One day at the Shaymbazar Crossing Kolkata

Today I went to Shyambazar on an errand. When I reached Shyambazar, I was at a loss to see the five – route crossing. I didn’t know the exact way where I was going to buy my school uniform. So I got down from the auto and stood near the crossing. It was noon; the sun was shining brightly over the head. Just imagine how hot the day was!

It was my first visit to the place which is one of the crowded centers of Kolkata. So many buses, vehicles were plying the entire area teaming up with traffic. The traffic jam was being controlled by the traffic police. It was very troublesome for the pedestrians to cross the busy roads. The place was abuzz with a mix of different kinds of noise.

There were many stalls-juice sellers, magazine stalls newspaper stalls and other-near the entrance of the roads. Seeing the crowd around me, I felt suffocated I approached a traffic controller and enquired him about shops. I felt relieved when I came back home. However the picture of congestion, crowd and chaos at Shyambazaar was lying heavy on my mind.


by Debanjan, Class IX, Hariyana Vidya Mandir 

Explanation on “The Seven Ages” from As You Like It

All the word is a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts.

This extract from “The Seven Ages”, a brief part of the play “As You Like It” by William Shakespeare has become a famous saying over the years. It is a piece of the great philosophy propounded by Shakespeare who is popularly known as the ‘Bard of Avon’. As per the ‘insightful view’ of Shakespeare, the world is a stage where all men and women perform under the instructions of the Fate. They are mere puppets in the hand of their destiny that is responsible for distributing joy and sorrow to them. Our birth on earth is like an actor’s entrance on the stage, and our death is like the actor’s exit or departure from the stage. During the time between our birth and death, or between our entrance and exit, we play many different roles and perform our duties. This period is divided into seven different phases of human life. Like actors on stage, we laugh and cry, live some moments of joy as well as some moments of sorrow, and then bid adieu to the world.