Student-life

Points: Preparation for life — A student’s debt to society — Years of idealism.

             There is a saying in Sanskrit that a student should concentrate wholly on studies. But in the modern age the old principle no longer holds good and a hook-worm is not regarded as an ideal student. A student-life is, after all, an apprenticeship of life itself. Books alone cannot give us the knowledge we need for future life.
             Harmonious development of body, mind and spirit—that is true education, and this should be the aim of every student. He should show interest for sports and athletics, arts and music, social service and charity. In our country where a large number of people are poor and illiterate, every student has to do something for others. A student may join N.C.C. or N.S.S. just as he may join Boy Scouts or Bratachari. He should work for the betterment of the community. Every student should bear in mind that he owes a debt to his or her society.
             Students should read the country’s history and visit places of historical interest. They will thus acquire a sense of patriotism. A student ought to be imbued with idealism. Idealism alone can help him rise above all pettiness. A student will, of course, think of his career. But he should not be self-centered.

The Wonders of Electricity

Points: We owe heavily to electricity — Its gifts to urban life — Its gifts to rural life.

             Electricity is the miracle that has modernized our life. It serves us at all hours. It gives us light cooks our food, cools our room in the summer and keeps it warm in the winter. In fact, modern civilization is mainly a gift of electricity. One needs only to switch it on or off; the rest is done by electricity, in the twinkling of an eye. Electricity is like Aladdin’s lamp. A hundred years ago people had to depend for light, heat or cower on candle, wood, coal and beasts of burden. Benjamin Franklin, we are sure, never dreamt that his kite-flying in a storm would lead to such a revolution one day.
             No industrial development is possible without electricity. Electric razors, carpet cleaners, toasters, driers, grinders washing machines, refrigerators, elevators, escalators, electric typewriters, calculating machines, and hundreds of tools and gadgets are coming into daily use. The traffic signals, radio, television, telephone, everything owes its existence to electricity. And so also do the electric trains and tramcars.
             When we talk of modernization of villages we call it ‘rural electrification’. Pump-sets in fields are now being operated by electricity. As a result, peasants are getting the benefit of irrigation. Formerly, crops would be harvested only once or at best twice a year. Now crops are being raised thrice. Electricity is giving ‘shock treatment’ to our sick villages and bringing them up. Electricity is, in fact, the soul of our civilization.