SINGAPORE - DAY 1

THE DAY WE GO TO A DIFFERENT TIME ZONE 

My family and I recently went on a trip to Singapore and Malaysia. It all started on December 19, 2015. Our flight from Nedumbassery Airport was at 23.35. We called an Uber and that day was the worst in terms of traffic. After almost an hour of going through random places, we reached Hotel Marriott. This was where the travel agency had told all the families to meet. At 21.30, we entered the airport and went straight to the boarding pass counter. After getting all the necessary procedures done like security check and immigration clearance, we waited for our flight call.

Now, I'm not that good with flights. I thought I'd tell you straight away before all the gory details come. The air hostesses of Malindo Air were dressed so beautifully! I loved their outfit and when I complimented one air hostess, she was so happy. The flight was mostly uneventful. My parents slept while I watched Queen. Take-off and cruising were the easy parts for me. But the minute the pilot announced that we were descending, my tummy started doing flips and I felt like my head was going to break. There was a piercing, unpleasant pain in my forehead. This was not a surprise as it happened for every single flight! 

We landed at Kuala Lumpur Airport at 6.00 their time. We were pretty exhausted. We freshened up and again went through immigration clearance and security check as we had to catch a connection flight to Singapore from there. Let me just tell you, the airport was close to perfection. It was so huge and wonderfully maintained. The most appealing thing about airports is the fact that they provide free WiFi. But we didn't spend much time there as our next flight was at 7.15. 

I vomited while landing and my head was throbbing. I was sleep-deprived too. So you can imagine my irritation when they didn't let us go to the hotel and freshen up. Instead, we were taken on a city tour and to the famous Orchid Garden after lunch. Seeing the pretty orchids made me feel a bit better. 

The hotel we were staying in was called Chancellor @ Orchard. I loved the room but the only thing I didn't like about it was that they only provided 50 MB free WiFi per room. Imagine our annoyance. We couldn't even keep in touch with our family back home for the first three days of the trip because of the stupid WiFi problem. 

Anyway, in the evening, we were taken to The Gardens By The Bay. Since we went during Christmas week, every building was brightly lit and there were decorations all over the place. This garden is artificially created inside an enormous air-conditioned dome. There was also a man-made waterfall. At about this point, Appa made a comment on how many beautiful natural waterfalls we had back home. 

 We saw a beautiful light and music show there, after which we were taken for dinner. And that was the perfect end to an almost perfect day. The food was delicious. We got back to the hotel and had a soothing sleep. 

THE TIME I HAVE FUN AT LULU!!-DAY 1

Hey, everyone! You can see in the tittle, Day 1. Well, I’m a big YouTube addict. I absolutely love watching videos of YouTubers, especially their vlogs. Yes VLOGS! Vlogs are everyday videos that they take of themselves daily and tell the world how their day went. Well, since I look totally unflattering in videos, I thought I’ll blog about my days. It’s kind of like a personal diary, but with no details about my latest crushes, my enemies, my arguments etc. So let’s start.

Today, I had a pretty fun, busy day. I woke up at around 8.30. I did the usual stuff in the morning and had Idli-Sambar for breakfast. Yum! I had to go to college for a senate (a student body that represents the students of the college that mainly discusses the problems of the college) meeting today which was at 12.30. For that, I needed to get out at 11.10, and so I started getting ready at 10. I put on my uniform, applied my eyeliner, took a good look at the mirror for my own confidence and got out. I got in the bus, paid 13 bucks, texted Archana (my college friend who is also in the senate) the bus details so that she could get in from Kaloor and listened to songs on my iPod until then.

The senate meeting went okay, I guess. The seniors just discussed a lot of complaints about the college given by the students. That took about an hour. After, we go to the nearby bakery and just hang for a while.

Ashline, Archana, Ajith, Navaneeth (all of them are senate members) and I decide to go to Lulu just to eat food and chill. That was pretty awesome. I met the boys only today but they turned out to be so much fun!! We talked for a few hours, took embarrassing photos and just roamed around. It was a pretty fun day. I came home, went to the treadmill for a little bit, read Agatha Christie’s ‘Hercule Poirot’s Christmas’ (wow, too many apostrophes!!) and watched TV. Today is also the day I fell in love with Sam Smith’s ‘Writing’s On The Wall’. Oh my God, best song ever!!

Anyway, thank you for reading this. Hopefully, I continue doing this so that you can read about my day tomorrow. Until then, good night! (or good evening or good afternoon or good morning depending on where you’re from).

