Anika Choudhary

The common sunflower is a large herb that is grown every year for many reasons and one of them is that it provides food for birds and forage for livestock. It's scientific name is Helianthus annuus and it's average height is of 6-10 feet. With more than 70 different varieties of this tall flowering plant, it is generally native to North and South America. The sunflower shows a very unique trait called heliotropism. In this, the sunflower will face eastwards when the sun is rising and will follow it's direction westwards till the sun sets. 

Today is the auspicious day of Janmashtami. On this day, it is said that Lord Krishna was born on midnight. I made this picture of Krishna which depicts His (Krishna's) two manifestations. On the right side is the happy form of Krishna who lived in Vrindavan during his childhood. He always had a smile on his face, had curly hair up to his shoulders and kept his flute in the belt of his dhoti. On the left, is when Krishna was in the Mahabharata war. Lord Krishna was very angry because Arjun didn't want to attack his grandfather Bhishma as he had a soft spot for him. Because of this, the Pandavas army was getting massacred by Bhishma. Taking matter in his own hands, Krishna went against his promise of not lifting a weapon during the war and went to attack Bhishma with a chariot wheel. He stopped his only when Arjun promised Krishna that he would fight to his true potential. 

Raksha Bandhan is one of the most auspicious and popular Hindu festival to celebrate the bond of a brother and sister. On this day, the sister ties a holy string on the brother's wrist. It is celebrated in the month of saavan on the full moon day. It is considered inauspicious for a sister to tie a rakhi to her brother during the Bhadra period. 

Stress is a very common feeling nowadays. People usually use this word when they feel pressurized by certain things like deadlines, homework, filing taxes etc. Although stress is not a serious feeling or condition, it can deteriorate your mental, physical and/or your social health. In the end, it depends on how you take up stress. Although there are people who can handle stress, there are some people who can't take in stress at all which is completely fine as everyone reacts to stress in their own way. All you have to do to avoid taking any severe steps due to stress is to simply think positive thoughts. Keep telling yourself that everything will be fine, even though you look and feel like a train wreck. Soon, you will realise that the stress you took in, helped you to become a better and more mature person. 

The hydrangea is a shrub or climbing plant with round or flat heads with little flowers on top. It is native to America and Asia and there are more than 70 species of this shrub. The flowers of the hydrangea plant come in the colors of white, purple, blue, pink and red. These flowering shrubs are thirsty plants produced from early spring to late autumn. These long lived shrubs represent gratitude, grace and beauty. It is said that the first hydrangea flower was cultivated in Japan. 

Before electric stoves were introduced in the late nineteenth century, food was made with wooden pots and utensils, like given in the picture. The first fully enclosed stove was made in the year 1735 by Françios Cuvillés, but before that, people used to cook their meals upon an open stove. I envy the people who cook on these type of stoves because think of all the fun they must be having. They don't have to worry about gas leaks or anything of the sort.

A hibiscus is a flowering plant that is native to warm temperate and tropical regions. There are over 200 types of hibiscus plants in the world and the most rare one is supposedly a plant that has blue hibiscus flowers. The hibiscus flowers are mostly used for the purpose for decorating one's house or garden and this flower is very important in cultures all over the world. In Indian culture, for example, these flower ls are offered to the Goddess Kali and Lord Ganesh. Did you realise that most hibiscus flowers have five petals?