Janaki's Blog

I will continue what happened at the field trip. We got inside Riyadh gallery and as we walked we looked at all the shops. Then we climbed up the escalator. It was fun. The children’s play area was Oceanica.  I, Aamna, Lynn and Safana were a group. The first ride we went on was the bumper cars. We love bumper cars like hell. So each of us climbed into a car and then started to have a happy time dashing each other! Then we went to another ride. Its name was pirate ship or something, I really don’t remember. It is mostly in the form of a ship. It is like a swing only that it is much scarier. It goes to and fro high. Me and my gang were sitting at the last seat so when the ship swung backward, when we looked down we felt like we were going to fall down any minute. I enjoyed because I kept my head bent down so I only felt like I was flying, but Lynn kept yelling and screaming in my ear.   Lynn, Aamna, and Safana went on the boat ride but I didn’t want to so I just strolle

As I got ready for bed I was really excited “Tomorrow is the field trip to the mall Riyadh Gallery, plus our assembly. “ I told myself “What a day it is going to be!” As my school bus is always late and my Dad could not drop me at school today I went with Nichiket and Niharika. As we reached our school I got out and thanked uncle Sunil and ran to my classroom. Some of my classmates had already reached there. After settling down we made a dash to the playground while two girls went to the staffroom to call our class teacher. Our class teacher came as we stood on our places on the stage. I and a few of my classmates were for a friendship song. Soon as the assembly was about to finish Zainab the comparer said “Now I would like to call upon the DPS choir for the Saudi National Anthem followed by the Indian National anthem.“  I hopped down the stage and joined the choir. “AAchoooo!” A loud sneeze from outside the gate made us all giggle, I could hardly keep a straight face during the an

I don’t have any incident or anything like that to write about, so let me tell you just a few things that are going around here. Now we have the school assembly in the ground. Want to know why? Actually the girls and boys assembly’s are now separated. So the Girl’s assembly is in the ground while the Boy’s assembly is held in the auditorium itself. To tell you the truth, we girls think that the auditorium is much better. Because it won’t be good for us when it gets really cold outside.   Plus the stage is too small and there is no podium to keep the papers. Our class assembly is on 20th, and our whole class is in it. We do not know how all of us are going to stand on that tiny stage. All of us girls would have loved it if the boys stood outside in our place, because in our school we detest boys as they keep teasing us and then at the end all of us call each other names  and later everybody gets busted by the teachers. It’s not pleasant. One of my classmates is going to China. She is

Nothing much has happened now except that the monthly tests are still going on… I have 2 more tests, Malayalam and Science. Science was supposed to be on last Tuesday, but it was a holiday ‘cause of heavy rain. The weather forecast said so. But there was no heavy rain, though. The rain was just drizzling or a little more than that. All of us students spent a happy day at home.  I am going to get a Scholar’s badge. That is a badge you receive if you do well in exams. I will get it for last year exams on Annual day. Annual day’s chief guest of last year was Kapil Dev. This year annual day will be on first week of January. But the principal is not telling us who the chief guest is this year. He is keeping it as a surprise. Anyway, as a reward I got a Subway sandwich from my parents (though I haven’t received the badge yet). Wednesday night Dad had a desert trip. This was a trip from his office and there were only a few people. I couldn’t go, and I was a little sulky.  But it was good

It is now winter here and I would love to be warm as toast. Because of the winter we have kept a blanket on the sofa in the living room as every morning when I have to go to school I feel cold and I eat my cereal in front of TV. And that‘s not all……. When we go out to play all of us will have our hands tucked into our armpits and our caps on. That is really a nuisance. But who could blame us? We almost expected smoke to come out of our mouth. Anyway, on Wednesday we had a Biriyani party in our compound. Coming into my compound might be like coming into a world with all kinds of parties. That is why all my classmates are jealous and I am happy. When I told them about the water balloon fight we compound kids had all my classmates had sighed and said “Lucky you!”, I was on top of the world. There was a fire pit in the middle of the chairs so we all kept our hands above it, but Afra, Ayesha’s younger sister who started school some months ago ran around it and we had to chase her away.

