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Showing posts with the label friends

Social media days

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“I just got added to a WhatsApp group,” Dad said during our video chat, “that has all my classmates from tenth grade.” Said group was blowing up with hundreds of messages and Dad spent hours on it, trying to identify the faces of the members. But attempting something like that thirty five years after he’d last seen them was challenging. Still, the fact that he’s not very great at identifying faces in general can’t be overlooked. But his experience still highlighted a major difference between the generations we belonged in. I haven’t been in his shoes yet because of one major factor- social media. When I joined Instagram in 2017, it was purely to reconnect with ex-classmates from school. My friends who were already on the app told me all about how easy it was to stay in touch and it piqued my interest.  Instagram opened a whole world for me. I got to text people I hadn’t seen in ten years. It led to new experiences and reviving old connections.  For Dad, the Wh

A new normal

So now online classes have been eating up a lot of my time, but I am well aware of the fact that the number of posts I upload every year has dwindled. This blog was one of my biggest priorities when I first started it. But life and its exams took over and now the green display behind my posts looks like it has more weeds than grass. Yet, I find myself reaching back and digging deep, sifting through older memories and finding bits of myself abandoned and forgotten. Every time I read back, and land in Christmas of 2010, or the Bahrain trip of 2013, I’m reminded of the tiny details I had otherwise forgotten.  So it’s important to me that I document this period of my life, just like I’ve done for every other important event. Lockdown is currently ending on May 17th, and the future remains uncertain. We don’t know when we’ll return to college or write our exams. The number of cases in India are on the rise, but Kerala has managed to demolish the curve skillfully.  Catching up with the news,

Thank you, Chetta

“Pass it through the window.” Lina’s outstretched hand was trying to grab the pencil pouch bag Akshara was extending to her. Our classroom was visible through the window on the wall perpendicular to the balcony we were standing upon. If you reached out, you could just barely high-five someone in class. But right now, we were on a different mission. Lina grabbed the pouch, but it was only when its contents fell out that that we realized it hadn’t been zipped close. We screamed for no reason from the first floor, watching the pens that had fallen out bounce onto the ground.  Eva’s face was the physical definition of oh no, especially since it had been her bag passed through the window. It was safe, but half empty.  “I can’t find my ID!” Eva rummaged through it, and came up empty-handed. She took off back to class to check if she’d left her ID there. The rest of us peered down below, and watched a couple of boys walk briskly into the building. We hissed to get their a

Captain Security

“Take me to my class, “ said the third grader, tugging Alaina’s arm. “I don’t feel safe here.”  “But why?” asked Alaina, hastily pulling away and staring at her. Sauda watched the situation in amusement. “Because you’re the Captain Security of the school,“ the little girl said impatiently, “and I’m scared to go to my class alone. I want you to come with me.” She tried to yank Alaina with her, but Alaina resisted and just stared at her, flabbergasted. “I’m not Captain Security! I’m Cultural Secretary!” She pointed at her badge, with the words ‘Cultural Sec.’ on it. “Besides, what’s there to be scared of?” Alaina recounted the incident in class, breathless from laughter (“She really thought I was supposed to protect the school!”) with Sauda occasionally chiming in.  Several classmates of ours are school cabinet members (like Head Girl, Prefect, House captains etc) and the encounters they had with the juniors ranged from embarrassing to downright hilarious. “They’re

Matriarchy, the Virtual Reality

“Look at them.” Vaishnavi scowled at some little kids running nearby, with their laughs ringing through the atmosphere. “All so happy and cheerful; they’ll be suffering like us when they grow older and have a heap of work piled on them.” That’s the same reaction I had when I heard one of Mom’s friend’s daughter had just started going to school. I had said “Oh, poor thing.” Now in eleventh grade, I can hardly believe that only twelfth is left. Somehow, it feels like the years just flew by. These last few weeks have been busy. Chandana, Nanditha and I met up at Pizza Hut for dinner together during the first week of school, and recently, I got a Daydream VR headset. Dad received a Google Pixel as a gift, and when we found out it had this feature called Daydream VR on it, we were obsessed. Mom and I were in India at that time, and I thought Dad had received the headset along with the phone, but apparently, it was something to be bought separately. Kunjunni was pretty thri

Global Public School | Diwali Stalls

Diwali was coming up, and everyone at GPS was excited because the school had allowed its students to open food stalls to honour the occasion. Each team setting up a food stall needed at least five members. My friends and I weren’t really interested because then we wouldn’t be able to focus on the real issue- eating. On the grand day, we watched as the group of boys from our class brought in their stuff. They took up a lot of space because the container in which they brought cold drinks were huge. Plus, they brought a large tub of ice-cream, bottles of some sort of blue syrup, cupcakes and a whole lot of other things. It was amusing to see them stagger down the stairs. But the joke was on us later, because they got to miss the first few periods to set up their stalls. They grinned at everyone stuck in class before scampering away. The groups were allowed to advertise what they would be selling, which meant the prefects took it as a perfect opportunity while herding us like sh

