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.