The Chaos

As the bus sped along the road on it's way to the airplane, I smiled, remembering all the chaos at the airport before we finally managed to get onto the bus. My sister Aditi and I decided that we hated Delhi airports after this incident. Let me tell you how the we spent six hours at the Delhi airport, eating burgers from McDonnell's and laughing our heads of at the fight going on right in front of us...

We reached the airport at about five o'clock with five luggage bags, on our way back to Mumbai after our vacation in Delhi. We passed security and sat down while my sister was feasting on a muffin, my dad was sipping coffee and my mother and I were going through the books at a bookstore. Pretty soon we went and sat down somewhere else, waiting for someone to announce our flight number. Someone did announce our flight number 10 minutes later, saying that our flight was delayed. We let out a big sigh as my parents went to the airline manager to ask about the flight. They said that our flight was on time. We ran around as confusion swirled through our minds, asking various people what exactly happened to our flight. Then a voice boomed through the airport- "Flight 805 has been cancelled". We stared up at the loudspeaker, wishing it would just break apart, squishing that annoying voice. My parents went to the manager and screamed at him, along with another couple, trying to figure out what exactly happened. Then they went to a check-in counter, and we had to stand there a very long time, my sister and I bored to death. Finally my mom told us to sit down somewhere. So we went and sat down, taking out our books and reading. After about 45 minutes, my mom told us that we finally got another flight, and that we also got free burgers. So we went to McDonnell's and feasted on burgers, fries, and coke, which was something I didn't mind at all. For the next 2 and a half hours, we just sat there, trying to keep ourselves entertained. Then something really funny happened. A group of people started screaming. They had been for hours, in fact. They were a group of people whose flight to Bihar had been cancelled, and were shouting at the poor airplane manager, telling him that until their flight takes off, no other flight will. Their shouts kept changing- "BOMBAY, BOMBAY!" to "BIHAR ZINDABAD!". We were all laughing like crazy at them. We were about to give up hope about our flight taking off and prepared to stay in the airport forever, when, finally finally FINALLY, they announced our flight being ready to take off! We wanted to jump up and down! We ran and stood in the queue, with a broad smile spread on our faces. After all, staying in a noisy, dirty airport for more than six hours is not very amusing. We let out a sigh of relief as we stepped into the bus.

Big Pati

Big Pati. My great grandmother. She was so kind, that every minute with her made me feel happy. She was very old and frail, and even though I couldn't understand what she was saying because I didn't know Tamil, she always made me smile. Every time I met her, she smiled and said that she remembered me, when sometimes she didn't even remember her own granddaughter, my mother.

She hugged me when I sat next to her, asked me how I was even if she was too tired to speak. I love it the way her face wrinkles up when she smiles. Whenever I hold her shaky hands, I know she's trying to tell me something. She's 86 years old, and not afraid of anything. She got married when she was sixteen, had three daughters at the age of seventeen, and she educated all of them so well, that all three of them including my grandmother, went on to become great bankers. She was that brave. That's what I like best about her.

One day, when my grandparents came to visit us, something which I was dreading came along. We got a call saying that my Big Pati was ill. Her lungs and kidneys weren't working properly, and she had to be admitted in the hospital. I knew she was going to be okay soon, and I kept chanting Gods name. I had a dance performance that day, and after some of my dances were over, my mother came backstage and told me she was going to Chennai because my Big Pati wasn't doing to well. I just nodded my head not knowing what to say. After my dance program was over, we went home and ate lunch. My mother and my grandmother then left for the airport. That night I looked up at the stars and told God to make my Big Pati alright soon, and hoped he would listen to me. I called my mother after dinner, and my mother said that Big Pati couldn't recognize my grandmother or my mother. Then just before I was going to sleep, my grandmother called and said that Big Pati had passed away.

That night I wept, and blamed everything on God for not saving her and taking her away. It would be so different for me not to see her again. I've loved her all this time, and I want her to know that. I've never experienced anything like this in my life before, and I never wanted to. But at the same time, I'm really happy that she had such a long life filled with happiness and joy, and I hope it will be the same even though she's up there and I'm down here. I know that she's still holding my hand from heaven and smiling at me, telling me what to do.

The crows

I really didn't know how much crows can do. Actually, crows are just like us. I learnt this from two crows that live on a tree right outside my house...