Global Public School | Class Photo 2016-17

At GPS, one of the many memorable moments happened on the day the class photo was to be taken. We were all required to be in our formal uniforms, brush our hair, shine our shoes, wear our ID cards and in other words, look as presentable as possible on the specified day. Us girls managed to clean ourselves up quite nicely. But to say the same about the boys would be very, very wrong. We could see the smoke coming out of our class teacher’s ears as she frantically flapped her arms in order to get the point across. “Rohit, you caveman, get a comb, right now! And you, where’s your ID card? And why do YOU still look asleep?” Questions were shot at each boy rapidly as they made a mad dash to the restrooms. When they finally got back, patting their hair down, they each got a death glare before we were herded downstairs. While we were waiting, we got the news that the photo was candid, meaning, the photo was going to be in contrast to regular class photos where we were m

One year at GPS

Well, folks! I’m back in Riyadh! Tenth grade flew by very fast. I can hardly believe that another year is over. I just have two more years of school left. The one year I spent at Global Public School was fantastic. It was a complete change, which was something I hadn’t got a taste of in a long time. I made a lot of new friends, and went through new experiences. Initially, I was plenty nervous about the idea. It was one thing to change school in the same country, so moving to a new school in another country was, well, nerve-racking. Never mind the fact that I went to India for at least a vacation of two months every year; the only year I had actually studied there was second grade. The day before the beginning of the academic year, students were required to come to the school auditorium with their family, where there would be a welcoming session, and then proceed to their classrooms where instructions on dress code, behaviour and other concerns would be given. My grandp

You don't miss the school, do you?

I wish to convey this simple message to all parents- when your child says ‘I miss school’, he/she means that they miss their friends, the regular fun and their favorite teachers. Not the school. Because eventually, this simple line can backfire, when your parents make the mistake of thinking you miss the studies, the waking up early in the morning and the exams. News Flash: ‘ The Conjuring- Part 2 ’ releases on June 10 th ! I nearly fainted when I saw the news yesterday. I rather go bungee jumping, or parachute diving, or surfing with sharks, if it means I can stay out of the way of all creepy things possible. Of course, I applaud Valyamma and Valyachan for their bravery, for they saw ‘The Conjuring’, at the  theater , in 3D. If it had been me, eventually I would have been found lying on the ground yelling “MAKE IT GO AWAY! MAKE IT GO AWAY!” ­ Actually, since it being so scary, no one below the age of eighteen was allowed to watch the movie at the  theater . I find i

Summer of 2015

Phew! So the FA-2 exams are finally over! The last exam was yesterday. Now, its officially time for summer vacation. Mom and I are going to India tonight and Dad’s coming later. Last week was really hectic so I’m looking forward towards the vacation. Kunjunni has already taken leave from school so that he can greet us at the airport. Kunjichechi’s first year at college starts in August, and since she was not able to spend much time with us last year due to studies, this time she plans to  be at our home 24/7. My grandparents are eagerly waiting for us as well. So it’s clear everyone is excited. We’ll reach tomorrow morning at 9. That’s always what I like; reaching India in the morning. You can start off with the new day instead of the time when you reach there at night, and everyone nags you to go to bed even though you are not sleepy and want to do something else.  Nanditha’s plane was today too, only hers was at noon and mine’s late night. Her flight had got postponed an

New year, new friends ...

Hi everyone! School reopened on the first of April after 2 weeks of fun-filled holidays. Now it’s back to school. My classmates and I are now officially in 9 th grade! Both the ninth grade girl’s sections have been combined to form one section, 9B. So in the morning, when I reached class, I found everyone sitting separately; former 9D (my classmates) in a row, the other girls in another row. So our now-class teacher, Namrata Ma’am said that she will have to shuffle us in order to make us ‘mingle’. Namrata ma’am is pretty and fun, and she taught us social studies last year, so we already know her well. We did not receive our books on the first day. The day of receiving books is always torture.   It involves carrying a set of heavy books in your bag, and another 2 books in your hands(for the fear that the school bag will tear open), and walking down 2 floors of stairs to the ground floor, and trying to find your bus in the sizzling heat. After that, at home Moms are

Weekend party at Rabia's home

Last night was a night of fun. Rabia held a party at her home and about 8 of us were able to attend.  Technically, Rabia’s mom is our biology teacher, Ayesha ma’am. And since whenever we go to parties we always say ‘aunty’, it was kind of confusing. Rakshanda suggested ‘Manty’ (Ma’am+Aunty) but that wasn’t going to fly. We had soup as a starter, pizza as dinner and Baskin-Robbins as dessert. When it comes to ice-cream, BR rules. We joked around for a while, listening to music and texting the others who hadn’t been able to come by trying to make them feel guilty for not coming. It wasn’t hard. Time seemed to fly by. Chandana and I had to leave at 9:30 and we couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw the clock. We requested our parents to come at 10:00 instead. Dad sounded grumpy but was fine with it. Overall, we had a lot of fun, and it was nice to spend some time together. Especially, since we still had more than a week of holidays left and a lot more fun to look

