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A FORTUNATE MISTAKE
As his flitter spiralled out of control towards the ground, Captain Jim T. Kelper fought for control of his flying craft, thinking every moment to be his last. After what seemed like an aeon, he spotted land through the storm and the thick foliage of the trees.
About an hour ago, he had climbed into his flitter in the docking bay of City One, reflecting that he was one of the few persons to do something for the first time on Spiryok. His ancestors had left the planet Earth about a thousand years ago on the USS Enterprise, on account of Earth being too crowded and full of junk. The Enterprise had landed on this planet, the only one with water and plant life on it that the crew could find after two hundred years of travel. But two things happened that changed the way of life of the refugees. One, the trees on the planet, on touching, affected them with a lethal degenerative disease which brought about death in a mere two hours. And two, the Enterprise was unable to take off from Spiryok due to failure of its energon generator. Hence, the humans were confined to the spaceship for almost eight hundred years. Only occasionally did some of their brave numbers fly around the planet in a flitter. But then a ‘fortunate mistake’ occurred. Our story is set in that time.
Back to Kelper. As he got into his flitter, Kelper felt proud that he was the first one in the history of Spiryok who dared to fly so late in the dry season. The coming ferocious, wild storm season was dreaded. As he lifted off, the Control Tower warned him to be careful but Kelper’s free unbounded spirit couldn’t care less. As soon as he was out of the docking bay, he felt as free as the metaphorical bird. He performed some complex manoeuvres and saw children agape at his feats of aerial daring.
Suddenly the clouds darkened. “Kelper One, Kelper One, come in......storm has......closing bay doors.....Over.” Kelper could hear only flashes of what Control was radioing him; the rest was drowned by static. Still he knew and had also deduced that they were closing the bay doors due to the oncoming storm.
The storm hit. Flashes of lightning made scary shapes against the silhouetted clouds. The thunder sounded like the roar of a whole pride of lions. The rain fell so heavily that half the trees in the forest below had broken and fallen with a groan of agony. As his flitter spiralled out of control toward the ground Kelper fought for control of his craft thinking every moment to be his last one. After what seemed like an aeon, he spotted land through the storm and the thick foliage of the trees.
At that instant itself he decided that he had to land, for the turbulence that the flitter was experiencing and the wind that was buffeting it was making it unstable. As Kelper landed his craft, it lost a wing, the front landing wheels and an engine. Bumping along the uneven forest land, it finally came to a stop. He breathed a sigh of relief.
But not for long. As he sat in his damaged craft, thinking of how to get back to City One, there was a loud crack! And a large branch fell right on his flitter, breaking it into two and also breaking the cockpit window. Terrified, Kelper jumped out of the window. He was not sure if the water dripping off the trees would infect him, so he ran until he came to an open glade. He remained careful not to touch the trees as he ran.
As Kelper sat in the middle of the glade, soaked from head to toe, shivering with cold and fright, he thought “At leat I’m safe from the trees.” Famous last words. There was a loud roll of thunder, which covered the noise made by a tall tree as it broke and fell across the glade. One of its branches pinned his arm under it. Fortunately Kepler was able to extract it. Unfortunately he was now infected with the disease. He fainted out of sheer terror.
The next morning a search party was sent out, with each member wearing a heavy orange biohazard suit. They found the remains of Kelper’s flitter, but, unable to find any signs of the pilot nearby, went ahead to search for him. One of them found him in the glade with the tree trunk beside him saw the dried blood on his arm. Murmuring a prayer, he placed his hand on Kelper’s chest to give him a final blessing.
Thump! Thump! There was a heartbeat, feeble but steady. He sprinkled water on Kelper’s face and, to his astonishment, Kelper stirred feebly.
A couple of months later, Kelper was on back on his feet in City One. The doctors had treated his wound. As he walked along, there was a spring in his step. The doctors had analysed a sample from his blood and concluded that, after eight hundred years of low – level exposure to the disease, humans had now developed immunity to the disease. Kelper’s “mistake” – of flying in the storm – had given the people something they would never have got otherwise.
A new life.
--Sanat Chitanvis
Against All Odds
"A hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure inspite of overwhelming obstacles"-Christopher Reeve. Success is not measured by what you accomplish but by the opposition you have encountered and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.
Heroes are a breed apart!
Dreams are really very beautiful. They have their own uniqueness. A dream holds its own importance for an individual. Everybody dreams. No dream is ever too small. Every dream has its own charm. Dreams are like savoring your favorite ice-cream or owning a cool racing car or getting admission in your aspired institute or making your own bungalow or building a better India. The power of the dream is what drives us on our quest to conquer it.
But, there is no telling how many miles you will have to run while chasing a dream. There are obstacles to block our way. Sometimes we feel so powerless and frustrated. We lose hope. The thought of giving up sets in. The fear of failure engulfs us. Now this is the line by Knute Rockne, which separates the heroes,” When the going gets tough, the tough get going."They are the heroes, who overcome the obstacles with their strong will-power and determination. No matter what they will make it against all odds and conquer their dreams. They win.
Isn`t it wonderful to watch the roses blossom during springtime? It is surely a visual appeal. But we forget to thank those thorns, which keep those roses blossoming throughout. If there are no thorns, the roses die. And, we miss out on that visual appeal. The darkness of night does engulf us at some point of time. But there also comes a lovely sunrise, which fills our heart with warmth and energy. After a harsh hurricane, there comes a beautiful rainbow.
"The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams"-Oprah Winfrey. Life is a journey. We set out on this journey in the hope of conquering our dreams. All of us want to live in peace and prosperity. Everyone wants to succeed. But we ain't ready to live through the harsh times of adversity. We do not have the patience to wait for so long.Oh! What a life is this, full of problems! All of us have problems, some big, some small, but all of us have them. Then why only some people make it against all odds? The successful people view these problems as stepping stones not stumbling blocks.
