The saying – “a friend in need is a friend indeed” – describes the most important characteristic of a true friend. A true friend is one who helps out in the time of need! A short story will help us understand the concept better.
Rahul was one of the best students in class eight of St Christopher School. He was smart, intelligent and everyone loved his personality. Most of the boys and girls in class claimed to be Rahul’s friend. Rahul did not discriminate between his friends when it came to helping in matters of studies. He readily participated in group study sessions, shared notes and helped with project work. Rahul enjoyed his popularity!
One day, about three weeks before their final exams, Rahul got hit badly by the football while playing. He fell down in the wrong angle and immediately felt a sharp pain in his left ankle. He was rushed home, the doctor was summoned and Rahul ended up with a cast on his fractured ankle. Rahul could not attend school and his parents were extremely worried about his exams but Rahul was positive that he will not miss out– practically half of the class was his friends! But to his shock, except for a few phone calls and messages all he received were replies like “I have tuition classes”, “I need to go for swimming”, “I don’t have time today as my relatives have come over”. Even his best friends Mohan and Sonia turned a cold back. Then a miracle happened. The next Saturday morning, a shy girl in his class – Shreya – appeared magically at his doorstep with the notes given by the teachers all throughout the previous week. Shreya said that their class teacher has asked her to help Rahul as she lived quite close by. Shreya had also copied an extra set of notes for him. She had also started with his project work! “Even my tuition teacher could not help me with the Physics diagram that you had so easily taught me to draw. I would have failed in Physics that year if you had not! When the teacher asked for a volunteer to share notes and lessons with you, naturally I put my hand up.” This was all she said by way of explanation. That day Rahul realized the meaning of the saying – “A friend in need is a friend indeed”.
Putting it simply, Artificial Intelligence or AI, is intelligence demonstrated by machines or computers as opposed to intelligence displayed by humans. The concept of AI revolves around the theory or principle that computer systems will be able to perform the tasks that exclusively require human intelligence – jobs involving visual perception, decision making, speech recognition, translation etc.
AI is a game-changing technology! In our day-to-day lives we witness numerous instances of the same. Be it Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri or simply Google’s own voice recognition mechanism, we have in some way or the other experienced AI. Putting it loosely, even the present day can be referred to as the ‘Age of Artificial Intelligence’.
Though the concept of AI or machine intelligence has been there since the time of World Word II, it is only in the last couple of decades that we have seen a massive increase in the research and business investment associated with it. Experts and researchers say that the concept and the algorithms prevalent or the maths behind machine intelligence has been there for many years. But as it is a risky field when it comes to commercialization or application, just like electricity, in all probability it will take years for every industry to be wholly affected by AI. It will take many more years for industries to fully implement AI in all aspects of life.
While application of AI is a welcome thought, the question is that arises is – will there be an Age of Artificial Intelligence when machines will take over the world? Will computers and robots slowly diminish the need of human labour as well as intelligence? Though unlikely, the thought is scary!
Businesses use a special tool – advertisements – to make their products or services appear covetable to customers. In other words, advertisements tell us about things and services we might need in our lives. It is a marketing tool. Today our lives are filled with ads. They might come to us in the printed in the newspapers, or as a video on social media or a commercial on television – we are simply surrounded by them.
Advertisements influence us to a great extent! There are so many products around us and so many brands selling different versions of the same product. Some brands come across as cheap and some as luxurious – all depends on the way they are advertised, the marketing strategy they use. This affects the human psychology and we start judging people depending on the brand they use.
Celebrities often appear in the ads of all kinds of commodities. This provokes the human mind to want to use the same product their favourite hero or cricketer is using. It does not strike us that these celebs are simply being paid to advertise the product. Nowadays, even social media influencers and Youtube stars are being used to advertise products.
Whether the influence of ads in our lives is good or bad, is a topic for debate! But we simply cannot deny that ads play a vital role in deciding our way of life! Advertisements tell us how we should look, how to express love, what we should aspire, what success should look like, how we should make our families happy, how we can make our kids healthy and the list is endless!
Time is one the most mysterious forces in the Universe. It is the most important resource. Once gone, it is gone forever. It waits for no one. There is a time for everything! So organizing our day according to time and not wasting it, ensures that we develop good habits and get skilled in the process. Time is extremely valuable.
- Sometimes, to get out of a difficult situation or to heal over heartbreak or a great loss, you just need to give it time. Time heals everything. It is also a teacher.
- Money lost can be earned back. Even lost health can be restored to some extent with the help of medication. But even a few minutes wasted on a certain day is gone forever.
- Life is unpredictable! No one can tell for sure what will happen the next moment. We don’t know how long we will live on this earth. In other words, we do not know how much time we have or how much time we have with someone else. So, it is important to value the present time and make most of it.
- All of us have 24 hours in a single day. Then why is it that some people make more of it than others! This shows that time needs to be managed cleverly and not wasted. Being able to manage time well and accommodating everything in a day of 24 hours ensures success in life.
- The more time you give to something, the better it flourishes – be it relationships, a particular skill, a hobby, work etc.
So you see, what a difference time can make! Learn to value time. It is a sure shot mantra to happiness in life.
Related Essay: Short Essay on Time is Money
Introduction
Christmas is the most important festival for Christians. Christmas same for them what Diwali is for the Hindus and EID for the Muslims. It is celebrated on the 25th of December every year with great pomp and show.
Why is the celebrated
This festival is celebrated in memory of the day on which Christ was born. Crist was the founder of Christianity. Is believed that he was sent into this world to save mankind.