These two crows didn't do anything except try to come into our house. They'd fly away with our clothes, they'd break the plant pots, and they'd basically irritate us. We always thought these crows were useless, when one day, we woke up to find a small nest built on the tree, with the mother crow sitting quietly on her three small eggs. We all smiled. We had never seen a sight like that before. The crow seemed to smile at us too, and we spent most of the day looking at them. The next day, we heard the quiet caws of three adorable baby crows. And the best thing was we even saw the mother crow feeding them. Every day we saw how much care she took of them, how she fed them, rubbed their necks, and looked at them with a twinkle in her eye. Even as they grew up day by day, she always took care of them the same way. They'd open their beaks and caw at the same time, always trying to get their mothers attention. And we enjoyed every minute of it. They were so cute together as a family, and they lived and took care of each other just as much we humans do. In fact, crows are so smart that these two crows knew that the rains were about to come, and laid their eggs at such a time that now the baby crows are almost ready to fly. And from that family, I got to know that crows and humans shouldn't be treated differently, and if you look at a crow from an angle, you won't be able to notice the difference between them and us.

My birthday

Birthday. The word I absolutely adore. The mouth watering chocolate cake, best friends, and the gifts- what more can you ask for? I take my birthday as a day where I don't have to worry about a thing, I can do whatever I want to do, and it's one day where I can just........enjoy like there's no tomorrow. Thats what I did this year too. I turned eleven this year, which I think is an age where you start doing things on your own, in other words, start growing up. So this year, I planned to have a party which I thought was more grown-up than balloons and disney characters, I don't think it will sound adult-ish to to you, but to me, it did. I wanted to have lunch with friends and then go out for a movie, ALONE. And unfortunately, the answer was no. So I ended up going for lunch and a movie, just as I had thought of, except this time I had to go with my mother. Which is no fun at all. What is the use of growing up if you need a parent to supervise you? On the day of my party, I picked up my friends and went to a restaurant. Shrek, the movie we saw, was very funny and I hope to see it again. The food we ate at Spaghetti kitchen was delicious, and me and my friends had a blast. My party went just the way I wanted it to go, and the best thing is, i did feel grown up. And mama just made it better. Even my sister couldn't go anywhere alone till she was in the 9th grade, and I'm only in the sixth. If mama wasn't there that day, I really wouldn't have managed alone. I didn't know how to get the tickets, pay the bills find the seats on my own. She was there for me, and I loved that. She didn't stop me from from felling grown-up, she helped me to. Both my parents did. And thats what made that day the best day ever.

Yosemite

Have you ever seen four eye-popping-out-of-your-sockets waterfalls in one day? I have. Yosemite is the most prettiest place to visit- especially the waterfalls. I could have stayed there all week just to click pictures of the high mountains, the brown squirrels, the beautiful waterfalls. Hiking up the steep hill to the waterfall was the most tiring thing I've done, but it was all worth it. If you stood at the right place- just between the sunlight and the cool sprays of the waterfall, a small rainbow appears on the ground. I've rarely seen rainbows, so this was one amazing sight for me. the four waterfalls in Yosemite are the Silver streak, Bridal vail, Horse tail, and the most beautiful- the Yosemite Falls. I f you ever see it up close you'll know how it looks. I've told you enough about the happy things, but there was one thing I dreaded to see- bears. Well, I wasn't that scared of bears first, because I've never seen one, but in Yosemite, you could be killed! Well, thats only if you stand between the bear and the food. But still, it scared us all. We hadn't seen any in the night (thankfully!), but when we went hiking, we saw...gulp...not one, but two! AND WHEN THEY SAW US.............nothing to be scared, they didn't see us, they just ate grass throughout. I am amazed at how fat they are, but no wonder, they eat so much. One of the bears we saw was apparently eating for FIVE HOURS! That to grass! Even cows can't eat that much. Actually, maybe they do...........lets not get to cow business now. So from that day on, I've learnt three things- one- never get food in your backpack while going hiking, two- always carry a stick with you just incase you encounter a bear, and three- there's no need to be as afraid of bears than you are of tigers.

The Invaders

Today, I got a phone call from an alien! Seriously, I did! Here's how it went:

