Janaki's Blog

After a five hour train journey with a train change in Munich, we arrived in Salzburg. We had our eyes glued to the window through the entire bus ride, taking in the sights of the quaint city and the tall, rocky Alps. Mom was especially ecstatic about the the tiny shops selling a variety of things. Our lodging was a little far from the hubbub of Salzburg. We got off at our stop, and then it was a short walk to the Boutique-Hotel, Essigmanngut. The view that met our eyes was incredible. It was the kind of thing I had only gotten to see in movies; large green, rolling meadows framed by the ranges, old-fashioned houses with sloping roofs, and no one around for miles. It was a windy day, and the trees were swaying with sunlight filtering through their branches. We had never seen a place so serene. We did face one issue however- it was difficult to locate restaurants nearby. It took us a while before we finally identified a group of them, hidden away from the main street.

Phew! Class 12 exams are finally over, and I'm done with my schooling. The past few months have been nothing but hectic. Now, I can release that breath I've been holding. The day after the last exam, we arrived in Heidelberg, Germany. We had lunch at the Vietnamese restaurant we’re extremely fond of, but discovered that the previous chef had left, so the food wasn't as tasteful as it used to be. Later, Dad left to attend an SAP event where he was to receive an award, while Mom and I went for a walk and made sure to visit the bridge monkey. We aren't the superstitious type, but that doesn't mean we're ready to take a risk. It was a cold, windy day and we ended up shuffling back to our hotel after a while, thinking about going out later. Despite the weather, I bought a gelato because nothing was going to stop me from getting one. The rest of the day was rainy, which left us disappointed. We watched raindrops hit the wet cobblestones mournfully from our

“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

Before heading off to Antwerp, we visited the Atomium, a huge building consisting of nine spheres made to represent the structure of an iron crystal. At the foot of the Atomium was Mini-Europe, which housed little replicas of important landmarks in Europe, like the Eiffel tower and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I found Mini-Europe adorable, with the tiny toy people and boats and helicopters. Each replica had a green button in front of it. If the country the landmark was from was mentioned under the green button, pressing it would mean that the national anthem of that country would play. There were green buttons that didn't have any description under it, and on activating them, the toys would move, which made it fascinating. Mini-Europe was definitely entertaining, and the Atomium stood tall and intimidating. Our journey to Antwerp was by train, and we were looking forward to seeing the Antwerp Railway Station, as it is one of the most beautiful railway stations in the wo

On the train to Brussels, I was nearly dozing off when Mom suddenly realized that she had left her precious notebook, filled with things to do and places to see in Belgium, at home in Riyadh. Dad and I weren't surprised. It would be a lie to say that this was the first time Mom had forgotten or lost the research she had done before going on a trip. Sometimes she would lose the paper she had written on, right at home.  Brussels was picturesque and lively. Huge gothic cathedrals and buildings framed the bustling  streets, dark clouds drifted in the sky and the wheels of our suitcases made miserable noises as we wheeled them over the cobblestones while going to our hotel. Catalonia Grand Place was in the heart of the city. After dropping off our baggage, our next step was to begin a tour of Brussels. According to Mom, her superhuman brain had allowed her to store all the information about tourist attractions she had written down earlier, so even if memory had failed her

Last week, my parents and I set off to Europe. Our first stop was Germany, where Dad had to attend an award function in Heidelberg. We marched like soldiers to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant , which was five minutes away from our hotel, Perkeo. Wonderful memories of the food there welcomed us and we breezed in through the door and into our seats like we were home. After a hearty lunch, we meandered to the Old Bridge, where we saw the Bridge Monkey. According to legends, if you touched its hands, mirror, face and the little mice next to it, luck would grant you another trip to Heidelberg. Till now the legends had not failed us, and I wasn't taking any chances. Later, Dad left for the function, so Mom and I bought gelatos and took photos of them to make Dad envious when he got back. We wandered around for hours before buying pizzas from Pizza Hut for dinner. The evening in Heidelberg was something out of a fairytale; the sky was purple, the streets and shops were illumi

“ The next time you’re absent, phone the new driver, not me. ” Clearly, my old bus driver was making sure he wouldn’t get a single call from me again. I couldn’t blame him, though. I was infamous for taking days off from school, every now and then. Mom didn’t have an issue either because it meant she’d have company at home the whole day. Tenth grade in India was similar, with the only difference being you didn’t need to let the driver know, because the bus would leave on time whether you were on board or not. I stayed at home whenever I fell sick, or had too much to study and too little time. We had exams every week, which meant at one point or another, I felt myself drowning in assignments, homeworks and other school stuff. I’ve never understood how people come to school everyday and have a perfect attendance. For me, that seems utterly impossible. Just trying to wake up early is where the difficulty starts. During the winters, I can’t seem to push my cozy blankets away.

