FRAMED Creations

 

The first one is a mural painting of Krishna & Radha and the second one is a Tanjore painting of Lord Ganesha.

Getting Inspired!

I have no idea of what to write. Here I am, in my room, searching the depths of my brain to get something to write about. It is not as if there is nothing to write about; there is but I just can’t get the inspiration to write. I must sound crazy to you people, reading this.  I know there are many things to write about, like trees, castles, books, places, family drama or even mosquitoes, as we saw in ‘Eacha’. But call it my ego or my attitude towards these things; I just can’t seem to actually think about something as a two-page story.

I sometimes think about Julie Powell in ‘Julie & Julia’; her difficulty in getting recognized with her blog, praying for comments, but still always having something to write about. Granted that she did have a constant inspiration-Julia Child-and that she was solely writing it to get away from work. But I just can’t figure out how she got the motivation to write each day a year. Whenever I see that movie, I always feel that I should write something and keep the blog updated.

As such, my blog does not have a specific theme. I post stories that I write. I know that blogs are mainly theme-based, but why can’t there be a theme about me? I look at all the other blogs, having many comments, and I always think ‘Now, why am I not that famous?’

I do post the link of my blog in facebook, but people these days are just not that interested in going through blogs and reading the posts.  This is what upsets me. They would rather look at all the weird photos, different pages and the profiles of their friends’ friends rather than go through something that took hours to write and create.

My friends are apt examples of this. I am not blaming them, but I get chat messages, asking me to like their profile picture or cover photo. They would rather get a 100 likes for their pictures than read something interesting and fun. This is all just a way of making them more and more popular in school, and facebook helps them in doing so.

Now, I started writing this thing in an attempt to get enthused, but I ended up writing a one-page discussion on blog-updating and facebook-ing. What a way to pass time! 

2012-Episodes!

What a year 2012 was!! There were so many awesome things that happened to me but I just want to talk about a few memorable experiences.

January.

That was the month before which we had gone to Kolkata, Guwahati, Kaziranga and Shillong. The hangover of that amazing experience is still not over. I even remember now what we were doing on New Year's Eve; we were travelling from Guwahati to Kolkata in the late hours of the night and reached the capital at 10pm or so. As we were driving back to the guest house, we saw many people drinking and partying on the streets, many decorations here and there and the sound of music coming from clubs and private parties.  We slept peacefully but got up again in the wee hours of the morning to travel back to Trivandrum. We had called a taxi the day before to take us to the airport at 5am. The rest is history. 

But January, in particular, was not so special or anything. I came back home, slept for a long time, called up Satya and told her everything and went online! Then, the next day came and I was back in school. I told my friends everything and they very amazed by my story! I told my Geography teacher I went to Cherrapunjee and she was pleased. 

Anand’s birthday was on 17^th, but forgot exactly what he wore.

On 20^th January, we celebrated my dad's 58th birthday. My sister and I got him a shirt, I'm guessing. I don't actually remember all the details precisely. There is nothing else really to talk about, I think.

February.

The calls between Satya and I became very frequent. We talked about everything happening in her school and my school; new gossip, teachers, friends, popular students, seniors, juniors, crushes, relationships etc. On 9^th February, my mom and I celebrated her birthday. At that time, my sister was still in TCS and my dad was in Kolkata or Bangalore or something; not so sure. When I was coming back from science tuition, I bought my mom a Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk and wrapped it up in pink gift-wrapping paper. I kept it in the fridge and waited in the balcony to see if she was coming. When I saw the familiar car entering the building, I quickly raced to the fridge, took the chocolate and was ready at the lift. The lift opened and I gave her the Silk. She was very surprised, mainly because she herself had bought a bigger Silk to celebrate. That was a wonderful day for both of us!

I think I wished Sujumma on 11^th and Sooraj Anna on 25^th; this also not so sure.

March.

EXAMS!

The first and second week was taken up by studying and writing my 9^th grade board exams. On 8^th March, all my classmates and I celebrated our Social Day. That was the day I gave Susan (best friend) her birthday gift. Her birthday is on 15^th, but by then, the school would have closed and she would have been in Abu Dhabi. When she saw the gift beautifully wrapped in sea-blue shiny paper, it added to the effect and she was utterly surprised.

6^th was Rajalekshmi’s (another friend) birthday.

It was Devi’s and Bhagya’s birthday on 22^nd.

On 28^th, I wished Satya on her 15^th birthday. The calls between her and I became very frequent, practically every day. On those days, since school had closed, we talked about new songs, new movies, actors, actresses, fashion designers, places we would visit together etc.

April.

April fool!!

