Essays on Pen Friend, Meeting an Old Friend, Examination Fever, AI & Industrial Pollution
To view other Essays Click Here.
My Pen Friend
Although I have many friends in the country, I have always wished to cultivate a friend in a foreign country. The other day I was going through a magazine and came across the addresses of many children from the world over who were desirous to make pen friends.
I looked for the name and the country that I liked. I wanted a pen friend in the United States of America as I found the culture of that country very different from ours. At last, I found the address of Mary who lives in San Francisco. She is fifteen-year-old and is the daughter of a doctor.
Otherwise, people have a very poor impression of our country. They take it to be a backward and primitive country. I try to give her an objective and unbiased view of my country and her people and she does the same.
The result of this honest sharing has been the growth of a greater understanding between the two of us. I realize that she is a sensitive and loving person. She is extremely lovely too. As she is the only child she writes to me about all her problems and I do the same.
We give each other a lot of support although we live so far from each other Pen friends, apart from being our confidants, help to educate us and broaden our horizons.
Meeting an Old Friend
A person meets many people in life but there are only some who leave a lasting impression in our minds. There are people we can laugh with, cry with and depend on with an utmost degree of faith. Friends make is easier to go through hardships and struggles in life. They provide a shoulder for us to cry on.
A very close friend of mine named Asha left the country when I was very young. She went away to the United States and thereafter I began to feel very lonely. She and I were inseparable in school. She was my partner in class and even in the evening she would come over to my house and we would spend most of our time playing together.
I began writing to Asha regularly. We exchanged letters every week and sometimes even called each other over the telephone. However, I always had the feeling of loss after she went away I wanted to meet her again and therefore asked my parents to arrange a trip for me to go to the U.S.
They found the idea ridiculous as they felt that was too expensive to go abroad. My spirits had been quite low once my parents turned down my wish to go and visit my friend. But they said whenever we wish for something hard enough it materializes.
And my prayers were answered when I got a call from Asha to say that her parents had decided to visit Pakistan to meet her relatives and that she would be accompanying them. My happiness knew no limit when I got the news.
I eagerly awaited the day of her arrival I went to receive her at the airport and that was the happiest night of my life. We hugged each other and had so much to share. We talked the whole night and till the day she left, we were inseparable again. Meeting an old friend after one’s life days of separation can be one of the most satisfying experiences
Examination Fever
It is said when examinations are approaching, students suffer from examination fever. And rightly examinations are regarded as a curse by students. The approach of examinations means the beginning of fear in the mind of a student. As a matter of fact, examinations are the only hurdles in an otherwise happy and carefree life of a student.
The bugbear of an examination interrupts the smooth course of a student’s life; games, musical concerts, debates and activities are all stopped when examinations are nearing. Students are not to be found at the cinema houses, restaurants and other places of entertainment during those days.
If there were no examinations, the merits of the various students could not be judged, nor would the majority of students take any interest as it is only the fear of examinations that makes students work. They know that if they keep on neglecting their books, they will be exposed in examinations.
They are aware that their marks will be communicated to the guardians who will take them to task if the results are not satisfactory. They know also that if they fail they will experience a feeling of humiliation. All these things combine to urge a student to hard work. Examinations are, therefore, an incentive to work hard.
But examinations are not a reliable test of the ability of students. A student may memorise certain portions of the text a question is set from the portions he had prepared, he will no doubt secure good marks, while another student brighter and more intelligent than the first one, may not show good results because he did not especially prepare the questions which were set in the examination.
Similarly, it may be said that the standard of marking all the papers is not the same, because different examiners mark different papers in different moods. Most educationists now agree that a simple crucial examination is certainly no test of ability. They insist upon a series of practical tests of knowledge and intelligence over a period of two or three years.
The results of all these tests, they say, should be taken into account when judging a student’s ability The argument has no doubt a good deal of truth in it. But on the whole, it may be said that good students do not usually show bad results and that negligent students do not generally pass.
It cannot be denied, however, that examinations do exert an unusual strain upon the minds of the students who lose all their zest for life at the approach of an examination. Tutors are engaged, notes and guess-papers are purchased, special lectures are attended and coaching classes thronged.