POEM BY A BORED TEENAGE GIRL

I sit in my room, feeling aloof

Thoughts swivelling in my mind

I look around and up at the roof

Wondering what to do with my time.

The clock is ticking faster and faster

I just sit idle and reflect

Should I engage in friendly banter?

Or just think and regret?

I have come a long away

And I know I have no shame

This is so silly of me

But who can I blame?

This is boredom, pure and simple

I know I have a life

If only I got a nickel

For every time I was in this plight.

This is me, signing off

I have nothing else to add

You might think I’m a bit odd

And to that, I say,’ That’s just sad.’

WHAT DO YOU DO AFTER FINISHING A BOOK?

So this is the dilemma I’m faced with right now. I just read one of the most interesting books, The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella, and it is absolutely a wonderful book. It’s funny, cute, romantic, serious and a page-turner. I finished within a couple of days from borrowing it from the library and now I’m thinking, ‘What do I do with my life?’, because that’s what all avid readers like me feel after reading a book. We just get so immersed in the story that we can’t think of anything else until we read the book completely. A good book is like a very addictive drug. Once you’re hooked, there’s no turning back.

I recall those times when I was young and I was reading the Harry Potter books. At that time, I was very scared I wouldn’t be able to finish reading them in the allotted time, so I borrowed one at a time. And after every book, I would rush to the library to get the next one. By the time I got to the last book, I was praying J K Rowling would write another one. But she didn’t. And I had to move on. Wow I’m making this sound like a relationship!

But honestly, a world without books is something I cannot imagine. So what DO you do after finishing a book? Get another one and start reading!! 

DAD

Let’s rewind 61 years and a few months to January 20, 1954. It was a momentous day since my grandmother was having her second baby – my father. Like all babies, my dad probably would have come out crying but since I wasn’t there (obviously), let’s skip all of that and come to the present day, 2015. My dad has grown, and over the years, he has attained so much in life. From a small boy playing cricket in the streets of Alleppey to the successful man that he is today, he truly has come a long way to get where he is now. This is not about my dad’s journey but more like anecdotes of his everyday life – some incidents of significance, other incidents of humour.

As I was growing up, my dad introduced me to books. And boy was I in love. He told me to start reading Enid Blyton. And my love for short stories and novels grew as my dad took me frequently to the library. I quickly grew out of Enid Blyton and started reading classics. I remember my dad telling me to keep a list of all the classics I read and to give it a score on a scale of 1 to 5. In the end, I read about 33 classics and my favourite was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Then he introduced me to Agatha Christie and the book he told me to read first was The Labours of Hercules. I still remember how fat the book was and thinking that I won’t be able to finish it. When I told my sister this, she said that dad had picked out that book for her to read first too. Some things never change.

I remember another incident when it was my sister’s birthday and she was gifted an iPod. I told my dad I wanted one but never thought it would actually happen. The next day, he bought me a purple-coloured Apple iPod. I was so surprised and just so happy. I hadn’t even meant it and before thinking it over, he went to the store and bought it. What can I say? He really is amazing.

Now my dad is a man who loves his poetry. When he was small, he used to buy poetry books with his pocket money. In one book, he had written “Poetry is life.” And in another one, “Poetry is distilled prose.” He used to come to my room and read poems to me. And by ‘read’, I mean recite it through memory and refer the book only when he forgets a word or two. Yes, he used to by-heart the poems. ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ is his favourite poem till date and it astounds me that even after 40 odd years, he still manages to remember the words, verse for verse. I sometimes can’t remember what I did the day before and here is my dad, reciting a poem he learnt when he was my age.  He also used to read a threnody written by PG Wodehouse, called ‘Darkling’. And the way he recited, it was hilarious. Words like ‘worms’ and ‘dyspepsia’ were said so comically that it resulted in incessant laughter.

The world’s best planner may be someone in the USA or Africa or China. But to me, it is my dad. He is so organised that he plans our holidays to the minute. He prints up an itinerary and writes down the approximate time of arrival and departure at every airport and every railway station. He also books tickets for most of his relatives and to make it easier, he has three calendars in his room, one showing the present month and the other two showing the successive ones. Some might think he is a bit queer but to that, pat comes the reply, “There is a method to my madness.” Yes, indeed, I would hope so.

So yes, this is how my dad operates. And even though there are a thousand other things about him which are unique, these are the incidents that came to me instantly. So if anyone asks me who the greatest man alive today is, I would say my dad, because he really is something. 

LIGHT CURES CANCER?!