I totally regret for saying that Riyadh was boring. Because the last few weeks were full of fun, fun and fun!!! There was a Kappa –and– Kozhi party, a barbecue party , the trip to the farmhouse and the trip to the bakery (which you already know about) and goodness knows about all the other parties I have been to. First let me tell you about the bar-b-q party. The barbecuing was to start at 9:00pm, but me and my parents had to go out so when we arrived at 9:30, a few people were already crowded around the grill. Some of the ladies were sitting in the chairs and talking. Few uncles were handling the barbecue. There was a table loaded with Pepsi, 7up, salad and some chewing- gum. It was the first time I had ever seen chewing gum on these kinds of parties.   The chicken was yummy! There were also chicken pieces on stick, and some people ate 2 or 3 of them because they were really tasty.  Niharika did not touch the chicken. When we asked her she told us that she had stopped eating c

“Fine then” elders said, they were all sitting in a circle together. “Tomorrow we will all meet at 9:30 in the morning “ We did know what they were talking about.  All the people in the compound (except Talha and Ayesha) were going to visit the factory of Al Rashed Bakery .  Uncle Rajan working there and he is a big manager. I heard they make bread products and I love bread so I was looking forward to go there. I had a lovely dream that night too, that I was flying in the sky with my arms spread out. I guess that is because I always wanted to fly, just like Peter Pan. “Dress fast!”  Mom told me in the morning. I groaned. I was still too sleepy to dress. “Fine” Mom said “then stay at home” I muttered under my breath and changed because I wanted to see the factory. Soon we all were ready to go to the factory.  Nichiket and Niharika climbed into my car because uncle Sunil had to go to office. It was a merry journey. Soon we reached the factory. We had to wear hair nets to prevent ou

“Janu! Janu! Wake up!” I opened my eyes and stared at Mom groggily. “Get up” mom urged me. “Remember we have to go to the farm.” Helped by my mother I got up and blinked until the room came into focus. I stared at my parent’s bed, Dad had already gotten up. I washed my face and sleepwalked into the living room. One hour later we were ready to go to the farm. One of uncle Loy friends worked in farm and we were looking forward, especially me, to see all the cow, goat and sheep since I love animals. Most of my compound friends were coming too along with Melvin and his elder brother Milan. To my joy Alana and Niharika climbed into our car (I hate sitting alone) and we sped off. As we went further we saw the hanging bridge of Riyadh and the beautiful view of mountains on both sides. Later when we reached the fields which spread out like a green carpet, my eyes caught a strange figure in the middle. It was a scare-crow! It had an Arabic dress and a scarf as its head.  We giggled and poin

I will now continue with the happenings of Diwali party:- After playing we had gone home, Raja and Rohini came to each of our house and this is what they said “Meet at the ground in 10 minutes for the bursting of firecrackers.” But we all started to dress at the speed of a race car and reached the ground in 3 minutes! After checking everybody had arrived, Raja & Rohini’s dad announced that due to the death of Prince Sultan, noisy firecrackers wouldn’t be used. We just nodded our heads; we didn’t care about anything, but just wanted to start bursting crackers.  The firecrackers were superb. First, there was this type of cracker that sent sparks up like a fountain, then those types which we can hold in our hand. Another would spin and then fly into the air (which was totally cool) but then one of them instead of flying targeted forward and almost hit Raja who was in front. So that was the end of spinning-and-flying cracker. There was a long magic wand like cracker, the type whic

“ Click!” went the lighter as I lit a diya. “Next me!’’ squealed Talha, my friend. “Careful Talha” I warned him. “Don’t burn your fingers and you are only 8.”  “Don’t worry. Trust me, I can do it safely.” said young Talha.   “Sometimes we really can’t trust you Talha” said Nichiket. “Like remember when you promised us you wouldn’t scare Whitey the dove by going near it? But you still did it in front of our very eyes.”  “Well this time I won’t do anything like that.” promised Talha. It was Diwali and me, Talha, Ayesha, Niharika and Nichiket, my friends were lighting the diyas my dad had bought from the store. “Can I go next, Janaki?” asked Ayesha   “You are more 2 years younger than Talha so better ask my mom.” I replied. She was the youngest and mostly asked me questions and stayed with me everyday when we played because I am the only one who makes her understand and protects her from teasing boys and other things.  “I hate to be the youngest” complained Ayesha.  “Well, sometimes i

