His Best Companion

“Each stage brings with it bodily changes ranging from continuing growth during childhood through early adulthood, slight declines during middle adulthood, and often significant loss of functioning in late adulthood” “His best companion, innocence and health. And his best riches ignorance and wealth. How happy he who crowns in shades like these. A youth of labour with an age of ease, ” said Oliver Goldsmith. This sums up what youth is all about. it is indeed sad, that this stage in our lives comes but only once, for what precedes it is childhood, which is spent in play and fun and what follows is a old age and misery. Thus in a sense this is the prime of our lives.

Youth is indeed ” Age of ease ” for they are mentally and physically in the pink of health. their minds are fresh and hence more receptive to new ideas and thourhts. Physically too they have matured with all faculty functioning optimally. it is, therefore, the right age,for them to choose their future career, by selecting a specific course of study. This is why we find most competitive examinations targeting youth. Their physical attributes and adaptability to their new envoirnment, make them ideal for recruitment to the defence services.

The innocence and the ignorance are but a blessing, for they suffer from no prejudice or doubts and thus their approach to life is positive and optimistic. This makes them highly enthusiastic and daring When a person gets older, he loses his motivation to be active in society, explore more, and experience things he has not experienced before. This is why being young is better than being old. Young people are motivated to be successful in their lives, faced with less complicated problems, and have more opportunities to become who they want to be than when they are older. Having motivation to be successful in life is very important, but as a person gets older he loses When you are young, your body is healthy and strong — you can pretty much do what you want to with it. And, life seems exciting and fun, lots of new things to do. Youth usually think they know everything and the world is in black and white with few grey areas. Youth is better for health and newness, old age is better for experience and sometimes wisdom.

The advantages are that you have your health, your whole life ahead of you, and not really a lot of responsibility. no wrinkles,nothings saggy,more energy and trying new things and you have your whole life ahead of you! The disadvantages are you really have no say in your enviroment, hindisght is 20/20, even if you have a good plan you don’t always have the resources to execute it, the future seems so far off and your parents seem so old you think you have a lot of time. Disadvantage of being young: you think you know everything and that you’re smarter than everyone else, but really you don’t know anything! Then, when you are old and have learned a lot of the answers you don’t have as much energy and motivation to do things. you have less experience to guide you. Don’t waste it – it goes fast. Some of the advantages of youth are physical in nature. Young people are able to perform most physical tasks with relative ease and recover relatively quickly after exertion. Older people may take days to feel back to normal after a day of intensive physical exertion.

Older people often reflect on this aspect of youth, especially when bending down to pick things off the floor. Consider also that most Olympic athletes are under twenty-five years of age. A majority of professional athletes are similarly young. Only the best in any sport are able to carry on past the flush of youth through skill, smarts and tenacity. The average career span of a professional athlete is actually only a few years, which speaks to the importance of the physical benefits of youth. (Only the young can perform the tasks, on average.) Also, young people will tend to have more family of older generations. As people age, their older relatives die. This is inevitable, but it means that young people have (1) more chances to be taken care of by elders and (2) more opportunities to receive instruction from elders. While older people are generally more knowledgeable and wiser than young people (which is a disadvantage for youth), young people have more access to the wisdom of elders than older people do.

So, the young may not be wise but they can ask questions and learn from others in the family more easily than older people might be able to. Young people have the power to dream in ways that probably outpace the dreaming power in older people. Untested potential means that young people do not know the limits of their abilities or of their will-power. However, young people may not know that will-power and follow-through are keys to making any dream come true. Young people may have a less developed sense of who they are in the world and often are given less status/stature in social situations. This can lead to some of the rebelliousness of youth (when people want to prove their worth and/or show that they are potent beings, capable of taking action and making decisions for themselves). Young people are often more challenged to find jobs that pay well. (This may be true largely because young people have less experience than older people.) Young people have fewer experiences to reflect on and have had less of a chance to realize what is worth reacting to and what might be best left alone.