I was sitting in my room reading a book, when the phone rang. I went to pick it up. "Hello?" I said. "Hello." said a squeaky voice. "Fahgnsshgmdhghgjdgfjdfgdjfhgsjhfgjs" the voice said. Now of course, I couldn't understand a thing it said. "What?" I said, confused. "Oops, sorry. I forgot you living creatures on planet earth do not know our lovely language." said the same voice. " Your house is just being invaded by us aliens." I quickly put down the phone, thinking it was a prank call. I went to the balcony and looked out, just to be sure. And sure enough, my house was being invaded by aliens! There was a huge.........machine, like a spaceship, a car, and a helicopter mixed together. Out of that came three creatures, the size of a squirrel, with a purple face, a green body, pink eyes and a yellow tongue. One of them, looked at me and said, "Ghdgfmncgfmhcgvhcgvchvgcmgv" I stared at him thinking, "Somebody pinch me, and fast before one of them eats me up." "He means that he won't hurt you but he's very hungry." the other said. "We are aliens from pluto." he continued. "We have come here for a holiday, but we don't know where to go. Your planet is very large. We were flying around trying to find a place to stop when I saw your extremely colorful house, so we came here." I looked up at my peach-colored house. 'From what angle does it look colorful?' I thought. Then I looked back at the aliens, and without thinking, said "Come in." I led them into my room and went to the kitchen. 'Lets see.......' I thought. 'What do aliens eat?' I opened the fridge and took out an apple. I put it on a plate and gave it to them. "Ooohh...this looks very yummy!" squeaky- voice said. He took the plate, threw the apple out of the window, broke the plate into three piece and gave a piece to each of them. Then they ate it in one big gulp! "Do you have more of these?" he said again. I gulped nervously, nodded my head and went back into the kitchen. In two minutes they had eaten ten of my mothers best china plates. 'I am in big trouble' I thought. "Thank you" the alien said. "By the way, my name is Gfkfhkdjhf, and my to brothers' names are Dhgdjhfhgf and Jfjfhdjhf." "Okay..." I said. "Can I just call you alien one, alien two and alien three?" "Yes you may." said alien one. Then they looked at my cupboard and said "What is that giant box you have there?" "It's just my cupboard." I said. I opened it for them to see. "It is very interesting." alien three said. "Thank you......." I said. They spent some time looking at everything, and complimented on every one of them. They were very kind to me, and gave me a piece of pluto and a picture of their house. We played together, and had a good time. After a while, alien two said, "We better leave now, it's getting late." "No, please don't leave so soon" I pleaded. "We have to go, but we promise we'll come again to visit. Thank you for everything. You are a very nice person." He smiled. "Good bye!" they said. I waved to them as they zoomed off in their spaceship- car- helicopter thingie. Then I looked at the piece of pluto and smiled. I had just had the adventure of my life.

The Star!

The audience roared, the judges clapped,

The last row screamed, the front row snapped.

I came in blowing kisses in the air,

My fans were all around me, everywhere.

I grabbed the mike, grabbed the guitar,

Grabbed the piano, grabbed the sitar.

And I started playing all of them at one time!

I played and played till the clock struck nine.

I bowed and went of the stage,

And the next morning in the newspapers I was on the front page!

I love the paparazzi, went to sign autographs,

Hugged little kids, clicked photographs!

And then,

My alarm clock rang..........

-Anoushka Agrawal

Wanna Grow Up?

Don't you want to grow up soon? You'll finally get to go out alone, get your parents to increase your allowance, get to catch buses alone, get a new phone, get to go in airplanes alone, etc, etc, etc. You'll get your own car, perhaps a rolce royce, get your own house, perhaps a mansion. Get whatever antique furniture you want, have the whole house to yourself, let alone only one room! Paint your house whatever colour you want it to be. Have parties day and night, have your own indoor swimming pool, be best friend with stars, play tennis with Venus Williams, play football with Ronaldo, swim with Micheal Phelps. Sing with Madonna, dance with Justin Timberlake, do anything you wish. SPEND LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW! Hey............wait a minute..........if you keep spending, then you'll have no money left and then you won't be able to drive your favourite cars, make friends with stars, swim..........and.....and............won't be able to do anything...........shudder....gulp.........sob!!! On a second thought...........lets just remain small...what do you think?

Back to the history of vegetables

"And so, the revolt of 1857 lead to........." bla bla bla. As if I want to know. I mean, who would want to know all that boring stuff? The only good thing about history is that it can put you to sleep when you stayed up the night before. I can't wait till the bell rings for snack break. I wonder what I got to eat. Maybe cookies...or chocolate (yum!).....or...um...I know! Doughnut! Mmmm....the thought of it makes my mouth water. Whew! There goes the bell! Now lets see what I got! Well...what do you know, I got salad. Yum yum....I love salad as much as I love history. Why does it always have to be something I hate? Sometimes I think during that revolt thingie in 1857, (I was actually listening!) vegetables existed. If those revolt people were free of vegetables at that time, then I don't mind at all to study history all day....or even become a freedom fighter who believes in non- violence, just to get away from disgusting vegetables. I can almost imagine myself as a freedom fighter, fighting for children who have to suffer from eating vegetables. Oh yeah, in my dreams. Even a gigantic monster with 12 legs and 6 eyes and 53 legs can't stop us from eating vegetables. Let me forget about that for some time......I'm really hungry......I suppose I could maybe just taste it? Lick. Swallow. Gulp. Buuuuurrrrrppppp! Whoa! that salad was amazing! Maybe I should go over what I said about vegetables being disgusting.........