This might be a very bizarre title but it’s true! A few cases have been mentioned where the person suffering from cancer gets cured if they are hit by lightning. Around thirty years ago, there was a farmer who had cancerous cells in his mouth and chin. He had been suffering from it for a long time and had finally agreed to do the procedure to get it removed. On the day before the procedure, he had gone out to the field when it was heavily raining and he got hit by lightning. In the events that followed, the doctors called it a miracle but for almost ten years, the farmer was cancer free. No one could explain it but marvel at the fact that the lightning had somehow made the cancer vanish. But unfortunately for him, after those ten years, the cancer came back which proved to be fatal. Although getting hit by lightning is not such a pleasant thing for anyone, its powers to rid people of cancer should be taken into consideration before ruling it out as something physically impossible to do. A lot of people suffer cancer and every time someone dies because of it, it’s all the more sad because it’s one of those diseases which does not have a simple cure. And even though chemotherapy is an option, it does not always work and the treatment is also exhausting. Lightning as a cure does seem pretty drastic but in a world where technology is soaring and people are coming up with new stuff every day, why is it hard to find out some way to create electrical charges that have the properties of a lightning beam?

New studies by renowned doctors have also shown that lightning bugs, or fireflies which is more commonly known, also have the ability to cure cancer. Miniscule amounts of radiation are emitted by lightning bugs every time they flash their hind quarters. Researchers from London inserted the firefly gene that activates the bioluminescent light into modified cancer cells hoping to set off a chain of events that has a proven track record of fighting the disease. This light source, known as Luciferin, caused the modified cancer cells to glow much like it does with the firefly. When a photosensitizing agent was added, the combination proved lethal for the cancer cells. This firefly technique may add a further layer of depth to photodynamic therapy, an effective treatment that uses bursts of light to attack tumours that sit near the skin’s surface or along the lining of the internal organs. The light triggers production of active oxygen species that can destroy cancer cells.

Light is such an important resource but who would have thought that it can cure one of the scariest diseases existing today? But the reason why chemotherapy is the main treatment option is that it is a cancer treatment which uses chemical substances which are readily available such as anti-cancer drugs which are part of the chemotherapy regimen. But although affordable enough, chemotherapy does have painful side effects like fatigue, headache, muscle pain, stomach pain, pain from nerve damage such as burning, numbness or shooting pains usually in the fingers and toes etc. it can also cause other severe problems like mouth and throat sores, constipation, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting and blood disorders. Because of all these reasons, it is high time that doctors and researchers started working on light and how it can be used in a patient having cancer as a cure. And if there is a definite science behind it, the chances of curing people are high and assuring them of lesser side effects.  

BIOLOGY NIGHTMARE

Why the hell am I made to write this crappy, idiotic, stupid paper in which I don’t know anything? Urghh…so damn frustrating. Why the heck did I come today? Oh yeah, to sign the hall ticket! That is such a pathetic, devious excuse to make us come to school today. I hate this so much. It’s like silent torture, not being able to even cry properly. Why is this happening? And how can they ask me to write what I know? I know nothing in Biology! It’s really not my subject at all.

I am angry, crying and mucous is all over my face. What the heck have I done to deserve this? I mean, if they correct this paper (which I’m sure they won’t), they’ll make me write a fourth model because of the stupid marks I get for this one. I was so damn happy sitting at home and studying all on my own and now, all of a sudden, I have to come to school?? It’s such a huge waste of time. Now, I just have Thursday, Friday and Saturday to study for the exam on Sunday (which I’m studying because I’m more scared of my sister than my teachers)…all thanks to this wonderful Biology exam.

Well guess what? I DON’T CARE! This is so damn annoying. I’m going mad on the inside, but on the outside, the teacher must be thinking I’m writing an essay…pfft little does she know that I’m writing all of this on this stupid question paper, which seems to be easy, but I know squat!

I’m running out of space to write and what am I going to do once this page is over? It’s just 9.45 now. Two more hours of pure torture to go! I’m going mad!! I’m seeing everyone ask for extra paper and I’m just sitting here thinking, ‘Am I the only one getting so exasperated? Everyone is writing so furiously.’

And now my eyes hurt and my head is paining. I feel so alone write now. Please save me, God! I just don’t know what to do at all! But I have to finish studying for entrance…I have to! My board marks don’t even count for most of the entrances I’m writing. This just sucks.

One and half hours to go and all I’m thinking about is how I’m going to sit the full time like this. I see other people sitting idle like me…maybe I’m not the only one.

