Kisholoy is produced by youth members of Ananda Mandir The articles, drawing or photographs of this magazine are copyrighted and should not be reproduced in any other forms without the consents of the owners.
We would like to acknowledge the contributions of the followings:
Articles: Anooshka Sen, Anirudh Sarkar, Auroni Sen, Shivan Mukherjee, Shama Dinesh,
Editorial: Dipak K. Sarkar, Utpal Sengupta, Sudipta Bhanja Choudhury
Magazine Composer: Dipak K. Sarkar
For information about the Kisholoy – contact Dipak K. Sarkar via email (Dipakksarkar@hotmail.com).
Things to know about Voting
By: Anooshka Sen (age 7)
1) What is voting?
Voting is a democratic process of choosing a leader or making a decision. For example, if you and your friends cannot agree on an ice-cream flavor, you can vote and decide which one to choose.
2) Why voting is important?
Voting is one important way that we can participate in our democracy. The constitution establishes United States as a Democratic Republic. It is democratic because the people govern themselves, and it is republic because the government is power is derived from its people. Voting is our fundamental and constitutional right.
3) How do Americans choose their president? Americans VOTE to elect their president. Every four years, grown-ups (18+ yr.) vote for president. They choose the person who they think will do the best job in the office. People vote for the president on the election day. This year, the election happened on November 3rd. We call the day we vote “Election Day”
4) Year 2020 Election Candidates.
There were two presidential candidates (could be three or more also, like Independent, Green Party, etc.) for the president. A candidate is someone who wants the big job to run the country. Mr. Donald Trump was one candidate. He is the president now. He is a Republican. Mr. Joe Biden was the other candidate. He is a Democrat.
5) What happens on Election Day?
Grown-ups go to polling places like schools, libraries or fire houses to vote. Sometimes people vote by mail instead. This year due to COVID-19 most people preferred to vote by mail. You have to be at least 18 years old to do that. People vote all day as defined by an independent Election Commission. This year it took days to count the mail-in-vote.
Mr. Joe Biden will be our next president.
Picture Gallery
By: Arvin Tanveer
David (age 4)
By: Arko
Mandal (age 7)
Picture Gallery
By: Anvitha
Nujella (age 7)
By: Atyaani Bhattacharya (age 8)
By: Anika Dasgupta (age 12)
By: Debika Biswas (age 16)
Thanksgiving
By: Anirudh Sarkar (age 14)
Thanksgiving has been celebrated for about four hundred years. Many families and friends join together for a huge feast. This day makes others spend more quality time together. This is very surprising because Thanksgiving 400 years ago was meant for the exact same purpose.
Thanksgiving is celebrated in numerous ways, but over the years people have been slightly changing the tradition of what it really was. But the true way this was celebrated, started in 1620’s. The civilians of the eastern hemisphere were unfairly treated. The people, who stood up and decided to take action, were what Americans called Pilgrims. The pilgrims sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean. Later on, sailing in the Mayflower ship, they met the Native Americans. At first the Native Americans were not pleased to see the pilgrims because after the Columbian exchange earlier, the Spanish had brought diseases such as smallpox. But a few months later, they build a good relationship with the pilgrims. The pilgrims helped the natives build wikatunks and longhouses. So, the Native Americans thought, ”Eventually our civilization will die. Let’s annually do something to remember our companionship” so they did. They decided to start an annual feast.
When the pilgrims arrived, they ate lots of things for their soon to be holiday. Actually they did not eat chicken and turkey. The majority of their food was fowl. Fowl food is like deer, pork, or even cats. Back then these meats were considered the tastiest delicacy. Now we add salt, pepper, and ketchup with our meats.
Overall, Thanksgiving is a day that is now celebrated annually. This holiday has an excellent history
(Picture taken from: www.google.com)
Drones and Wildfires
By: Shivan Mukherjee (age 16)
Around natural disasters such as wildfires, it is illegal for citizens to fly drones in the area due to flight hazards for emergency responders. Collisions with drones or interference with communication links pose severe risks to aircrafts at low altitudes. While the pictures resulting from these flights can be beautiful, the lack of communication with these drones begets unpredictability and, thus, danger. Disobeying these laws can result in a large sum as a fine and possible jail time.
However, drones operated by emergency service professionals can be largely useful to fighting wildfires. In the context of massive fires as seen in California and all across the west coast, drones can be used to access areas more precisely than larger areas. Their duty is to cut firebreaks, set backfires, and spray water. Their scope of work is versatile and can be adjusted to meet the needs of professionals in any given situation. Through the utilization of fire retardant materials, the drone itself could also be utilized more ruggedly and increase the feasibility of reusability. The limiting factor for the current usage of drones is not the number of drones that can be acquired, but rather the number of people with the expertise to control them. Depending on the size of the drone, they can carry different payloads to carry out tasks. One such task is setting off advance fires through the use of one inch Dragon Egg spheres. The release of potassium permanganate contained inside the Dragon Egg spheres can ignite surrounding bushes and siphon fuel away from the wildfire itself. As drones continue to become more reliable they will be adopted and more adaptive to different situations that could arise.
In addition to being versatile, the drones provide the advantage of being unmanned. This allows for work in otherwise perilous situations such as the nighttime or cloudy conditions. Rather than a loss of life, there would be a much preferred loss of equipment. Not to mention, more accurate forms of data can be acquired through the use of drones. The use of inbuilt technology such as smoke penetrating thermal imaging cameras can be utilized instantly to gather data about the fire and its effects on the local habitats.
Driving at low levels is inherently difficult. The amount of obstacles present require a strict mindfulness and ability to think under pressure. However, as time progresses, even the technology may soon become autonomous. This could result in improved airplanes or televisions. Overall, as many manned missions are converted into unmanned missions, the death rate for each scenario will also be proportionally reduced.
Faith
By: Shama Dinesh (age 20)
I heard of saints before I knew myself Knew of nothing to choose my way They said He shall watch over me Virtue,and vice; darkness, and light
I knew of nothing, yet I believed Not a seed of doubt arose in my mind
A mere soldier of beliefs
Of faith, I had no conviction in Obey the commands, obliterate the shadows Purge the world of its sins
But the sun has risen, illuminating the dark There was nowhere for me to hide Forced to see the truth I refused to I have now lost my way, and My hope has turned to dust
