Choice of Books

Points: Book explosion in modern times — High and low categories — Room for individual tastes.

             When there was no printing press, books were all in manuscript. The number of books available was also limited. But today hundreds, even thousands, of books are being published daily all over the world. It is impossible to keep track of them by a single person.
             When there are so many books, we have to be choosy. The general reader chooses books of general interest. A specialist will procure a honk related to his special subject. Students will be interested in textbooks. Common readers always like novels and travelogues.
             We should read the classics if we want to cultivate our taste. Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Rabindranath, Whitman, Rolland are for all times and all ages. It is true we must also choose, for our recreation, light and humorous books. Choice is always personal. Choice of books is a matter of personal preference.  One’s choice need not be restricted to the so-called ‘good’ books only. Good, bad, indifferent — all kinds of hooks are enjoyable at different times. A reader should be allowed to develop his own taste without being over taught by his guides.

A Farewell Meeting

Points: The meeting — Some highlights of the occasion — Reminiscences flees of the old days.

             A few months ago our beloved teacher Harisadhan Babu retired from school. On the occasion of his retirement a farewell meeting was organized. The ex-students of the school look the initiative in the matter. The Headmaster helped them in all possible ways.
             The school took a festive look on that day. The hail was decorated. Many well known persons of the locality were invited. Most of them were once students of Harisadhan Babu. After the Headmaster made a few introductory remarks, an address was read out on behalf of the students and ex-students.
             Some songs were sung and a dhoti and a chadar were presented to the beloved teacher. Harisadhan Babu spoke nicely, recalling the old days and the old boys. We listened with rapt attention. He was speaking of the time when we were not yet born. It was a fascinating account. The oldest pleader Sudhir Babu lamented that the old tie between the teacher and the taught had been slackened now-a-days. Harisadhan Babu, he said, combined in him both discipline and love. He gave many instances of Harisadhan Babu’s love for students and sense of charity.

The Night Scene in a Town

Points: The evening scene — The scene at late hours — The mysterious night sky.

             The town I live in is not as big as a city. Still it is full of bustle in the daytime. At night it is not as quiet as a village. But it becomes quieter than in the daytime. At nightfall there is a rush of cinema-goers for the evening show. The commuters return from offices, mostly from Calcutta. The shops still make good business if there is no load- shedding.
             As the night deepens, the streets become more and more deserted.The street lamps look like watchmen’ of the town. A few cycle rickshaws ply from and to the near-by railway station. At a particular hour, the cinema goers return from the night show. They often discuss loudly the hero or the heroine. Slowly the town sinks into silence and sleep.
             If the smog is not too heavy, the stars look bright and dazzling. The Great Bear or Saptarshi (seven stars) shines prominently in the midnight sky like a big question mark. A lone passer-by may often be heard singing an old song. The night scene is, on the whole, dreamy and drowsy.

The Village Scene at Night

Points: The scene at nightfall — The scene at midnight — A dreamy and strange atmosphere

             At sundown, the village I live in looks like a different village altogether. As if by magic the crowds of people vanish and all noises die down. The roads or mites become almost invisible. The trees form a mass of shadow. It is so dense at places that even a full moon cannot cope with it. 
             As the night deepens, fire-flies are seen floating in the air. The crickets chirp hidden in the grass. Some night-birds and bats scuttle across the treetops. A lone passer-by on the highroad is heard singing an old song. Dogs bark at a distance, now singly now in a chorus. The Chowkidar is out on his round. The village defence party is also out with its volunteers and torch lights. They challenge every stranger they come across on the road.
             The Great Bear or Saptarshi (seven stars) hangs pasted on the midnight sky like a big question mark. The village at night appears to be a cradle of fairytales and dreams. Each tree seems to be a living person, having a story to tell.

Dress and Food-habits of Bengali People

Points: The Bengalis a nationality dress on ordinary and on festive days — Their food on normal and special occasions.

             India is a vast country. It is almost like a continent. So is called the Indian subcontinent. India is one nation hut it comprises many nationalities. The Bengali people form one of the major nationalities of India. Like the Bengali language, the Bengali dress and food-habits also are peculiar to the Bengali people.
             The traditional Bengali dress is dhoti and panjabi for the men and sad for the women. An old man often wears dhoti and chadar. Sometimes he does not wear any upper garment at all. Nowadays the male working people are adopting trousers and shirts in place of dhoti and Panjabi, but the working men still prefer saris to skits. The Bengalis arc not used to any head dress like turban or topee. On festival or national days men revert to dhoti and punjabi and wear light chappals instead of shoes. In ceremonial meetings they often wear chadar over panjabi. The women, on special occasions like marriage, puja or birthday wear additional ornaments, specially gold and jewellery.
             As regards food, they relish rice and fish. A typical Bengali prefers parboiled rice to sun-dried rice. He likes fish very much, and is fond of various preparations of fish — like fish fry, fish soup, fish gravy, fish with mustard, fish sour or chatni. With hilsha fish is prepared dahi-ilish. The Bengali's are usually non-vegetarian. They are also fond of sweets and milk preparations such as rasagolla, sandesh and payas (milk pudding). Rice is their staple food. But they also take polao and luchis, instead of bread, on festival days.

Communication Through Satellites

Points: Communication iii the Space Age — Lie broadcasts of far-off events possible with the help of satellites — The satellites arc our platforms in the sly.

             We are now living in the Space Ag. The outer sky is already crowded with satellites launched by the different countries. They are called communication satellites because through them long-distance communications can he made. Many of them are being used for relaying radio-waves and receiving radio signals across the countries.
             Sports events in Los Angeles may be directly telecast over the TV network in India. Olympic Games and Asiad games may be viewed by spectators as if they were national or local events. What a thrill it was when the Indian viewers viewed our first man in space, Rakesh Sharma, in his space capsule. The very launching of the satellite was telecast live with the help of another communication satellite. Accurate weather forecasts are possible flow with the help of the idea-photographs sent by the satellites. But nothing matched the live pictures of the games from abroad in which India won world championship.
             The powerful television cameras fitted to the satellites are like mankind’s new pair of eyes in the outer sky. Through them we are communicating or trying to communicate with the strange, unknown world of the stars and constellations. The satellites are our platforms in sky or farthest roofs. Going over them we can see a vaster region we can communicate with much longer distances.

Life is Action, Not Contemplation

Points: A person is known and assessed by his work — Character is formed by action — Contemplation also may be active like action.

             We Live in deeds not in years Man is judged by his output, not longevity. A good football player is one who has actually played many excellent games. A good debater is also a man who has won many trophies in debates.
             Merely wishing for something or dreaming of something great has no value in life. We must live up to our Ideas. Some of our thoughts have to be brought into practice. Just as a tree is known by its fruit, so a man by his action. Good intentions is not enough, good performance is also necessary. One may spend all the time in planning without doing anything at all. Such planning is useless.
             It is through work that our ideas become clearer. It is through work that we gain our character. It is through action that man achieves success and wins fame. There are some actions which are very much associated with contemplation, but not idle contemplation. When a writer writes a novel or a poet writes poetry, his work is not like the work of an engineer or a farmer. It is the product of contemplation. But here contemplation is productive and, therefore, active. It is also a kind of action.