Respire.

  Online Education System     As teachers our main focus is to impart knowledge. Knowledge, not only about the subject in which we have mastery but also about the surrounding ambience, to show our students the right path of progress which will lead to the overall development of their personality as an individual by making them utilize their inherent potential to the fullest. When we teach, we are constantly trying to facilitate and promote learning in those we teach. Teaching should make leaning better and faster. We learn much from teaching and therefore teachers are constant learners too!     The present pandemic situation what the entire world is courageously facing is one best example which depicts how well human beings can adapt to any kind of situation no matter good or bad. The outbreak of COVID- 19 affected different people in different ways. The education system witnessed some revolutionary switch.   A great challenge was thrown upon both teach...

                                                                                                    Written by Madhav Menon

 Connection!! When I close my eyes, I see through your lies, You make it sound alright.. But I hear the silent cries !! When I am in sight, You seem to turn uptight, And you tame the fire.. The one that I ignite !! No matter what you show I am the one, you know.. I want to be your knight! Let me be your knight! No matter what you show I am the one, you know.. I want to be your knight! Let me be your knight! - Written by Vineet Dubey

 Friendship Give me your friendship, I'll give you mine. I'll treasure it forever; and always make it chime! Give me your time, I'll give you mine. Along with memories; sweet and benign! Give me your trust, I'll give you mine. I wont let it rust; a sacred shrine! Give me your love, I'll give you mine. Along with sincerity; and allegiance divine! Give me your soul, For which I pine. So that we are One; and our destinies intertwine! On to a trust, so pure and natural! Growing up on our similarities stark, I'll never let the vices spawn.. On to a friendship, a safe haven! When the nights are dark, I'll be there till dawn.. On to a journey, a new adventure! Follow the spark, I'll lead you on.. - Written by Vineet Dubey

 SPELL BOUND!! Under a spell, a curse, a doom! Not living it up, from dusk to noon! I struggle, I strive.. but for whom? I no longer feel alive, all tired and gloom! After a long and tiring day, All worked up in my bed I lay.. Weak from the cold I pop in a pill, Which the doctor gave me before handling the bill.. Bored of the routine day in and out, I need a break without a doubt.. So I switch on the AC, & turn off the light, And plug in my earphones, both left and right.. I hit the play button, and begin to relax, Away from reality, away from facts.. And I drown into music, & write down this rhyme.. And I hope to fall asleep, & dream on in my own space and time !!   -  Written by Vineet Dubey

  A TRUE SWEET!!       It still makes me rouse from those reveries. It was that time of the year when mother nature herself arranged a concert for us in which dark clouds were the percussionists, piercing wind was the flutist and pouring droplets of rain was the vocalist. It was a core monsoon evening in a tiny hamlet ‘Samagodu’ near Bidanuru fort in Hosanagara thaluk. The greying sky, ear splitting thunder followed by strident scream of my cousins in fear created some sort of a horror ambience. The gas light was turned on at its scheduled time nevertheless a complete darkness filled the place even before the time of switching it on. Elders urged us to sit in a big dining hall. With a small plantain leaf in front of each one of us, we started to giggle and chit chat until then a sublime fragrance of hot ‘patrode’ made of Colocasia leaves over powering the pungent smell of the gas light hit our nose. We patiently waited for our serving and it was evident to our wate...

  SHOKING BLUE EYES      “ Reading a book again during class Ms. Teasdale? give me that right now! “ said Mr. Gibbons. OK fine I was reading book under my desk during English but it was only because I already knew all of this. The bell rang through my ears. I quickly gathered my stuff and almost ran out of class. The walk to my locker was horrible. I hated everyone here and had a good reason to. They hated me. I looked up on reaching my locker and I was not surprised to find the hate notes again. It happened every day. The same insulting words ‘ loner ’ , ‘ loser ’ , ’ spineless worm ’ . Never anything different. And you ’ d think they would have got better at insulting after years of practice.           I quickly gathered my stuff and rushed to Sarah who was waiting in the usual spot. She didn ’ t speak to me at all and instead she was just looking through Instagram. On seeing me she gestured towards the car and got in. I got in after he...