I think it was during April that my mom and I went to Kochi. We stayed with my grandparents. My sister was also there. She took me to Oberon Mall where we saw Casanova in Cinemax. I don’t know if it was in April, but I have a vague recollection of us going to Gold Souk Grande and seeing Transformers.

My cousin brother promised me he would take me somewhere when my sister went to work, but he didn’t (very typical).

I wanted to go to Satya’s house but my mom said we had no time.

17^th was Joann’s birthday, but I forgot to call (I’m such an idiot).

25^th was Radhika’s birthday.

May.

School reopened on 9^th. It was great to see my friends. There were no new faces but one or two people were missing. I went and sat with Susan and told her what all I did during holidays, and she did the same. Our class teacher was our Chemistry teacher (not mentioning the name).

On 20^th, we celebrated my sister’s birthday. On the day before, my dad and I went to Supreme Bakers and bought her a Vanilla cake as a surprise, while she was with our mom and grandparents in Shanghumugham beach. I knew she would be clever, so I gave the cake and the card we bought to our family friends on the second floor. On the next day, I got up early, just to find that my dad had already brought the cake but forgot the card. So I went down and took it, saying thank you to the uncle.

When my sister came out of her room, all fresh, she saw the cake on the table and was very surprised, smiling from ear to ear. We took photos and my mom cut the cake and asked my sister to give some pieces to the neighbours.

29^th was Nanda’s birthday.

June.

4^th June was Akshaya’s birthday, but I did not know at the time. It was Puzhu’s birthday on 2^nd June.

On 7^th June, my classmates and I celebrated Aish’s birthday. She was wearing a light yellow Salwar which she had bought from Jayalakshmi.

12^th June was Susan P Mathew’s birthday.

June 25^th was Susan’s sister’s birthday. On that day, she gave two chocolates on behalf of Elizabeth chechi’s birthday.

Then, what else? Oh yes, we had monthly tests as usual. Nothing interesting.

July.

People around school were talking about Students’ Day, and that students from 10^th and 12^th could audition. I had already decided that I would take Biology, if I did get selected.

Oh yeah, it was my friend’s birthday (he asked me not to mention his name) on 22^nd July and I wished him through a certain social networking site.

August.

I remember having our Onam exams during August, but not exactly sure when. 22^nd was Goutam’s birthday. I think I wished him on a certain social networking site. On 24^th, we celebrated Onam in school but it was also Shanuja’s birthday. I gave her a card. Some were wearing Pattu pavada, while others were wearing half-saris and salwars. There was an Athapookalam competition, in which we won first prize! Hooray! School closed that day.

September.

My month had arrived!! I’m guessing school reopened on 1^st, which was actually Vishnu’s birthday.

But on 3^rd, my mom’s best friend died of cancer. I was shocked. My dad was shocked. But my mom was the saddest. My dad and mom went to her house and sat there for hours, consoling the mother of the deceased.

2^nd was Gayathri’s birthday. And I forgot . . . again -_- .

At long last, 6^th came, and it was birthday!! There was an awesome chocolate cake but I forgot from where we bought it. I went to school in a violet-and-gold salwar which my mom bought from Pothys.

I forgot to tell you, but on 5^th, Susan gave me birthday gifts. Actually, 5^th is my birthday but I celebrate it on 6^th. She gave a shell which she had painted and on it, she wrote “BFFs forever”. I was touched. She also got me a compact mirror which she bought from Abu Dhabi and also a beautiful purse from Dianby.

I had also gone to Devi’s house with Susan to practice for our assembly on 17^th. I stayed there till 7pm. We practiced songs like “Tumhi Ho Bandhu” and “Pareshan”. But mostly, we had FUN!

8^th was Vaisakh’s birthday and 9^th was Indu’s birthday.

On 17^th, it was our class assembly!! Vaisakh and I were the anchors. I was also there for the western song. We finally settled with “One Love” by Blue. There was a dance, another song, news report, a skit. There was also something else which was called “Evolution of Malayalam Film Industry”. There were many acts, from Manichithrathazh to Thattathin Marayathu. Vishnu acted as Santosh Pandit and the audience roared with applause.

All in all, it was a fun day.

October.

11^th October was Pooja’s birthday. And I totally forgot again (what an idiot I am). I wished her on 12^th when I saw her in tuition. Apoorva’s birthday was on 24^th and I remember her wearing a blue churidar. This was also the month of SA1 board exams. When I got my results, it was better than I thought. I got 90.45% as my average.

November.

On 25^th, it was Suchi Didi’s engagement party in Chennai, but we could not go because there were no flights available. When I posted congratulations on a certain social networking site, she replied with, “The Shahid Kapoor of our family”. I had, once upon a time, told her to marry Shahid because he knew Hindi like her, he was somewhat the same age and he had a very charming smile (memories <3 o:p="o:p">

December.

