‘Essentials to a Prosperous Life’ by Hassan Bukhari (of class O’ Levels Final Year) offers you a pack of inspiring tips that can certainly help raise a bit of reflection towards the way you are, and the way you’d like to see yourself. While the web-world is already crammed with such ‘life changing’ inspirational stuff, giving these 700 words a quick read won’t be a waste of time --- for sure!

Essentials for a prosperous life

Remember the last time you lost hope? Or when criticism won the war against your will, hopes and dreams? Or when you lost yourself in the flood of critics and so called friends?

All this happens and no one can ever deny it, what I am going to pinpoint here are some fact no-one out there can contradict. I hope this can help some who have not yet lost them to others or rather this cruel world! And for those who have, it’s never too late.

Be sincere to yourself

People love telling this to you, and I bet you hear it every single time you find yourself sitting in some life counseling seminar whatsoever. But how many of us do really follow this? Guess what, none! You know what this actually means? Have you ever tried to actually listen to what the red organ in your chest has to say? A friend wrote this and I believe this explains everything:

“What’s the best escape? 

Is it a veil to pretend to yourself that you are not a frail?

Why is it that you are not you?

Is not it that hard to get it through?

The mask is just a sweet lie stopping you from being true

The mask you put on was a high score.

Now you’re trapped the mask is the door.

And when you come out, it won’t be you anymore.

It’s been long since you became a chalk on the floor.

The mask was a shadow you should have known.

It’s too late now that you are overthrown.

But say HI to you for me.

For me, when you are alone.

For me, when you are home...”

And remember, when you are sincere to you, you are sincere to people around you as well and that’s what your enemies don’t want to see, so make sure of their defeat.

Ignore the critics

There are two kinds of people in this world, ones who criticize you to make a better you, and the others who criticize you to see you lose hope and get solely crushed. Make sure you can differentiate between the two.

Follow your dreams

This is my favorite part. When you are true to yourself, when you are not ashamed of who you are, only then you can concentrate on your passions and live up to them. We don’t want to wake up one random morning and say “what the hell am I doing?” This is when you feel there is no place for you in this world and you start criticizing yourself and others around. Never let worthless things like peer pressure keep you from who you are and what you want to be. Do what you believe is right for you and be the best of what you make.

 You are the best judge of you

Remember that aunt, yes the one who likes picking flaws in you and always comparing you with either her own children or the ones next door. Guys! Not for a moment should you ever doubt yourself just because of her. Indeed, you know what is best for you, now I am not saying that you should neglect what others have to say, but neither should you try to be anybody you are not. You are the best judge of you and let that stay as it is.

Spend some time solo

Yeah, you heard me. Spend some time with the one I call “you”. The global village this planet has turned out to be makes me think a hundred times before I can agree to stay alone. Parties, hangouts and a lot of other ridiculous stuff like that. Spend some time alone; let it be somewhere in the basement or the attic but please! ---For your own sake, don’t lose yourself in the crowd! I don’t need to mention what you should do, but when the time comes you will know what to make of it.

Only you can help yourself

Wow, I just wrote 700 words! For whose sake, if I may ask?? My own?! Yes, that’s right. I wrote this for myself, not for some boring old blog but for me! --- Because I would like to help myself. Gradually, I have come to understand I am the one who can help me because I am sincere to myself, believe in myself, follow my passion and I myself can only be the best judge of me!

Hassan Bukhari

O’ Level Final Year

PakTurk International Schools

Chak Shahzad Campus

Islamabad

‘Natural Disasters’ is a thought-provoking piece of writing by Sohaib Zahir Sayed of class O’ levels final year! See, he’s given an attention-grabbing opening to his essay; has successfully provided information in the form of statistics, facts and figures, and has discussed the factors involved behind such ravaging natural calamities humans keep getting hit from time to time. Let’s laud our dear Sohaib’s attempt!

Natural Disasters

It was a frosty morning of December with a flurry of snow falling, covering the whole ground with a white soft sheet.

The temperature was around -2 when I, reluctantly, got out of my warm bed. After having taken a delightful warm shower, I changed my sleeping dress and came out of my room. Next, I rushed to my father’s room to wake him up because we both were to pay a visit to Aunt Saima who had had a small accident last evening, and was consequently hospitalized. Once having made sure father was wide awake, I dashed to my own room upstairs to put my mobile phone onto the charger. As I was about to pick up the charger, the wooden floor of my room started trembling raucously. I bawled” Mama, it’s an earthquake.” And spurt down to the ground floor to see whether she was safe enough.

