First day of the quarterly exam

   I press my palms to my eyes to soothe them. The burning red heat searing the insides fades to a cool dark black. Who is the main antagonist in Alice in Wonderland......... A queen... of cards... Of hearts. Yes, thats it! The queen of hearts! Slowly, I open my eyes tentatively. However, the harsh white lights of the exam hall don't blind me like it did before . The bright lined paper makes my eyes water. Painstakingly, I write in neat cursive 'The main antagonist of Alice in Wonderland is the Queen of Hearts.' Next question, what does Alice follow down the hole? Ah crud. I know this one. A bunny? No, a rabbit. The rest of the exam blurs by, as I scribble about everything from conjunctions to question tags to novellas to classics.

     The bell rings as I scratch out the last sentence of the final question. The teacher tells the 5th standard students to stand up and submit their answer papers. I exhale with relief as I hurriedly write out the final statement. Before I can draw the lines at the end, the rest of the 7th standard is standing and passing their papers to the front . I pass my paper to Kavya, who is sitting in front of me. The teacher snaps a rubber band on the roll of papers. I inhale sharply as I remember. The eldest sister in Little Women was Meg, not Amy. Well, at least it was a one mark question.

     I exit the exam hall and sling my bag over my shoulder. I join the crowd of girls discussing the exam, and find out that I got questions 12, 43 and 58 a) wrong. I calculate the marks and find out that I should get about 80 to 90 marks. Aadarshini walks to class 7E with me, all the while moaning about the letter writing and Long answers. I smile slightly to myself. One exam down, 5 to go.

Kitty's Diary (4)

 

April 28^th, Thursday

 

              Sorry I haven’t written in so long. There wasn’t much interesting happening. Today though was pretty fun. It was what my teacher would call a dramady. So, Charity, Lisa and I decided to go berrying. We went to Mr. Rahman’s farm. He doesn’t let ANYONE in, so he’s bound to have a lot of unharvested berries. We were right. For 15 to 20 minutes, we were good, no-one came out. So then we got cocky, and started singing. First quietly, then loud enough to raise the dead. Mr. Rahman stomps out yelling about pesky little thieves in his fields. We all look at one another, wide- eyed, then scramble to get out of the field. Dana, however loses her footing while scaling the large birch tree we used to swing over. She goes down with a yelp and knocks me down with her. We both tumble into the ditch, just as Mr. Rahman catches us. ‘Sorry’, Dana mouth to me. Before I can open my mouth to ask what she means, she rubs muck into my face and hers. Then she grabs my arm, and in one bound leaps out the ditch, dragging me with her. Mr. Rahman, stunned, loosen his grip on my arm. I take the opportunity to rip my arm out of his grasp and clamber up the white birch, leaving black muck all over it. Mr. Rahman yells  angrily as Dana and I run for our lives. We reach the large oak tree near Charity’s house as planned. Our friends’ face twist in relief, then horror as they see our ruined clothes, ripped from literally scrambling up the tree, and our fall into the ditch. Luckily, we manage to salvage most of our clothes. Only Dana’s skirt is beyond repair, but then again, we wore our oldest clothes for berrying, so I doubt it was much worse than the original. Now THAT was quite the adventure. I don’t think I’ll be wanting any more for a while now.

              Love,

                   Kat

Meet Aditi - FairyFriends

 

Aditi GN

Aditi is strawberry blonde, with her hair in a perpetual braid, tied off with a flower clip (It is a camellia.)  Her regular outfit consists of a ruffled, sleeveless, shell- pink frock that falls to her ankles, covered by a black, waist length cardigan, pinned in the front with a perfectly sculpted pink rose brooch. Underneath she has black leggings with pink swirls all over them. Her wings are salmon coloured with splashes of hot pink on the bottom. Her tiara is placed neatly on her blonde head. She has heterochromia, one of her eyes is grey and the other is green. She loves mouse riding with her black mouse, Midnight. Midnight’s saddle is the same shade of salmon as Aditi’s wings. Aditi is on the smaller side, around 150.23 cm as a human and 8 cm as a fairy. Midnight is the same size as Vihaan. She wears pale pink slippers with black soles. When she is a fairy, she uses Midnight as transportation, but in human form, Midnight hitches a ride on her shoulder or in her book bag. She wears golden studs in her ears and a rose gold bracelet on her wrist. She has plastic pink glass with a blue flower in one corner. She smiles often but hardly ever laughs. When she does it sounds like the tinkling of little tiny bells.

    Aditi has a serious disposition and is not inclined to joke around. She has a strong sense of justice. She is thoughtful, many say her eyes tell that her soul is much older than her body. She is very intelligent and comes up with many convoluted plans where simple ones would work just as well, just for the mental gymnastics. Her favorite hobby is embroidery. Once, for International Friendship day, she hand embroidered a bunch of kerchiefs for a number of her friends. This girl tries to see the good in everyone but is notorious for holding grudges. Once a girl pushed her off the bars and Aditi wouldn’t speak to her for 6 years. She is confident and a very good public speaker. You can never see her without a splash of pink, even if it is only a flower. Her favorite shade of pink is magenta, suiting her personality, as she a sort of blend-into-your-surroundings type of gal, who is nevertheless very assertive. She likes to read fiction and dreams a lot but doesn’t let others see them, unlike her pal Deepthi who is an open daydreamer. Her besties are Swathi Subrahmanyam, Ananya Acharya and Kavya Khanna

 

Meet Swathi- FairyFriends

 

My fairy friends are amazing. My fairy people all live in the little meadow in a faraway land. They come to visit me in my sleep. My favorites are Swathi, Rose and Krishna.

