Our Library

Points: The library and its books — How It whets appetite for reading more books — The library as teacher.

             I love my school. I also love my school Library. I had seen the film ‘Pather Panchali’ by Satyajit Ray. But it was in our library that I read the original book by Bibhutibhusan Bandopadhyay. The librarian loved me very much, He asked me to read R. L. Stevension’s Treasure Island. I liked the book very much. It gave me the first taste1 of travel and adventure. I borrowed Mahatma Gandhi’s My Experiments with Truth and Jawaharlal Nehru’s Autobiography. I also read the lives of Swami Vivekananda and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. I then read Rabindranath’s Gora in the original and Munshi Premchand’s Godan in translation. Both were great novels and left a profound impression upon my mind.
             One day a teacher suggested that I should read Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare. The very next day I borrowed the book from our library. The tales were absorbing. My curiosity was roused so much that I read two plays of Shakespeare in the original—Julius Caesar and Romeo and Juliet. I could not follow everything. But what I could follow was not little. I still love to recite Mark Antony’s speech, “Friends, Romans, countrymen” which I memorized.
             I am indebted for my learning to my teachers. But I should say that one of my best teachers has been the library.

Student and Social Service

Points: Students role as teachers of the masses — Voluntary projects — Social service as self-education.

             In a country Like India where a large number of people are poor and illiterate, students have a special duty to the masses. Students should spend some vacations among the masses. They should teach them orally the principles of rural banking, the uses of electricity and fertilizer, even history, geography and cultural history of the country.
             There are many things which can be done without depending on the Government. Small roads can be constructed and repaired, wells may be dug, and tanks may be cleaned. A sense of cleanliness, sanitation, hygiene, mutual help and civic duties may be inculcated. Superstitions and corruptions can be eradicated only by changing the outlook of the people.
             Students should go to the slums and backward villages and point out why there are epidemics in those areas. They should also organize cultural functions for the poor. Poverty is depressing but drudgery is killing. We should know that a student’s education is incomplete if he is not involved actively in social services. A student belongs to the society and has a duty towards it. Social service gives him the necessary training for growing up into a responsible citizen. Social service is not a fashionable cliche, it should be an integral part of education.

Newspaper in Daily Life

Points: What is news? — The coverage of a daily paper — How It serves our serious needs.

             In modern life, a newspaper is a must. It gives relish to our early morning cup of tea.
However, all events are not news. When a dog bites a man it is not news, but if a man bites a dog, it becomes news. And very strangely, such unbelievable things do happen. So it is said, truth is stranger than fiction. The newspaper also gives us news of war and rebellion of plane-crash and hijacking; of victory or debacle in a match; of a sensational murder case; and so on. The newspaper brings the world right up to our door. We get a fair idea of the progress of our own country and its relations with the neighboring countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. From our, reading of newspapers we realize that India is one and indivisible in spite of all its diversities,
             The newspaper is a good market-guide. Even advertisements are informative and pleasant reading. The daily weather forecast is useful to the farmer. The ‘wanted columns’, are in great demand to those who want to apply for jobs. Newspapers are also views papers. The editorials bring to us the vox populi. The ‘Letters to the Editor’ column is especially interesting. All kinds of queries, comments and protests are made therein by the common readers. In short, newspaper is part and parcel of our daily life.

Science in Daily Life

Points: Part and parcel of modern life — For the benefit of the common man — Revolution  In medicine and surgery.

             We are living in an age when science has completely changed our daily life. Man’s landing on the moon or sending spacecraft o Mars are spectacular events. But the common man is grateful to science for other things. These things make his daily life a Little less toilsome and more cheerful. He cannot think of a world in which there are no books and newspapers, no electricity, no telephone, no radio or TV, no trains and cars, no buses and aero planes, no medicines for curing the dreadful diseases. All these are gifts of science.
             An up-to date office is not complete without its typewriter, xeroxing machine, a teleprompter and now a word processor and computer. We are used to electric fans and room coolers, and on hot days, refrigerators. Our streets and houses blaze with light at night. All the inventions of science ultimately come to the use of the common man. Science is everywhere and for everybody. The booking counters of railways and airports have already been computerized and reservations have become quick and fool-proof.
             Science is saving life and giving new life to man. The vaccines and antibiotics have made life safer. The terror of cholera, typhoid, smallpox and other epidemics is gone for every. The average expectation of life has gone up and child mortality been much reduced. Surgery is doing miracles. Pacemakers are assuring new life to heart patients and scanners are revealing the exact spots of disease in the human body. Even heart transplantation and brain operation are taking place successfully. Our daily life is growing happier with the help of science. The new researches on superconductor may soon bring about revolution in machines and locomotives There is no end to the wonders of science, it seems, and no end to the miracles of science in our daily life.