Description of the Christmas celebration
Great preparations are made for the occasion. All houses and churches are cleaned and white-washed. The walls are decorated with paper flower, pictures, looking glasses and wall buntings. All the Christians, rich or poor, young or old, take part in it. The shopkeepers who sell Christmas cards and Christmas present decorate their shops with beautiful pictures and toys. They do so to attract people to their shops.
Planting of the Christmas tree
The most important part of the festival is the planting of the Christmas tree. A large branch of a tree is cut down. It is planted in one corner of the house. Then this branch is decorated with little toys sach is dolls, toys, birds, flowers, etc. At night candles and electric bulbs are lighted on its twigs. The Christmas tree looks very bright and beautiful.
Prayers and exchange of parents
Then in the night, all the children of the house are called in. All sing songs and offer prayers to God who sent his son, Christ to earth to remove all sins and sufferings. After the prayer, all the members of the house and guests are given Christmas presents. Christmas cards, pictures, books and sweets are sent to friends and relatives.
Feasts and domestic performance
Then big feasts are arranged. Delicious dishes are served before all. The housewife looks very important figure. She entertains all the guests. People prepare the best food they can offer on the day.
After the feast is over all members take part in music. They dance and sing at night. Then the festival comes to a close. All gather in the church to pray to God that they may lead a happy life in the coming year.
Conclusion
Christmas is a festival of rejoicing to Christians all over the world. In the days of British rule in India, all the schools and colleges were closed for 15 days on the occasion of this festival.
The Baisakhi Festival
When and how celebrated
The Baisakhi festival is a seasonal festival. It is celebrated all over the Punjab and Haryana by all classes of people. Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs all take part in its celebration. It falls on the first day of Baisakh. It was every year on the 13th of April. on this day people put on new clothes. They prepare halva and several other tasty things at home.
Baisakhi fair
A fair is held everywhere in connection with the Baisakhi festival. The site of the fair is a place that is religiously famous. Generally, the fair is held by the side of a river. The religious body is in charge of the fair. A day before the fair there is seen a regular Bazar. There are stalls of sweets, toys and fruits on either side of it.
On Baisakhi day
On Baisakhi day there is a great rush in the fair. There is no place in the fair without visitors. At the fair, the crowd is so great that you cannot meet with it even in the overcrowded cities. You cannot elbow your way through it easily.
Description of the fair
On one side of the bazaar, merry-go-round attracts people. They whirl in the air with children and boys of all ages sitting in them. The boys enjoy their rides. Near them are the rope dancers. They do their feats on the rope.
Country dance
On the other side of the Bazaar huge crowd of people can be seen standing in a circle. In the middle, there is a group of villagers. They are mostly farmers. They are giving a show of their country dance with the beating of the drum. Each one of the villages has a stick in his hand. These tips are raised in the air as the dancers lift both hands and raise their legs. They cry ‘Gone is Baisakhi, Gone is Baisakhi. The sight is worth seeing. The excitement and enthusiasm of the dancers are very great. So many on-lookers forget their sense of shyness and join the dancers.
Side by side with these means of amusements, arrangements are made for elderly people. They put up shamianas under which they are giving lectures on religion and are singing hymns.
By the time evening draws near, people get tired. They are glad to return home with sweets, toys and fruits for their children for the next day.
Good eating habits
We should develop good habits while eating food. We should never eat our food before washing our hands with soap. We should pray to God before and after having food. We should be careful while eating that we don’t spoil our dress. We should chew our food properly. We should always use spoon and fork while eating. We should cover our dress with a napkin. We must not waste food because there are millions of people who do not get sufficient food. After having food we should keep our plates in their right place and clean the table.
Say no to plastic
Science has helped humanity to progress a lot. We can see several inventions of science around. Our life has become easy and comfortable because of these inventions. But as we know, there are two sides to a coin. Besides these beneficial discoveries, science has also given us some hazards which have become a big problem for us. One such discovery is plastic. It has become almost impossible to get rid of this problem. Plastic is getting choked in lanes, eaten by the animals it is even polluting the water bodies. One single plastic product takes almost thousands years to get disposed. It is becoming a serious hazard to life on the planet. So we should ban the use of plastic at all levels and use cloth and jute bags items which can be disposed of and recycle easily.
A bad day at school
I was very happy and excited on Saturday morning. It was an activity day in our school and our class has ‘best out of waste’ activity. My mum prepared a mini bag of all the required materials while I got ready for school. I was lost in thinking about the group we will be in, the article I was about to make a pen stand. Our day started at school as usual and finally the activity period also started. Everyone took out the material but I ransacked the whole bag but my mini bag was not inside. I was almost in tears. My partner offered me his material and we discussed over the matter. All of a sudden, our teacher noticed us talking and started scolding. When we tried to explain, she expelled us from the the classroom. To our bad luck principal sir was on round and he came to us. He too scolded us for our carelessness and our participation in the activity was cancelled. It was a very bad day I ever experienced at school.
A Rainy Day
It was a fine Sunday morning I was still in bed at 9 o’clock I suddenly could hear some clattering over the shade of our garage I was over- enjoyed I knew it was raining I had planned to leave the bed late but this sudden joy couldn’t retain me on the bed anymore. I jumped out of the bed and ran to the window. Heavy showers made the roads with everywhere and it became hazy all over all the excitement drove my mind crazy and I started making paper boats with my mother’s permission I went out in the parking area and soaked myself in rain also sailed my paper boats small water puddles there. It was indeed a very joyful rainy Sunday for me after 3 hours of good rain, the sun showed brightly and I sat down to pen down my experience in my diary.
Recent Comments