----------------------------------------------------

“At around 9:00 in the morning, northern areas of Pakistan were hit by a devastating earthquake of destructive magnitude of 8.3. It has wrecked havoc. Houses were dismantled in many areas, roads lying fractured, and numerous tall buildings were collapsed. The intricate communication system has been enormously interrupted as a result of which some of mountainous cities have got cut off from the rest of Pakistan” News anchors were busy blurting out shocking details.

In total 25,000 houses were eradicated from the face of earth; 33km of road was fractured, 8750 people died and a total financial loss of 3.7 billion dollars was estimated by the ministry of information a month later after the earthquake.

Ever since that tragic moment of my life, I have been doing some research on natural disasters and I have got quite a few answers to questions like why natural disasters occur, how they can be prevented etc.

A natural disaster is a major adverse event resulted in earth’s natural processes. There are many types of natural disasters. To list a few are earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruptions, avalanches, floods, etcetera.

When we have a look at the history, it comes out natural calamities have been hitting humans’ puny settlements and destroying them effortlessly since time immemorial. Man has been curious to know about the reasons behind such occurrences and which is why science along with religion have been giving their answers.

Science explains that natural disasters occur due to disorder in nature’s cycle, like floods are triggered due to heavy rain showers, and heavy rain is caused by increased heat caused by man’s caustic activities like deforestation, pollution etc. that lead to furthering the damage to already injured ozone layer.

On the other hand, religions answer that natural calamities are from God’s side at regular intervals just to warn man and test his resilience, patience, and obligatory abilities. Moreover, these disasters occur when society is inclined towards sinful and evil activities that attract God’s wrath.

Although, science and religion have proved that natural disasters cannot be stopped from happening, but what one can do is to curtail its holocausts effects to some extent by reducing pollution, stopping deforestation etc. Man has developed such technology that can detect disastrous weathers and signs to help evacuate such areas in advance from humans, animals and other assets so as to save lives and avoid other losses.

We also need to rectify our manners to help us avert God’s wrath. Big powers, this day, are mostly busy suppressing those around in a race to establish their monopoly. Moreover, interest-based economy too is a form cruelty. These and other kinds of cruelty on earth, I believe, need to be mitigated sooner than later. If so happens, we will obviously be safe from being faced with such seismic disorders that result in ravaging natural calamities, and will start enjoying much peaceful a time on earth, or else such brutal earthquakes will go on hitting us even harder in future.

This world runs in an ostentatious order and we are to keep it same or be ready to face the ravaging natural calamities?

May those rest in eternal peace, who lost their lives in 2005 and in such other natural disasters. Amen!

Written by: Sohaib Zahir

'Despite my best endeavours I could not save the boy...' is Umar Khan's debut --- an engaging story with a natural flow. The text has an impressive vocabulary. Sentence structure is the area, however, Umar needs to work on. I personally believe Umar does hold a genuine flair for writing. In the days to come, much more is likely to be shared from this boy because Umar Khan of class O-2 is fast in doing the things. Happy reading!

 
Despite my best endeavours I could not save the boy...

I will never forget those small, innocent, terrified eyes, for the incident haunts me to this very day. Despite my best endeavours I could not save that boy.

It was a bright, sunny day --- just the sort of day when I feel like leaving my abode in the mountains for a hiking trip. I was geared and ready within half an hour. The hiking trails were not far from my house, so I decided to take a stroll. When I reached the trails I looked up at the enormous mountain peaks.

“Today, I’ll touch the top, no matter what,” I said to myself.

Without wasting a moment more, I started up the mountains. Knowing the technique for hiking, I started off slow, saving up most of my stamina for the final sprint. The trail got steeper as I climbed further. Gradually, I reached the point where I could climb no further without clinging to anything.

I was out of breath and my legs felt heavy and numb. I could feel my blood as it left my heart and raced across my body. The trail showed no sign of ending any time soon; and although I had climbed for more than an hour, any sign of the summit seemed far.

“I’ll never make it,” I thought breathing heavily, after I was sure I could go no higher. Only two or three thousand metres up the trail, I would be all washed out.

