Overcoming Obstacles by Praveer Deva (XII)

If you put a stick in an ant's path
It doesn't stop and complain about it.
It strives until it accomplishes its task.
And teaches us how to overcome obstacles.

If you blow at it, a whirlwind,
a hundredth of its capacity, no stumbling,
No falling and no amount of pressure
Will stop it from reaching its destiny.

Death, and only death will stop it
No other problem, none whatsoever,
No amount of pain or hardship or
Failure will stop it from overcoming obstacles.

If a creature so small, can move
A mountain load of problems, treating
It as a trifle, as miniscule
As a bird's pupil, why can't we?

When it seems as if the universe
Conspires against you, when you are
influenced by the inexplicable conundrum of life,
Do not lose the spirit of Elpis inside you.

Writing this down not in five or ten but
in fifteen minutes, no less,
was hard, but not
losing hope and just doing it
Will make the most cumbersome
task feel as tiny as a dot.

A DUMMY'S GUIDE TO 'BTS' by Paridhi Bansal (VIII A)

I know what you're thinking: Behind The Scenes? No, just no. It's Beyond The Scene.

You know that artist who broke Justin Bieber's Top Social Artist 6 year streak? Yeah, this is them.

BTS or BangTan Sonyeondan, who recently also extended their identity to stand for Beyond The Scene, is a seven member Kpop (Korean pop) boy-group. But the thing is- they're so much more than just any boy-group.

BTS debuted from a small, financially struggling entertainment company, BigHit, in 2013. They were not promoted excessively, nobody paid much attention to them initially, but slowly- over the course of these 5 years, they've made a huge name for themselves in the industry. And I mean both, the Kpop and the Western music industry.

Like I said, they aren't just any boy-band. So what is it that makes them so different?

Like most other Kpop groups, BTS includes vocalists, rappers and dancers. But what most other Kpop groups don't have, or just most mainstream artists these days lack, are BTS's spectacularly written and inspirational lyrics. BTS members compose, produce and write their songs themselves, another rarity in the industry. 

They have songs (more like two entire albums, to be precise) on the pressures of school. Their main concept being youth, they promote self- love, talk about hardships that young people face all around the word, including depression, and even encourage feminism. Their lyrics make you cry, they make you laugh. They make you nod your head excessively because it's just so relatable. Their lyrics connect.   

Another amazing thing about them is how they're willing to try all music styles and how they constantly grow as musicians. There's something for everyone.

Put together those beautiful lyrics, gorgeous vocals, raps (and I mean those hardcore, heavy duty ones) as well as killer dance moves that make you wonder if they even have bones, and you've got yourself the perfect package. Their music videos have beautiful aesthetics and concepts focusing on youth with references to movies and books. Not to mention, they have extremely amazing personalities that can make you laugh till your tummy aches. Its easy to get to know them since they’re so active on their social media and have a vlog channel on YouTube by the name of BangtanTV. 

BTS' fans are officially called ARMYs and take my work for it, we're quite a force to reckon with. Breaking records left and right every comeback season, ARMYs have made BTS the Kpop artist with the most number of music videos to have over 1M likes. And yes, that does include Psy- the Gangnam Style singer. They have a crazy following on twitter of 10M and 6M subscribers on YouTube. BTS are played on famous US radio stations, extremely rare for Kpop songs and have sold out multiple stadium concerts there as well, including Prudential Centre. In fact, BTS are on their way to becoming a household name in India, too.  You can catch their year old song on VH1 Top Ten and other segments.

BTS was not just the first Kpop group to be nominated for a Billboard Music Award but also took home the trophy. They performed at the 2017 AMAs, the first Kpop group to achieve this feat and have collaborated with artists like the Chainsmokers, Steve Aoki and Desiigner. They were also invited to the Ellen Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live and the Late Late Show starring James Corden.

This seven member group is taking over the world. Give them a chance, they'll take over your hearts too. Hopefully by now you're a little curious, so here are some songs you can listen to- 'Blood Sweat and Tears', 'Spring Day', 'I Need U', 'No More Dream’, 'Spine breaker', ‘Mic Drop’ and their latest hit single- ‘DNA’ . 

So, what are you waiting for? Check 'em out. 

Optimistic Nihilism by Ananya Mishra ( VII B)

Human existence is scary and confusing. A few million years ago we became conscious and found ourselves in a beautiful place. It was filled with other beings;we could eat some, some could eat us. The daytime sky had a great yellow ball that warmed our skin. The night sky had beautiful lights. As we evolved, we found out that the universe did not exist just for us. The rain, the warmth, all natural things, did not happen because we needed it to. We slowly learned that we are just  temporary state of life, and we are inconsequential compared to the sheer overwhelming size of what we now call the universe.

We learned that we reside on a speck of dust which orbits a medium sized star, which is a tiny part of a galaxy group that we will never leave. The universe might be a million times bigger than what we can observe, but we will never know.

If we do not remember the billions of years that passed before us, it is likely that the billions of years after us will pass in no time once we are gone. From the little we know, the universe itself will die and nothing will be left. This might induce existential dread in some people, and I want to offer a different view on things - a subjective, philosophical view.

Please take it with a pinch of salt; I don’t know any more about the universe than you do.

I counter existential dread with optimistic nihilism.

What does this mean? Well, to summarise, it’s unlikely that gazillions of stars have all been made for us. If the universe ends with a black hole, every humiliation that you have suffered, every mistake you have made will be forgotten. We have only one shot at life, which is scary, but it also sets you free. If life is all we get to experience, then we must take advantage of it. We must fill it with good things, like food, books,sunsets and pleasant company. If a nightingale can sing her joyous song everyday, there’s no reason not to enjoy life.

