A research-based on the above topic:

In this paper, we’re gonna talk about Europe and what all this small continent caused.

Most of the pandemics in the past had been caused by the diseases originating in Europe. It is no surprise here. More than a billion people have died due to these diseases. Since Europeans have been colonizers in the past, they had spread their diseases to all over the world.​

Let us learn about the diseases spread by this continent:

THE BLACK DEATH

• The Black Death plague which was originally originated in China dominated Europe from 1347 to 1665. ​
• It reached its peak in the years 1346-1356 where estimates place that around 75 million-100 million.​
• Almost one-third of Europe perished.​

SMALL POX AND MEASLES:

• Small Pox and Measles were the diseases that were introduced to the native population of North America brought by the Europeans.​
• It reduce the number of native Americas by as much as 95%, killing 20 million.​
• It was from 1509-1529

CHOLERA:

• The third global cholera pandemic of 1852 – 1866 began on the Ganges River Delta, spreading along trade routes throughout India, and from there to Russia, China, France, England, and the United States. ​
• In 1853–54, an epidemic of cholera broke out in London, where it claimed over 10,000 lives.​

Thank you!

​

Ever wondered why a small metal coin sinks and a big ship doesn’t?​
​

Oh, it’s all based on the concept of density. And the whole idea of density comes from the concept of the Archimedes principle. It is because of this principle we know why big ships float on the water, and do not sink.​

​So, what is the Archimedes principle?

​Archimedes’ principle, physical law of buoyancy, discovered by the ancient Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes, stating that any body completely or partially submerged in a fluid (gas or liquid) at rest is acted upon by an upward, or buoyant, force, the magnitude of which is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the body.

What is density?​

​Density is a measure of mass per volume. The average density of an object equals its total mass divided by its total volume. An object made from a comparatively dense material (such as iron) will have less volume than an object of equal mass made from some less dense substance (such as water).​

​FLOATATION:​

​When a body of density ρ and volume V is completely immersed in a liquid of density, the following two forces act on the body:​

1. Weight of body, W=Vρg acting vertically through the center of the gravity.​

2. Buoyant force or upward thrust, FB = V*liquid density*g equal to the weight of the liquid displaced, acting vertically upwards through the center of the buoyancy.​

​So, in simple words we can define the Archimedes principle as: when a body is wholly or partially submerged in a liquid, buoyant force acts on it thus reducing the weight of the object which is equal to the weight of the liquid displaced.​

Depending upon these formulas, there are three cases:​

​

1. W > FB , the body will sink to the bottom of the liquid. This happens when the density of solid is greater than the density of the liquid.​

​

2. W < FB , the body will rise above the surface of the liquid to such an extent that the weight of the liquid displaced by the immersed part of the body ( i.e. upward thrust ) becomes equal to the weight of the body. The body will then float. In this case, the density of the body is lesser than the density of the liquid.​

​

3. W = FB , the body is at rest anywhere in the liquid. The body will float if its whole volume is just immersed in the liquid. In this case the density of the body is equal to the density of liquid.​
​
Therefore from the above conditions, we now know why big ships float. This is because of density. The density of the ship is much lesser or equal to that of the water.​

Thank you!

Birthdays come every year but some are more special than others.

My best birthday was at age 7.
It was my best birthday because I got the best toys as surprise presents and the best chocolate cake I had and all my best friends were there.I and my best friends had so much fun, we had the cake and my favourite food:fried chicken.It was the best,I played with all my new toys and had so much fun.It was unforgettable and the best birthday I had.

WE HAD BEEN THERE BEFORE. A time so cruel for us. A time when we endured the torture inflicted upon us. Forced to part away from our identity, freedom and love. But what would be India’s history if Aurangzeb had not issued the farman?

Well for starters, India would have discovered the route to England via the Cape of Good Hope. They probably would have voyagers conducting expeditions to search for new lands to trade. Britain at that time did not that much to sell. India would have taken Britain’s market on storm, because of the spices and variety of natural resources. This would have made India powerful than ever.

During that time, silver was on great demand for creating swords, utensils etc. As India, where silver had not been discovered by that time would probably be exported from Britain. This would be a one-way win for India as Britain would have been heavily dependent on India for almost everything.

