www.theglobaltimes.inAIS GURUGRAM 46 | EDITION VIMONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020

Dear Amitians,I am glad to seethe way you alltook the chal-lenge of chang-ing times andheaded on theway towardslearning andgrowth continu-

ously, unfazed, unstoppable. Time fliesand once again, it’s time for summervacations. Well, it’s rational on your part if yousay that you have been home sincemore than 60 days already. But thenyou all have been experiencing and im-bibing learning through online classesthat have kept you on your toes. So itwill be a nice break from the schoolflipped online. Times have changed and so this sum-mer break, be ready for experiencingthe world in a different way. Use thistime as an opportunity to impact livesaround you in a more positive and con-structive way. Many of you normallyused to go out during vacations. Thisyear that may not happen, but you canbring the world to yourhome with tech-nology in your hands. Try your handsout at various vocations which other-wise you may find boring like crochet,handling tools, fixing gadgets, fabricpainting, cooking, gardening, makingbest out of waste, etc. And continue towrite for your GT Quarantine Speciale-edition. Stay connected, stay blessed,stay at home and stay safe.G T

Vocations inVacations

Nalin Jayaswal, XI C &Suhani Malik, XII BAIS Pushp Vihar

As COVID-19 con-tinues to corner hu-manity, humans

have found solace in the cor-ner of the World Wide Web.Today, we are morereliant on technol-ogy than we haveever been. Frombuying groceries tosatisfying our needfor education, all is beingachieved through the digitalroute. In fact, it is the digitalway that has been mapping theroute to safety.Steps in ‘AarogyaSetu’, an applaunched by the Government ofIndia to track COVID-19. Theapp notifies users if they crosspaths with someone who hastested positive for the virus andguides the user on the neces-sary steps for self-isolation.Sounds pretty simple – oneclick, one download and youare on your way to safety. Butit isn’t that simple when you aretrying to penetrate through apopulation of 1.3 billion, a

major chunk of which is stilladapting to technology. Yes,that’s India for you. And then there is another partof India that is hell bent onmaking impossible to I am pos-sible. A group of three students(Charvi Mendiratta, HarshaaKawatra & Isha Agarwal)from Amity InternationalSchool, PushpVihar, setout to change things.Persuading others aroundthem to download the appand even helping them withthe same, they were on theirway to fight the pandemic. “Weapproached our neighbours, thesecurity guards, relatives, todownload the app. Also, we en-

gaged in personal conversationthrough calls and texts, explain-ing people the significance ofthe app. Sometimes, for seniorcitizens or support staff like thesociety guards, we had todownload the app on theirphones and teach them how touse it,” shares Isha Agarwal,one of the team members. But reaching those in the im-mediate vicinity isn’t enough,when the entire world struggles

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Dr Amita ChauhanChairperson

Pandemics know no boundaries,and neither do warriors whobattle them. This special series,running across Quarantineeditions of all Amity schools, isan ode to those fighters.Highlighting stories of youngchange makers from within and

outside Amity, this specialseries has been curated byyoung reporters acrossvarious Amity branches.

Harshaa Kawatra Isha Agarwal Charvi Mendiratta

QUARANTINE SPECIAL

M‘app’ing safe routesBattling COVID-19, With One Download

CORONA WARRIORS

2MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020

Mansimar Kaur, AIS Gur 46, IX H

They’re all at home, all day. Ma, Paand my sister. It feels like they’vepledged to not keep a foot out of the

house unless it’s an emergency! Wheneversomebody goes out, they wear a mouth capand come back in only after rubbing theirhands with a liquid kept at the door.Ma and Pa have started to use the word Co-conavirus (my pronunciation is not to betrusted) a lot. They use it while reading thenewspaper, after which they both sigh andsay- “We have to learn to live with it”.Staying at home doesn’t mean they play withme all day. They give me attention, but mostlythey just sit in front of their laptop. I’m noteven going to school! I miss my friends. But Ido get to see them and my school teacherevery day on the iPad and we all sing ABC to-gether. Even my sister studies like this. I don’tknow why everybody has changed so quicklyfrom sending me to day-care and going totheir office to being at home all day. I want to meet my grandparents. They let me

watch Peppa Pig the whole day unless momswitches the TV off because they will ‘spoil’both me and my eyes. But now, I just feel mymind getting spoilt because I see no one, meetno one and hear no one.When I am playing with my toys happily, mysister wants me to stop because I’m making alot of noise. Now wouldn’t a plane make noisewhen it is going to fly?! She’s just two yearsolder, so I can take on her easily. I don’t wantto stop a fight if she provokes me because sheis the one who always gets scolded. *evillaughter* The problem is that now I only haveher to play with and I can’t play with someoneI just finished fighting with and she can’t playwith someone because of whom she gotscolded. She’s not that bad, I realise now.Today, everybody was cheerful, and wished‘Happy Birthday’ to me. But on such a day,we go out, call my friends and have cake afterwhich everybody gives me a present. Maybebecause they have taken a ‘pledge’ not to goout, they’d spoil my happy birthday too. Well,I got a cake and it was pretty good I daresay,even though my mom baked it at home. G T

