Janaki's Blog

Do you know that we are going to have a trip to Al- Hokair next week? We had gone there before 2 years back .Chandana and I can describe our experience so well and vividly you would think it happened only 2 years ago. Anne has gone to India this year and joined a school there. We miss her but we still stay in contact through Gmail and Whatsapp. On the previous trip to Al-Hokair, her hands were overflowing with all types of goodies. She had cotton candy, a few roses, some packets of chicken popcorn and a wonky hat and was juggling all of them. She left to buy more but not before she gave me and Chandana two packets of chicken popcorn to hold. She wanted to take everything back home. But me and Chandana really didn’t get the part of “holding”. So we said a ‘thanks’, and were wolfing down chicken popcorn while watching people scream on a scary ride called Can-Can. It whirls around really fast and the rider’s seats also go way back, so for some time you can see their feet. We wav

Our school, instead of usually taking us to theme parks or the rides at malls, has planned a 5-day trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.   We were all like “WHAT??!! NOOO!! AAWWW!!!”  Our class was in a state of depression, confusion and anger. This was because of three reasons- A) We did not want to go somewhere alone for 5 days, without our parents. B) We already knew what the answer would be when we would go home. “NO”. C) We had just missed a field trip and now we would have to wait till next year. My Grandpa told me, “You are not yet old enough to go to another country alone, but we can always go together as family.” After seeing the movie “The Conjuring”, I avoided doors, closets, taking long showers, staying somewhere alone for more than 30 seconds, thinking about the scariest parts of the movie and a lot more. But that was only for a few days, thankfully. I was already getting tired of my father doing “Boo!” to me and me screaming. I was describing th

We thought we saw her running into the bathroom with tear-filled eyes. That’s where Alaina, Linda and I went. When we entered we pounded on every stall, yelling “TERRIN! TERRIN!” Most of them were empty. In one of them, a girl who seem to be in third grade poked her head out and looked at us curiously. When we reach the last stall on the end, we banged on the door and said “Terrin, we know you’re in there. Come out.” A voice that sounded like Terrin’s replied. “There is no Terrin in here” Linda said “If you don’t come out, we will come in”. “I already told you, there is no Terrin in here.” I thought Linda was going to break down the door, but before she could, a girl, but not Terrin, looked at us and snapped “WHAT!?? We all screamed, Linda shouted a “Sorry!” and we ran out. I don’t think I’ve ever run this fast in my life. It was Maths class. I was the first to open the door and get in. I saw Terrin sitting there calmly and doing her sums. I wan

The music got faster. But the scene was very slow. Slowly, then slowly from inside the TV - AAAAARRRHHH! The people watching the movie- AAAAAAAAGH! My classmates and I were at Faiza’s home, where we were watching “ The Conjuring ”. Out of the 17 people in the class, there were 9 of us lying on the bed and holding each other’s hands and screaming occasionally. Our other classmates had not been able to come. Originally, the party timings were 5-7:30 but everyone stayed till 9:30. We phoned our parents telling them we would be late. In one of the last parts, where some people with cameras come to record the ghosts, Rakshanda said “O cute guy, your youth should be not wasted. Try not to die. Please save your awesomeness.” Fortunately for Rakshanda, he did not die. Chandana was squeezing my hand. Sauda was squeezing my other hand. This meant that both my hands were occupied. It also meant, both my hands were becoming sweaty. After we finished half of the mov

This week has been really busy! Most of Mom’s friends have come to Riyadh from India because now it is summer vacation in India. Mom is so excited, that once she starts talking she almost never stops unless she notices me and Dad are not listening. Added to this she talks and laughs really loud too. Me and Dad sympathize about our neighbors. Seema aunty, Daliya aunty, Liji aunty, Shijitha aunty – we met all of Mom’s friends in these two weeks.  Uncle Rainson’s parents are in Riyadh. We had a great evening when they came over. Narendra Modi has now become newly elected prime minister of India. It feels kind of weird because I can only remember Dr. Manmohan Singh’s name for all these years as Prime Minister but now since Prime Minister has changed, I feel everything changed. I went for cluster meet tryouts of badminton and I could not get even one shot! I was so embarrassed. Usually I can play really well. Dad wanted to lose the weight he had always dreamt of los

“Next, we will go to NEXT ”  Mom said, grinning. My father and I chuckled. We were having a long day of all types of shopping. Dress and grocery shopping took a lot of time always. My FA-1 had finally finished and after 7 days of exams, I was ready to sit back and enjoy the weekend. But my Mom had other plans. We had to complete a load of shopping which we did over the 2 days. So when I went to school on Sunday, my eyelids were feeling heavy and I was ready to use the table as a bed and my bag as a pillow. Nobody seemed well in my class. Rabia and Sauda had headaches, some people had cold, and others were ready to go to sleep. I was suffering from all the above. There had been a sandstorm on both days of weekend, and we all had been victims.  So, last week and this week had and will be a total drag, according to my calculations. To make things worse, a rumor had been spreading that the FA-2 exams would be starting early. I was like “Just great!” Sunday is not exact

