SN Academy

  Participating in a quiz      When my teacher told me that I had been selected to represent my school in a quiz competition, I was thrilled. My best friend also had been selected. We had both always been enthusiastic quizzers.      But we still wanted to be prepared for the quiz. So we borrowed books from the library, and browsed the Internet. We learnt many facts by heart. We bought some books, and asked our parents to help us. Our parents would shoot questions at us, and we would answer. There was to be a rapid fire round too in the quiz. So we-had to be really quick.      The opposite team was a very good one. They too, like us, had got through the knock out rounds. I had not been a part of the team that had participated in the preliminary rounds, because I had been unwell at the time. I was unsure of myself. I did not want to let down my school. I was afraid people might say that had I not been a part of the team, my schoo...

  My favourite cartoon character Bugs Bunny      I love watching cartoons. My favourite cartoon character is Bugs Bunny. He loves carrots, and always says, “What’s up doc?” He is a very clever Bunny. He lives in a burrow underground. He knows how to escape from danger.      He always annoys Elmer Fudd, who speaks with a lisp. But Elmer is never able to have revenge on Bugs, because Bugs gets away from him. Bugs knows many tricks that help him to escape.      Bugs has lots of adventures. One of his friends is Daffy Duck. Daffy is not as smart as Bugs. Sometimes Daffy and Bugs have adventures together. Bugs travels to all Kinds of places. He goes to Mars and to other far off planets. He catches thieves. He travels to other countries. He comes up with funny lines. His antics make me laugh. Other characters who are Bugs Bunny’s friends include a cat called Sylvester, Porky Pig and a retired pirate called Yosemite Sam. Bugs keeps trying to ge...

  My ambition is to join the army      My father works for the army. I too wish to follow in his footsteps. My father is transferred quite often. Wherever we go, we make new friends. The army is like a second family to my father.       It is the Army that guards our borders. Even in times of peace, the Army helps when there is a disaster like a cyclone or a navy. In an army, strict discipline is imposed. A person has to be tough physically and mentally. He must be brave. He must have the courage to face bullets. He must not be afraid to die for his country. The training that d person gets in the Army will be useful in later life too. A retired person from the armed forces will be disciplined life long.      By serving in the Army, I will also get to see different places in India. In other jobs there will not be so much variety or excitement. Army life is never dull. I will get posted to different places. This way I will meet people ...

  Pride goes before a fall      When we get good marks in a test, we are proud. That is because our hard work has been rewarded. This sense of pride that we feel, is actually a sense of achievement. This is all right. But we must not be arrogant. We must not think that others who have not done so well are inferior to us. We must not treat them with contempt.      Suppose we are so proud of our achievements that we do not study hard for a test. We might not do very well in the test. Then will others not make fun of us, just as we made fun of them? But suppose we are humble even after many successes, people will admire us. They will want to be friends with us. Even if we do badly in a couple of tests, they will not make fun of us. Pride will make us lose our friends. Humility will help us to make friends.      Pride will make us over confident. We will begin to think that we are unbeatable. This will ultimately lead to our downfall. The gr...

  The Mosquito Menace      They come Into the room at midnight, lust when I’m beginning to snore. They buzz In my ears. They bite me and make me all scratchy. They are the winged nuisances called mosquitoes.     There are many kinds of mosquitoes. They could cause many diseases when they bite a human being. They could cause malaria. There is a very dangerous form of malaria called cerebral malaria. This affects the brain, and could be fatal. Malaria is caused by the anopheles mosquito. There are other mosquitoes that cause diseases like dengue and filaria. Some mosquitoes cause encephalitis, which is also a disease of the brain.     How do we get rid of mosquitoes? The government sprays some chemicals every week, to kill the mosquitoes. But that is not enough. We must keep vessels containing water covered, because mosquitoes lay their eggs in water. We must also keep overhead tanks covered.     At night we must sleep inside mosquito nett...

  Going to a new school      My father was transferred to Madurai last week. So I had to leave my school in Chennai and join one in Madurai. I was very sad that ! had to leave my friends. They gave me a tearful farewell.      I was miserable when I had to go to the new school. I was very nervous. I was afraid that my classmates would treat me as an outsider. I wondered if they would tease me. I was afraid that my class teacher would be unkind.      I entered the classroom, and sat in a desk in the corner. A girl, who noticed me, came up to me and introduced herself. I was a little comforted by this gesture. She asked me about my old school. I was only too happy to tell her about my school. I soon found myself chatting to her happily about my class mates and friends in the old school.      I found that my teacher was kind too. She asked me to stand up and introduce myself to the class. She told the other girls to be friendl...

  My Hobby - Stamp Collecting      While it is important to pay attention to our studies, it is equally important to have a hobby. We must learn to spend our leisure time usefully. While I| do like reading, my favourite hobby is stamp collecting. Stamp collecting is called philately.      I have stamps of many countries. Often the stamps have the pictures of great leaders of a country. So when I see a stamp that has the picture of a leader, I try to find out more about him. Thus I learn about the leaders of other countries. Sometimes there are pictures of ancient buildings - and historic monuments. Sometimes there are pictures of animals that are almost extinct. I then realize the importance of preserving wild life. In many ways stamp collecting has been an a eye opener for me.       It has also given me a sense of discipline. It is not enough to merely collect the stamps. They must be put in an album and carefully preserved. We mus...

  Our neighbours      | love the area in which we live. It is close to the market, to the library and also to my school. But some months back we wondered if we should move out of the area. That was because of the noisy ‘neighbours we had. They moved into the house next to ours three months ago. They kept late hours. Their T.V. was turned on right up to midnight. They did not turn down the volume even if we requested them to. I found it difficult to study.      Since they also spoke very loudly, it was very disturbing. We had very few hours of sleep, and found it difficult to get up in the mornings. They also had a dog that barked throughout the night.      They threw all their garbage into our house. When we went round to complain, they refused to open the door. They also raised a couple of hens. This was against the rules of the municipality, which had made it clear that poultry and livestock were not to be reared in residential areas. ...

  A visit to my grandfather’s village .     Once a year my grandfather visits the village he  grew up in. This year I accompanied him on his annual visit to his village. It is a village in one of  the Southern districts of Tamil Nadu. The river  Tamraparani flows through this village. This year the rains had been good. So the river was in spate. My grandfather warned me not to take a bath in the river, because | might get swept away by the force of the water.         The house in which my grandfather grew up is still there. It is a tiled house, with huge wooden doors, that have brass knobs. My grandfather took me  to see the fields. The rice was ready to be  harvested. The rice stalks were bent with the weight of the grain. On the sides of the fields there were palm trees. A couple of villagers climbed up the trees and treated me to the fruit of the tree. It was juicy and cool. The villagers told me about the var...

  Driving on city roads      Last week we had a phone call that my father’s cousin had met with an accident. We were asked to come to the hospital. My father decided to go on his motorbike. I accompanied him on the pillion of the bike.      It was six in the evening when we left for the hospital. There was a lot of traffic on the road, because many office goers were returning home. The traffic was chaotic. A speeding car almost knocked us down. No one seemed to stop at signals. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get home.      A lady came walking with her Pomeranian dog, and crossed just as a bus was leaving the bus stop. Fortunately the bus driver braked in time. Otherwise the lady and her dog would have been crushed under the wheels of the bus.      As we drove, my father had to take a road that was badly lit. He did not notice the speed breaker in the dark, and the bike toppled over. In another road, there was a manhol...