Janaki's Blog

School reopened, but we didn’t learn anything, so it was total free time. Eeshta gave me a friendship band because during the holidays she thought of me, me, me … Many of my classmates are still in India, out of 20 only 13 are present. My parents made some cabbage soup because I have got a nasty cold and I can’t stand it. I have to blow my nose 50 times a day.. hacheeeeee.. hacheeee.. I got a holiday Wednesday because of Saudi National Day. Well that’s a relief. I can get rid of my cold, thanks to Saudi National Day! One night my friend Malu came to visit me with her baby sister Devu. We wanted to play badminton but some adults were playing, so we just watched them. I kept my badminton racket and shuttlecock on a bench in the ground. Soon my friends wanted to go back to my home, but I forgot about the rackets! We went home, played few games and they left by midnight. After sometime when Dad asked me about the rackets I was speechless. So I went to pick them. But after some steps

Dear diary, School’s going to open tomorrow after long summer vacation. That means all the fun has finished and back to studies. I am very happy because I have finished my holiday homework. As I said in my last blog, it’s about time people started calling me lucky! Last night was full of fun. As Nichiketh and Niharika came back from India, we all were able to play well. Nichiketh’s friend Melvin was there too. Melvin is in my Malayalam class. We played Hide-and-seek, Badminton, Football and Cricket. After playing cricket, Niharika and her parents had to go to the hospital for something.   While playing football, I and the others spotted a cat with something in its mouth. So there was a wild goose chase behind it. Nichiketh found out it was a rat. But we still weren’t sure. After some more chasing, when we were talking, a family came to visit our neighbour aunt Coco   and uncle Loy. They had a girl named Tina and she too was in 4 th standard. Soon we saw a kitten. Then we realized t

Uncle Arvind is getting married to Aunt Paromita. We saw their pictures today. The engagement is going to be in Delhi. And it is perfect timing because it is going to be in November. So hopefully, I would be able to go Delhi and attend the engagement. And it is a good luck because I was planning to go to a few tourist attractions like Qutub minar, Taj Mahal, Nehru planetarium, Dolls museum and India Gate. There are three more reasons. No. 1.   These all are really good tourist attractions. No. 2.  It is about time friends start calling me lucky. No. 3.  I could get my mind out of the holiday homework. Some days back I was checking the map of Delhi on the computer. And you wont believe it, there was place called “kundi”!!! (“kundi” in Malayalam means your butt J ) Dad got five days holidays because Ramadan is ending. So he is really cheerful. We bought loads of dresses and swim suite for me to get ready for going India. We also bought some for my small cousins.

Good News!! There is a new Dunkin Donuts factory in front of our house. The workers are just building it. I am sure that the smell of donuts will come to our house every single day. Lovely! I could smell it and always feel hungry. Yesterday was Divya Chitta’s marriage and everyone said it was superb. I wish I was there. Now it is September, only October will have to pass and then I would be in India. Most of the days we phone my grandparents. It is always raining heavily in India. Luckily, in November it would be a fine weather. I am also looking forward to ride my Grandpa’s new scooter. He had promised that we two could ride in it. There is a Shiva temple near my Grandpa’s house. Every evening we go there to pray and chat with Grandpa’s friends. Two days back my molar tooth got pulled out. It was shaking a little. So that day me and Dad tugged and pulled until it finally came out. Then we went out and ate ice-cream.   My poor Dad couldn’t eat because his throat was sore. But my m

Dear Diary, Last two days I woke up early, without even Mom waking me up because there were Harry Potter movies at 9:30 AM on cartoon network. The boy who acts as Harry is Daniel Radcliffe. The author of Harry Potter books is Joanne Kathleen Rowling  or J.K. Rowling. Today I saw Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban. Last two days were the sorcerer’s stone and the chamber of secrets. While I was watching it Mom and Dad called Divya chitta’s mother. Divya chitta (chitta means aunt) had gone to the beauty parlor to put mehandi on her hand.  She is going to be married on Friday. I miss all the marriages in Kerala including the tasty food and payasam (payasam is desert).  Mom told me that uncle Sanju is going to New Zealand. He is a cardiac surgeon. Aunt Karthi and his baby Indu are also going. Indu is a one year old baby and very cute. I saw her at a marriage, she had two ponytails and was in a playful mood. My GK book says that the people from New Zealand are lovingly called Kiwis

