The Periodical (December 2019) (Compressed)

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 3 | D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9
The Periodical
In this issue:
THE HOW TO DO
NOTHING GUIDE
An amusing story written by
Omkaar, our new X Collabs
Partner
THE X COLLABS
QUIZ(DECEMBER 2019)
Be prepared for all competitive exams with X
Collabs! The quiz is for Classes 1-5
CELEBRATING THE 150 BIRTHDAY
OF MAHATMA GANDHI
Remembering the Father of our Nation who
changed the WORLD
A Salute to the
ones guarding
our nation's
oceans!
Celebrating
Indian Navy Day
with X Collabs
Magazine

Editor's Note
Logic gets you from A to B.
Imagination will take you
everywhere.
A L B E R T E I N S T E I N
This is the third issue of the X Collabs Magazine: 'The Periodical'.
We are always trying to improve our magazine's content and design, so, even this magazine has
been updated with a new design and several other features have been added. We have
introduced a new blog to our magazine so that there is an organised manner in which our content
is displayed to you. Also, a new author named Omkaar has joined X Collabs and one of his stories
has been featured in this issue.
We are open to all children under the age of 15 to send us their articles. Their articles could be of
any kind from artwork to stories to even videos of them showcasing their talent!
Also please spread the word about X Collabs to as many people as you can to make this magazine
a success.
~ Arnesh Bhowmik | Chief Operational Officer | X Collabs
CONTACT US
Important Links
Our Website: https://xcollabs.wixsite.com/magazine
Our Blog: https://xcollabs.blogspot.com/
Our Email Id: xcollabsmagazine@gmail.com
Our Feedback Page: https://xcollabs.wixsite.com/magazine/feedback

FEATURED STORY
INDIAN
NAVY DAY
Navy Day in India is celebrated on 4 December every
year to recognize the achievements and role of the
Indian Navy to the country. 4 December was chosen as
on that day in 1971, during Operation Trident, the
Indian Navy sank four Pakistani vessels including PNS
Khaibar, killing hundreds of Pakistani Navy personnel.
On the day, those killed in the Indo-Pakistan War of
1971 are also remembered.

Indian
Ocean
Background
The Indian Navy has an important role in securing the marine borders of the country
as well as enhancing the international relations of India through seaport visits, joint
exercises, humanitarian calamity relief and so on. The modern Indian Navy has as
undergone speedy renovation in order to improve its position in the Indian Ocean
region. The strength of the Indian Navy includes over 67,000 personnel and about
150 ships and submarines.
Reason behind Navy Day Celebration
Navy Day in India is celebrated to commemorate the attack on the Karachi harbor
during the Indo-Pakistan war (on 4 December 1971) by the Indian Naval Missile boats
as well in to reverence all the martyrs of that war. During the attack, Indian sailors
communicated in Russian to avoid detection.
© Indian Navy | All Rights Reserved

Editorials
Celebrating 150 years of Mahatma
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute to the “father of the nation” Mahatma Gandhi on
the 150th anniversary of his birth at his memorial in New Delhi on Wednesday.Alongside political
figures, school children, and the public also assembled at the memorial to pay their respects.India
observes Oct. 2 not only as Gandhi’s birthday but also as International Day of Non-Violence, the
ideal that Gandhi fought for throughout his life.
Gandhi, who was born in 1869, played a key role in India’s fight for independence. He was
assassinated by a Hindu radical on Jan. 30, 1948, just a few months after he led India to freedom
from British rule through a non-violent struggle.India celebrated the anniversary by organising
cleanliness drives (a good example is our apartment: MJ Lifestyle Astyllen itself), film screenings
and making a giant spinning wheel made out of plastic waste.“The whole world is celebrating the
birth anniversary of Gandhi,” Modi said.
Modi has often evoked Gandhi in his speeches, saying his ideas and philosophies are as relevant
today as they were during his lifetime.On the outskirts of the capital New Delhi, government
officials erected a 1,650 kg spinning wheel, an important symbol associated with Gandhi, made
entirely out of plastic waste. Gandhi used a spinning wheel to spin his own cloth in a gesture of
independence and Indian self sufficiency.Officials told local media that the wheel was symbolic of
the Modi regime’s commitment to move away from the use of single-use plastic.

"I HAVE FOUND THE VIKRAM LANDER!!
On September 7, 2019, it was publicized that Chandrayaan 2 lost contact with the ground base. Nobody could figure out
the status of the lander(Vikram). But on December 4, Chennai-based Engineer and Amateur space enthusiast, Shanmuga
Subramanian tracked down debris of the Chandrayaan 2 lander - Vikram. Let us explore through this triumphant
moment for India.
Here is how Subramanian found the debris from the Vikram lander. During his investigation, he figured that the lander
would have stopped around 1 km from the landing spot. This made him focus on 2 km radius around the area. As he
searched the north of the landing site he found a little tiny dot which he compared with images from NASA's Lunar
Orbiter (LRO). It was immediately clear that this was debris from the Vikram lander.
Reconnaissance
It must have common for all of us to feel that the Chandrayaan mission must be abandoned. How ever, Subramanian
took help from NASA's surveillance of Vikram and the finding of the Chandrayaan orbiter to provide hope for the
thousands of scientists who worked behind this project. After gettng a positive reply from NASA by sending his pictures
of the debris from the lander, he said. "I got a good response from NASA".
His message to all students: "I would suggest students to help out NASA, ISRO, by building a good database of LRO
images with features like comparison etc. Currently, we have to compare it manually..... wish someone could do more
on that."
Let us enjoy this triumphant moment for our country. JAI HIND!

