COVID-19 has changed our lives to a huge extent. The education sector – that is, our schools and colleges – have also been affected. Going to school for attending classes is a distant reality now. Online education is the “new normal”.
When the government of India first imposed lockdown, children where very happy and excited as lockdown mean no school – a sudden holiday for an indefinite period of time! Little did we know that the lockdown was going to change the whole way in which schools functioned.
While at one time, not very long ago, children were forbidden from using smartphones and laptops, these things soon became our windows to education. Classes resumed through video conferencing and lessons were taught through videos uploaded by teachers. Homework had to be mailed and study materials downloaded. Examinations became open book assignments!
The system had many boons. Technology helped us maintain social distancing. Reopening regular schools would mean the mixing of hundreds of children on a daily basis. One could not trust them with observing COVID-19 norms like always wearing masks, sanitizing hands from time to time, not mixing each other’s stationary etc. So through education we could keep the virus at bay!
But there were many downsides to this arrangement as well! Schooling imbibes in us a sense of discipline. It grooms us to become smart, educated individuals when we grow up. But online classes is not the same as schooling. Going to school means wearing a fresh uniform every day, meeting teachers and friends, interacting with them, outdoor activities etc. While online classes can spread knowledge, the system can’t groom or discipline children.
While a child cannot escape from paying attention in a regular class, in an online class it is not possible for the teacher to keep an eye on every student. Learning too suffered in this way. We can only hope that the pandemic would soon subside and thousands of children will get the opportunity to go back to school.
You can also read COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Essay in English
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.
Importance of morning walk
“Mind resides in a healthy body“. We all agree that in today’s fast life it is essential to keep ourselves fit and active. Therefore we must set up a proper routine to complete our daily work so that we have some time for ourselves too. A morning walk is a good way to start with our routine as the atmosphere is silent and clean. There is cool breeze blowing and it feels refreshing. Morning walk tones our muscles and improves our blood circulation. Our body becomes energetic and we remain fit and healthy.
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.
होली
प्रस्तावना
होली हमारे देश का प्राचीन पर है। इसमें नाच- गाना के साथ रंगों की भरमार होती है। इसको रंगोत्सव भी कहा जाता है। या नए वर्ष के आगमन की सूचना देने वाला त्यौहार है। फाल्गुन का महीना बीतते-बीतते जाड़े का अंत हो जाता है। बसंत की शोभा अपने उत्कर्ष पर होती है। खेतों में फसलें अपने सुनहरे रंग में कृषकों के मन में उत्साह भर देती है। ऐसे आनंदमई वातावरण में होली का पर्व मनाया जाता है।
समय