I was about to relinquish, when I heard a faint cry. At first I perceived it to be an animal, but after putting my ears to the sound, I could make out a voice. Someone was asking for help. I followed the voice which seemed to be coming from the edge over which I was busy balancing myself.

I climbed a little higher to reach the source of the sound, and that was exactly what I found. A small boy clung to the under-side of the cliff. He was struggling to keep his balance, for that is what would save his life. Springing forward I grabbed his hands. He looked up, his eyes filled with tears.

“Help me!” he said. “I’m scared, mister!”

“Don’t you worry, son. It’ll be alright.” I tried to calm him.”

Without losing a second I tried to push him up, but my feet quivered to lose ground.

“My mother must be looking for me,” he said between sobs, “I’m all she has left.”

His frail form hanging from those cruel rocks brought tears to my eyes. I could read in his eyes that he wasn’t lying. Knowing that I would not be able to hold on for long, I began to shout for help. But the only answer I got was my own echo. I knew full well that the nearest population was at the foot of the mountains, and there wasn’t enough time for anybody to reach this tragic scene.

To top it all off, I was badly sweating, and the moisture made my hands slippery. The boy having realized the grasp was loosening, reached out to grab my arm, but unfortunately he lost hold of my hand and before he could grab me with his other hand, gravity got to him.

Mommmmm.......!!”. The next moment, I helplessly saw him rolling down into the abyss below.

“Noooo.......!!” I screamed.

After a few seconds, I could see his small, lifeless body resting on the rocks below me. I stood up. As I was walking away, I looked over my shoulder one last time and I thought: “life isn’t fair.”

By Umar Khan

Class O’ Levels 2^nd year

PakTurk International Schools

Chak Shahzad Campus

Islamabad

'Water Shortage' - A story by M Romail Khan (of class O’ Levels Final year) whose pen will never cease pouring out descriptions of newer and newer situations. He’s creative, pro-active when challenged --- with his restless mind always brimming with ideas and thoughts. Enjoy reading!

Water Shortage

"Mr. Kamran, your water tank is overflowing again...!" I informed my neighbour, shouting it from the roof of my house, hoping he had heard me. It was all the voice I could summon at that moment, seeing the lack of humidity in the air.

 It hadn't rained in months. Our city was suffering from semi-drought, and amidst all this, Mr.Kamran was letting his water tank overflow most negligently,  as he had always done.

"Ok. Thank you." I heard Mr. Kamran limping up the stairs to his roof.

"With all due respect Sir, you do know we are facing a drought. The whole neighborhood is portioning water to get by. I fear you may run out of your reserve." I explained to him.

"Yes, you're right. I'll be careful next time." He said as per routine, turning a deaf ear to my advice, albeit with politeness.

A week later, holding up his News paper dated 22/7/2018, I noticed Father gasp in sorrow. “There you have it. India has completed constructing another dam over the river Jhelum." he threw the paper on the table with his feet, “… now let’s wait for the biggest ordeal --- the inevitable drought.”

After about a month of treating water as an unaffordable luxury, I found myself looking at my colony. Brown, dry and... quiet. All I could see was houses and wood. The trees were barren, so were the roads and most of the houses. I  listened and hoped to hear the sound of my neighborhood kids playing, the sweet birds chirping, or any other sign of life, but in vein.  All I heard was an ear piercing scream from below.

" I can't take another day of this. I need to bathe. I stink of two weeks of sweat!" I heard a familiar voice shouting at Mr. Kamran. It was Nafisa, Mr. Kamran's eldest daughter.

After a brief second of utter silence, I heard footsteps from her house, climbing, or limping up the stairs.  "Mr. Kamran!" I  greeted to the dry face emerging next to me.

"Nauman, Hello!" I got a dry reply. Before I could inquire how he was doing, his dry lips seemed to mumble.

"You were right," He bid an overdue confession.

"Sorry?"

“About the water reserve, you were right," he paused to choke with his dry mouth." It's all gone, all of my water. Only a negligible amount left to boil for drinking."

It both shocked and pained me to see a lone tear trickle down his face. His dry, chapped skin seemed to twitch under the unexpected moisture of his tear. It was not just his family, but my family too. In fact, all the families I thought to constitute my neighborhood were suffering from water shortage. I had to think of my own family too. Knowing  my own personality, my sub-conscious pleaded my heart to show selfishness and try to take every bit of pity I felt towards Mr. Kamran and his family. After a few seconds of fighting it, I finally, reluctantly uttered  " I could lend you a little water from our own reserve."