Investigation      David was at his police station, while Chris and Karl were waiting for him at St. George Cemetery. Then David came to the cemetery. Both the funerals were happening - Angel (even though she had died some months back) and John. David got a call from his head constable, “Sir, there’s one more case. A murder. Sir, please come quick as it may give some better clarity about your sister’s case.” Chris, Karl and of course David rushed to the police station. “A body had been found near the flyover, sir.” said the head constable. It was the body of the person who was arrested for bombing Skilfor, a city next to Linkston. As they thought that it had some link to Angel’s case, the investigation started right away.      They sent the body for some tests, and from those reports they could find out that the person, Shahabuddhin had died three months before the body was found. Karl was shocked. They went to Shahabuddhin’s house. They asked his famil...

  "Scenario"      In the city of Linkston, there lived a group of friends. They were friends from childhood and they loved going to trips. Chris, Karl, John and David were the four friends. They met every weekend. David, who was a police officer, couldn’t meet them every weekend as he had to solve cases and was busy with his work.       One day, when David was in his station, the head constable came running and said, “Sir, a body is found near the train track.” His friends were waiting for him but he couldn’t go again. David and his constables went to the train track and found the body. They sent it to the forensic lab to get more information. It was David’s sister body. David suddenly got reminded of all the precious time he had spent with his sister, Angel. He was furious and wanted to kill the person who had killed Angel. The investigation started.       He told his friends about this and said, “Please try to get more information....

  VAULT!                       It was a dark gloomy day. The sky was dark grey, the sun was covered by the rain carrying clouds. In the middle of nowhere, was a tiny, worn out hut. Who knew how long it could stand? Shingles had fallen of the roof, the plaster was exposed on the walls and the dusty, brown wooden door was almost off its hinges.        Inside this house was a ten-year old boy named Parker. He was packing up all his stuff with his mom. They were shifting tonight. To the city. To their old house. The house in which Parker’s father had died. Parker was a young a boy when this incident had taken place. He was playing on the floor with his cloth puppets when he had heard a gun fire. A bullet was nearing his chest, when Joane (Parker’s father) had dived and saved his life. They had immediately moved out and come to their present home, but now they were moving back to that wretched house of h...

                                  ಅಯ್ಯೋ!...ರಜೆ ಮುಗೀತು...       ಕಣ್ಣರೆಪ್ಪೆ ಮುಚ್ಚಿ ಬಿಡುವಷ್ಟರಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ರಿಸ್ಮಸ್ ರಜೆ ಮುಗಿದಿತ್ತು. ಇಷ್ಟು ಬೇಗ ಸಮಯ ಕಳೆದದ್ದು ಬೇಜಾರೆನಿಸಿದರೂ, ಒಂದು ನಿಮಿಷವನ್ನೂ ವ್ಯರ್ಥಮಾಡದೆ ಕಳೆದ ಒಂದೊಂದು ದಿನವೂ ನಮಗೆ ಅಭೂತಪೂರ್ವವಾದ ಆನಂದವನ್ನು ಕೊಟ್ಟಿದ್ದರಿಂದ, ಈ ರಜೆಯು ಒಂದು ರೀತಿಯ ಸಾರ್ಥಕತೆಯನ್ನು ಕೊಟ್ಟಿತ್ತು. ನಮ್ಮ ಕಮ್ಫರ್ಟ್ ಝೋನ್ ಅನ್ನು ದಾಟಿ, ಹಿಂದೆ ಕೈಗೊಳ್ಳದ ಅಡ್ವೆಂಚರ್ ಕೆಲಸಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ತಮ್ಮನ್ನು ತಾವು ತೊಡಗಿಸಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದೆವು. ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ಕಳಶವಿಟ್ಟಂತೆ ಆದ ಹುಲಿಯ ಹೆಜ್ಜೆಯ ದರ್ಶನ, "ಎಲೆ ಮಾನವ ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಯ ಮುಂದೆ ನೀನು ನಶ್ವರ" ಎಂದು ತನ್ನದೇ ರೀತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರದರ್ಶಿಸಿದಂತಿತ್ತು. ಆ ಘಳಿಗೆಯಲ್ಲಿ, "ಇದೇ ನಮ್ಮ ಜೀವನದ ಕೊನೆಯ ಕ್ರಿಸ್ಮಸ್ ರಜೆ" ಎಂದು ಈ ಪುಕ್ಕಲ ಮನಸ್ಸು ನಿರಾಯಾಸವಾಗಿ ಒಪ್ಪಿಕೊಂಡಿದ್ದ ನೆನೆದರೆ ಮೈ ರೋಮಾಂಚನವಾಗದೆ ಇರಲಾರದು. ಹೇಗೆ ಕಾಡು ಮೇಡು ಸಂಚಾರಿಯಾಗಿ, ತೋಟ ಗದ್ದೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಓಟಗಾರರಾಗಿ, ಹಣ್ಣಿನ ಮರಗಳ ಭಕ್ಷಕರಾಗಿ, ಗುಡ್ಡಕ್ಕೆ ಬೆಂಕಿ ಇಟ್ಟ ಕೊಳ್ಳಿ ದೆವ್ವವಾಗಿ ಮೆರೆದ ನಮ್ಮ ಅವಿವೇಕತನಕ್ಕೆ ಏನನ್ನಬೇಕೋ ತಿಳಿಯದು! ಒಟ್ಟಾರೆಯಾಗಿ ನಾಳೆ ಶಾಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ರಿಸ್ಮಸ್ ರಜೆ ಹೇಗೆ ಕಳೆದಿರಿ? ಎಂಬ ಟೀಚರ್ ನ ಸಹಜವಾದ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗೆ, ನಾಲ್ಕು ಜನರ...