“A party? Yeeyyyyy!” I jumped with delight when I heard there was going to be a poolside Onam party in my compound. It was Onam that day and I couldn’t help feeling excited. But alas, my joyfulness finished when I saw there was no one to play with except a boy in 8 th standard. What a waste of delightfulness!! Everybody had gone on vacation and there were only adults. I was disappointed, but soon it vanished from my face when I saw the food. Appam, friedrice, vegetable curry, porotas, chicken, prawns and salads. Yum! I am sure this is going to make a smile flicker on my face, I thought. There was also kheer for desert which made my mouth water.

“Kach .. Kch .. Kch” went my brush as I brushed my teeth. I was getting ready for bed. Just as I finished my parents suddenly called me from the drawing room. I groaned and went there. “What?” I asked sleepily. “There was suddenly a strange vibration and the door shook” they replied. “Who would want to go in the dead of the night?”    I muttered under my breath as I went out. The moon was very bright and I glanced at a helicopter which was flying very low. It also made me jump seeing it had a large flashlight attached to that. “Are they searching for an escaped prisoner?”   I whispered, my heart beating faster than usual. “Maybe” said my Dad excitedly rushing indoors to get his shirt. “What a night!” Soon the chopper was out of sight. After one final look we went inside. “Have you locked the door?” I asked nervously, looking at the windows, almost expecting to see a figure jumping in with a gun in its hand. “Yes” said Mom amused. “Don’t be scared, they are only practicing to drive

Today I thought I should write about music because there are a lot of things I can write about it. I like songs very much. My Valyachan (uncle) is a famous singer. His name is  Sreevalsan J Menon . He sings Carnatic music and had sung in many places like Dubai, UK, Africa, America etc. He sings Bhajans too. My dad has a collection of CDs of his songs. When we go out we listen to these songs in the car. Valyachan calls me JaJanu. Sometimes when he is on TV we get excited to see him. I have seen him practicing upstairs when me and my brother will be playing downstairs, and when we want to take something from up he would smile at us. He would be singing to the tune of the shruthibox. It looks like a radio which gives us the tune of the song we want, so that we can sing with it. Miley cyrus (Hannah  Montanna) is my favourite  singer. She lives at Los Angeles. Her father is Billy Ray Cyrus. He too is a singer and plays the guitar. Miley is 18 years old. She is also an actor. My favorite s

“Well, he should be here now”, said my father as we waited at the Jeddah airport on Thursday which was yesterday. We had returned the car which we rented and the man at the rent-a-car shop drove us to the airport. The airport was very spacious. We were waiting for Samer uncle who works with Dad. “He has small kids” said my Mom to me. Children? That’s good! I could play with them, but will they play with me?  Soon the uncle came. He had twin babies and a little girl named Zaina. Her brothers are Abdulrahman and Omer. They both are very sweet. One of them smiles very much and the other is serious, only sometimes he smiles. When Mom and I went to the ladies search room for security check we saw something very very funny. A woman had put her daughter down, so the police could check her. When the police started checking the lady the small girl started jumping “do that to me!”. Me and Mom rushed out giggling since our turn had finished. When we had to wait for the flight, Samer uncle ca

Palm Beach is a sandwich shop, but yesterday we discovered that it also has a restaurant on the top of it.   It is a Lebanese restaurant, this was written on the top of the menu. The food was very tasty there. There was a fish tank with two gold fishes and one black fish. The stair cases were decorated with coral reefs on one side and had covering with clouds painted on it.  The food we ordered was chef’s special shrimps and Palm Beach special mixed grill. I liked the shrimps the most. The salad was put in a majestic way, so it looked very beautiful. When Dad put his spoon in it I told him not to spoil the beauty! Palm Beach was there since 1976, so I think it is one of the oldest restaurants in Jeddah. The funny thing is even if it is a Lebanese restaurant there were two waiters who were Malayalees! They asked us from which part of Kerala we are. With the shrimps they served a little rice. Mom asked if any of us wanted some. Me and Dad said “No”, “Good” said Mom, “because I want