I took a deep breath and entered my new class. All my classmates looked at me. ‘Hi!’ ‘Enjoyed vacations?’ ‘Congrats, you have been promoted to 8 th grade!’ I was so happy to see my friends again. 2 weeks break after 7 th grade final exams, it felt so good to see them all, everyone chatting loudly, joking and laughing. My best friend Chandana was sitting on my left and my other best friend Anne was on my right. The 3 of us could hardly wait to tell all that had happened during vacation. All words came spilling out. Our new class teacher, Maria ma’am, came in and announced ‘Hello class, I will be your new class teacher. I will teach you chemistry…..………….’ she went on, telling us the rules and everything. She had taught us chemistry in 6 th and 7 th grades too, so we know her really well. Yesterday, when I came home from school, my mom sad ‘I want to show you this news article’. Alas!  It said that Archie Andrews of Archie comics is being killed off! I s

Just yesterday we had our class party. Officially we have completed 7 th grade and on our way to 8 th . The results were distributed. You could judge everyone’s marks by their faces. Some were looking at the ceiling predicting their situation when they got home.  So to stop thinking about the sadness and suffering we were going to endure, we tried to focus on the food. But there were a few problems as well. When Anne opened the lids of the ice-cream cans, we found out that the ice-cream had nearly become soup. I was like “Uh-Oh”. But the taste remained so it was okay. On the other hand, Alaina had forgotten to bring the knife to cut the cake she had bought so she had to make do with a plastic spoon, which was not exactly the best option but we didn’t have any other choice. She had a hard time cutting the cake but it turned out all right at the end. Cutting the cake was as hard as cutting a tree. There were samosas, cookies, pedas, cake, ice-creams, marshmallows, cheetos, c

Terrin was flapping her hands like annoying birds were flying around her head.  “What’s wrong?” I asked. A lunch box was open. It was Nada’s lunchbox. Nadha was standing nearby, looking amused. Terrin finished eating and exhaled. Her breath smelled like uniyappam. “Gross!” I said, wrinkling my nose. “Is it just me or is your breath so strong I can smell uniyappams even while standing 5 feet away?” “So good! But I ate only one.” Terrin said. “Can’t you wait until it’s time for the party?” “It’s hard to resist” came the reply. Terrin, me, Anne and Chandana are best friends. We could hardly wait for the party which was during the 4 th period and recess. There were many sweets, veg and non-veg food. When it was the 4 th period, we all immediately started arranging the tables and chairs. We had planned to make it like a buffet, and girls would stand behind the tables serving the food. I and Anne waited at the door to greet the teachers. We all had divi

“Behave like humans” was the first instruction given to us by Sandhya ma’am as she laid out the rules before we went to Star City, an amusement park, next day. Sandhya ma’am gave us a small glare and continued. “You have to wear your uniform ...” Sandhya ma’am went on. After she explained the instructions she said ‘’Don’t go anywhere alone, always be with your partner. The shops in Star City will be open for you.” My partner was Chandana, and Anne’s partner was Terrin. We had decided to try and stay together, but in either case that was tough. Everyone was so excited today when we were going to Star City. I, Terrin and Anne sang the song we had made in class yesterday, with the lyrics as the blood circulation. It started like this- (Sung to the tune of the hit Malayalam song ‘Appangal Embaddam’) “Pulmonary vein Left auricle, left ventricle Aorta, arteries All the body parts except luuungs..” Everyone laughed. We looked out of the window as we reached

Last  Friday, Chandana, my best friend threw a party. I, Anne, Daniya and Alaina (she is one of our classmates) were invited. Daniya is leaving Riyadh and going to India on May 9 th . We were all glad to hear she would be coming because Daniya was one of our best friends and we all loved her a lot. She was really sweet and kind. We would miss her. Anne was not able to come because she had to go somewhere, but all others came. When I arrived, Dania was already there and she was outside with Chandana and her father, waiting for me. We all began to chat excitedly. Chandana lived in an STC compound and there is only one word to describe it. It was HUMONGOUS!! It was a pretty neat compound, with a clubhouse, swimming pool and 4 parks. There were many villas. Alaina arrived half- an- hour late. When she came, Dania whipped out her camera and told us to stand together so that she could take a photo. We made funny faces in front of the camera and Dania was laughing so

They say that time flies quickly, and I now reluctantly agree with them. I cannot believe that 2 weeks sped by so quickly! It seems like just yesterday I had finished my exams. Now there are only 4 more days as holidays, school is reopening on  Monday and is the beginning of 7 th grade too. My cousins are soooo lucky, they now have summer vacation for 2 months. Every morning Dad drops me at school and afternoon I come back by school van. Malaika, Marilyn, Faiz, Ravika, Abdul Aziz, and Nimisha are the kids in my van. Malaika is the eldest among us, she is going to be in 9 th grade now. One day Abdul Aziz (the youngest in our bus, he is going to begin the second grade), was babbling about how he went to the computer class, and when he came back to his class he found that somebody had stolen his pouch which had all his pencils and eraser in it, and how he was going to punch the face of the person who stole his pouch.  I tried to make him calm down. I whipped out m

Remember that in my last post I told you that my BFF Daniya invited me to her party? Here is how it went…… We were to have dinner at Daniya’s house. I was really excited when we reached their home. We had parked our car outside a restaurant near their home.  Daniya and Anne came soon and we walked to their flat together. Daniya had worn a white anarkali and Anne had put on white pants and a black top.  They said I looked very different in my latcha, open hair and lip gloss. Anne said she came 10 minutes earlier than the time we were supposed to reach there. Daniya said, ”She came so early I was just putting on my eye shadow and I still had not combed my hair”. “I hope she was not scared when she saw you” I joked.    Chandana arrived 10 minutes after me. This time, all 3 of us went to meet her. She refused to remove her abayya, for some reason she felt embarrassed. I think it is because she usually wears traditional clothes like a skirt or latcha, but this time she was wea