Janaki's Blog

I was dreaming that time. “Wake up” Mom was saying. Suddenly I felt that someone was pushing me. I opened one eye to find that Mom was really waking me up. I dragged myself out of bed. It was second day of Onam. Kunjunni and Kunjichechi had made me promise that before they went to school, I had to reach their home to make the pookkalam (floral carpet). So, I quickly chewed my food, and washed it down with a glass of water. 2 mins later, I rode down in the lift and skipped across the road to Valyamma’s home. Over there, we plucked some leaves from the garden because Valyamma had already bought the flowers. Then we drew the pattern on the ground with a chalk. We carefully filled the design with the flower petals and leaves, laughing and chattering all the time. We were feeling happy and great. But we were also sad because the next day I was going back to Riyadh. Valyamma gave me some flowers so that I could make the pookalam in front of my house too. When I reache

Even though I have written in some of my entries that Riyadh was boring, there is also one reason I like about it. That is because of Saudi National Day!!!! Saudi National day is on 23 rd September, which is near the weekend. And here the weekend consists of the days Thursday and Friday. So, we get Saturday and Sunday as holidays too! How cool is that?! Saudi National Day is celebrated because it is the day King Abdu Aziz Al Saud in 1932 concluded the unification of the country. At first I and my classmates thought that Sunday would be the only day we would get holiday. We were like” Oohhhh Noooooo!!” But then when we got the slip that said we actually had 2 extra days’ holidays, then pandemonium! Now I am sitting at home, writing this and stuck with eye infection. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Dad had eye infection too a few days back and I think that now I got it from him!! Why should I get eye-infection right at the beginning of my holidays?? It’s not every day that S

“Ring ring……….ring.’’ Mom picked the phone and spoke into it. “Hello, who is this? ………Sreedevi??!!!  Is that really you? Ok fine we will be there in a minute!!” Mom put down the phone and looked at me with excitement. The next thing I knew, I was on my feet and was sent flying to the bedroom to change. When we were waiting outside the flat to catch an auto rickshaw I asked Mom what had happened. She said that her old college friends Sreedevi and Susan were waiting for her at Oberon mall.   At Oberon Mall, Aunt Sreedevi and Aunt Susan were waiting for Mom with open hands. Mom hugged them happily. I was very happy to meet Aunt Sreedevi, because she is a regular reader of my blog and keeps sending me encouraging comments. Aunt Susan’s children’s names were Steve and Stan. Steve is in the 7 th grade while Stan in the first grade, they live in Kuwait. Aunt Sreedevi also had 2 children, Pooja and Tarun. Pooja and I chatted a lot and I learnt that she is in the

“……… you are the 4 th generation of Aandiyathu" Dad finished  saying.  I blinked. Dad was telling me about his ancestral home at Manakkad.  He told me that I am the 4 th generation of Aandiyathu. Apparently, my great-grandfather lived in that house, then my grandfather, Dad and now me. Dad told me about the times he and his cousins, aunts, uncles used to go to the river during the holidays and bathed and played there. I imagined Dad in his underwear, jumping into the river, while his aunts watched and washed their clothes and his cousins and uncles all swimming with him. Some of them were expert swimmers, like Sarada Chitta, who used to carry uncle Sujesh on her back across the river. “Aaaaahhhhhhh, memories” Dad said dreamily. There was no doubt that he was remembering his babyhood, childhood and olden days. I tried to remember my days there.  For example, like the times we went to the river. When I was a lot more younger, I used to be scared of the fi

The main 2 reasons why we left to India early were;                                 -  Aunt Gouri’s marriage                                 -  Housewarming of our new home These 2 things happened in just 1 week. Aunt Gouri’s marriage was FUNtastic! This means fun and fantastic. Me, Dad and Gopichan were standing down at the front of the hall, receiving guests. Mom was with Geethama, helping aunt Gouri to put on her makeup. The sadya was great and all our relatives were there. My cousins Kunjunni, Kunjichechi, Savithri, Shanku, Madhavan and Keshavan were also there. My cousins and I went up to a balcony which was in the hall itself and we sat there comfortably and watched everything. Though I was kind of disappointed that since I was sitting at the balcony I would not be able to throw flower petals…………  But in any case, the marriage was a blast!!!!!!!!!!! We did our flat’s housewarming that following week and then after some weeks our house was fully furnis