Kanz Obhur is a seaside restaurant in Jeddah. We had dinner there last night. We have already been there once with Biju uncle and Deepa aunty. The restaurant is very beautiful to see, especially in the night. We sat in a seat near the sea. The water was very clear and clean. I could see many stones underneath. Some little fishes swam here and there. They were gleaming silver colour in the water. There were fountains which bobbed on the water and coconut trees which had red stockings! Next to the coconut trees were lamp posts with lamps which look like fire. I was feeling very happy. Our waiter was from Kerala. He was very excited to see us and kept asking questions. I thought it was the first time he saw a malayalee in Jeddah! Before that, we went to the beach (the place which I told you where the rocks were put to stop the waves from coming in). The moonlight was shining on the waves of the red sea. A man went on the rocks to wash his feet and hands, suddenly a wave splashed again

It was a beautiful day. We decided to have a picnic. So when I got ready Dad went to buy some food and Mom packed some things. Dad came back and waited for us, and then off we went. We took a new path, on the way there was the sea. Many people were there. Some were walking and some were sitting on huge boulders which were put to stop the sea from coming in. We kept our picnic things and food in the car and went down two steps to the beach. My father and I went on the huge boulders and sat on one of them. There were lots of crabs, small and big. The waves were very strong and they splashed against the rock. I was first scared but then I started to enjoy it. Mom was scared so she did not come but sat on the steps. Dad and I found something small, black moving thing which looks like leeches. They were on some rocks. First Dad went and then I followed, we were looking at them. Then a huge wave splashed against the rocks and came right at us! Dad and me ran, laughing and went back to ou

This is the second time I am in Jeddah and today is the fourth day I am here.  Now it is Ramadan, Muslims do not eat during daytime. We came here for a business trip. Today as it is Friday, Dad has no office. Red sea is in Jeddah. It is also called ‘city of roundabouts’ as there are lot of roundabouts with statues. Jeddah also has the tallest Fountain in the world, the King Fahd Fountain . I have seen it 3 times. It starts after sunset. The red sea doesn’t look red even though everyone tells it does.   Last 2 days we went to see the sea . It was a beautiful sight as it was sunset.   The sea and the sky looked purple, orange, yellow and pink. There were many seagulls. A rat went into a small hole. The seagulls were heading home in a V-shape. They had a busy day catching fish. I thought how long they would have to fly as the sea is very big. In the night 2 rats came out. They scampered into their holes when they saw me coming.  We had dinner at Al-Baik , which is a popular restauran

Dear diary, There was a bird which lived on a tree that is outside of our kitchen window. It had laid 2 eggs. The bird was a bit big and was brown in colour. I used to see it every morning before I went to school. It always stayed in its nest until one day a cat ate it up! I missed the bird very much. Yesterday was Friday. So it was a holiday for dad. We played badminton, swam and went to visit a new born baby. We had bought dresses for him. The baby s name is Cyril. He is very cute. He was drinking milk when we got there. He loved 2 balloons which were on his bed. He had slept so much. He seemed to be hungry and thirsty for a long time! I like this diary. It is another one. My cousin gave it to me on her birthday. Yesterday I had a dream in that I went to a rainforest. It was very beautiful. There was a waterfall and it was very peculiar. You can just slide down the cascade and it was fun, but I slid down only once.  I could even talk to animals!   There are lots of frogs in a ra

Dear Diary, I am going to tell you about the school trip we had. It was to Hayat mall. We went there in my old school bus D2. When we saw Hayat mall, all of us started to shout in one voice “Hip Hip Hurray for Hayat Mall !” . We all had partners. My partner was Rakshanda. When we got down several other school buses of our school came. We all chatted happily as we went inside the mall. We went to play area where there are different rides. Sauda and S Rabia joined us. We wanted to go on the ghost train, but everyone started pushing so we couldn’t. We then went on another ride where it goes up and down. I had never gone on this ride. Believe me, it gave me nightmares!! The belt weren’t working, first of all, so we had to hold the tube which comes in front of us. Sauda didn’t want to go because she was scared. So me, Rakshanda and Rabia were on the ride. When the ride started it began to go round. Our hands were sweating. Sometimes it would go reverse and then suddenly up and down. We a