1^st was Pettah’s birthday. I called her at 9am and wished her. She told that Meera, Anjali, Arundhathi, Susan, Vyshnav, Aarif and Gokul had called and wished her already.

We had our Christmas celebrations on 6^th and exams started on 10^th with Moral Science. It ended on 21^st, the day the world was supposedly going to end . . . but didn’t. I also wrote on Susan’s slam that day!! I decorated the hell out of it!!

Almost forgot! 12^th was Gouri’s birthday and 17^th was Mushthak’s birthday. He bought me two pieces of bubblegum.

We bought a Christmas cake on 26^th (I know it’s weird but dad only remembered to buy that day).

And now, TODAY, I’m writing this story-article-thing because I was getting very bored at home.

I promised Satya that I would call her on 31^st at 11.55pm and count down for the New Year.

And that’s it.

The Encounter

Seth Samuels was a member of ‘Explorer’, an adventure club in his school. They usually took trips to islands and trekked on mountains which were very steep and challenging to climb.

One day, his adventure teacher, Melvin Gibbs, told them that they would be going to Helmuth Island, an island very close to the coast of Florida. When Seth’s parents approved of his going to Helmuth Island, he was filled with joy and happiness. He was looking forward to go on adventurous trips and find out new things about the island. The first thing he did was to pack a bag with a few t-shirts and trousers, a camera, his compass, a book, in case he got bored, a bear spray, to frighten away any bears which he had got in a little stall near the amusement park, a pair of socks and a pair of sunglasses. He also filled a bottle with water and threw it in the bag with the other things.

On the day of the journey, he woke up early as the tour was supposed to begin at six-thirty sharp and quickly took all of his things, kissed his mother and father goodbye and got on the bus, which would take them to the harbour, where they would board a ship and be off to Helmuth Island. Their adventure teacher, Melvin, told them some ground rules, like no running off by themselves, don’t get lost and stick together. These were three different versions of sentences which practically meant the same thing. As the bus started, Seth got a seat near the window. Since his hobby was photography, he took out his mini-camera and took many pictures like a photo of two dogs fighting with each other on the pavement, a picture of the blue sky with very white clouds floating about, a picture of a tree with a squirrel, a bird and a chipmunk and a picture of a sign that said: “This sign has sharp edges”. Seth actually laughed at that one. When they reached the harbour, all of them descended the bus, Seth and Camille, his classmate, being the last ones out.

There, they boarded the ship named “Brine Bliss”.  Seth chuckled after reading the sign. All eleven, including Melvin, got on the ship. They were ready to go. Melvin, feeling the need to add, said, ‘Let her rip!’

During this small period of time, Seth took a picture of two dolphins and the name of the ship. After about thirty minutes, they reached Helmuth Island. Seth got down and surveyed the beautiful atoll. As it was dawn, the sky was a lustrous and phenomenal tint of scarlet with small beams of red and yellow when the sun rose like a helium balloon. He knew that all of the sunflowers of the world were opening like a newborn baby’s eyes. The sun was like an enormous, round, blazing ball of light as it floated through windows, waking up reluctant kids.

‘Hey, listen up!’ Melvin yelled to get everyone’s attention. ‘There are eleven of us, and so I’ll be splitting all of you into five groups of two and I’ll go with one group. Okay? So, Moose and Roderick, you are one team. Fiona and Fred, Gina and Nina, Seth and Ken, Seth and Camille, you are the groups. Now, I’ll be going with Fiona and Fred, okay? Now, all of you take different routes. I’ve made this a little interesting. I am going to give each of the groups a list of ten things which you will have to find or take a photograph of. You have to put the specimen in the bucket I give you. Does every one of you have cameras? Good. Also, I’ll give you a high-power whistle saw that you can call us when you get in trouble. The time is two hours. We’ll meet back on this same spot after the given time.  Come here. Take one bucket. Ready, steady, go!’

All of the children raced at high speed in different directions, Melvin trying to keep up with Fiona and Fred. After they got in the thickness of the trees, Camille and Seth started looking for a twig with a small branch on it. As they moved from place to place, they had got most of the things on the list. They just needed a picture of a cuckoo and a butterfly and they were good to go. As they were exploring the inner areas of the island, they saw a small cave tucked in a corner, among the trees and bushes.

‘Hey, look! A cave. Want to go in and investigate?’ Camille said, walking ahead of Seth.

‘Careful, Camille! Who knows what’s in there?’

‘Scared of a little adventure?’

‘Fine. I’ll accompany you. Come on, let’s go.’