One of the happiest things that happened to me when I went to India was bumping into my 4 th grade class teacher, Shiny ma’am. Me, Mom, Appupan (grandpa) and Ammuma (grandma) were shopping at Nucleus mall . Appuppan, Ammumma and Mom were packing some vegetables in plastic bags. I was just standing near them when I saw Shiny ma’am. I was astonished to see her and then she noticed me and she looked surprised too. But wait!!! Before I go on, I better tell you about Shiny ma’am. Shiny ma’am was our 4 th grade class teacher. She was like, the best teacher ever. She was funny and really kind.  Sometimes she would tell us exciting information. When we were in the 5 th grade we still talked about her. Later her husband got transferred and they had to go to South Africa. We all were really sad and upset, including her. So seeing her at Nucleus was really exciting. I ran towards her and we hugged. Ma’am‘s sister and Mom was also there. My Mom first looks surprised, and t

Hello everyone, I am back! Did you miss me? I went to India for 3 months and had a blast with my cousins and friends. Since my cousins Kunjunni (also known as Rockstar Nara ) and Kunji chechi (sister of Rockstar Nara) lived nearby they came over every day! And guess what? I saw 6 movies which are Thattathin Marayathu , Ustad Hotel , Madagascar 3 , Batman -The Dark Knight rises , The Amazing Spiderman and Ice Age 4: Continental Drift . All 6 of them were superb, exciting and funny. We just arrived today from the “Land Of Coconuts” and we were exhausted. We had hardly slept for 4 hours because our flight was overnight. Our ears popped when the plane took off and landed and it hurt a lot too.  We had ordered 25 books from FlipKart and Valyamma had bought a few for me, so I spent most of the days reading. My cousins Savithri and Sanku came all the way from Alappuzha to Thrippunithura and stayed with us for some days and we brought the house down with our noise. It

I am going to India tomorrow! Yaaay!! We are going for 3 months. I will come in August. Woo hoo!  Gouri’s marriage is on June 2, we are going to attend it. My classmates bid me goodbye with tears and hugs, so I kind of felt like some celebrity. It is summer here now, so they changed the school timings. The school starts at 7:25 and ends at 12:00, now I reach home early. Our new flat in India has been already furnished. Now there is only 1 thing left: live in it. My grandpa and grandma are also going to live with us. But the best part is that my cousins, kunjunni and kunji chechi are just living opposite of the flat. So any time I can go and play with them. I am also going for swimming, drawing and math tuition. Mom is even thinking that we both should go for yoga class. Breathe in……… breathe out………………. These are the reasons why I am so excited. I can hardly wait to go!

Just yesterday, Varun, his siblings Varsha and Akaash, Gayathri and her sibling Appu and Hari visited us.  We had a clean game of Ludo and Scrabble. I think Scrabble is a boring game. But my old science teacher loved it. She said it would “greatly improve your brain” and it’s a “lot of fun’’. But I would rather fall out of an aero-plane than play Scrabble.  The first time I discovered Scrabble is a really boring game was when I signed up to play it each Wednesday at school during activity periods. We could choose 5 activities and we would play 1 activity every Wednesday. But my friends and I made 2 groups and I had to spend 2 hours racking my brain because my friends considered me a “topper” since I got good marks.   The reason I even took out Scrabble from my cupboard was because at first we didn’t have anything to play and we were desperate.  The worst thing about being a “topper” is that your friends ask you for a solution for almost everything, even if you have f

It has been such a long time since I have doodled for you. It is because the teachers are piling on us a lot of homework, assignments and projects. And we have to study a lot, thanks to subjects like chemistry, history etc.  This makes my bag so heavy. Let me give you another example. A week after school re-opened and 6th grade began, we got all the notebooks. 3 interleaf, 9 regular notebooks and 5 test note books were too much. We almost couldn’t zip our bag and after putting the bag on our shoulders we staggered around, leaning on someone or something to regain our balance. And sometimes, just for a joke, someone would push us from behind. And let me tell you, there is nothing more uncomfortable than lying on the floor with a 100 pounds bag on top of you. Speaking of uncomfortable, I am now stuck with a cold. Maybe I got cold because of the weather change, but the climate is getting better. Before Ammu chechi went to India we visited the museum with them. It was the s