This would have caused a vast cultural change among these two countries, predominantly in Britain as India (in this scenario) has more power in Britain. Who knows, maybe Hindi was the official language of Britain or India would have been the most powerful country now?

We have seen the cultural, economic and political changes if India had captured Britain. But what about the conditions in India? Well, India would have been a much powerful country then ever before. It would have great education system, proper housing for its citizen and oh, the monarch concept.

There wouldn’t have been any riots or even protest because India was its own country! There would have been no Swadeshi Movement, Jallianwala Bagh massacre or even Independence!

In a nutshell, India would have been a country of its own will; just ruled by different dynasties. It would have been called the world’s most powerful country. People wouldn’t have to live under the slavery. Oh, I wish this would have had happened!

Once Albert Einstein quoted “The only source of knowledge is experience.” It’s true. So, here am I sharing my experiences under lockdown. Or in simple words; how has the pandemic changed my life.

Let me remind you that, this speech is a middle schooler point of view.

The main change that the pandemic inflicted upon my life is that now I don’t have anyone to socialize too. In this context, I mean to meet and talk to others physically. Right in front of them.

Sure, apps like Zoom and Google Meet do provide us a platform to meet and chat with our relatives and friends. But do not forget that humans are social creatures. It’s our instinct to communicate. After all, this whole world solely depends on communication. I’m now just adjusted to communication virtually.

Though we meet virtually, the idea of meeting people physically is so appealing. I don’t know, but there’s one thing I’ve understood is that I can’t live without physical communication. What about you?

For me, as a student, the biggest change in my life is related to academics. Any guesses, I promise it isn’t too hard.

Yes, you got right. It is indeed online classes.

Online classes in reality are way different than the physical traditional one that we used to attend. School.

All my life, I’d always fantasized about what would it be like if I were to attend online classes instead of schools. I wished to attain the experience of online classes. It always seemed cool to me, but now it doesn’t. Perhaps because I may have gotten bored of it.

First, the lack of physical communication. I strongly believe that learning in a school, in the same room with the teacher and student present is better than that of online school. The reason behind is because you get to engage with your classmates and the teacher can keep a check on you.

You learn much better and quicker than the online classes.

Second, internet issues. They frustrate me. I mean, how are you supposed to learn if your call hangs, or the teacher isn’t audible to you. At least, traditional schools had no disruption.

Last but not the least, in school I had the coordination of mind, eyes and hand but being online I’m losing them all. I’m a bit lethargic while writing.

Besides, there’s one more aspect that I want to bring to the audience we get distracted. When I often study on the laptop which connected to the internet, you frequently get interrupted and get urged by the other medias to search for unrequired information.

This has affected my way of learning.

As any other human, I’m now forced to wear mask, gloves and what not. Because the COVID-19 is thought to spread through contact.  I’m strictly forbidden from going outside, or in other words in lock-down. Not only I miss my previous way of life I detest the pandemic. Its too hard to maintain social distancing, wearing masks etc.

Wearing masks and maintaining social distancing is often now symbolic to a bird within a cage. We all want freedom. It can be in various ways, but for now is to go out safely without any precautions. You could possible call me ignorant and vain, but we all want to free of them, don’t we?

To sum up, I would like to go back to the old ways of my life; more of physical socialising, schools and doubt clearing. In the end, I understand that its impossible to do the above until the vaccine is out!

Thank you.

I’m quite sure that everybody here knows about COVID and all the bad things that come with it. You have to stay home, you can’t shake hands, you have to wear a mask if you want to go outside, you have to frequently wash your hands, people are losing their jobs because of the lockdown, and more! The majority of your time thinking about COVID would be about the bad things from this virus. But there are many good things about it as well! These good things are going to help us in the long-term. In this blog, I’ll focus on the two best things that have come from this pandemic. 