"You would do that for me?....for my family??" I could sense the naive disbelief in his eyes. Come to think of it, why would he believe something like that? After a few seconds of standing numb, staring into the sky, I sighed "Yes, I'll do it for your family. Just don't tell my father." A part of me wanted to restrain from giving him even a drop of water, as he had worn out his whole reserve despite my recurrent warnings, but some part inside me wailed to help him.

A week passed and I kept on miserly smuggling water from our reserve to his home. Conditions of the city were getting worse day by day. Everyone’s reserves draining fast day by day. Sun baked Zombies, roaming the streets with dry mouths and parched tongues.

Our water reserve was drying as well, and now with twice the pace, as I had been betraying my family by smuggling our treasure, a bucket of it a day to Mr.Kamran's family.

Two weeks later, on a hot September morning, I woke up early to get ready for a boring day of repeated routine. Placing a bucket under the sink, I lazily crooked the tap to fill the bucket, drop-by-drop as the sink had always let go of our perishing reserve. As I waited for the sink to cough up liquid treasure, I could hear a different noise - a noise long forgotten. A wheezing noise filled the air.

WHUSSHH!!

The sound of water gushing out of the tap filled my ears. It was music to my ears. I stood stiff as I saw the entire 8-litre bucket fill up in half a minute.

Over joyous, giddy as a schoolboy, I exploded out the door and spotted heaven.

The water sparkles rattled into life, rhythmically dispersing water to the dead grass in the park. The sprinkles of water bombarded my face, refreshing my mind, my body. A new hope sparkled in my eyes, now being sprinkled by sweet H2O.

I rushed outside and saw the paper lying flat on the ground. The three headlines on Page one, reporting:

"MASSIVE FLOODS IN INDIA. ALL DAMS COLLAPSED."

"ALL WATER NOW DIVERTING TO PAKISTAN. PAKISTANI RIVERS OVERFLOWING WITH WATER."

"MASSIVE LOSS OF LIFE AND PROPERTY IN MAJOR PARTS OF INDIA."

Although I felt bad for the Indian lives lost, this sorrow was obscured by my own discovery of life.

 

M. Romail Khan

O’ Levels Final Year

PakTurk International Schools

Islamabad

'Water Shortage' - A Story by Abdullah Nawaz Khan of O’ Levels 2nd Year at PakTurk International Schools, Chak Shahzad Campus, Islamabad

The year was 2020. Global warming was now a long forgotten myth, but the water shortage had decreased seas to puddles. Liquid water was now a forlorn thing. There was a water shortage on the planet earth. Seas were drying up. Now water was the most expensive thing in the world. People were calling it the Apocalypse.

I was then living in Karachi, a coastal area of Pakistan. The volume of the Arabian Sea was now half of what it was before the shortage, but still sufficient. I had thought that the Arabian Sea would soon fully dry up,  so I started saving water. I tried telling people to start saving water rather than wasting it, but sadly enough, they arrogantly ignored my advice. And soon I was proved right. The Arabian Sea was totally finished. There was no sign of water anywhere.

The rich migrated to other countries in search of water, and the rest were forced to find other means of surviving – which meant that they had to live a nomadic life in a constant search for water. I gave them all the water that I could. I was sure that the travelers wouldn’t make it, so I refused to accompany them, and soon I was the only life form left in the lifeless desert of Karachi. My reservoir was enough to fulfil my requirements for a year or so, but after that, I too was at the mercy of nature.

Days passed slowly. My huge reservoir started decreasing. I would take a daily walk through the streets of Karachi in search of a new source of water.

One day, while on my routine round, I found a man half-dead of thirst. I dragged him back to my reservoir and realized that I had only a few litres left. I could have ignored him and let him die, but I just couldn’t get myself to think that way.

I went outside and gave that man all the water I had. He slowly gained consciousness and told me he was a traveler. As soon as dusk fell, he left.

Now I had no water left and my body was going dehydrating faster than usual. I thought about what other options I had left. I soon started feeling weak. I grabbed my water bottle and went off once again in search of water. I knew full well that there was no one except occasional travelers. After a while of roaming, I slowly drifted to unconsciousness. It was peaceful, and blissful.

I saw lights. I opened my eyes to find myself in a helicopter. To my surprise, sitting next to me was the man whom I had helped. I learnt that he was a millionaire who had wandered into Karachi in search of survivors, but had almost died himself. Now, he was the one who was taking me to water.