In short, all possible measures are taken to get through the examination. The reason for all this is that throughout the term the students pay little heed to their studies and so when a test is near they have to concentrate all their energies on studies.
The scheme of internal assessment introduced some years ago by some institutions is intended as a step in the direction to keep a watch on the students’ labour and regularity in their studies. However, even this has its own drawbacks.
Artificial Intelligence
When the world witnessed the invention of computers and programming we saw a transformation in terms of information processing, automation of industries, massive mathematical computations etc.
The inception of modern technology seems to bring in novel improvements in our abilities to create and innovate. In the same line of technological advancement comes the next best thing called artificial intelligence.
Some of the recent applications of such technology are speech recognition, weather forecast and predictive modelling, positional self-awareness, self-driving automobiles, recognition of emotional responses etc. These advancements have huge benefits and possibilities in the fields of mathematics, climatology, space science, aviation, resource monitoring etc.
There are different forms of artificial intelligence: software or hardware, weak or strong, task-specific or multi-tasking, natural language processing and machine language etc.
However, use and permeation of AI have also thrown open a few ethical problems. AI systems, even though intelligent, are dependent on the availability of data and the design it is based on.
The reliance on a machine in several life-threatening scenarios like medical procedures and self-driving cars etc. leaves a lot of people skeptical about heavy dependence on such machines.
Another big concern is the security of such systems as they are vulnerable to hacking and cyber-attacks as they control various sensitive information, data and systems etc. Unauthorized entry into such machines can expose a lot of critical informational and infrastructural institutions.
Various technologist and thinkers have suggested a more appropriate nomenclature like augmented or virtual intelligence in place of artificial or machine intelligence. They believe that it will reduce the fears of a terminator-like overhaul by machines that often cloud a lot of people's judgment.
Industrial Pollution
Industries are pivotal to every economy today especially the manufacturing sector. The term industry itself covers the whole spectrum of products and services that are demanded by human beings to fulfil their everyday needs and wants.
Hence, the nature of pollutants that are released by different industries is different. From toxic chemicals, harmful gases, radioactive elements to waste water etc. the contaminants produced by these diverse industries create a much more complicated and dynamic threat than one form of pollution.
The pollutants gases and green house gases produced by thermal industries based on fossil fuels lead to inhospitable breathing atmosphere and several respiratory diseases.
The electronic and engineering industry produces enormous electronic waste that is not only difficult to dispose off but contains harmful substances like cadmium, arsenic etc which can be lethal in small amounts. The industries based on forest materials lead to deforestation which in turn is a catalyst for worsening the overall pollution levels.
They may also aid onset of various natural disasters like floods, acid rains etc. The list of effects that are caused by industrial pollution is the direct manifestation of all the forms of pollution that it entails. There are several respiratory diseases like asbestosis, emphysema etc caused by inhalation of harmful industrial particles and gases.
There are also frequent cases of chemical poisoning from industries dealing with lead, arsenic, dioxins etc. Severe bouts of headaches, nausea etc are also some other ailments that are caused by industrial pollution. Apart from human beings, it also affects plants as an accumulation of these harmful chemicals can caused plant death and stunted growth.
Animals that feed on these plants are affected adversely in terms of physical and reproductive health. The overall effect of global warming (due to industrial emission of greenhouse gases) and its cascading effects on the environment cannot be overlooked either. The strategy for combating industrial pollution has to be holistic n scope and planning.
The location of industries and its adherence to environmental laws need to be strictly regulated. This requires more meticulous environmental impact assessments and consequent licensing. The need for alternatively sustainable and cleaner raw materials is paramount and must be prioritized.
The treatment of waste (effluent or gaseous) needs to be upgraded and improved to minimize the environmental damage caused. Afforestation and using natural methods of damage control like composting etc. need to be leveraged in order to reduce the impact of industries on ecological and human health.
The need of the hour is accountability and it can only be exercised if there are widespread awareness and education about the menace of industrial pollution. This is also important because any successful and wide-scale campaign for cleaning the industries will require popular support and vehemence.