If maturity is a means of placing proper value on various aspects of one’s life and so caring about the right things and letting other things go, then young people are at a disadvantage because they have not had enough time to do the work of deciding how to place things on the scale of importance. Teenage is a stage in life that everyone goes through. When people think about teenage, they think about energy, life, hope and beauty. Conversely speaking, when people think about old age, they think about illness, despair and frailty. The question then arises: What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a teenager? The answer to this question depends on the context in which it is asked. In many circumstances, teenagers can be viewed as an advantage. In the workforce, employers tend to view teenagers as an advantage. Younger workers are more energetic, more willing to commit and easier to mould.

To these employers, teenagers are assets that they wish to capitalise on. They also view younger workforce as more creative and more willing to try out new things. As such, in the workforce context, teenager is definitely an advantage. Teenagers can also be an asset where learning is concerned. Everyone can learn, but when one is younger, one is more likely to pick things up faster. This is especially so when the teenagers of today are more exposed to cutting edge technology and therefore are more open to new and unfamiliar things. With this exposure, and their natural propensity to learn faster, they would find the mastery of a new skill relatively easier. However, in situations where maturity is called for, teenagers can be a stumbling block.

When handling over power and responsibility, people in positions of power tend to view those who are more matured as being more trustworthy. This is especially so when the young ones are still in the process of discovering themselves, and therefore are deemed as more unstable in their handling of matters. This is evident in the real estate circles, where sellers of mega properties are more likely to trust a more matured person to handle their transactions. At the end of the day, though whether being a teenager is an advantage or a disadvantage should not be a question at all. We grow through time, and teenage is a stage, when once passed, shall not return again. The key is to treasure our teenage years, and to gracefully grow into the matured, responsible and wise person we are destined to be. LETTER

“The rise in number of beggars in the city is unhealthy development and the authorities should initiate action against them. A numbers of beggars can be seen stalking after people asking for money in every locality. Some others come with picture of God and ask money. Moreover, watching children engaged in beggary has upset me a lot.While efforts are being made by the administration to check child labour, there has been no initiative to prevent children from the menace of beggary, Nowadays,the problem of beggary has assumed a stupendous proportion. Beggars of today have adopted beggary as a profession, it has changed its form in the modern period and the problem has become a colossal one. Beggars do nothing, except begging and leading a life of horrible moral corruption. Moreover due to less productivity and all-round backwardness beggary of some areas is growing at alarming rate. . The beggary is a curse for any society under any condition and circumstances; but for a developing country like India it is not only curse but a great financial burden, too. At present there are more than half a million beggars in India and if we include among these those persons who occasionally beg, the number will swell into a few millions.It is high time we draw a blue print to eradicate this social menace.

The sole intention to write this letter is to draw attention to the legal, sociological, economic and social condition of the poor and how they are deprived of their right to live a decent life. Through this letter I would like to draw the attention of the concerned authorities towards a very serious issue, which demands their immediate action. An ever-increasing army of street beggars has invaded the city roads and public places. Every day, while driving to or from work, I cross about 10 major crossings through five different localities. At every crossing, I see an army of beggars waiting for the traffic light to turn red. On the average there are five to six beggars seen at every major crossing. A majority of them are professional beggars who knock hard at every car window, demanding money in a threatening style. Very few are elderly, disabled or really deserving.

The most shocking observation is that about 50 percent of these beggars are 8-10 years old boys and girls, some of them with one leg amputated. Who are these people, and from where they come no one knows? Upon inquiry some of them blame poverty and unemployment, which has forced them to beg on the streets. I think they belong to a far-flung poor rural areas where poverty has seeped into the roots for generations. The city administration must devise a strategy to tackle this problem by arresting anyone found begging at road crossings. Additional traffic wardens may be appointed for some time who can keep a check on beggars. The media can play a very effective role by making on the spot investigations and creating awareness among the people about the menace of begging. The city government can also open shelters for the deserving poor where they are fed and housed till they find employment. The government is busy in monitoring its macro economic agenda to please its donors whereas the real problem is poverty at the micro level, which is giving rise to social evils like begging. Begging is really a curse. Begging has become a profession.

