Lights. Camera. RCNM.

Sensitivity Towards Deaf People Deafness or partial deafness is often looked upon as a defect or impairment by society and people tend to pity deaf people and treat them very differently. We shouldn’t separate them from us as “impaired” or “normal” instead we should interact with them more and in this process, make them feel like a regular person. However, we should pay attention to some important points on how to be more sensitive towards deaf or partially deaf people so that we don’t offend them unintentionally.  1. Deaf or Partially Deaf people are generally speech impaired as they do not listen to the pronunciations while having conversations, thus it is important to be sensitive towards speech defects of any person who is deaf or partially deaf. 2. Deaf or Partially Deaf people tend to misinterpret the communication made to them as they resort to lip reading while trying to understand the other person's communication. Thus superiors or friends and relatives should be sensitive...

 The COVID-19 pandemic was a life-changing experience for me. This event occurred unexpectedly and had an impact on the entire world, including myself.  The coronavirus has claimed many lives while forcing countries to go into lockdown and implement a variety of anti-contamination measures. Despite the fact that I was fortunate enough not to lose any loved ones to the virus, living in New York gave me a taste of the massive changes brought on by the COVID infection.  As a first-year college student, I expected to have a great time. Instead of parties and social gatherings, my classmates and I have had to deal with distance learning and strict lockdown measures. Yet, the first-year college students agreed to arrange a zoom call to get to know each other, and I have already managed to make some friends! Meeting them in person, as the lockdown measures softened, was a one-of-a-kind experience. Besides, I had more time to spend with my family members! Studying online is also ...

 Experiences, in my opinion, are crucial in shaping our personalities over time. I was raised in a nurturing and loving environment where I always felt safe and loved. My parents made me feel important all the time. I was a difficult child. I used to have temper tantrums when things didn't go my way. My mother loved me unconditionally, despite the fact that I was a demanding child. My mother was very patient and compassionate, and she used to explain things to me so well that I could understand why things couldn't always be the way I wanted them to be. But as a child, I was never interested in understanding her sermons. But then, on a school trip to an orphanage, something happened that completely changed my perspective on life. An orphanage is a facility that cares for orphans (children who are homeless and have no parents).  When I was in fourth grade, my school organised an educational trip to an orphanage institute.  We were instructed to bring whatever we desired to ...

  The Tunnel Ends Where is the line between hoping for the best for someone and expecting them to achieve it? I'm not saying it's wrong to expect things. We're humans, it's natural for us to expect things from one another. What's wrong is to put your expectations on someone else because you want them to achieve them. I know those people want the best for me, but where is the line between hoping that I do my best and expecting it out of me every single time? When setting goals, if one takes into account every person's needs from them, the pressure would be endless. It would be like fighting a constant battle against the voices in your head to do better so that you are never satisfied with what you have already accomplished. Doing exactly that made me wish I could rip my hair out. Leave my very being and just stop. I often thought if I have to see my life as a movie what would I see? What parts would I put? When I turn old and frail would I be proud of the life I ...

  When we first hear the word ‘play’ we instantly think of dialogues and actions. Those are arguably two of the most important components of a play. But what if a play had to be written without dialogues – a silent play. When writing a silent play, there are a few aspects one must take into consideration such as specifying the location, differentiating characters from one another, etc. • Actions and Message Since there are no dialogues, the action portrayed must be clearly visualized. It will be the driving force for the play to move from one scene to another. While writing a script, one must think about what they want their story to portray. Since silent plays lack dialogues or sounds, the message of the play must be clearly seen in the acting. The writer must emphasize each scene’s location, character moods and how the action plays out. The underlying message or mood must also be clearly portrayed. • Characterization by using Visual Stereotypes Characters must be distingui...

  Falling Down When you've always been a ‘bright’ child from a young age, there come certain inherent expectations of you. Expectations to stand out more, to achieve something greater, to be someone better. And when you fall short of those expectations the disappointment is like no other. From a very young age, I was expected to excel in everything. It didn’t help that I was exceptionally well at studies either. I was always told I’d do great things. And to a fifth grader, of course, it sounded beautiful, to be told that I could achieve whatever I wanted. But as I grew up, the things expected from me started to feel like an endless chasm, where no matter how much I tried to climb out, I just kept on falling. At some point the adding expectations became suffocating. Everything I did, I was scared of failing. I was so scared that I didn’t even try. If there were no expectations, there couldn’t be any disappointments. For the longest time, I tried to do things that were safe for me, a...