You know how I’m going to take revenge? I won’t write the Physics exam! Mwahaha…that’ll show who they’re messing with. There’s absolutely nothing in my head right now…it’s literally blank…and I can feel my eyes almost close.

Dammit, get real Shreya! Man up! This exam is the most annoying exam ever! And now my nose is itching! Great! Fantastic! Best day ever!! (With sarcasm). I’ve resigned to feel absolutely nothing. My cheeks feel hollow and I’m exhausted. There’s one more hour to go and I’m accepting defeat. 

Life as a 11th Grader

I remember how hard I found it to study for 9^th and 10^th standards. Besides, 10^th standard was the time I had to write my boards. On the day the result came out, everybody was calling and congratulating me on how well I had performed. So it was decided that, with my marks, I would be taking BioMaths as my subject in 11^th. Needless to say, I miss childhood, when the only problems we had were choosing which crayon to use or deciding who would be the catcher in hide-and-seek.

Being in 11^th standard is very hard. Although there are only five subjects, the content is very vast. It is hard to grasp the concepts in certain areas. Since many students at this time go for entrance coaching, including me, tuitions have been put to a stop. It’s hard to manage time with school and entrance coaching, as it is. As I was constantly on Facebook and WhatsApp, I found that my attention was elsewhere and I wasn’t doing well in my entrance classes. Due to a guilty conscience, I deactivated my facebook account and also gave my cell phone to my mum, who gives it back to me by the end of the day.

I see a big difference now in my schedule. I am studying more and I even keep timetables to study. I just hope this routine continues and that I score good marks at my entrance coaching centre. 

A Wasp’s Revenge

One day, I saw a couple of wasps hovering near the window of my room. Not that I have some sort of enmity towards wasps, I always think that wasps are closely related to bees. So I went to check what was going on. I saw that they were flying toward the top right corner of the windowpane. I slightly moved my curtain, only to discover a wasp’s nest with a few more wasps hanging around. I was utterly shocked. I called my dad, who came with a stick and knocked out the nest. I was relieved, but the relief lasted only for a short time.

When I went to check after many days, I saw that they were attempting to make a nest all over again. I got very annoyed at the tiny creatures. I shouted for my dad. Instead of using the stick he had used before, he used one of my rulers this time.

That night, as I was trying to get some shut-eye, I felt a small, fuzzy thing near my left arm. I thought it was the bed sheet and I tried to move it away. When I tried to clasp it in my hand with my fingers, I realized it was a wasp because, a second later, I felt a sharp sting in my right hand. I kind of screamed and got up. It felt as if the deadly poison was injected into my arm and my whole right hand was swelling up. It burned and then it went numb. Getting alarmed, I went to the bathroom and quickly washed it. I was happy to note that blood was not oozing out. My whole hand was intact. But it did take some time for my hand to stop paining. After splashing some water, I massaged it again and again. Not knowing what else to do, I went to sleep.

The next day when I woke up, I was happy to note that my hand was back to normal. But my delight was short-lived because when I moved my curtain that day, I saw wasps building their nest in the same place yet again!

Neighbours

In my short span of life, I have seen more types of neighbours than you know. Unlike most people, I have shifted quite a lot. Unsurprisingly, my family and I have stayed in many places here and there in Kerala. From my experience, I can safely say that no two neighbours are alike. Let me tell you something about the different categories of next-door neighbours.

Firstly, there are the annoying neighbours. They are people who have nothing to do at home and instead talk about everything under the sun, ranging from the price of rice in the market to some personal complaint they want to lodge against the flat’s association. I am being very specific because this is what my mother has to tolerate from a very irritating neighbour practically every night when the supply of electricity goes off for a particular amount of time. Since my mother suffers from arthritis, I have to massage her legs and feet because my mother and my neighbour stand continuously for half an hour while they talk and it begins to hurt for her almost instantly.

Secondly, there are the polite, friendly neighbours. They are the ones who are well-mannered and sociable, but they also keep their distance as a sign that they don’t want to get involved in any deep friendship. They just ask, ‘How do you do?’ but don’t really care about anything else. They are good enough to spend a Friday night with but not close enough to spend all day Saturday with, if you get my gist.

Thirdly, there are the gossip-seeking neighbours. In every building and in every locality, there will always be gossip-mongers. They are usually the female homemakers who get so bored at home that they need personal secrets of others to keep themselves busy because they probably will spread it faster than how a cold spreads! It becomes really hard to talk to these people as they might spread every single detail that is told to them.