Some beggars are healthy and do not deserve our sympathy. But some beggars are lame, cripple or blind. They deserve our sympathy. A beggar is a poor man. He goes about begging for food, clothes and money. There are many beggars who are disabled and handicapped. We should take pity on them. They really deserve our help and charity. We should help a beggar if he is blind, lame or handicapped. Many street beggars are thieves too. Therefore, they do not want to change their profession. They are lazy people. They do not want to work. We should be aware of such type of beggars. We should help only those beggars who are disabled and cannot earn their livelihood by doing any kind of work.Beggars are a nuisance. They are clever and cheat the public. Sometimes they steal, make places dirty and trouble the people by persistent begging.

They should be discouraged. They spoil the image of our country. More and more children seem to be entering the business of begging. It is a common sight to find child beggars at traffic signals, religious places, railway stations, market places, theatres and other places that are frequented by general public. Many of them at a very tender age face bitter experiences that have a big hand in shaping their future. It is a pathetic sight to see these child beggars being denied their basic rights – the right to survival – to life, health, nutrition, name and nationality, the right to development – to education, care, leisure, recreation, the right to protection – from exploitation, abuse, neglect and the right to participation – to expression, information, thought and religion. For many of them, street is their home where they learn to survive, learn to go hungry for hours, learn to eat whatever is shoved towards them, and above all learn to take risks by jumping signals, running after cars and so on .Many child beggars live a life of exploitation and misery.

Often many of them get into bad habits such us drugs, crimes, and so on. Child beggars are often treated cruelly, with contempt and their lives messed up in the most inhuman way. Forced to live the life of premature adulthood, striving to Make some money, child beggars end up losing their innocence and bubbling spirit. Begging misplaces the public sense of decency and demeans the value of human dignity. The country has enough resources to negate the progress of this menace and eventually eradicate it from our soil. What it needs is the vision, zeal and the drive of our leaders along with the collective commitment of Indian people to make optimum use of the same and exterminate the menace of begging. Banning of begging will be a positive step and will help counter the menace of beggars in the city.

Steps should be initiated to rehabilitate the beggars. Small shelters have to be made and they need to be imparted skills that would help them land jobs. They should be made to earn their livelihood by working and not begging. The physically handicapped beggars should be taken care of. Awareness sessions should be conducted and strict rules should be enforced to prevent begging. begging can come down only when the mean income increases in India and law enforcement is not part of the problem. Contributions can also be made by social programs that reduce poverty as well as programs that inspire entrepreneurship. Programs that educate lower class individuals about their options and teach them how to create and develop prosperous small business, are likely the best immediate option.”  STORY-

The ability to make effective decisions is a fundamental requirement for both professional success and personal happiness. A teenager is restless, keen to learn, willing to try new flavours of life and finally, aggressive in behavior. We feel that what we think is right and perfect, and so we do not prefer to listen to the advice of our elders. I would like to describe about the mistake I have done for not listening to my parents.74 It was February and my final exams of class 9 were going to start. I was overconfident that I will surely get above 95% marks in mathematics and stopped practicing it as I thought I knew everything in that.I was repeatedly advised by my parents that I should not leave practicing mathematics as I will forget soon whatever I practiced. But I didn’t listened to their advice. I studied all subjects except maths for whole February.(77) My final exams started.

All my exams were going well and the next day was mine mathematics paper and I was very happy as I was overconfident in the subject though not practiced it for many days. I first decided to do the chapter which I didn’t liked and that was geometry. I opened mine book and started practicing it.I found it much difficult in doing that chapter’s sums than before. Then I started doing other chapters .In doing those chapters which I liked the most I found that most of the sums I was not able to do.I understood that it was happening because of mine overconfidence because I had not practiced these chapters for more than a half month.(113) I started weeping for next day was mine exams and I was not able to get answers of most of the questions. I was continuously practicing the questions and it became 3’oclock .My parents then also advised to sleep as then in the exams I would not even able to do whatever I know.