One of the best long-term benefits of this virus is the reduction in pollution. This was probably the most obvious. Traffic from cars, flights, trains, and other forms of transportation has largely reduced. This is in turn has greatly reduced the amount of pollution. In China, for example, it’s estimated that at least 78,000 would’ve died due to pollution. But instead, 4600 people died due to COVID. This is happening in many other places too. Within the first week of lockdown, India’s air pollution has dropped to the lowest it has been in the last 20 years. When my mother went to India in January, the airport runway was barely visible when her plane landed in Dehli. But now, Delhi has clear skies. People in Dehli can now breathe fresh air and have a much lower chance of a variety of diseases that are much more dangerous than COVID.

Another long-term effect of COVID is going to be the digitization of everything. People are starting to see that it is largely possible to do the majority of IT jobs from home. Google, for example, is going to let their workers stay home until July 2021. They might one day conclude that there is no need to go to the office the majority of the time. This going to reduce the amount of pollution(people will be commuting less) and it’s going to save a lot of money. This will in turn allow for Google and other IT companies to allocate less money to office costs and more money for innovation. 

Overall, COVID has done a lot of bad things for everybody around the world. But benefits like this are a nice silver lining to an otherwise terrible situation. 

A few weeks back, I was watching a debate with my family on television. It was about an ongoing disputed case over the death of a famous Bollywood actor. And the debate was toxic; insults were being spewed at each other, people were politicizing the issue and henceforth on. But what disturbed me, was that the anchor was a very biased person. I’m not siding with anyone here, but I believe that a matter has two sides. And as an anchor, it was his responsibility to hear both sides. After reading the comments, I was even more shocked to learn that people sided with a biased view; and here I learned the power of media. How it can truly influence us.

So here am I, Reneeka Kumar, to present my views and to educate the power of media. How can you be influenced by the media?

Before I start discussing my beliefs, primary enlightenment to media is necessary. So, what is the media? Well, your television is the media. Your local newspaper is the media. Even, the internet is the media. In simple words, the media is a means of communication. Now, now, now; you must be wondering: “Reneeka, how possibly in this world, can media influence us?”

Chill, I’m getting there.

Media is a powerful tool that can be used to change our way of thinking, our perception of the world. It’s absurd, and no one’s immune to it. In reality, the people who are “immune” to media are more prone to the influence.

We have two faces of media, in other words, pros and cons. The good and the ugly. Let me start with the positive faction of media, the pro.

The positive effect of media: for starters, it has made the current generation aware of the issues going all around the world. As rightly said by Dave Wallis, “Don’t use social media to impress people; use it to impact people.” And that’s what the media is doing!

On news channels and social networking sites like Twitter and Youtube, you can get to see videos and read interviews about influential people. See videos about the extra-ordinary people who made a positive impact on our society. Those who motivate us to become a better person, a better generation.

You also, learn about the current issues of the world. Poverty, diseases, national security risk, peace, harmful usage of drugs, etc. Because of this, people are now more aware of the world and can do something about it. In a way or another, it’s contributing towards a bright future.

You see, how can media truly impact our views? Influence and make us a better person with an open mind? But, sadly, this doesn’t happen all the time. Remember, media is just a tool. In reality, it is used by people to push their negative propaganda.

This brings us to question and learn about the negative effects of media.
Who here, once in their life, have seen the “Fair and Lovely”? For those who don’t know, this advert teaches us the so-called superiority of “fair skin”. That you’re nothing without a fair skin, kyunki chitta gora he sabse accha hein! This negatively corrupts our minds, and actively promotes racism! There are more adverts like these that contribute towards discrimination and hatred. To note: as of date, backlash and criticism have forced the company to change the company’s name. It’s now, “Glow and Lovely”.

The media plays an important role in informing us about the latest news. But, the news we see, to what extent is true and biased? Most of the time, the media provides us a piece of biased news and only lets us know, about one side! One that will increase more views! In this way, people are not truly educated and this, once again, leads to hate and violence.

In a nutshell, the media influences you, your thoughts, and your actions. Media plays an active part in shaping your personality, your character.
You must have heard, “You are what you eat.” Well, I say, that you are what you see.

We can’t expect to see any changes to the functioning of media any time soon, so, as a responsible human being, it is your duty to take the responsibility of the media you see or do.

So, the next time when you see the video of a Karen refusing to wear a mask because “things gotta breathe”, don’t just don’t idolized her.

Thank you!