Breathtaking Stories
The How-to-do
Nothing
Guide
By Omkaar Ajay Nerurkar

look
Bose
Today is a new day, and I have to complete this mission of getting out of unimportant things (like
studying). As you can imagine, this requires a lot of skill and practice. In the morning, I hear my
mother scream, “Wake up Omkaar, wake up!!!” I cool her down by telling her to ‘just chill’. Then I start
admiring the beauty of our plain and boring wall clock. My mother continues to scream, but I ignore her
and start my journey to the bathroom. I stay there till my mom gets suspicious and comes looking for me.
While eating breakfast I do three things at once –
at the clock every minute, read a novel and
obviously eat. I also stare at the bowl every now and then, only to be nudged by my mom with an
instruction to finish my breakfast quickly. Taking a shower is highly uninteresting, so I finish it in no
time. Finally I’m ready for school.
On my way to the bus stop, I see my mom break Usain Bolt’s world record, while I decide to conduct
scientific experiments such as jumping into puddles to check if my shoes are waterproof. In the bus and in
class I decide to listen to the teachers to avoid getting detention for the fifth time this year. In school, I
spend eight hours of fun and despair (as I got detention anyway). When I reach home (now listen
carefully or rather read carefully), my mother asks me to study. After about an hour and a half of
thinking, I decide to study only if she lets me play for two hours. She agrees. I return from the playground
only at dinnertime and my mother is waiting for me. She tells me to finish my dinner quickly and sit
down to study. I tell her that I cannot because a football match is being telecast from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
She allows me to watch the match. At the end of the match, I tell her that I’m sleepy. My mom cannot
handle this situation, so she calls my dad. Now it’s hard to give excuses because it’s two versus one. My
dad starts yelling at me. I put on earphones (the model is –
wireless). I tell them that I’ll study the
next morning. My parents start discussing the matter. Meanwhile, I fall asleep and they never try to wake
me up when I’m sleeping!
~By Omkaar Ajay Nerurkar
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of
the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental!

BOOK REVIEW
The
Invisible
Man

The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells is a science fiction classic written in 1897. The novella was first
serialized in Pearson's Weekly the same year it was published.
Griffin is a scientist who devotes himself to the field of optics. While working in his research Griffin
discovers that he can change the body's refractive index to absorb all light and reflect none, which makes
him invisible. The scientist uses himself as his first experimentation subject but fails to reverse the
process. After his friend betrays him, Griffin decided to murder him and begins his own personal "reign of
terror". What if what you consider a blessing is also a curse? The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells touches on
this very same question. How many of us wouldn't like to be invisible? That's what the protagonist,
Griffin, thought when he became invisible only to find it to be the bane of his existence. Yes, there are
some positives aspects, but H.G. Wells concentrates mostly on the negative ones. I thought Wells did a
good job building up the eerie atmosphere that is prominent throughout the story. Actually, the
atmosphere is the star of the book as none of the characters resonated with me and the storyline, which
mainly consisted of wrecking havoc for havoc's sake, was not very inspired. The story itself is also quite
funny, I thought and many of the scenes played in my mind as slapstick. However, one could certainly tell
that Wells is a master storyteller, and I find myself engrossed in the story for several chapters (mainly at
the beginning and end). I also found the period details in the book very interesting. The Invisible Man is
the ultimate story of an insane anti-hero, before insane anti-heroes became popular. Griffin himself
becomes more and more pathetic as the story progress and from the comical start Wells moves away to a
darker, subtle satire of small minds in small towns can be just as dangerous as any psychopath.
Buy the Book: https://www.amazon.in/Invisible-Man-Hardcover- Library/dp/9389440459/ref=sr_1_1?
keywords=the+invisible+man&qid=1575532002&sr=8-1
~ Arnesh Bhowmik

TEST YOUR BRAIN POWER!
CHALLENGE
Say the colours of these words out loud and fast
Instructions: If the word is RED,you have to say Blue and not RED
BLUE RED ORANGE BROWN WHITE PURPLE
PINK GREEN YELLOW TAN GRAY BLACK
Did you get them right? Or did you start reading the word instead
of saying the colour?
What's happening?
Your brain got mixed up while trying to complete this task. You were asking it to do too many things at once. It has to do
with speed and attention. When you read, the Wernicke's area, the part of your brain that handes speech, processes the word
quickly. But the colour of the word is processed more slowly in the occipital zone. The race is on! Which bit of information
will reach your frontal cortex first? Whichever one does will be what your brain decides to do first: read or say the colour.
Since your brain reads faster than it can identify colour, and since your brain has learnt that, usually, what the word says is
more important than how it looks, reading wins. That is why you end up reading the word instead of saying the colour. This
is called the Stroop effect.
Try it again. Really concentrate this time:
Did you do any better? If so, you probably
had to slow down. Saying the colours
required more time and attention. But it
may still have been hard. You may even
have to work hard to override what your
brain told you to do first.