Television

Points: Development from Radio to color TV — It brings the world   right in our room — Comparison between Radio and TV.

             Radio brought us voice; television has added vision to it. We have already entered into the television era. Formerly, television was in black and white. Now we have color TV. Television was not known before 1923. In 1923 it was the British scientist J. N. Baird who invented television. The first country in the world to start regular commercial television was England. It was in 1936.
             Television is a nice thing. It is a reporter-cum-talking machine at home. When a man is alone, TV can give him real company. The audio-visual effect of TV is tremendous. It it brings us close to the real world outside. On the TV set we can see the actual theatre and film, musical soiree and cricket match, the Prime Minister making a speech, and even the space-man hovering funnily in his space-ship. In recent times TV sets have been installed in villages and community centers. As a result, the agriculturists are hearing a lot of modern farming from the rural programmes of TV.
             TV is far more living than radio. Here news is actually read by a man whom we see. The weather forecast is made with the help of a map. Discussions are held by intellectuals or VIP’s right before our eyes. We are almost thrown into the event we are watching. Its effect is tremendous. With the help of the satellites even far-off programmes can be watched by us. In a country like India, educational and agricultural programmes on TV may be very useful. Like photograph, TV also can be in both black and white and color. There is no denying that color has brought in depth and diversity to TV programmes as it has to cinematic show. The only thing we would wish is that the color and black-and-white TVs were cheaper enough for the broad masses.

Advertisement

Points: Its purpose — Kinds and varieties — Its role in public life.

             Advertisement is an art. Its purpose is to attract the would-be buyer. If its approach be crude, it will fail to achieve its objective. Advertisement takes into full consideration the psychology of the buyer. It induces a sense of want in him. Then it supplies the adequate information to satisfy the want.
             Advertisement may be audio-visual— loudspeaker announcements or cinema slides, commercial broadcasts over the radio, or simple ads in the newspaper columns, slogans pasted on walls or Illuminated against boards or lamp-posts.
             Advertisement has been called ‘hidden persuasion’.  The advertisement agencies are expert in this arc of persuasion. They persuade the consumers.  Advertisement is the soul of business. It has an important role in the market operated by demand and supply. It is part and parcel of modern life. Commercial advertisement is not the only kind of advertisement. There are other kinds which are ads for publicity. These are adopted by the Government or by the municipal or social organizations. The slogans like ‘Keep your city clean’, ‘Donate blood and save life’ are parts of different campaigns helped by powerful ads.

The Dictionary I Use

Points: The name and description — Its special attraction — Personal liking.

             The dictionary use is The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English. I got it as a birthday gift. This dictionary is known by its abbreviated name C.O.D. It is called ‘concise’, but I find it profuse in its display of words. Whenever I come across a new English word, I get its meaning in the C.O.D. So I like it very much. It is called ‘concise’ because this dictionary is a shorter version of the very big Oxford English Dictionary known as O.E.D.
             When I open my dictionary, one word invites me to another. For example, the word ‘companion’ leads my eyes to the next word ‘companionable’ which means ‘sociable’. I did not know this useful word before. Similarly, the simple word ‘cow’ directs me to the word ‘cow-catcher’. Now I know the name of the device fixed before the engine of a train or tram-car.
It is not a pictorial dictionary. I have seen some pictorial dictionaries meant for children or younger boys and girls. They are printed in color and in larger types. But my dictionary is not of that kind. It is a dictionary for adults. It gives not only the meanings of English words but also their uses in brief. These are very helpful. I like this dictionary for all that.
             I keep the dictionary always on my table. I am really in love with my C.O.D.

The use of the Telephone

Points: Uses on urgent occasions — Uses on normal occasions — Misuses and their Remedies.

             The telephone is the quickest messenger. We use it to call in a doctor, to invite a friend, to make an enquiry, to accept an invitation and so on. In emergency, we realize how invaluable & a telephone really is. When there is an accident or a fire, a sudden illness, injury or death, it is the telephone that connects us with the right person within seconds.
             Even on normal occasions the uses of a telephone are many. It is possible to call a taxi, hire a car or book tickets in advance for the cinema or theatre over the phone. One can chat or make appointment with a friend simply by lifting the receiver. The telephone helps office- work and business. A trunk-call may do what a long and expensive journey may not. The telephone is now our daily companion.
             The telephone is often misused. Sonic wicked people indulge in nasty or ‘ghost’ calls. Such things should be detected and severely punished. Innocent jokes may often prove fatal. These must he stopped. Another misuse is to keep the line unnecessarily engaged for a long time. Some house-wives are fond to continuing their small talks over the phone for Public-call telephone booths, too, should be properly guarded.