Both of them entered the dark, eerie grotto very slowly. They proceeded in and in until they had almost reached the end. As they were about to turn around and go back, they felt something breathing very heavily. They turned back to the cave wall and, to their shock, they saw a huge black bear was standing there, eyeing them with his wide, beady eyes. Camille was about to scream but Seth nudged her so that she would shut herself up. He knew this because he had read a book on bears and how to get away if you ever met with one. The first thing was to never look at face-to-face. The second thing was to speak in a pleasant, soothing monotone to the bear. The third thing was to stand very still, to not make any sudden movements. Seth carefully put his bag down, opened the zip, which caused the bear to grunt but did not do anything and fished around for his bear spray. He got hold of it and rapidly sprayed it at the bear’s eyes. In the short period of time when the bear got blinded, Seth took Camille’s hand and fled out of the cave. They did not stop running until they had reached the spot where they started from. It was nearly the end of two hours and many of the groups came back. As soon as the teacher arrived, Seth and Camille went and told him everything.

‘Oh, my gosh! Are you both alright? Why did you not whistle? Are you bleeding? Do you need any band-aids?’ Melvin was very concerned and worried.

‘We’re fine! But it was so cool! This was an exploration we’ll never forget!’ Seth winked at Camille and grinned. Both of them laughed heartily. 

Bottle of Light

Mitzi Davis was sitting in her room, taking everything out of her cardboard box. She was moving from her old house in Darren Heights to Xenia Lane, a place “which is homelier with little kids playing around on the street”, as her mother put it. As she was sifting through different things like old school textbooks, baby pictures of her sister Myra and herself, postcards and letters from her friends, key chains, souvenirs from Malaysia and Greece which she got when she and her family went in the Christmas vacation two-three years back and a coin book where she kept all the coins she collected safe, she found a big, brown leather book with a lock. She quickly went through the box to find a key corresponding to the weird-looking look of the book. She finally got it out of the box and unlocked the book. The first thing that came out of it was a cloud of dust. She coughed and slowly turned the pages. She realized that it was her old diary that she had kept for a short period of time when she was twelve years old. Her father had compelled her to keep a diary so that, in the future, she could read it and go back to that time. Now, looking at it, she smiled, going through the pages. She got up with it and sat on her bed. She started reading one diary entry, which was written thirteen years back . . .

10 pm

6^th September 1998, Miami

Dear Diary,

I can’t believe that I’m still writing a diary. I thought I’ll quit in the second week, but this is my eighth week! It’s just unbelievable . . . anyway, don’t you want to hear what I did today or where I am?? I am in Miami!! It’s so exciting . . . a regular cowgirl from Texas in Miami! We are actually here because my dad wanted to come here for important business and thought he would take us too.

The first thing I wanted to do was to go shopping. So, when my dad went to his conference meeting, Myra, mom and I went to Serendipity Mall to shop, shop, and shop! We first went to ‘Chuck & Norris’ to get a baby outfit for Myra. It looked so cute. It was pink and blue in colour with big and small puffy clouds and cartoons imprinted on it. ‘It looks chic.’ I said to Myra, which made her smile with her tiny, glossy teeth. Then, we went to a store called ‘Elegance’ because my mom wanted a new office outfit which wasn’t too boring or too glamorous. After searching for almost an hour, my mom found the perfect thing. It was a white shirt, a velvet jacket and a black skirt that went up to her knees. It looked good on her. After that, we went too ‘Logo Zing’ to buy myself cool clothes. I got a dark blue shirt and a pair of pink corduroys that went great with my shirt. It wasn’t too pink, like a girly girl, or too punk, like a Goth. I was happy with what I picked out.

We got out of the mall and called a taxi. Next, we went to ‘Eats & Bits’, where all of us had Korean rice burgers. It was like a regular burger but with rice as the buns. It was actually pretty yummy. That took us about one hour! See how time flies when we are having fun? Next, we went to Miami Beach. It was an awesome experience, going to the beach and swimming and tasting salty water which accidentally gets in your mouth and sunbathing and whatnot! I was so very impressed by the radiant sunbeams which made the golden beach glisten that I took my empty water bottle and actually held it up so that it would get filled with the sunrays! Can you believe it? I really did that in public! But it wasn’t complete embarrassment as it was adorable seeing a small girl such as me hold out a bottle to fill it up with sunshine. Really, no one laughed!

So that was what I pretty much did today. I’ll write again tomorrow. But for now, sweet dreams!

Mitzi was grinning thoughtfully. Then, she quickly ran to the trash bin and took out an empty bottle. ‘Why did I throw you out?’ she asked herself and went over to her shelf, where she placed it proudly.