होली का पर्व फाल्गुन मास की पूर्णिमा को बड़ी धूमधाम से मनाया जाता है। यह मौसम बड़ा सुहावना होता है। मनोरम वातावरण में सभी लोग उमंग और मस्ती के साथ इस पर्व को मनाते हैं। इस समय तक ऋतुराज बसंत का आगमन हो जाता है। चारों और खेतों मैं सरसों के पीले फूल दिखाई पड़ते हैं। प्रकृति का रंगीन वातावरण नई उमंगे लेकर आता है। भारतीयों ने इस रंगीन मौसम में होली का त्यौहार मनाना आरंभ किया। इसीलिए इसे ‘रंगोत्सव’ भी कहा जाता है।
मनाने का कारण
भारतीय त्योहारों को मनाने के पीछे कोई न कोई कारण अवश्य होता है। लोक में प्रचलित है कि राजा हिरण्यकश्यप बड़ा प्रतापी राजा था, किंतु उतना ही अहंकारी भी। वह भगवान का सदैव विरोध करता था। स्वयं को ईश्वर से बड़ा मानता था। वह चाहता था कि प्रजा उसकी पूजा करे। उसका पुत्र प्रह्लाद भगवान का भक्त था। प्रह्लाद को बाल्यकाल मैं सच – झूठ की पहचान हो गई थी। प्रह्लाद ने कहा था – “भगवान से बढ़कर कोई दूसरा नहीं हो सकता। माता-पिता आदर के पात्र हैं परंतु भक्ति केवल भगवान की ही हो सकती है।”
इससे राजा हिरण्यकश्यप अपने पुत्र से नाराज हो गए। उन्हें पुत्र के उपदेश अच्छे नहीं लगे। वे प्रह्लाद को मारने का प्रयास करने लगे। अनेक बार असफल हो जाने के कारण उन्होंने अपनी बहन होलिका से सहायता करने को कहा। होलिका को वरदान प्राप्त था कि वह अग्नि में नहीं जलेगी । होलिका अपने इस वरदान के घमंड में प्रहलाद को गोद में लेकर जलती लकड़ियों के ढेर पर बैठ गई। किंतु आग से प्रह्लाद कुशलता पूर्वक बाहर आ गए । होली का उसी आग में भस्म हो गई। इस प्रकार असत्य और अन्याय पर सत्य एवं भक्ति की विजय के उपलक्ष्य में हर वर्ष होली का पर्व मनाया जाता है।
होलिका पर जिस कारण भी प्रारंभ हुआ हो, इसमें संदेह नहीं कि वह हमारा प्राचीन पर्व है। अनेक पुराणों एवं साहित्य ग्रंथों में इसके मनाए जाने का वर्णन मिलता है। इस त्यौहार की सबसे बड़ी विशेषता इससे जुड़ा राग – रंग है। यह संपूर्ण जनता का त्यौहार है। इसमें धर्म , पूजा-अर्चना और विधि-विधान का उतना महत्व नहीं है, जितना महत्व गाने बजाने एवं अबीर- गुलाल उड़ाने, खाने-पीने का और हर एक के साथ गले मिलने का है।वास्तव में होली हमारे देश का राष्ट्रीय पर्व है
मनाने की विधि
इस पर्व का आरंभ होली के पाँच-छ्ह दिन पूर्व होली एकादशी से होता है। बच्चे इस दिन से एक-दूसरे पर रंग डालना आरंभ कर देते हैं। पूर्णिमा के दिन खुले मैदान में ईंधन व उपलों का ढेर लगाया जाता है। स्त्रियां दोपहर के समय इसका पूजन करती हैं। दिन में पकवान आदि बनाए जाते हैं। रात्रि को एक निश्चित समय पर इस में आग लगाई जाती है। इसमें सभी लोग गेहूं, जौ, चना आदि की अधपकी वाले भूनते हैं, फिर एक दूसरे से गले मिलते हैं।
होली के दूसरे दिन प्रातः काल लोग अबीर गुलाल एवं रंगों से होली खेलना प्रारंभ कर देते हैं। बच्चे पिचकारी से रंग सकते हैं तथा गुलाल लगाते हैं। गले मिलते हैं एवं अत्यंत प्रसन्नता का अनुभव करते हैं। लोग टोलियां बनाकर नाचते गाते हैं एवं मौज-मस्ती करते हैं। दोपहर बाद सब लोग स्नान कर वस्त्र धारण करते हैं। एक-दूसरे से मिलने के लिए निकल पड़ते हैं। वास्तव में होली का पर्व प्रसन्नता से मनाया जाता है।
उपसंहार
वास्तव में होली का पर्व रंगों का पर्व है। यह त्योहार प्रसन्नता एवं उमंग उत्साह उल्लास एवं सद्भावना से का पर्व है। सभी लोग गले मिलते हैं। एकता और भाईचारे को बढ़ाने वाला त्यौहार है। मनुष्यों के प्रेम और प्यार का प्रतीक है यह पर्व।
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.
I have a pet rabbit. Its name is Bunnie. It is brown in colour and white patches on one eye and both the ears. It is soft and furry. It likes to eat carrots. It keeps running around in the garden. Whenever it sees me, it runs between my legs and pimps around me. We have made a small burrow for it in the garden.
I love Bunnie very much.
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