Goodbye, Grade VIII

Since the term-ending exams are over, its goodbye grade 8, and he-llo grade 9! We had a class party and we got all our marks today. Now, it’s 2 weeks of undisturbed holidays. The class party was awesome and we feasted on cupcakes, pizza, donuts, pakodas, garlic bread, noodles, chicken sandwiches, kheer and cinnamon rolls. Rakshanda shook the Pepsi bottle, and when she removed the cap, she got sprayed. This morning, when I was on the stairs, I met our library teacher, Yamuna ma’am. She asked me to meet her in the library after a few minutes. When I did she handed me something in gift wrapping. On opening it in class, we found that it was a really pretty purse. I had donated 100+ books to the library this year. We all felt that 8 th grade had gone way too quickly, but it was also one of our best school years. It was hard to believe one full year had gone by. Now again, new teachers, new books, new friends. Especially when we heard the fact that there would not be a 9-D,

2 Pizza Parties

The First Pizza Party (FPP)- Status - Feeling frenzy, feeding frenzy Host/Hostess - My good friend, Linda Message for Linda - My dear friend……..I just wanted to tell you that, *feeling emotional* you threw a party that mainly consisted of my favorite food, pizza, *sob* and I am so sorry. I was the culprit. I ate 3 slices of the pepperoni pizza that there was barely any left. I am so sorry! Linda threw a pizza party at Pizza Hut. She was working hard to get everyone what they wanted and for that I just love her. It was an open table, so 12 of us were chatting so loudly and so much that the manager had to shush us once. Twice. Thrice. Then through gritted teeth, he kicked us out of the dining area after we were done and told us to ‘sit quietly’ in the waiting area. But luckily that was AFTER we took tons of pictures on our phones, went to the bathroom to take selfies, ate too much, sat in the next empty booth and took a new round of selfies, and drove the other custo

The awesome party at Chandana's home

Last night was an awesome, awesome night. Chandana held a party at her home again, and this time out of the 16 girls of 8-D, 12 people showed up, including me. Chandana lives in a huge compound that has a clubhouse, restaurant, shop and playgrounds filled with swings and slides at every corner. It’s practically a gateway to heaven. After everyone came, we had some starters, which were chocolate chip cookies, tuna sandwiches, laddoos, chicken puffs, fish pakodas and soup, all home-made by Chandu’s mom and totally delicious. When we reached the first playground during our tour of the compound, everyone took off like miniatures of Usain Bolt for the swings. People who snagged them first swung for some time. Then someone would jump on quickly after them. I swung a couple of times, and then got off when some younger children were looking at us. I felt pretty ridiculous. But hey, who can resist swings? The tour of the compound took a little more than an hour with quic

Black Friday

Sunday my FA-3 is starting. I’m just praying it gets over soon. After that we have our winter vacation for which I will be spending my time doing “Aaaaaaagh………” and relaxing. Now that I have finished ‘Blood of Olympus’ too, I think it’s a bit sad that Leo’s friends never really found out he was alive. Apparently today is “ Black Friday ”. If you stand outside a shop in the US, you will probably get trampled. Last evening at badminton class, our teacher made me and Raksha as team captains. One thing you should take care of- always try to win. Otherwise all the blame goes to you. But we were able to win 2 games out of 3. Once, Anne was a captain at school in our group for a project, There were an overall of 4 team captains in the class. Anne had me and Chandana too in her team. We weren’t really worried because we had all this right in the bag, but Anne was a bit nervous when it was time for submission. We didn’t make her feel better when we asked our teacher if Anne

Hello again, AlHokair Land!

Chandana and Nanditha screamed as their ride turned them upside down and continued to whirl. I watched them on it along with some of our other classmates, feeling amused. Chandana had asked me to come on it. I had said ‘no way’ after watching it turn the riders upside down, sideways and still continue whirling. I knew I would puke if I went on it. Chandana looked just terrified, and she was holding her restraint really tightly, and Nanditha was no more different. After they got out, they looked like they had been in a mini- tornado that had thrown them off later. Chandana’s hair was looking like she had an electric shock. Nanditha was hugging her stomach.  Terrin nearly fell on me. Nanditha told me later while we were at the end of the long queue for the boat ride “You can’t be scared of every ride. You could have come with us.” I remembered their frightened expressions and laughed “Yeah, you guys had a lot of fun on that last ride, right?”   We then went on Hollywood

The long haul and lollipop

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I am just so happy today!!!! We went to Jarir bookstore and bought two of some of my top favorite books. - Diary of a Wimpy Kid- The Long Haul - The Blood of Olympus I finished "The Long Haul" and it was really funny. I just want to say that Greg and his family should avoid road trips. I have never heard of such a complicated trip. When Nida was reading "House of Hades", she did not want anyone to ruin the story for her. She probably should not have said that, 'cause that just made everyone tells her the plot while she plugged her fingers inside her ears. The conversation went something like this: Manasy:      See, at the end, Percy and Annabeth are… Nida:          Stop it! Me:             They get… Nida:           I hate you! It was the same for Manasy while reading "Allegiant". Me:              Something really big happens at the end. Manasy:       I don't want to hear about it! Rakshanda:  Tris dies.