LOGIC COURT
CHALLENGE
What would you do if someone handed you this (image below) and then
told you that you have to pick one of these options:
Option 1: flip a coin to get either
₹100 more or lose everything.
Option 2: Get an extra ₹50 by
doing nothing at all.
WHICH ONE DID YOU PICK?
New research suggests that if you are like most people, you will probably pick option 2. Sure it is less money than
option 1, but there's also less risk. Your brain does not like risk. It goes for the sure thing.
WHAT'S HAPPENING?
Your brain has two different decision making processes: cognitive control and value based control. The cognitive
thought group is like the family car. It's a slow and careful decision-making process, plodding along through life. It
doesn't take risks, but carefully weighs every decision before making it. You are consciously aware of cognitive thought,
which means you know the decisions that you are making.
Value-based decisions, however, are more like a shiny race car. Your brain zooms through the decision making process.
It doesn't take the time to weigh the pros and cons of the decision. It makes decisions on the spot . As quick as snapping
your fingers-bang-you have decided. Value based decisions are unconscious, meaning you may not even be aware of
them-until you have already made them. While this type of decision may sound bad, it's not. Sometimes you just need to
decide. Fast.
Both types of decision-making take place primarily in the prefrontal cortex, the very front of your brain. Different areas
within the prefrontal cortex evaluate, or review, the information and your prior experiences. Finally your brain reaches a
decision.
When you are presented with the two choices above which do you choose? It depends. Which decision making is doing
the deciding? If your cognitive thought process decides, you pick option 2. Definitely. Why? It's the less risky option.
Money is money, after all, even if it is a smaller amount, and your brain probably remembered a time it lost a coin toss.
But if your value based thought process is turned on , you may feel the urge to choose option 1.
Why not? You could have ₹600 instead of ₹550!

MOVIE REVIEW
Home Alone
2: Lost in New
York & Bean
The Movie
These two movie are our top picks of this month!
Read the reviews of both at the following link:
https://xcollabs.blogspot.com/2019/12/home-alone-
2-and-bean-movie-review.html
Both the movies are available on Amazon
PrimeVideo or you can buy/rent the movie on
Youtube

YOUR PERSONALIZED SCIENCE
CLASS
EARTH AND
SPACE
Something which fascinates everyone!
Did you know that the Solar System is way bigger than you think?
Beyond the orbit of Neptune (the furthermost planet), it takes a long time to leave the Solar
System. In 2012, some 35 years after leaving Earth on a one-way trip to the outer solar Solar
System, Voyager 1 passed through the area where the Sun’s magnetic and gas environment
gives way to that of the stars, meaning that it is interstellar space. That was an astounding 11
billion miles (17 billion kilometers) away from Earth, or roughly 118 equivalent Earth-sun
distances (astronomical units).

P L A N E T S
THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE SUN AND THE
NEPTUNE
4.5 billion km
SATURN
1.4 billion km
URANUS
2.88 billion km
JUPITER
779 million km
MARS
228 million km
EARTH
150 million km
VENUS
108 million km
MERCURY
46-69.8 million km

THREE FACTS ABOUT THE
E A R T H
O N E
It takes 8.20 minutes for
sunlight to reach the earth
T W O
The surface of the earth
rotates on its axis at a speed
of 1,000 miles per hour
T H R E E
Water covers 155.6
million square km of the
earth's surface

Aurora is an incredible light show caused by
The
(solar flares) released from the sun that enter
particles
X COLLABS SCIENCE
F U N F A C T
AURORAS!
the earth's atmosphere
W A N T T O L E A R N M O R E ? G O T O T H I S S I T E :
https://xcollabs.blogspot.com/2019/12/auroras-northern-lights-science.html

It is Quiz Time !
General
Knowledge
and Science
Quiz
For classes 1-5
Visit this link to access the quiz:
https://xcollabs.blogspot.com/2019/11/dec-2019-quiz.html

The X Collabs Car Buyer's
Guide
You can watch our video at the following link:
https://xcollabs.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-x-collabs-car-buyers-guide-december.html

T H E
P E R I O D I C A L
A N
X C O L L A B S
I N I T I A T I V E
An Initiative by Isha Outreach Organisation to Save the Cauvery River. This
initiative is supported by X Collabs. Visit:
https://xcollabs.blogspot.com/2019/12/cauvery-calling-action-now.html
to donate and learn more.
Magazine Code: XC-TP-01-03 | ©2019 by X Collabs | All Rights Reserved