Fourthly, there are the silent neighbours. Like the three monkeys, they see no evil, they hear no evil and they speak no evil. By this, I mean that it seems as if they live under a rock, not knowing what is going on outside. They don’t know anything and they don’t want to know either.

Finally, there are the borrowing neighbours. They are the neighbours who pretend to be nice and responsive as long as they get what they want from others. Sometimes, things that are borrowed are not even returned!

As I told you before, this is just from experience. I am not an expert on the variety of neighbours but I certainly do know them quite well!

The Modern Muslim Wedding

In our pooja room, there would always be wedding invitations. Some might look good while some are just atrociously too much. On one particular day, I saw a wedding card which said “Sajina weds Shehin”. By the names, I understood that it was the marriage of our neighbour’s daughter’s wedding. I opened it and at the top, it was written “In the name of Allah, the most gracious and the most merciful”. After fully reading it, there was one word in it which I did not understand – nikkah. I asked my dad what it meant. He told me that it was the time of the actual marriage. I was fairly excited to be witnessing a Muslim wedding for the very first time in my life!
In a typical Brahmin wedding, there used to be 5-6 days of the function which has now reduced drastically to just 2 days. There would be lots of smoke and the vaadhyar chanting many prayers and Vedic mantras. But later, I learnt from my mum that a Muslim wedding was totally different.
As the D-day was approaching, my mum told me to wear the only salwar I had because she said we had to be “dressed” properly for these types of events. On the previous day of the marriage, we went to Style Plus, a fashion store, and bought a beautiful pair of diamond-shaped golden dangling earrings.
When the next day arrived, we were to depart at 11 o’clock with our neighbour. My mum wore a gorgeous bluish-greenish saree while I wore a violet churidar which had golden embroidery work near the neck line. After we were ready, the driver came and all of us, including our neighbour, Sandhya aunty, were on our way to Nalanchira, where the wedding hall was located. As our driver was not very familiar with the place, he took us to another hall called Sooryaprabha Convention Centre. Sandhya aunty told us that the place we were supposed to go to was a bit ahead of this particular hall. So, we embarked on a journey that took us to Mannanthala, Vattapara and Nedumangad. The driver began to worry because the address in the invitation was clearly in Nalanchira. Confirming his doubts, a pedestrian informed us that Kottackattu Convention Centre, where we were supposed to go, was opposite Navajeevan Bethany Vidyalaya, which we had already passed a while back. We drove back a long way, all the time listening to Sandhya aunty’s excuses.
Anyway, we reached the hall and were greeted by Latheefa aunty, the mother of the bride. We exchanged pleasantries and seated ourselves in the air-conditioned hall upstairs. The stage was wonderfully decorated and some songs were being played in the speakers. We sat there for a fair bit of time until the awaited moment finally came. The stage was filled in an instant by a large crowd of men, who I presumed were related to both the families. In the centre of the stage sat the groom, the father of the bride, the main Muslim priest and another priest of lesser importance. The father of the bride stood up and spoke through the microphone in Malayalam that this was the marriage of his daughter to Shehin, the groom. He told that all of us should pray for a happy marriage and that no one was supposed to leave until they all had lunch. Then, he sat down and the proceedings of the nikkah  began.
First, the main priest spoke about something in Arabic which he translated into Malayalam and told it again. He said that Islam is a very prosperous religion which gives the most freedom to all the women. Then, the assistant priest took the microphone in his hand. The father of the bride and groom held hands together and the assistant priest uttered some chants in Arabic and then in Malayalam which were to be repeated by the groom and the soon-to-be father-in-law of the groom. After they chanted everything, it was official that the marriage was over. Shehin and Sajina were married!
To keep up with the present time, the bride came out of the small back room and sat down near the groom on the stage. They exchanged garlands and the groom even tied the taali around her neck. This is commonly termed as taalikettu in Malayalam.
My mum and Sandhya aunty, including our other neighbours, and I went down to the canteen hall. We stood there, talking about the wedding and making other small talk, all the time waiting for the doors of the canteen hall to open. After some time of standing, they opened to doors and we were rushed in by the crowd. To our surprise, we saw that a beautiful saddhya was arranged to one side of the hall. We were expecting some fried rice and paneer mutter. We were totally surprised when we saw the banana leaves laden with all the usual curries and pappad. We had a hearty meal and a very memorable day.
Saying goodbye to Sandhya aunty, who was going home with her husband, my mum and I hopped in our car and drove away, all the time thinking about the Modern Muslim Wedding.

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.