In this world so many great people have been born. But, what is that special element of greatness in them? 'Great people are ordinary people with extraordinary amounts of determination'. These are the people who make it to the pinnacle of success against all odds. They hold on to their dreams. They have the strength to persevere. They are determined to win.
Mahatma Gandhi, father of our nation. He is the epitome of moral strength and courage. His simplicity inspires us. He dedicated his entire life to the betterment of the nation. He started the struggle for freedom of his own. He was ridiculed and criticized by others. But he did not fail to raise his voice for freedom. Ultimately he won the hearts of billions of people worldwide. He gifted us the freedom and rekindled the hope of a better India. Mark Inglis is one perfect example to show that disability is just a state of mind. Despite having lost both his legs in a mountaineering accident, he did not give up his dream and he reached the summit of Mount Everest in 2006. 'The Flying Sikh' - Milkha Singh gave anew dimension to athletics in India. He had seen his entire family being killed in the India Pakistan partition massacre. He was all alone. He was rejected thrice by the army, but later joined electrical mechanical engineering branch of the army. There he was determined to realize his potential as a sprinter. He would practice for 5 hours daily under his coach and he won gold medal in both 200m and 400m at the 1958 Asian games in Tokyo. He won a gold medal at the Cardiff common wealth games. He was the first Indian to win a gold medal in the Common wealth games. APJ Abdul Kalam, the former president of India. He was awarded Bharat Ratna in 1997. He is a renowned aerospace engineer, who has worked with DRDO and ISRO. He is known as the Missile Man of India for his work on development of missile and space rocket technology. Even he lived amidst many financial problems. He started working at an early age to earn for his family. He was a bright and extremely hardworking student. Ellen Keller showed the world, that you can achieve your dreams despite being deaf, dumb and blind. She had the strong will power and the ardent desire to succeed.
Heroes are a breed apart. They challenge the equilibrium. They subvert the paradigms. They defy the given. Each one of us on this earth has it. We are born to win. We are meant to be someone really big. It is our time now. In the book 'The Alchemist' by Paulo Coelho, there is a very famous line “When you want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it" Hope gets us going. Faith can move mountains. Believe in yourself. Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Be dedicated and committed to your work. Begin with a step. Have the strength to persevere and beat the odds, to make it to the pinnacle of success. Walk your own path. Craft your success story.
"Just break the bars
Reach for the stars
Towards your dream, run
And shine like the sun"
---Annapurna Pandita
Description of a bazaar
I walked into the bazaar. An overpowering influence of roasted groundnut and candy floss enveloped me. The sight was remarkable, people of different shapes and sizes swarmed all over. I walked slowly, observing every detail. Shops flaunted both sides of the street. After every shop you would find a neatly packed heap of garbage. Every alternate shop, I strangely noticed was a betel shop! I kept sidestepping the muck strewn on the road. An old lady with a crooked stick sat on her haunches at the entrance of a foggy, misty antique pieces shop with a begging bowl in her hand. The shrill voice of a plastic scrap vendor suddenly ripped through my ears and I doubled up! Before I knew it, half a dozen quack doctors rushed up to me asking if anything was wrong. I pushed my way through with polite ‘no’s’. Whew! I nearly had my pocket pinched. Children cried as they pulled their mother’s sarees pointing towards the sweet shops. I hurried up as the atrocious smell of fish wafted through my nose. Jewelry shops crammed with aunties who were choosing from different patterns, men arguing in the lottery shops, and children surrounding the groundnut vendor. What particularly amused me was this grubby, fat child who stood on the tip of his toes, his pudgy finger grasping a half chewed cucumber, a mop of jet black hair on his forehead, head slightly agape and spit drooling out his chin, with sheer amazement and wonder in his eyes, I believed he was hypnotized! The tea boy tore across the street with cups of tea balancing in his hand. One policeman walked suspiciously through the crowd watching for any wrongdoing. It was evening and turned dark now; the alley was plunged into a moment of darkness and suddenly appeared bewildering criss-crosses of bright neon lights. A vegetable vendor sat under a huge banyan tree yelling out cheap prices to finish his stock and be done for the day. People thronged out of the bazaar, absolutely loaded with the popular buys of the day. I walked back home too.
Ruth Mathen
Peace Prayer Power
All of us connect with someone who can identify with our circumstances and be a share of our day to day life. Prayer is just that a personnel experience and intimate connection with ur lovely heavenly father.
But what creates the peace brought by prayer I the connection, the bond between our and Gods soul and also that between our soul and our conscious mind. When the conscious mind realizes the need and power of the inner soul that is when inner peace is achieved and the only path to get it is a PRAYER!! The solace achieved by it is divine which stabilizes ones mind and eases out of all of its frustration which is the root cause of physical and mental stress which builds in us a confidence to perform and persist.
The power and effect of prayer on the human life is indescribably great. Prayers are said to do miracles. Examples for this statement are many but for sometimes very close to us, we find that in our own school, the prayers of the innocent and naïve toddlers bring happy smiles and broad chest on the day of the result of the Board Exams not only of students, but also that of teachers. The miracles that prayer can grow from a seedling of thoughts are not only castles in the air, a true player can surely convert it to a castle on the ground.
But, a very important clause that has to be added to Mayer is hard work, you must’ve heard “God helps those who help themselves” but he does not help only them he also helps those who try. Working is obviously required to chain that air castle to the earth, the prayers of your people and of your own heart are only catalysts.
Ending this article I write, that I pray for myself and this school; and finally I pray for a dfference to mine, yours and a human life!!!
--Suha Lambate
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