Dear diary, Two more months and then I will be in India. Yippee! I can’t wait. I called my Grandfather today. The days are going very fast. It’s been long since I swam in the swimming pool. There were sandstorms for a few days. So the pool had to be cleaned. The water was dusty and full of leaves. We haven’t visited any new neighbours yet. I keep getting up in the morning late. I have finished reading all my storybooks. Sometime we go to Jarir Bookstore to read some books. There are some chairs where we can sit and read. There I read a book of Garfield. Here is one joke from Garfield (Pss… He is a cat) Garfield put an egg in the saucepan to fry. Suddenly the egg hatched and a chick came out. Chick :         “Mamma” Garfield:      “Look Chick, I am a boy. Boys are not mothers.” Chick:          “Dada” Now I am reading a book of Nancy Drew, The Scarlet Macaw Scandal. It is a detective story. The main character is Nancy, and she is a detective. She solves mystery with her two friends

Dear Dairy, Once Ameerah brought a real turtle to school. We all were much exited to see it. Ameerah’s old classmates came from other class to see it. We all shooed them away. The turtle was very small. He hid in his shell when he saw everyone, except Ameerah. But after sometime it didn’t go into its shell when it saw me. Many teachers got scared when they saw it. Ameerah brought it because we were learning about turtle in science. During recess, we put him on the teachers table. Ameerah had brought for it lettuce. When it was the last period if Ameerah ran with the turtle we would run after her. Ameerah asked me if I could put him on my desk. I said “Yes”.  When there is an animal in my class my friends asks me to take care of it because I am an expert vet. Last time when we went on a trip many of them bought chicks and asked me to take care of it. Some chicks were in cups so they could not bend their heads. I gave them grains and water. Ameerah’s turtles name was “chotu”. The le

Dear Diary, Last night we went to the pool. Mother doesn’t know swimming. So she tried to practice. The water was a little too much, so when she started to kick her legs, it sent waves which went into my mouth! I have learned many swimming tricks myself. After a few days Dad is going to get some holidays. Today when we checked the news my father got a nasty surprise!! It said that if parents beat children they will go to jail . HeHeHeee!!! And it didn’t even say that if children beat parents they will be punished. Don’t you think we are lucky?  When I told this to my mother she said “If I beat you and if the government comes, then I will beat government also”, diary, she is serious. Yesterday when we returned home I ran to open the door and got a shock! A cat was staring at me, I screamed and the cat yowled. And we both ran away.

Dear diary, We will go back into the past. I have decided that after 20 years I will read this diary which stores all my memories. When I became an Ammumma I can read this to entertain myself. When I was in 3 rd , one day we went to a church. As we are not Christians we stood and watched, we didn’t go inside the prayer room. I was accompanied by my Valyachan, Valyamma, Kunji chechi, Kunjunni and two of their friends. Dad and Mom didn’t come.  We then went to an old school. I found everything peculiar. Just behind a blackboard there will be another class! There were lots of spaces. Kunjunni, my cousin brother (that’s his pet name, his real name is Narayanan and his sister’s name is Subhadra) climbed a tree. He was given help by his father. He climbed it and then looked scared. He looked funny so Kunji chechi took some pictures of him. He then leaned back and looked us as if he was lying on his bed. So she took a shot of that. Finally Appu (another pet name) jumped screaming, uncle c

Now it is summer, days are long and very hoooot! Mom and dad are getting crazy because of it. The problem in the night is that first you feel very hot, but after sometime it became very cold even if you try to keep yourself warm. My mother told that I should improve my handwriting. I think I should take that romantic advice! I hate wearing glasses. It makes me feel like an old donkey! But if I am not wearing it, I can’t see anything clearly. So I am hopeless. I am glad I was not there during early human days, because I wouldn’t be able to see anything. My most favorite doll is Pinkysha. He is very cute, though I don’t spend my time with him that much. Dear Diary, today morning it is very beautiful.  Yesterday we went out and came back late. I was very sleepy, so I slept in the car. Dad had to shake me up. At home I didn’t do anything, just fell asleep as soon as my head touch the pillow.