Many of Mom’s friends are coming back from India. She is really excited. And when Mom’s friends are around, they keep talking and laughing nonstop really loudly. But since me and my friends are playing, we don’t actually hear them. So that means I am excited too. Like Ammu chechi came back from India and we all spend time together.  So, we had a good time. Ammu chechi went back to India yesterday. But Ammu chechi’s parents and young sister, Devika are in Riyadh. So I can play with Devika. Like I said, Mom and Dad are really excited. I know Dad is happy too, though he doesn’t show it. Maybe his heart is full of joy and jumping around right now because now we are going to Ammu chechi’s home. Some new children have joined our class. They are Ann, Dhaniya, Avantika and Siddhika. Avanthika is now with chickenpox and so she hasn’t come to school for a few days. Mother Nature was angry for a few days, because there were huge sandstorms last week. And my mom suffered. One day mom

Today was the Parent–Teacher’s Meeting. Let me describe it; Mom woke me up at 8 o’ clock today. I never wake up at 8; I sleep till 10. So I was still sleepy. I became nervous when we reached school. I had pressure on my mind. I knew I did well but still I couldn’t stop shaking. But there was a surprise. Shaguftha ma’am said “She has done the exams very well. She was eligible for the scholar’s badge again, but since she missed the FA4 (monthly test) she cannot receive it. I am really sorry.” Oh well. I knew I wouldn’t get it anyway. My classmates told me I wouldn’t get it because I missed monthly exams by enjoying in India Even though I am not going to get scholar’s badge, I am happy that I got good marks. So why worry? Oh yes, and 1 more thing. Mom said that I have my reward, which is Taco Bell . I am really looking forward to that.

Only 9 days left for the holidays to finish!  Oh! NO… And to make it even worse, I have caught a cold. I don’t want the holidays to finish. They are so good. But there is one problem and that is the climate. For few days there have been sandstorms and it was cold too. And just yesterday there was drizzling. So in the evening we only go to malls and no parks. But last night, I had a good dinner from Applebee’s .  We had Blue Ribbon Brownie for desert. French-fries were so crispy and tasty that my parents who always tell me to eat only few French-fries because it is too fatty, stuffed themselves.  But desert was best. Blue Ribbon brownie was chocolate cake along with ice-cream. We decided to go to Taco Bell too on the day when I get my results. But that will be possible only if the results are good. If not, goodbye Taco Bell.    I sent a mail to my best friend Eeshta , who is now settled in China, asking her how was China. She replied that China was horrible place wher

“Here we are” Dad announced as he parked the car in front of a restaurant called 'Bangkok seafood restaurant'.  “Thai food is served here as Bangkok is the capital of Thailand“ Dad explained. It was spick-and-span inside. There was a fish tank too. We scanned the menu quickly. All the food had funny names like ‘Goong gang’. Then we called the waiter. “Which food is good among these?” Dad asked the waiter. The waiter and he spend some time like that and I started to feel hungry. Finally we ordered ‘ Tomyam goong ’, which is soup, ‘ Pad thai noodles ’, some beef, chicken and ‘ Halo Halo ‘ for desert. Our waiter was from Nepal. Unfortunately it was a long time before Dad realized that he knew Hindi. And it would have been more easier to speak with him in Hindi, because Dad knew it too. “Hello Hello, what is that?” I wondered out loud, after the waiter left.  “It is sweet of Philippines, and it is ice cream. Don’t say it’s name as Hello Hello. It is Halo H