We are free in a universe sized field, so we must try to build a utopia with each other. There are so many things to do; stars to discover, video games to play, schoolwork to finish.

In conclusion, if this is our one shot at life, there is no reason not to be as happy as possible, and to make other people just as happy. Bonus points if you help build a human-alien galactic empire.

Mad About Creativity!!! Just over 24 hours to go!

                                                          Mad About Creativity!!!

Every corner of the school is abuzz with excitement as the exhilarating spirit of  Creativity is pacing ahead toward the grand finale on Saturday, 9th December 2017. What you see below are just a few glimpses of our children exploring creativity in various spheres in the run up to our mega event - the Mad About Creativity fair. 

From our curious toddlers in Koshika and Ankur right up to our young adolescents and young adults in Middle and Senior School, creativity has imbued each child, teacher and parent with its magical, stimulating essence more than ever in this past one month. 


Come, be a part of the thrilling experience on Saturday, 9th December, 2017.  For this is...

...a day when every TSMS child blossoms in the loving care 
    of  Teacher and of Parent, she finds a space to share 
                  the new lessons learnt in fun, different ways,
                   through happiness and excitement in gloriously joyful days!

      

FORM VIII - EXPLORING CREATIVITY IN WRITING

FORM VII - EXPLORING CREATIVITY IN COOKING

FORM IX EXPLORING CREATIVITY THROUGH ABSTRACT ART

Our Trip to Ramgarh - Hershall Sehajpal with Aadyaa Shukla Tiwari, Class IX B

In the October of 2017, our school took classes 8th and 9th to Ramgarh for 3 nights and 4 days as part of our SUPW project.

I can always talk about the obvious traits of a camping trip to a hill station - how beautiful the scenery there was, how cold it was, how the people of the camp truly cared for us and took good care of us, how the adventure activities were honestly designed perfectly to overcome our own fears/anxieties and that it was overall a truly great, fun and learning experience...instead I actually want to address a couple of quite overlooked and serious issues of outstation school trips here WHILE obviously, talking about the positive and fun things as well!

First of all, we all paid money to go to such a breathtakingly wonderful, pollution free place to experience nature, take part in all the amazing adventure activities, to overcome our fears and to also enjoy ourselves in the process. But what happened was that children were totally absorbed in their own talks and were more concerned with cracking jokes and discussing their own problems instead of paying attention to the scenery around them as we were trekking.

Yes, we cannot be one hundred per cent absorbed in the wonders of Mother Nature the whole time - but these children were not even paying one per cent of their attention to the birds, trees and fresh, clean air surrounding them. All they cared about was who had eaten the last piece of chocolate the night before.

The people in the camp woke us up in the morning at around 5:30 am to exercise. It was honestly refreshing to work out early in the morning. The girls were made to run, what, like 3 times around a circular ground which was about the size of an average classroom and do a few stretching exercises. The boys, on the other hand, had to go for a three kilometer trek every morning and do more stretching exercises.

In the evening, during snack time, the boys often complained that the girls had it easy and weren't overworked like them, while they had to go every morning for a three kilometer trek and also go for the general 5 kilometer trek every day. Upon hearing this, a few girls asked the camp people if they could go for a three kilometer trek just like the boys the next time. They agreed, and the next morning the girls were all set to do the same workout as the boys, but when they were done with the trek, they realised it wasn't even two kilometers that they'd made them do. They had deliberately cut the girls' trek short and made the boys do the exercises the girls did, only they had to run around the small, average classroom sized field 15 times without stopping and do the same stretching exercises ten times more than the girls did.

Okay now time for something positive.

To earn our SUPW grades, all of us were divided in groups and each group had to go to a couple of houses in the village of Ramgarh and interact with the inhabitants of the houses about their livelihood in Ramgarh. Our group stopped at a beautiful house and talked, sang, joked with and learnt more about the life of the beautiful young woman and her husband who lived there. The people were really kind and genuine, and they were not at all reluctant to interact with us.

We learned about the kind of music the Pahadi people listen to, the food they kept and did not keep as ration in the six harsh months of winter when it was not advised to step out of the house, the clothes they wore in the cold months, how they made snowmen when it snowed and how they enjoyed eating Maggi to keep themselves warm!

The scenery around us was, honestly, indescribable. The vegetation, the clear blue skies, fluffy white clouds, fresh air and trees made us ask the school to allow us cameras on trips!!! Almost all the houses we stopped at had pet dogs. We weren't allowed to touch them, but they were such well-behaved precious fluffy creatures. Then there were the kind of mushrooms growing randomly in places we read about in fantasy books as little children. If only they hadn't been poisonous!

The adventure activities were amazing. You really did get a sense of accomplishment after you completed them. They were created specially to overcome our fears.

But by far the two best things about the trip were the bonfires and the trek. We had a bonfire all the three evenings we were there, and we had a hilarious skit competition on the second evening. We went on a long, tiring but wonderful trek all the four days. We really enjoyed the exercise, and a few of us also lost our footing and almost fell off the trek route, but all of it - the tiredness, the dehydration, the bodyaches, the falling, was worth it in the end.

To conclude I would say that all trips have their ups and downs - we actually had a few major fights, gossips and adventures amongst ourselves in this trip - and I think that’s what makes trips memorable. Not just the sweet memories, but the rough times contribute a lot in really making a trip worthwhile. So yes, I do look forward to another year of silly fights, hilarious skits, nice bonfires and the tiring, but worthwhile treks. ☺