We had dinner from “ Greens ”, a salad bar, a few days ago. Dad is a herbivore. I like salads as well, but I always try to chuck out any tomatoes. Plus, if I don’t like the dressing, there’s a good chance it’ll be left uneaten. An actual salad bar is very rare to find in Riyadh, other than the side salads you can take at restaurants like Pizza Hut and Steakhouse. Naturally, this fueled our curiosity, and we made our way there. The restaurant was bright and cheery. A variety of food like fresh juices, shakes, and a whole lot of other stuff that was organic and healthy were available, plus racks of chips with all different kinds and flavours. I’ve never had a chance to choose the ingredients for my salad before, so it was quite a task, because of the several options.   The place held a calm and peaceful atmosphere, and we really did enjoy dinner.

My story “ Bruises ” was awarded first place in the Athena Awards on Wattpad! I had entered in several competitions, but lost. By the time the Athena Awards announced their result for the Mystery/Thriller category , I had forgotten all about it. So it was a pleasant surprise to wake up one morning and see the notification on my phone, which let me know they had tagged me. I realized even without opening the app that there was no other reason for them to do so, and seeing my username in bold for first place made me immensely happy. Being on Wattpad has been great. I’ve read a variety of books from different genres, and it’s encouraging to see the support my own stories get from my readers. It’s something I would recommend for every aspiring writer, or for people who love to read. I haven’t got a chance to see the second season of Riverdale yet, and the suspense is terrible. I did not want to spoil it by reading the plots of the released episodes online, but a few tidbits d

“It's black.” I noted. “Yup.” Kunjunni showed a photo of The Samurai. “That's red.” No one in my family had ever seen or eaten a black/red burger, but we caught an Uber and made our way there anyway. Inside The Burger Junction (TBJ) , the menu had several options and for a while, we all just sat there stupefied. Hellboy caught Dad's eye. It claimed to be extremely hot, owing to the fact that it’s contents included the spiciest chilli in India. Dad can handle almost any kind of chilli, and he loves spicy food, so none of us made much of an issue about it. The burger's description also mentioned that it wasn't recommended for children. Even though Dad wasn't a child, the waitress still made a special point of mentioning that it was very hot. “I'll take that challenge.” Dad waited for the rest of us to order. Kunjunni went for The Dark Knight. I decided to have the TBJ special. And then when the food came, Dad's burger was an angry

Updated my second short story on Wattpad ! Whee ! This new story is called “Subway” and describes an encounter between two peers on, well, the subway. I’m so proud of it, and I hope you guys give it a read. My character, Cleo, is shy and introverted, and hopefully, she’s someone we can all relate to. Read the story here ...

We’ve reached 100,000 pageviews folks! Woohoo! I started this blog when I was nine, and since then it's been an incredible journey for me. “My Diary” has been featured on an American school website as an example of blog writing, is a member of Best Indian Blogs and has been converted into a book by Uncle Gopichan, twice. A renowned artist, Uncle Venki , did fabulous illustrations just for me. My friends and family are an integral part of this blog, and I’ve received a lot of support and encouragement from the people around me. I feel it is time to revamp the blog. I’ve been thinking about changing the name to something a little more mature. For the past two years, school has been eating up my time, and my pace of blogging has really slowed down. I hope I can catch up soon with the updates. For now, this is Janaki, signing off.

Hey readers! I joined Wattpad last week, and just recently uploaded my first story ' Bruises '. A short, one page story about a mentally challenged girl defending her brother . When a bully assaults Christopher, things spiral out of control as Madison takes things into her own hands while her past comes back to her. I would love if you gave it a read.

Eleventh grade has taken off like a bullet from a gun. The days have been flying so fast, especially the weekends, and I’ve hardly been able to keep track of what’s going on. I think I have mentioned my love for music in some of my earlier posts, and if you’re someone like me, who loves singing (despite the fact that I’m not very gifted and can make a dog’s ears bleed), then Smule is definitely the app for you. Smule offers a million songs to sing to, AND, you can join other aspiring singers with collaborations. Plus, if you take an All Access Pass (like I did), then you can access every song, which is totally awesome. I think the best feature of Smule is Sing With The Artist, where you can jam out to pre-recorded video versions of some of your favourite singers, like Shawn Mendes and Charlie Puth. I haven’t tried it out yet, but it looks pretty cool. You can find me, as JanakiSajan , on Smule ;) Lately, I’ve been into reading fanfiction, on fanfiction.net . I’ve neve

“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

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

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