Story

THE CONFESSIONS OF A LAPTOP

Hello Reader, I am a Dell Inspiron 5570. I am a 3 year old laptop
who started off with humble beginnings, now spending an
entire day with my friend, as a workstation.

The incidents in the story unfold throughout a period of two
years. It all begins at a Dell Showroom ...

As I lay on the table, a boy comes near me and picks me up.
'Can I edit videos on this machine? was his first question to the
sales rep. 'Of course you can, it's packed with a midrange Core
i5, has 8GB RAM, and 2GB Radeon Graphics for better
performance.' He beams with a smile, looks at his mum and
proceeds to the payments counter.

In the evening, he took me home and set me up. He was quite
annoyed with how slow I was at doing things (afterall I only had
amechanical harddrive!) but proceeded to install some
software anyway. He installs Office, Premiere Pro, Handbrake
and some other pieces of software designed for his workflow.
After the first few days of setup and usage, I slowly noticed that
he was using me less often. I would get stuck with updates,
crash during editing, and randomly sleep. 'Put that thing away
and give it some rest, I don't think even you can work properly
with the amount of load you put on this machine. The mother
looks at the child, as he puts me away inside the cupboard.

I waited for days, and even weeks to get him to use me atleast
once a while. But before long, I realized that I had spent seven
months inside the cupboard after he put me away.

He looks at me, cries, looks at me again, 'Oh dear God, if only I
could use this thing during the pandemic! Classes are about to
start and he doesn't even work properly. If only I could buy an
SSD to fix him ... '

When I was connected to the Internet, I found out that the
world was facing a pandemic- people are dying everywhere,
there were no vaccines, and a global chip shortage hit the
economy like a semi. Everyone were suffering.

Soon, I saw that even the place I was manufactured at,
was facing chip shortages and had to halt productions.
Electronics kept getting more expensive by the day.

One day, while my owner was browsing Flipkart, I saw
him going through a list of popular SSDs.

A week later, I see him rushing out through the door,
pays the deliveryman, and comes back to our room.
The last thing I remember was him opening up an
iFixit Mahi toolkit.

When I booted up, I was surprised to see how fast I
was compared to before! My boy had a wonderful time
setting me up and gaming with me. He gets me the
next moring, all ready for his online classes.

He opens up Zoom, joins the meeting, and sits through
the entire class. But I am however, starstruck by the
things kids do these days. He was using Zoom on one
window, splitscreening to a chat in another, and
browsing twitter in another! He's an avid multitasker I
must say ...

2020 has passed, and now I am glad to be rejoining
him after a long year of hardships. He still uses Zoom,
plays Minecraft, and browses twitter with me every
single day.

Kids don't change do they?

I love him very much, and he loves me very much as
well! I just hope he doesn't replace me with another
laptop, after the pandemic.

Anyways, as I look at him through my webcam, I see a
brilliant kid typing out a story all on his own, on a
small computer screen. His mother beside him,
reading a book, and his grandma watching her daily
dose of serials. He is at peace, and so am I.

-AMITH S

CZreaotnieve

DRAWING

Saina Mujeeb

Krishnendu

Nafiya.S

Nafiya.S

Hafsa S.M

Fahim

BOTTLE ART

Shafi

PAINTING Maryam Hana

CALLIGRAPHY Fathima Habeeb

“Photography is an austere and blazing poetry of the real.” “Photography is the story I fail to put into wor




PHOTOGRAPHY

“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.”

“Photography is an austere and blazing poetry of the real.“”Photography is the story I fail to put into words.





- HAJARA

“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.”

“Photography is an austere and blazing poetry of the real.“”Photography is the story I fail to put into words.





- KHADEEJA

“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.”

“Photography is an austere and blazing poetry of the real.“”Photography is the story I fail to put into words.





- MARYAM HANA

“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.”

“Photography is an austere and blazing poetry of the real.“”Photography is the story I fail to put into words.





- SALMAN SAIF

“When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.”