COVID-19 PandemicFrom The Eyes Of A Quarantined Kid

...Continued from page 1

M‘app’ing safe routes

The World Teenage Reporting Project, COVID 19is a global collaboration of teenage reportersin newsrooms around the world who producestories about what their peers are doing tohelp during the Coronavirus pandemic.

to fight the pandemic . The battle had to betaken further, “We used platforms like In-stagram and Facebook to reach out to peo-ple. We also developed a volunteer system,asking our friends to spread awarenessabout the app in their immediate circles,”Isha continued. The journey had begun, but came with itsshare of roadblocks. “One of the majorchallenges we encountered was workingwith the 50-60 year olds. Since they are notvery technology savvy, teaching them howto use the app was a challenge. But sincethey are also the most vulnerable, this sec-tion could not be ignored either,” saysCharvi Mendiratta, another member fromthe same group. While there was the tech challenged groupon one hand, there was tech savvy on theother, bringing its own share of challenges.Harshaa, a team member, adds, “Theyoungsters and middle aged who wereaware about the app, had their own appre-hensions. Since the app requires you toswitch on your Bluetooth and location set-tings at all times, there was a lot of scepti-cism about one’s privacy.”So how did the team steer clear of the scep-ticism? “We tried to point out how hard itis to overcome the current situation. So, ifit is about choosing between privacy andsafety, the latter should be an obvious pick.Bluetooth and location settings only helpsto determine the person’s location, andhelps the app to notify an individual aboutthe active COVID-19 cases in his/her area.So, it’s better to have corona in the phone onthe palm than on the palm itself,” she says.At present, the team has helped over a 1000people download the app and is still count-ing. But as a wise man once said, the jour-ney of a thousand miles begins with a singlestep, in this case a single download.G T

3MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020

Aditya Pathak, AIS Gur 46, XII B

2020 is the year none asked for. Therehas always been something threaten-ing to wipe human race off the face of

the Earth, be it rumours of World War III, agigantic piece of space rock, a combinationof natural disasters, or of course, the Coron-avirus. To save lives, humanity is takingrefuge, in their homes but guess what? We’rebored; we miss the outside world, our friendsand teachers and definitely the momo bhaiyaright around the corner. Well, how about youuse the spare time doing something exceptsleeping or binge-watching Netflix? Here area few ways in which you can use the extratime you’ve got on your hands:

Learn new stuffNo, we aren’t telling you to create the fifthstate of matter in your living room (though itwould be really cool if you did). But how

about developing an extra life skills? You canget the hang of dancing by imitating dancecrews on YouTube. You can try your hand atan instrument through an online class. Youcan learn to use a DSLR to its full potentialwith free classes by Nikon. You can try tobake cookies and cakes from online-learningplatforms such as Udemy, Coursera et al.

Stay in shapeWith barely any physical activity and spend-ing more time with the ‘junk food drawer’ athome, it’s easy to gain weight, which can leadto a lot of problems, even when the lockdownis lifted. Hence, it’s important to keep an eyeon your calorie intake. You can try homeworkouts; going up and down the stairs a fewtimes or practicing dance choreographieswork just fine. It’ll stop your body from ac-climatizing to the inactive life and may giveyou a nice, different look. While you’re at it,give yoga and meditation a chance too.

Self-discoveryTwo months into lockdown, we’ve realisedhow nature will forever be bigger than hu-manity. We shouldn’t take everything forgranted; things can change in moments andwe can’t do anything but ‘improvise, adaptand overcome’. During this period, allowyourself some ‘me’ time, think about yourselfand ask questions. What do you want to dowhen you grow up? How will you achieve it?What’s the meaning of life? Work on yourweaknesses, master your strengths. Read ex-ceptional books, watch legendary movies andmake a novel playlist of marvelous music.