  Escapade   My journey till date wouldn't do justice if I compared it to a simple roller coaster ride. We've all been through ups and downs no doubt in that, but I would like to relate my journey with that of a local train. You see, in order to alight at the right station at the right time, you have to push your way through others in order to reach your destination. There are times when you're lucky enough to find little chaos in the train compartment. You find the crowd filling in with every succeeding station that you pass by. Well, life relates in its own mysterious ways, doesn't it? Initially, it made everything look so easy and comfortable whilst we were in school. We were more lively and cheerful worrying less about what the future had in store for us. But as time passed by, we witnessed how slowly everything in life became a part of a race, a race that started way back in time, right since we took birth on this planet. A race with a never-ending loop that ...

 After The Storm To endings, beginnings and falling in love You are certainly somebody people can love – Fred Rogers We are always taught to be kind, empathetic and understanding towards others. But why doesn’t anyone ever teach us to love our own selves? Why does no one ever tell us that you are enough? We’ve let other people define our lives for far too long. It’s time that we stop being okay with the way things have always been and start taking a stand for our own selves. Acceptance has been a long process for me. It took me years to wholly accept my body. To fully accept myself the way I am. But over the course of this journey, I have learned so much that has helped me evolve as the person that I have come to become. When I look in the mirror today, I see a young lady who has fought her own battles and has emerged victorious. I see someone who is confident, compassionate and ambitious. But above all, she is the epitome of happiness. It hasn’t been easy. I have had my fa...

 A Thousand Storms To wounds, pain, acceptance and self-discovery Stop trying to fix your body, it was never broken – Eve Ensler Growing up had always been difficult for me with everybody around me being just perfect. I was just the ugly duckling in a sea of perfection. Being skinny was not a wrong choice that I had made, that was who I was. And being constantly reminded about it just made me drown in a deep pit of self-doubt. My self-worth plummeted downhill and I was ripped off my confidence. When you don’t fit into society’s set body standards, you start getting treated as a nobody. Your opinions and your choices just don’t matter to them. You become invisible to them and slowly you start accepting your fate rather than standing up for yourself. You start getting tagged with millions of names and after a point of time, you just stop taking a stand for yourself. You start comparing yourself to everyone around you. “Why can’t I be like her?” The one question that slowly star...

  Appreciating Life I have a lot of hobbies. My days used to be occupied by activities like painting, dancing, competitions and outings with friends. And I used to enjoy it. Gradually, my days started becoming tiring. I had ended up taking on so many commitments. I was busy living life or so I thought. But in reality, I was just… busy. I was in a rush to complete one activity just so I could start chasing something else. In this plethora of undertakings, I realized as time went by, I stopped saying thank you to my mom after she cooked food for me. Or when my sister helped me pick my clothes. I stopped watering the plants in my house like I used to with care making sure every plant gets the required amount. I no longer stopped in the middle of the street to click a picture of the sunset. Or see which phase the beautiful moon is in. I didn’t wait for the rain like I used to. Because I always had somewhere to be, something to do. I wanted to start stopping again. I wanted to appreciat...

  Grateful I love to journal and write diary entries, but I have never consistently written my journal like how one is supposed to. I have watched a lot of Youtube videos and taken inspiration from Pinterest to make my journal look as aesthetic as possible, and then forget about it altogether. However, there is one thing that has stuck with me. Google told me that one must write down three things they're grateful for every day. At first, I thought writing three things every day would be difficult . I tried writing some things I was grateful for on the first day and couldn’t. The second day, I tried again and still couldn’t. And as usual- I stopped writing. To me, the three things were supposed to be something special- like an expensive surprise from my parents or a trip somewhere miles away from home. Turned out, I found every day mundane. When I got an expensive surprise, I wrote about it and immediately realized that I wanted more. I shouldn’t, right? Wants were never-ending...