I felt a tap on my shoulder during the school assembly. I twirled around and saw my classmate Lynn.   “It’s music sir.” she whispered. “He seems to want to talk to you”. I looked in the front and sure enough, my music teacher was looking at me. I shoved my way through the sea of students and went to him “Err….sir, didn’t you call me?’’    That’s when I knew I was in the choir.   He made me stand with the school choir girls. So we have to sing the national anthem on the stage’s stairs in front of everybody when assembly’s finished. Sir’s been putting me in a few things that are involved in music and I think I know why. See, last year I won third prize for singing. So now you know why sir has been totally on top of things. He even made me sing with a few other girls for our school in a National anthem competition. It was an inter-school competition, which means a few other schools were there too. I had to copy notes for the subjects I missed during Jana- Gana-Mana practice. But the m

It’s been nice for sometime, and I really don’t want to spoil anything. Mom says I have to change my schedule from first doing homework, studying and then playing, unless I would like to pop out a big tummy. She said after I get up from my afternoon nap, I have to play from 5 to 6:30, then study and do my homework. And that’s fine with me since now a few of my friends have been coming out to play. I have been eating fewer things that contain chocolate and other kind of fat, since I am trying to be slim and mom said I have been improved a lot. Mom likes sweets too, but doesn’t eat them that much now. I remember that last year teachers distributed some kind of sweet which really tasted like “wow!”. I figured mom might like it too and decided to save some. But I couldn’t resist myself. So there was only a very tiny bit left for her. When I reached home, I forgot about the sweet and when mom washed my lunch box, out went that tiny piece of sweet! But now I can control myself. Yeste

“Vroom, vroom....“ The auto rickshaw stopped. The excited voices of three children came loud and clear and the adults chatted about cooking recipes. They went inside the spick-and–span, spacious mall. Me and my cousins, Kunjunni and Kunjichechi, were about to have a pleasant time. Aunt Indu and my mom had gone to see our flat which is now being furnished. Then after taking some rest, we had gone to my cousin’s home and picked them up. Now we jumped here and there, our mothers looking at us to make sure we wouldn’t get lost. The mall was called Abad Nucleus . First we had a good snack which contained burger and chocolate cake washed down by Pepsi. Then us kids had marched to the kid’s area, played a few games, and won a teddy bear. Later Kunjunni went down to the ground floor and asked for money to buy a food item. Then we bought it. We were given a spoon and a fork. Our plates were filled with chocolate and we were given a small piece of biscuit and cake. We had to dip them

Exams are over!!! Today is my day off from studying and I am spending my day with the television, computer and books. It is nice but there is no holiday tomorrow. That’s the worst bit. But at least there will be winter vacation next month. After the last exam which finished today, it would have been pandemonium if the lights didn’t go off at school. There was only confusion as we buzzed around. At the compound nobody came out to play today. I am feeling really annoyed. Today I saw an old Malayalam movie “ My Dear Kuttichathan ”. It was the first 3D film in India which was made when Dad was in school. It was superb and I enjoyed a lot.