But I didn’t listened to them. I continuously practiced it all night.(58) It became 6’oclock and I was still practicing the sums.I felt very low and sick as I have not slept that night. When I entered the examination hall and saw mine question paper I thought that I will be able to do many sums leaving 1 or 2. But when I started doing I was hardly able to do 11 sums correct out of 18.(58) In disappointment, I returned home., I also felt the guilt of not listening to my parents that I should practice mathematics in continuity. In case I had given respect to their words I would never had faced disappointment. I regret for not taking mine parents advice and not practicing mathematics in continuity . This made me realize that we should always respect our elder’s advice.We do not know what we do in hurry and then regret for ‘not taking the advice.(75) ENG.LIT

Shylock is a tyrannical villain or a tragic victim. Shylock, in my opinion, is a bloodthirsty villain. he is vengeful, very materialistic and shrewd. Firstly, Shylock is extremely vengeful. When Salerio asks Shylock what good would Antonio’s flesh do Shylock if Antonio forfeits the bond, he replies, “If it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation,” The quote clearly portrays Shylock remembering every single thing that Antonio has done to him. He calculates what Antonio has done to him and tries to revenge the wrongs done to him by murdering Antonio. Next, Shylock is very materialistic. When Tubal brings news of Jessica to Shylock, Shylock says “Two thousand ducats in that, and other precious, precious jewels! I would my daughter dead at my foot, with the jewels in her ear!” This clearly shows that Shylock would prefer to have his money and jewels than his daughter’s return. Thirdly, Shylock is shrewd.

When discussing the forfeiture of the bond, Shylock says “let the forfeiture be nominated for an equal pound of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken in what part of the body pleaseth me.” Shylock suggests the forfeiture of the bond playfully, whereas it is actually a cunning plan to murder Antonio with the law on his side. Finally, I would like to reiterate that Shylock is a tyrannical and bloodthirsty villain instead of a tragic figure, whom many might sympathize with. In the above essay, I have clearly shown that Shylock is a villain. He is vengeful, materialistic and shrewd. These are the characteristics of a stereotypical villain. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare depicts a Jewish money-lender, Shylock, as the antagonist and villain of the play. Shylock, being a Jewish man, is victimized throughout the play as a greedy, deceitful individual due to his Jewish heritage Shylock is being unfairly victimized due to his Jewish heritage Shylock, being part of the Jewish minority, was therefore mistreated by the Christian community.

He was spat upon and being called cruel, nasty names by his Christian neighbours. ‘You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog, and spit upon my Jewish gabardine’ (Act I Scene I) describes the unfair mistreatment Shylock and his other Jewish companions have to undertake everyday in Venice. The unfair treatment towards Shylock due to his Jewish heritage triggers the need to act revenge thus resulting in Shylock being depicted as a villain. Shylock, being unfairly victimized because he was a Jew, redirects the hatred inflicted on him back at his enemies. The play depicts of a cycle of hatred occurring between Christians and Jews. At the beginning of the play, Antonio treats Shylock in a cruel manner, spitting and calling Shylock a ‘misbeliever, cut-throat dog’. Shylock, after years and years of being unfairly mistreated, uses the hatred the Christians had inflicted on him back to them. ‘I am a Jew.

Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poisonus, do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.’ (Act III Scene I) is Shylock’s renowned ‘Hath not a Jew eyes’ speech. Shylock states that Jews are human beings like Christians. The actions of a Christian should be applied to Jews as well, as both races are human beings.

He uses the example of if a Jew harms a Christian, the Christian will act revenge but why can’t a Jew act revenge if a Christian harms a Jew. Shylock is simply applying the insults and abuse by his Christian neighbours as reason for his alleged cruel actions. He is a hated figure and so he deals hatred himself. Prejudice has hardened him when doing business with people. As a result of the way he was treated, he strikes cruel bargains with people when money-lending. This ruthlessness is his weakness and causes enough people to strike against him. As a result of his failure in court, his possessions and Jewish heritage was stripped away from him as he left the court a broken man. As a result of the way he was treated, he applies the abuse by his Christian neighbours in the past and uses the hatred back towards his enemies thus resulting in Shylock being depicted as a villain.