Fun zone

toungue twisters

1.Betty Botter bought some butter 15.Eddie edited it
But she said the butter’s bitter 16.Willie’s really weary
If I put it in my batter, it will make
my batter bitter 17.A big black bear sat on a big
But a bit of better butter will make black rug
my batter better 18.Near an ear, a nearer ear, a
So ‘twas better Betty Botter bought nearly eerie ear
a bit of better butter
2.She sells seashells by the 19.I wish to wish the wish you
seashore wish to wish, but if you wish the
3.How can a clam cram in a clean wish the witch wishes, I won't
cream can? wish the wish you wish to wish.
4.I scream, you scream, we all 20.The thirty-three thieves thought
scream for ice cream that they thrilled the throne
5.I saw Susie sitting in a shoeshine throughout Thursday.’
shop 2n1o.iAsnyynnooi si seeaannnnooyys saannooyys st et er rmbourtea. ’
6.Susie works in a shoeshine shop. 22.If two witches were watching
Where she shines she sits, two watches, which witch would
and where she watch which watch?’
sits she shines 23.Black background, brown
7.saw a kitten eating chicken in the background
kitchen 24.peter piper picked a peak of
pickled peppers
8.Tom threw Tim three thumbtacks
9.If a dog chews shoes, whose shoes 25.she sells sea shells by the sea
does he choose? shore
26.Ned nott was shot and Sam
10.A pessimistic pest exists shott was no
amidst us. 27.Pad kid poured curd pulled cod.
11.How can a clam cram in a
clean cream can? 2b8r a. Bnrdi isskhbe rdabvreobardi gbardi gi ehrtsb l a d e s ,
12.How much wood would a bblaulanndceirnbgutshseesm, abnaddlbyl.u' dgeons—
woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck
could chuck 29.If you must cross a course
wood? cross cow across a crowded cow
He would chuck, he would, as much crossing, cross the cross coarse
as he could, and chuck as much wood cow across the crowded cow
As a woodchuck would if a crossing carefully.
woodchuck could chuck wood
13.thought I thought of thinking -Hafsa S.M,Sahala Mariam,
of thanking you V.Akshay,Dina Naser

14.I wish to wash my Irish
wristwatch

1.It is filled 2.Which is the 3.Can you guess
with keys, but biggest English what is at the end
opiseunnaanbyledtooor. alphabet that
of a rainbow?
What is it? contains the
RIDDLES most water in it?
nhoont4rom.nWis,aebkh?euattadhnoayessa
5.nWehcakhtebahudat?snao 6a.Inlbehdugatstvw.neWooaahhrfaamatncsdaesmo,r I?
7.What starts
and ends with 8.Where will
the letter ‘E’, FrTiydhoauuyrsfbdineadfyo?re
but has only
one letter?

Answer key -Khadeeja

1.Piano
2.The letter 'C'
3.The letter 'W'
4.A Rhinoceros

5.A Bottle
6.A Clock
7.Envelope
8.Dictionary

bboon9nk.kWbbobhonoankntk?kgbboooennskk 10.What goes 1a1h.nWoduhsataeortoubgucuonhtednistet?ihvneer
down and

never goes up?

12.What goes 13.What did the 14otht.sWheaeyvhroavtltocodaltcnihdaoeno?
oh oh oh? traffic light say

to the car?

-Hajira Beevi

Answer key

9.A rubber band clown falling down a flight of stairs
10.Rain

11.The Sun
12.Santa walking backwards
13 .Don't look I am changing

14.I Lava You

General Knowledge

Why is the Gooseberry (Amla) first bitter then sweet?

When you chew gooseberry
(amla) at first it has bitter taste.
But when you drink some
water,or swallow the salaiva,it
suddenly turns sweet. The salts,
gallates and tannates,known as
polyphenolic compounds, are
present in the gooseberry. These
salts are responsible for the said
quality of the fruit. When a
gooseberry is chewed, these
astringent compounds envelop
the taste buds of the mouth and
cause temporary desensitisation
.At this time the gooseberry
tastes bitter. Water or saliva
washes down these salts and the
taste buds resume their
sensitivity. Then they are able to
sense the apparent sweetness
of the gooseberry .

-Muhammed Shafi

PUZZLE

1. A violently destructive wind storm occurring over land
characterised by a funnel shaped cloud extending towards
the ground
2. Molten rock that flows out of an erupting volcano.
3. A widespread scarcity of food caused by several factors
including war, inflation, crop failure etc.
4. An over flow of large amount of water beyond it’s normal
limits, especially over what is normally dry land.
5. A storm without a violent wind ,in particular a tropical
cyclone in the Caribbean.
6. A destructive vortex of violently rotating winds.
7. A violent disturbance of the atmosphere with strong
winds.

Answer key

-Nanda Anand

CLASS X E 2021 - 22

# end of the magazine

team eclectic 2021 - 22