The lockdown period has been a quaint time.Never had we ever had so much time on ourhands to create, ponder and introspect. But,are we making optimum use of such a bizarresituation? Well, it’s not a competition. Nopressure. But, it’s good if you’re trying to beproductive during a global pandemic. G T

The quarantine bucket listWhat To Do When You Can Not Do Anything Else

4MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020

Vanalika Maini, AIS Gur 46, XI A

Okay, we get it – the lockdown haseveryone losing their minds. Thestreets are silent and time feels like

an illusion. We’re stuck in an endless loop ofgoing to the fridge to get a snack and circlingback to our rooms. With nothing to do andnowhere else to go, it’s not surprising thatpeople have come up with ‘creative’ reasonsto blame the current situation on. Are we liv-ing in a simulation? Was the moon landingfake? How to convince mom that french-friesare super healthy? It’s understandable – the-ories are attempts to find a solution to anunanswered problem. They are a way to re-gain control of a situation where one feelspowerless. Keeping that in mind, let us lookat some of the most outlandish theories thathave risen along with COVID-19.

5G Towers the virus-spreaders? News flash folks- radio waves are not magic.It is understandable to doubt something youcannot see or feel, but seriously? It is impos-sible for viruses and other diseases to spreadthrough the electromagnetic spectrum. Whatis even more outrageous is the fact that peoplein countries like USA and UK have actuallygone out and burned down 5G towers. Comeon, you’re really going to shut off our net-work during quarantine? That’s low.

Released by Bill Gates? This all began when a video of Gates resur-faced from 2015 where he warns the arrivalof a pandemic. People have started to believethat Bill Gates created a deadly virus to makea few billions on vaccines containing mi-crochips. This is basically like a game of Chi-nese whispers where Bill Gates began with,

“Be wary of a pandemic” and what came outat the end was, “Bill Gates says he will kill usall with a pandemic!” Duh.

2020 the true 2012? Ah, 2012! What a shockingly tame time itwas, except for the shadow of doom cast onus. People were so sure that we all would dis-appear into oblivion that they even made amovie about it! Well, the world didn’t end andeverything was fine after Dec 21, 2012. Whatsome people still believe, though, is that thatwasn’t the real 2012 after all. Given that theEthiopian calendar runs 7-8 years behind theGregorian calendar, we are currently in 2012by its design. This means, that the 2012 apoc-alypse could still happen on Dec 21, 2020.The fact that we have had multiple earth-quakes, locust storms, gas leaks and, oh, apandemic, does not help this situation. G T

COVID-spiracy The Funny, The Scary And The Outright Insane Theories

5MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020

(A)typical conversationWhen You See Things From A Different Perspective

Mansi Kumari, AIS Gur 46, XI H

After yet another tiring day of quar-antine, the moon hangs low; the skyis dark and earth barren, a quiet

night followed:“Excuse me? Who said anything about it beinga quiet night, I’m here to rant.” exclaimed thebed, with a teenager sound asleep on it. “I’dlike to ask what I did to deserve burden of thisbrat 24/7 instead of usual 8 hours, it’s seemslike he has become even lazier than before.”“Brother, you really think you’re the only onehaving problems? I am supposed to be usedwhen his phone is dead, not shoved in all daybecause ‘just in case’,” whined the charger.“Psshh, look at you all whining like a bunchof toddlers. At least you all are being appreci-ated,” commented the TV, “I’ve become thetool to eradicate his loneliness providing back-ground sound while he scrolls through hisphone like a maniac.”

“Do you all have any idea how bad it is to bein the hands of that same maniac? All I get ishis stupid thumb slapped across my face allday scrolling on Instagram, either that or I’minsanely heated up when he plays PUBG anddon’t even ask the number of times I’ve fallenstraight on the face because he wanted to clickpictures of the sky.”“Why are you all being so salty, I used to betaken out once in like a whole year to whip upsomething, and now just because it is a trend,I’m being tortured, I’ve lost count of his mis-erable attempts to make Dalgona,” pitied thehand blender from the kitchen.“It’s all because of this virus isn’t it, what wasit again? Conora?” asked the bed.“No that’s what the silly kids call it becausethey think it’s cool, it’s Corona actually,” cor-rected the TV.“Alexa, play we hate our lives,” sighed thephone in grief.“Nope, no more requests please, I already have

to deal with his whirlwind of annoying com-mands every single day, Alexa what is life,Alexa play this, Alexa play that, you knowwhat, Alexa quits.”“Wait what? The kid is alive? I haven’t seenhim in ages. Wow I’m hurt, talk about beingforgotten,” grumbled the long lost pair ofragged jeans. “Believe me, being forgotten is much better atthis stage than being used till I’m drenched inhis stinky salty sweat after days of skippingshower, that too in summer season!” wailedthe sweatpants.“I know right! But what can we do? The in-dustry we are working in, us non-living thingsdo not have a say, all our pleas fall on deafears. But thankfully I am glad I’m able to rantit out to you guys. Anyway, let’s bid good-night. We all have a long day tomorrow. Atleast till the time this body does not does goout of the house post lock down,” sighed thebed, again.G T

6MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020

Aashna Pahuja, AIS Gur 46, VIII G

The times have changed. Our idea ofnormalcy has changed and so has ourway of learning. And now, the ulti-

mate battle has emerged- which one is better?Online schooling or the real deal? Will onlineschooling be the new norm? Who will winthis ultimate battle? Let’s find out!

ROUND 1: FriendsOnline school has nothing on the real schoolwhen it comes to friends. The ultimate signof true friendship is going to school so thatyour friend is not alone, after all “yeh dosti,hum nahi todenge.” Playing, talking, eating,walking and laughing together in school issomething that can never be given up on.And, school’s the only place you can meetyour friends because your houses are too far. SCORE: School 1 - Online 0

ROUND 2: Class behaviourWhen it comes to class behaviour and deco-rum, online classes take the cake. No one candisrupt a class for the fun of it like they canin a real classroom setting. Teachers can’t getannoyed with incessant talking and whisper-ing during a class as there’s a mute all option

which restricts everyone from speaking in onego. Also, no need for a class monitor so a winfor the students too! SCORE: School 1 - Online 1

ROUND 3: LearningThe classroom has always been a constantwhen it comes to the learning experience. Weare so accustomed to the classroom settingthat we can’t have it any other way. Onlineclasses can only go so far when it comes tolearning but it doesn’t feel like the real deal.No blackboards, no running to classes withthe fear of getting late, no discussing class-

work with friends. SCORE: School 2 - Online 1

The need of the hour may be online classesbut, nothing can replace a real classroom.However, online classes are getting the workdone right now as physically going to schoolis not possible in the middle of a pandemic.So, when talking about who emerges victori-ous in this battle, both are winners. Onlineschooling is keeping us safe, giving theschool experience from the comfort of ourhomes but we all know that once schools re-open, we couldn’t be excited to go back. G T

Real vs onlineDrum Roll Please For The Ultimate Battle Of Schools

Sonali AgarwalAIS Gur 46, X H

When I sit alone under The beautiful night sky I wonder to myself

Is the lockdown a thing to cry?Or a blessing received by usTo appreciate and cherishthereby

When the speckled moon Shines at me so bright As if to show its true mightAnd the stars twinkle like gems I see the sky under whichMy parents first met

Seeing Venus shine bright Almost as bright as the moon

Takes away all of my gloomThe bright and sparkling cities Somehow fits completely In this image of serenity

The distant murmur I hear Sounds of a million creaturesAdds to life’s liveliness And as I sit under the night skyAlone with my thoughts, I thinkLife’s worth a second try G T

Under thenight sky

Words Verse

7

Jaya JhaAIS Gur 46, XI J

A sneeze, a cough, or simply a touchA disease spread through contacts suchPerils arose when it began to spreadWho knew it would leave thousands dead

Hands were washed, sanitizers were boughtMasks were worn in weathers stifling hot Couldn’t trust without questions being askedCouldn’t go home with travel histories of the past

The world shut down for this deadly diseaseStill, the number of infected wouldn’t ceaseHistory was repeating after a hundred years

Lessening number of mortals, inciting godly fears

The only one who gained was Mother EarthProtecting her creations, saving her hearthAs for mortals, life continued to perishHumanity is on the brink to diminish

In this era of science and technologyI believe in one such great powerHe who is the one who can protect usThe disease only he could tower

The real perils arose when we lost beliefSuffering adamantly in our own griefNow from a distance, we must band togetherAnd unite to make our ailing world better.

Strengthin solitude

Mansimar KaurAIS Gur 46, IX H

I think to myselfIs this solitude any good?But at least this certainly isThe best as one should

We stay confined at homeTo be safe from a deadly virusThis is the only preventionSo, why this unease and unrest?

We need to stay strong,Get closer to our familiesLearn, teach and be grateful,And enjoy the fresh breeze!

For the sun always risesAfter a dark stormy nightWe too shall pass this patchJust stay safe and hold tight G T

MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2020

Artistic Expression

Chinmay Tuteja, AIS Gur 46, IX C Kyra Vaghela, AIS Gur 46, VIII DShandilya, AIS Gur 46, XII A

A touch of deathWords Verse