He took me to the northern mountains where most of the world’s water was stored as glaciers. I was taken care of and was even given a home by the community there. I finally realized that the good does get rewarded.

Abdullah Nawaz Khan

O’ Levels 2nd Year

PakTurk International Schools

Chak Shahzad Campus

Islamabad

'Natural Disasters' - An Essay By Muhammad Awais of O' Levels Final Year at PakTurk International Schools, Chak Shahzad, Islamabad

Natural Disasters

Natural disasters happen all over the world, and just as their names suggest, their outcome can be disastrous. Although there is no known way of stopping a natural disaster, there are numerous ways by which we can minimize the destruction and save more lives. A greater awareness about their causes can often result in better preparation.

One common natural disaster is “flooding”, which occurs when the water level of a certain river is raised more than the banks or the river and the water spills out onto the nearby areas. This is far more likely to happen when there is a great deal of heavy rain, so during wet periods, flood warnings are often displayed near areas with a risk of flood. There are other factors that increase the risk of flooding as well: steep-sided channels cause fast surface runoff, while a lack of vegetation or woodland to both break the flow of water and drink the water means that there is little to slow the floodwater down. Drainage basins of impermeable rock also cause the water to run faster over the surface.

Earthquakes are another common natural disaster that can cause many fatalities. Earthquakes are caused when tectonic plates rub against one another. These plates do not always move smoothly and can get stuck, causing a build-up of pressure. It is when this pressure is released that an earthquake occurs. Thus, an earthquake under the water can also cause a tsunami, as the quake causes great waves by pushing large volumes of water to the surface.

Tsunamis can also be caused by underwater volcanic eruptions. Volcanic eruptions are another natural disaster, and they are caused by magma escaping from inside the earth. An explosion takes place, releasing the magma from a confined space, which is why there are often huge quantities of gas and dust released during a volcanic eruption. The magma pressure builds up inside the volcano, and pours out over the surrounding area as lava.

One of the most common natural disasters, but also one of the most commonly forgotten, is wildfires. These take place in many different countries all over the world, particularly during the summer months, and can be caused by a wide range of factors. Some of the things that can start the wildfires can be totally natural, while others can be man-made; however, the pace at which they spread is entirely down to nature. The two natural causes of wildfires are the sun’s heat and lightning strikes, while they can also be caused by campfires, smoking, fireworks and many other things. The reasons for the speed or their spread is determined by prolonged hot, dry weather, where the vegetation dries out, which is why they often take place in woodland.

By:

Muhammad Awais                  

O’ Levels Final Year

PakTurk International Schools

Chak Shahzad Campus,

Islamabad

'Influence of Increased Advertisement on Young People' - By Sohaib Zahir of O' Levels Final Year at PakTurk International Schools, Chak Shahzad, Islamabad

Advertisement today is a multi-million dollar industry that has expanded hugely in the previous 20 to 30 years. Although the industry has brought many benefits to society in the sense that it has created innumerable breadwinners for poor families, advised people rightly, and so forth; however, in the world where every other young boy who has just experienced his period of having zits or has got a gimmick of his own or is connected with the whole globe round the clock is surrounded with all sorts of luring advertisements which could get him into a lot of fuss.

Ever since the monstorous expansion of advertisement in the world, newer and newer methods of advertisement are being innovated, which is why currently from a taxi driver to steel mill owners, everyone is indulged in advertising. In such a society, a youngster is enormously influenced by the advertisement and marketing industry. Their way of thinking, their decisions, their likes and dislikes are mostly determined by tempting advertisements that make them go for the same. And this usually ends up with a waste of their precious resources.

Secondly, advancement in the advertisement industry has motivated conmen to enhance their methodology and to be more technical. They have succeeded so far and will keep on enhancing.

  

Lastly, with such huge increase in the advertisement world, people have a tendency to shop more often than not. This growth in the trend results in an excessive waste of money and implant on our youth the image that shopping is a sign of social status and it must be done to blend in with society.

I have observed all this happening at an alarming pace, and have concluded that young people are really influenced by advertisement which is why they waste time, money, and end up being scammed by the industries ruling the advertisement world.

Sohaib Zahir

O’ Levels Final Year

PakTurk International School

Chak Shahzad Campus,

Islamabad

Sohaib Zahir