Shylock seem like he is a villain at one point, then a victim at another. Shylock is the victim because he is seen as being lower than the other characters because he is Jewish, he loses his daughter and money to Lorenzo, and he loses his land, possessions, and forced to convert to Christianity, by getting cheated out of his bond. Throughout the play Shylock is criticized because he is Jewish. “Here comes another of the tribe- a third cannot be matched, unless the devil himself turned Jew” (The Merchant of Venice; Act 3, Scene 1; Lines 64-65). This is one of the many quotes that support that Shylock is the victim of the play because he is tormented by others for being a Jew. They treat him like a dog and Shylock even says that Antonio has even spit on him. Another quote that shows how Shylock was treated was said by Gratiano, “O, be thou damned, inexorable dog, And for thy life let justice be accused!

Thou almost mak’st me waver in my faith, To hold opinion with Pythagoras that souls of animals infuse themselves into the trunks of men: thy currish spirit governed a wolf, who hanged for human slaughter, Even from the gallows did his feet soul fleet, And whilst thou layest in thy unhallowed dam, Infused itself in thee; for thy desires are wolvish, bloody, starved, and ravenous” (The Merchant of Venice; Act 4, Scene 1; Lines 128-138). The continuos onslaught of comments towards Shylock, makes him a more sympathetic character. This is because after harsh words like these you can see why Shylock is so driven to want to kill Antonio. The only person that Shylock can relate to is Tubal, because he is also Jewish, all the other people in Venice treat him like he is nothing.

The way that Shylock is treated makes it clearer why Shylock is seen as the victim. Another reason that Shylock is seen as a victim is because his money and daughter are stolen from him by Lorenzo. The two possessions that Shylock covets most, his daughter and his money, were stolen from him by Lorenzo. Even thought it seemed like Shylock loved his money more than his daughter, it was still a very cruel thing to do to any one. This quote said by Solanio shows the pain of Shylock, “I never heard a passion so confused, So strange, outrageous, and so variable, As the dog Jew did utter in the streets. ‘My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter! Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats! Justice! The law my ducats, and my daughter!”(The Merchant of Venice; Act 2, Scene7; Lines 12-17). It should be said that Jessica, Shylock’s daughter, did leave on her own terms and did steal the ducats from her father, but she would not have done this without the persuasion from Lorenzo.

Later in the play it is seen that Jessica regrets her decision to leave her father, which shows that it would not have been likely for her to leave without Lorenzo asking her to. Although this was a cruel thing to do, it was not the worst of the trials that Shylock was put through. Shylock had to go through so many troubles and problems, but none were like his final punishment that he received. After the trial between Shylock and Antonio, Shylock was cheated out of his bond then punished. Shylock lost all of his possessions, he was forced to convert to Christianity, and he almost had to plead for his life. “The party `gainst the which he doth contrive shall seize one half his goods, the other half comes to the privy coffer of the state, and the offender’s life lies in mercy”(The Merchant of Venice; Act 4, Scene 1; Lines 349-351).

“Two things provided more, that, for this favour, He presently become a Christian; The other, that he do record a gift, Here in the court, of all he dies possessed, Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter”(The Merchant of Venice; Act 4, Scene 1; Lines 382-386). No one should have to convert to a different religion, it is a horrible thing to happen to anyone. Religion is a very personal and powerful thing, that should be one’s choice to choose or not choose. Throughout the play Shylock goes through many trials, some are more cruel than others, but all are equally painful for Shylock. To really understand Shylock one can not just look at his actions, but it is necessary to see why Shylock did them. He is a very complex character with many different ways that he can be seen as, villain or victim. Overall, Shylock’s the pain and cruelty that Shylock receives outweighs the pain that he gives to others, which makes Shylock the victim of the play. POEM-

POEM OF POETIC JUSTICE

The Inchcape Rock” is a perfect embodiment of Poetic Justice. We come to know about the story of the Rock legend. Abbot of Aberbroath, a monk placed a bell on the dangerous reef to warn the ships and mariners. But one day wicked Ralph; the pirate removed the bell and turned the dangerous reef again a death trap for him. But we once get to see the poetic justice to play in the story at the end when wicked Ralph himself was going through that area. His ship could not assess the dangerous reef and turned out to be a victim of the deadly reef. And thus the poetic justice was made.