Science Fair or Fear

“Can you drop me back to my school" I asked my dad interrupting the siesta he was enjoying . It was on the first day of the Science Fair in our school. I had just returned home and had my lunch . The weather was very hot as usual in summer in Doha .My dad asked some questions and finally agreed. Now a days it is my younger brother who drives. But he was in fact fast asleep and none will dare to awake him. At around 3 P.M. I was in the Exhibition Hall.

In every school or institution it may happen once in an year. The students just cant wait until it arrives. Some start preparing even an year before .When they however reach the bridge, it may be too hard to cross.



winde electricity(house)



A teacher by profession , my only sister always gifts me with educational toys. Last time it was solar building kit ,so much to build, so much to work and so much to tryout The kit allowed me to build 6 different items. The solar car was obviously the best one, but would not work properly. So I made a solar dog, but it seemed to me that it was not enough. After all it was very small. And so the title of the project came to my mind. Instead of the title solar energy, I decided to make it ‘natural energy’ and thus included wind electricity into it.

solar robot dog



When you hear the title solar dog or solar robot , big things may come to your mind. But my solar dog does not bark or walk o run . All it does is turn it’s tail rapidly as long as the light stays in contact with the solar cell. But the tail acts as a propeller and at the same time causes vibrations which in turn makes the dog move in circular motion.

how it works

On the first day when the teachers in charge came in for checking whether what each student had brought was worthy of participation or not, the atmosphere was tense because the participants did not know what were the topics to be rejected rather than selected . Most of the items were unfortunately rejected and mine was luckily one of the selected topics. The morning was for the mounting and with most of my class mates gone; things started getting a little boring. When the morning session of the fair was over and we were to go home.

When I returned home after the morning session on the second day, I told my dad that I had to return to the school. He disagreed saying that since it was Thursday I had to attend evening religious lessons . Then I asked what I would say to my partner who would be waiting for me in the school and he agreed. This time it was my elder brother who took me to the school.

Even though the solar dog seemed to be an interesting topic, we had problems awaiting us. For starters, the solar dog despite defined as a means of ‘conservation of electricity’, needed a table lamp to act as an artificial sun which meant that I needed to mount my exhibit where there is an electric plug that was available only inside classrooms. So we mounted our exhibit inside a classroom while most of the others were in the corridor. It was now open to public but here came the big problem, we were pinned inside the class. And no one would bother come inside to view the exhibits. Everyone preferred just going on straight watching the exhibits next to them. The bright side was that we had a comfortable and pleasant time.

me and my friends

It was night time and the exhibition was finally over. There was a valedictory function but I only stayed for the main part, the rest was all dances and dramas. We were given transport back home but not the same bus. Certain buses take you to particular areas along with teachers. Walking to the bus might sound simple but it is not that simple in my school. The school is very large with 5 different sections. I needed to first find my bus. I asked the one in charge and got my bus number but not its location. On the way I found a friend who was younger but had the same interest I had-experimenting on electronics. We found the bus outside the campus but the driver told us that we could only board the buses after the function was over. Then it was off to the other end of the school. By the time we reached there the final folk dance was over. And as they were delivering the concluding speech we returned and the function was over before we got there. But the bus door was locked and the driver had not come, leaving us in the scorching heat. Some teachers had come and they were waiting for the door to open too. I got tired of waiting so I went to driver’s door and it was not locked so I climbed up the bus to the door that was located a little far from vehicle’s base. I got into the driver’s seat and pulled a lever which then opened the door. We got in and once everyone arrived the driver came and we were off to our homes. We had some fun with our exhibits. Even though we didn’t win any prizes, we were very close to it, it turned out that we were ranked as the 4th.

By the youngest son

The feathered family

Though  I  had tried hard to get a two room quarters when I was staying with my wife, I was allotted the apartment only after she went back to Kerala for birthgiving. I stayed alone in the apparently large room and my solitude made it look larger. I had kept an air-cooler by the side of the window. I didn’t make it operational as it was winter. One day I noticed a pigeon bringing sticks and dry leaf and preparing a nest in the gap between the window shield and the air cooler. This made me happy as I loved some sort of company in this monotony and it actually reminded me of  my wife preparing for her delivery. Within days the nest was ready and the pigeon had laid two eggs. I was initially reluctant to approach the nest as I feared that the bird would get frightened and abandon her eggs. One day I heard a commotion near the cooler. As I looked I saw the bird fighting with two squirrels who had come to snatch the eggs, seeing me the wild creatures retreated , but they had succeeded in breaking the eggs, I could not understand why this herbivorous squirrel wanted  those eggs. Had they changed into eggitarians or did they have some long forgotten revenge with the pigeon family. Anyway the seemingly cute and harmless creature had become a devilish wild beast for me. I felt sorry for the pigeons and joined them in their mourning.

After a week or so, I received news from my beloved that our baby’s life was abnormal and the gynecologist wanted to perform a version procedure to correct it. Knowing that it was a risky though  it was an essential  procedure, my mind was in turmoil. However, by God’s grace on the day of the procedure my wife called and gave me the good news that our baby had spontaneously changed to normal position. I thanked God and looked at my feathered friends, who were busy preparing for their offspring.

By the time I was leaving for home to be with my better half to join  her when our much expected child comes to this world, the pigeon had laid two eggs and were also expecting their little ones . I was worried about their safety  from the squirrels in my absence. But all I could do was to pray to God to protect them as he protected mine. When I returned, leaving my heart and apple of my eye back home, I was received by two beautiful chicks chirping under the wings of their mother. Their heads and bodies were naked  and  featherless. Even though their constant cries disturbed my scanty sleep, I loved their presence as it reminded  me of my  family. I would sometimes peep into its nest to see how much they had grown. I could even count their tiny feathers.

Time passed and the clumsy winter gave way for the scorching summer. I had promised my wife that I would come to take them once the winter faded. I looked at the chicks who then had  sound wings. It was just a matter of days before they would fly off into the endless horizon. I thought I could replace the nest as  so that the birds would build it somewhere else, as I wanted to operate my air cooler to escape from the heat. The sun had already started peeping  through my windows. After  a few  days when  I looked into the nest, I discovered that the mother had already laid its next egg although a singlet. Despite that  my first reflex was to throw away the nest of the irresponsible bird not heeding to proper family planning, the thoughts of my family prevented me from the vicious  act. After all, the  larger the family, the happier it is .

I brought my wife and four month old child to the city beautiful. The summer was furious like a frying pan at Chandigarh. The chick had by then  feathers, but was not yet ready to fly. Even though it was hot, I decided to give the chick a couple of days so that the chick could at least escape from predators. However I told my wife to ensure  that the mother bird does not lay anymore eggs. Each day we eagerly waved off the mother bird and waited for the chick to fly off. But the birds  cheated us once again  and  in spite of our valiant efforts it managed to lay its egg. But this time I had to do it. I moved the nest with the egg in it to another position. I know this would frighten off the birds, but I could not wait for another generation in this heat. It may be protecting its offspring, but so am I.

By the eldest son