keller. Napoleon had everything in his life: Money, power, status and recognition. But do you know what he has to say at end of his life? He said he could never see Six days of happiness in his whole life. In stark contrast to him is Helen Keller, the women who was deaf, dumb and blind. Author of many books, she had all together a different view of life. In spite of handicaps, she asserted that life was so beautiful!

AMRITA

IX B

Teachers