“And it was an exciting day”, Mom finished telling the story to Dad. I am talking about our Thodupozha trip when we were on vacation. We had woken up early in the morning and had waited for Sethu kochamma and Kochachan. They had offered to pick us up and come with us to Thodupuzha because of a special occasion which would happen at Divya chitta’s husband’s house. I liked their house. Calm and quiet, with 3 small garden ponds filled with fishes and a small stream near by. But the nicest thing that pleased me was nil mosquitoes! That’s because of the fishes in the garden pond, which would gobble them up. This is one of the best places on earth. Uncle Prasanth and uncle Mahesh were there too. Uncle Prasanth took some photos of me and showed me all around. He is a regular reader of my blog. He is going to get married in January with aunt Vani. Divya’s chitta had a big tummy since she is pregnant. All grown ups settled afterwards in the living room, where there was a table loaded with

Ring, Ring! The phone rang. Ring, Ring! Mom picked up the phone. “Hello Keerthi….. What? …… You will be coming to visit us tonight. …… Splendid!” This is how our afternoon started. Even though they would only come in the night I asked the same question starting from the afternoon. “When will Eeshta come?” Eeshta is my best friend. It was her mother who had called my Mom. At last the time came, me and my parents dressed up and waited for them. I was feeling excited. Soon we saw the light of a car outside our gate. We greeted Eeshta and her family. Eeshta, me and Eeshta’s younger sister Aashika went out to play. After dinner they went home quickly, because it was Friday and our Dads had to go to office next day. School is starting coming Saturday. After one week it will be exams and then holidays in the month of November. I am starting to get a little nervous because of the exams. I wish November would hurry up and come.

Tomorrow is a special day, it’s Onam !!! We made pookkalam, in the living room. I don’t think it will take more than 10 seconds for the flowers to shrink because of the heat, if we had made pookkalam outside, and today’s heavy wind will make all the flowers go helter-skelter. Tomorrow Mom will make sadya on banana leaves and payasam . There might be more exiting things tomorrow that I can never predict. All I am trying to say about tomorrow is that, It’s gonna be a Yahoo! day J I wish my readers a very Happy Onam.

I love books! Give me a children’s book and I will sit there with my head buried in it. My room is filled with books. Before we went to India, we ordered some books through flipkart . We had given the address of Grandpa and the books reached there before we did. Grandpa was in the hospital for a week. Mom and Granny went everyday to see him. Sometimes they didn’t take me along, so I would get bored. And guess what I did? I would take a few books, march to my grandparent’s bedroom, turn on the light and fan and sit there reading. Sometimes I would read for a long time. My grandparents would take the book away and say my eyes need rest. Valyamma bought me 2 Enid Blyton books which are my favorite now. Dad sent a few more books through flipkart afterwards, and Mom bought me another 2 from DC books while we were waiting at the airport for our flight to Riyadh. These are some of the new books I like - The Smurfs and the Egg, Diary of Amos Lee, Tintin in Tibet, Adventures of

BOOM! BOOM! I nearly jumped out of my skin. BOOM! BOOM! My father rushed out of the house. “What’s going on?” I asked Mom. The front door opened and Dad came in. “Fireworks!” he said. “because of Eid”. I had finished my dinner and was lying peacefully on the sofa, watching TV. Dad and Mom were in the dining room, chatting. We ran to the pool side and saw fireworks being blasted on the sky outside the compound. There were yells of excitement. I climbed on the top of the slide, which leads into the swimming pool and sat there watching. After sometime fireworks stopped and there was peace all around, we quietly went back home. Dad’s Eid holidays have finally ended. I just wish he had a few more holidays. It’s more fun when he is around the house.

“Janu, we will come and pick you up on Sunday morning’’. I kept my ears glued to the receiver. Few days after me and mom reached India, Kunjunni and Kunjichechi invited me to spend the day with them. So after they called me, I was dancing around the room. I would only go, so I knew I was going to enjoy a lot. This was our plan: Valyachan and Kunjunni would pick me up. Valyamma and Kunjichechi would not come. (I will tell you why later.) Then we would go over to Madhavan’s, a cousin of Kunjunnni and Kunjichechi’s and take him too and resume our way to Gold Souk mall and watch a movie. Kunji chechi and Valyamma were in the mall to buy tickets for movie “ Rise of the planet of the apes ”. I didn’t like the movie, so Kunjichechi let me to put my head on her lap. I just closed my eyes because I was a bit scared. The ending part was much better for me. After the movie, Malu chechi called to say she had come to the mall. When we all looked down from the second floor we saw her. We then sta