Diary, I have exciting news. Today is my first day of holidays after the exams! Ok, perhaps it’s not exciting for you because you are the one who gets holidays practically on almost all days.  And when I write on you, maybe you feel like the pencil is massaging you. Who knows? I don’t lead a diary’s life. But the minute you laugh at me, I will tell mom and you are going to be in big trouble because mommy is going to be angry that you laughed at her darling daughter. And so you better watch your tongue. Kunjunni’s exams are still not over. But Kunjichechi’s and Savithri’s exams are over. Today is Savithri’s first day of holiday too. But she has summer vacation. I kind of felt jealous when I heard that because during our summer vacation we need to study for the monthly tests next months. And my cousins don’t need to even look at their books during the you- know- what. Oh well. I guess India and Saudi Arabia have their differences. I can now see my cousins after a week havin

“We need some money… We need some money..” The song ended. “Good song’’ I said to Kunjunni. Then I did not know what to say. “Bye” I interviewed Kunjunni when I went to India this year for a new song, which he wrote and gave the tune by himself. Its name was “Money”. He even gave himself a cool name. His real name is Narayanan. At school, friends call him Nara. So his “cool name” is Rockstar Nara, because “Money“ is a rock song. I was really astonished when he told me that his friends called him Nara.  Here is the video of the interview: Nice song, isn’t it? You could bet, I was impressed when I heard it. “I am impressed” I told Kunjunni after the interview. “Me too” said Kunjunni. Then we both laughed.  

There was a red carpet on the floor. There were girls on 1 side and the boys on the other. Everyone started clapping as Kabir Bedi walked on it…… It was annual day in our school yesterday. Kabir Bedi was the chief guest. Me, Safana, Mizna and some other boys and girls were standing and watching him go. We all were really stunned to see him. Safana and Mizna were my other friends who too had won the scholar badge and so I was glad that I had a few friends with me. Our school had built another stage outside the auditorium so Kabir Bedi saw the programs nicely. The programs were nice with dances and plays. There was Spanish dance, Chinese Dance, African Dance, Puppet dance and many others. Puppet dance was a dance with children holding strings and acting like puppets. At last Prize distribution came. We all had worries in our mind. We thought “What if I sneeze?” or “What if I cough?” At last my turn came to get the prize. I took a deep breath and climbed the sta

I stared at the food. There was French toast, pancake, tuna sandwich and apple cake. I wondered which I would eat first. The apple cake looked delicious, it melted in my mouth. So yummy! I took another slice. Wow… It was a ladies and kids party. Our moms chatted while we roamed around. There was tea and juice. I had juice. We did not play anything; nobody was in the mood for playing. The party was for a short time, it was not long before we said good bye. My exams will start next month. I have to study a lot. After that two weeks holidays, then the sixth grade! I am not getting time to read the books we bought from India. Still I have successfully completed a few like the firework-maker’s daughter, Big nate, Am I the princess or the frog and Sophie the awesome. Last night we had dinner at Pizza Inn with uncle Biju, aunt Deepa and baby Rishik. The food was great. Rishik was in a playful mood. His mother had ordered a special pizza for him. When the waiter brought pepsi,  R

When we reached India, there was a huge surprise for me. Gopichan had printed out my blog into the pages of a book. It is really wonderful to see with shiny papers and photos.  There were great illustrations by artist Venki uncle which I admired a lot. We gave some copies of the book to my relatives. They liked them a lot. I even took the book to school and showed my classmates. My class teacher Shagufta ma’am borrowed it for a few periods and read the whole book. My friends told me that the book was great. I am really grateful to Gopichan and uncle Venki. I promised to myself that if I ever got a chance to meet uncle Venki I will get his autograph.

You must be wondering why I did not write for many days. Surprise, I spent two weeks in India. It was lots of fun and I spent most of the days with my cousins. We attended uncle Prasanth’s marriage with aunt Vani and met all our relatives. There was tasty food and yummy kheer for desert. My cousins were also there, so it was fun. I wore a beautiful green dress and everybody admired it. It was a half-sari half-latcha. One day we went to Kollam with Kunjunni, Kunji chechi and Madhavan. There was a get-together there. We also celebrated my parents wedding anniversary at Golden Fork which was attended by all my close relatives and cousins. When I came back to Riyadh I received a warm welcome from my classmates and teachers. My best friend Lynn looked at me sulkily because she had to sit alone for two weeks and not to mention that she had to go to Malayalam class alone. But she was happy later. I am feeling sleepy now, expect more from me in the coming days.