                                                                 "ನಾಗಮಣಿ"        ಸಂಜೆ ೭ ಘಂಟೆ, ಮಲೆನಾಡಿನ ಮಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ರಾತ್ರಿ ಎಂದೇ ಹೇಳಬಹುದು! ಆಲೆಮನೆಯ ಕೊಪ್ಪರಿಗೆಯ ಬೆಲ್ಲದ ಸವಿ ಬಾಯಲ್ಲಿಯೇ ನೆಲೆಸಿತ್ತು, ನೀರು ಬೆಲ್ಲದ ಸುವಾಸನೆ ಇನ್ನು ಮೂಗಿನಿಂದ ಹೋಗಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಒಂದು ದೊಡ್ಡ ಸಂಭ್ರಮಕ್ಕೆ ನಾವೆಲ್ಲರೂ ಸಾಕ್ಷಿಯಾದಂತೆ ಭಾಸವಾಗುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ವಿಶೇಷವಾದಮೇಲೆ ಸಂಜೆಯ ವೇಳೆ ಪಾರಾಯಣಕ್ಕೆ ಕೂರಲಿಲ್ಲವೆಂದರೆ ಅದರ ಪ್ರತಿಷ್ಠೆಗೆ ಕುತ್ತಲ್ಲವೇ? ಆಲೆಮನೆಗೆ ಊರಮನೆಯವರು, ನೆಂಟರಿಷ್ಟರು ಬಂದಮೇಲೆ; ಜಾಕಿ, ಎಕ್ಕ, ರಾಜ, ರಾಣಿ  ಕರಿಯ ಕಂಬಳಿಯ ಮೇಲೆ ಆಸೀನರಾಗಲೇಬೇಕಲ್ಲವೇ?! ಕಂಬಳಿಯ ಸುತ್ತ ರಮ್ಮಿ ಆಟಕ್ಕೆ ಕೂತ ನಮಗೆ ಪರಂಪರಾಗತವಾಗಿ ಬಂದ ಒಂದು ಸಂಪ್ರದಾಯವನ್ನು ಪಾಲಿಸಿದಷ್ಟು ಖುಷಿಯಾಗುತ್ತಿತ್ತು.  'ಸೀಕ್ರೆಟ್ ಸೆವೆನ್' ಆಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಜೋಕರ್ ನ ಸೀಕ್ರೆಟ್ ಹೇಗೆ ಬಯಲಾಗುತ್ತದೆಯೋ ಹಾಗೆಯೇ ಮಲೆನಾಡಿನ ಬಹಳಷ್ಟು ಕಥೆಗಳು, ನಿಗಢಗಳು ಒಂದೊಂದೇ ಬಯಲಿಗೆ ಬರತೊಡಗಿದವು. ನಿದಾನವಾಗಿ ಆಟದಮೇಲಿನಿಂದ ಮನಸ್ಸು ಸರಿದು, ಆ ಮಲೆನಾಡಿನ ಜನರ ಜೀವನ ಹಾಗು ಅವರಿಗೆ ಎದುರಾದ ನೈಜ ಸನ್ನಿವೇಶಗಳು ಹಾಗು ಕೆಲವು ...