Diwali - The Festival of Lights

Where there is light, there is darkness

Lalitha ran to the puja room on hearing her mother’s voice and asked “What do you want me to do mom?” It was the eve of Diwali and her mom was leaving no stone unturned in making it a grand celebration. The festival of lights is celebrated with great fervor in the country of India and is celebrated to mark the killing of the demon king Ravana. Celebrated by wearing new clothes,  bursting crackers and adorning the house in lights, it is a day of celebration and joy for the vast majority of people.

But this year was different; Lalitha did everything that was told by her mother but she didn’t feel the surge of happiness and excitement she usually felt at this time of the year. Her father was working extra hours during the festival at his new job as a clerk at a jeweler’s shop to accommodate the festival rush and for the first time, there would be no fireworks at home either due to what happened the last time.

Amidst all the running around, she finally found a few minutes and gratefully took the opportunity and went to sit on the steps in front of her house reminiscing about the last year's celebration, She and her 7 year old brother were bursting crackers together with the rest of the kids in the neighborhood when a stray rocket exploded near her brother’s leg burning it and making him paranoid of any and all fireworks.
This year, he refused to step outside his bedroom and sat there huddled with their pet dog, Alex.The poor thing, this has always  been a hard time for him, the smoke and the noise from all the crackers which is almost overpowering for us, one can only imagine what it is like for something a hundred times more sensitive to it. It was a sight she did not like seeing but there was nothing any of them could do and with her father away at work, there wasn’t anyone to comfort them either. Hearing her name called again, she stood up, took a longing look at her friends' houses and ran back in.

It was the evening and she could see the kids coming out of their house and the air starting to get denser with smoke as the smell assaulted her nostrils. Through the smoke she could the other kids in the neighborhood bursting crackers, and pulling pranks on each other “who can say when what can go wrong”.

Mice on the Animal Farm

Suggestion: Read The Animal Farm by George Orwell before reading the following story

There was a celebration down at Manor Farm. Mr. Jones and his family sat at the table fully dressed with a fork and a spoon in hand feasting on food the likes of which the house hadn't seen for days. Mr. Mouse and his wife looked on from the crack in the wall in awe and were salivating at the thought of all the delicious leftovers they would be feasting on soon.

A week passed and Mr. Mouse was a worried mouse these days. There was a lot of excitement building up in the farm and everyone was singing “Beasts of England”. That night, he confided his worries to his wife. “I wonder what plans these rotten animals have, Mr. Jones has been our source of survival for so many generations, I wonder what ghost has gotten into them that they want to go against him. How do they plan to survive without him?” His wife gave a loud sigh and went to sleep. She didn't want to be troubled by all this

The Truth Chamber

It was a particularly humid day at Johnson Grammar School and the 21 students of the International Baccalaureate program were complaining about it as they went about cleaning the classes after school hours. This school had a unique custom to make its students more responsible by making them take care of the classes and keeping them stocked. This was facilitated by each class having a president, a vice president and three committee members who were answerable for the class.

 As the clock struck 6, as the shadows loomed large, a shrill low pitch noise was heard from a corner of the class. This piqued the curiosity of everyone in the class and they all moved towards that corner. As they were advancing, the sound suddenly changed its tone from a low pitch to a deafening high pitch series of squeaks forcing everyone to cover their ears and at that instant the doors bolted shut, the windows suddenly went dark and everyone was left in pitch darkness. All the students immediately started screaming at the top of their voices and banging at the doors and windows hoping to find a way to escape, a few of the girls huddled together weeping and asking to be able to go home. A few others tried to use the benches to get to the ventilator but even that was shut tight. They were stuck!

After half an hour of hysterical wailing and screaming, the students had settled down to their fate and decided to wait and hope for a rescue from the outside. Suddenly, a eerie yellow light filled the room, it was coming from the corner where the noise had come from earlier, then, as they watched a throbbing globule of light floated into the air in front of their eyes and a metallic voice came from within “Welcome to the Truth Chamber, only those among you who can pass the challenges without lying shall survive”