Craving for bananas

"Aaaahhhhhh" -Madhu sighed. A break, (at last) after a week full of hard work called going-to-school. It's really hard (or booorrriinng!) just studying, going to sleep while teachers talk about world war two and and the revolution, bla,bla,bla. Madhu just finished bathing in river Ganga and now she was going to do her favourite thing-sleep! She sat under the mango tree, hung her clothes for drying on the same tree, and nodded off to sleep. Now, my friend Madhu didn't realize that there were the city's most naughtiest monkeys up on that tree. They glanced at her clothes, grinned an evil grin, at started tearing them! And, quite surprisingly, these monkeys were good tailors! Now I bet you can get the rest- one of them made a hat out of her new skirt, one of them made a coat out of her scarf, one of them made a pair of pants out of her t-shirt, and the other made a pair of stockings from her school tie. And they actually wore all of them, showing off to all the other monkeys that they have clothes! Coming back to Madhu- she isn't a very deep sleeper, so she woke up. As soon as she the monkeys with her shredded clothes, you could see her blue eyes turning red! "You nauthy monkis!"- she shouted. She couldn't speak very good English, as you can see. "GIVE MEE BATH MY'S CLOTHS!!!" -she kept shouting, as if they could understand. Then she saw a banana tree, and smiled slyly. Everyone new what she was thinking as she tiptoed to it and plucked some of them. "You monkis like bananans, rite!", and she threw the bananas at them. They stopped dancing, and licking their lips, threw down the clothes and ran to the bananas. Madhu stuck her tongue out to them, grunted, and went of with her clothes.
(P.S.-I did not teach Madhu English!)
-You know hoo!

I'm rich!

Today I woke up laughing in my bed. You can't guess what I dreamt last night. Let me say it loud and clear- that I WON THE LOTTERY! Yup, I really, really did! Well......in my dream, you know. It was the best dream I ever had ever since I was born....that was like....uh....ten years ago. I was richer than Oprah.....no, Bill Gates.....yeah, Bill Gates. I was living in a mansion big enough for exactly hundred and one giant elephants (actually, a hundred, but the one is for good luck....like how you put one extra candle on your birthday cake for good luck). I had.....wait, let me count....one Rolce Royce, three Mercs, two Ferraris, and four convertables! I bought a big bunglow for mom and dad (with a treasure chest full of million-dollar notes free). I bought ten I-phones, two for my grandparents, two for my other grandparents, two for me, two for my sister Aditi, and two for my parents. Then...what else did I get...let me think.....yeah!- An electric guitar (for me), A bunch of new toys for all my baby cousins, a Mac airbook (for me), and some other cool stuff for all my aunts and uncles, and plenty of other expensive things (for me!). And wait till you hear this- even after spending soooo much, I still had plenty of money left! Ha! I am really rich!

And, unfortunately, (sob), this was the end (still sobbing), of my rich dream (now I'm bawling!).

-Okay, I think I should stop writing my name now.

Applause needed at the end!

'Anoushka Agrawal, Stanford University' -is the sign I've always wanted to read. Yup, I want to become a doctor alright. I've already thought about what I'm going to say when I'm a topper in that school (hopefully), and when I walk into my old school, Bombay Scottish, to show off. Nope, not the girly speeches with lots of 'oh thank you's and 'I would like to thank's '. Listen to this-

Sup folks! How's everythin' going? I want to say a big hi to all my teacher's, and a 'ha-ha' to some of them who thought I couldn't make it to Stanford. Yup, I really made it. (I just 'ha-ha'd' some of them again). Anyway, because of my good memory, I still remember this school and came in to say hi (okay.....I think I should stop saying hi now). I still didn't forget the classrooms with the amazing veiw of the sea-link and the extra-cool inter-write boards. I also remember the computer rooms and the staff rooms loaded with teachers (shiver). And the bathrooms and the classrooms and the blackboard and the chalk and the duster and the assembly halls and the field and the the principals office (shiver again) and....well...basically, the whole school. And some other details which would take forever to say. Sooo......I had a good time speaking to all of you (I think so) and will catch up with you people later ( I think so again) soon.

THE END.( don't forget the applause!)

-me