 

Swathi

Swathi has a long spill of ink black hair framing her oval face. Her violet tee contrasts with her olive complexion. Her baby blue eyes slant exotically and have a mischievous twinkle. She wears black leggings with lavender rhinestones sprinkled at the hem. Along with those, she dons a pair of fingerless black gloves with a bright purple knit wrist cuff. She has an amyest tiara perched rakishly on her head, and a pair of dainty orchid slippers with real live forevermore orchids at the tips. She has a pair of pale purple wings with near invisible spirals all over them. A tiny white mouse, Vihaan, is her constant companion. As a human, she is about 170.25 cm, and her mouse is 12 cm, but at fairy size, she is 10 cm tall, and her mouse is a mere centimeter. Her motorcycle shrinks down to fairy size as well. It is black with flames starting at crimson and fading to a magenta at the top. The seat is magenta as well. Large black hoops hang from her ears, completing her look. She wants to cut her hair into a pixie cut but somehow never gets around to it.

              This girl has a bubbly, sweet personality with a positive outlook on life. She is hyper and aware of her human friends’ limitations, but loves them all the same. When she is a fairy, she is cognizant of the great harm her power can cause and so, she learns about what the problem of her ‘client’ is, finds out if they require some magic or just a boost of self-confidence. She often changes her look while checking out her beneficiaries so they don’t act different in her presence. She is fair, just and only just slightly biased towards her friends. She is very intelligent and a complete optimist. Her signature color is purple, and her favorite shade is lilac. She wears a multitude of bracelets over her arms and offers one to anyone she likes the look of. Some of her friends have a working theory that she used some magic to create a large bracelet tree behind her house. Of course, no one has ever seen it. Her best friends are Rose Rogidruez, Deepthi Deshpande and Lily Valley.

 

Truth or Dare

 

“Truth or Dare”

“Definitely DARE”

“I dare you toooo…... prank call Mr. Harrison”

              I stared at her with my mouth agape, my chips packet slipping from between my fingers and hitting the wooden floor, spilling all over the floor. Lily-Rose Johnston smirked at me from across the pink table. Everything in Sarah Jane Cabot’s room was obnoxiously pink. Even her clothes are varying shades of pink! But now, I wasn’t thinking about SJ’s pink obsession. Or anything but the fact that I had just been dared to call up the neighbourhood crank at 12 am as a joke! Did that girl even know how many times I was going to be killed for this? I mean, we aren’t even supposed to be AWAKE right now. My best friend, Dora, poked me in the side, then looked up to Lily- Rose, who was laughing so hysterically, it would be pointless to try to talk to her. Instead, she turned to Sarah Jane. “SJ, your bestie  just broke my bestie. Fix her!” she demanded. SJ merely grinned and punched me in the arm. That shook me out of my stupor. I gaped at Lily- Rose, then smirked, as a realization dawned upon me. I lunged forward and snatched Lily’s phone. Ignoring her squeals, I scramble to the bathroom, and lock myself in. Disregarding the bangs and yells outside, I dial Mr. Harrison’s number. As it rings, I giggle at the saccharine veiled threats and obscenities being hurled at me by Lily- Rose.

 

 “What the hell do you think you’re doing, calling at 12:15 in the morning?” came a grumpy voice.

I deepened my voice to disguise it from him. Coupled with the fact that I was using Lily- Rose’s phone, he’d never know it was me, plus the fact that Lils was no tell-tale, he’d never know it was me

“RUDE! You didn’t even say hello!”

“You’d be the same if some idiot decided to call at midnight. What do you want?”

“Just wanted to inform you that your kitchen is not on fire”

A beat. “WHAT!?”

“Your kitchen is not on fire”

“You called me at TWELVE FIFTEEN IN THE MORNING TO TELL ME MY KITCHEN IS NOT ON FIRE!?”

“Um, ya. Pretty much.”

    “Why you little-” I disconnected the call still sniggering. I opened the bathroom door only to be assaulted by a furious Lily- Rose. . Mr Harrison………… is our principal. He knew Lily’s number. I was gonna get slaughtered, and it was not going to be pretty.

    For the first time, Im regretting what I just did. Lily- Rose maybe small, but her temper is as wild as her vividly red hair. Eep! Once when a girl nearly 5 years older than us bullied SJ, Lily- Rose karate kicked her, gave her a wedgie, wiped her face in the mud, yanked half her hair out and stuffed her in a dumpster! As my mom said, ‘That girl’s got spunk.’ She glared at me in a towering rage. She looked ready to kill, and the others girls were making frantic throat slitting motions behind her. “Um, gotta go!” I squeaked, and dashed by her, out the door. I know its something past midnight, and my parents are NOT going to be happy having me rush home early from the sleepover, but I value my life more than my dignity.

How Deserts were formed

    When God created earth, he made all beautiful and fertile, so if an animal accidentally dropped a seed, within two to three days, a tall tree, or a magnificent bush with the choicest berries would sprout. However, with these plentiful resources, man began to do bad. Fed up, God told the humans that every time they commited some wrongdoing, he would sprinkle a pinch ofsand ina small area called a desert and so make the patch of earth on which it fell so infertile nothing could grow in it, and anything that existed there would immediately wilt

          Nobody worried. "After all", they  told each other, "It's just a pinch of sand!"  However, as deed piled upon deed, they began to regret it. Half of the planet was sand! They appealed to God to help them. 

    He told them, "I cannot take back my curse (like in hindu mythology and folk tales) but I will give you a blessing, everytime you do something good, I will remove a pinch of sand." Relieved, they began to help each other. When there were only small patches of desert left, people began to relax into evil again l. Worried, God created many good spirits crammed into human bodies. They could do only good, not an evil thought could cross their minds. Because of these good souls good and bad keep balanced. Only sometimes does something evil happen extra. Please don't blame it on the cows overeating.

BRIDGE

 BRIDGE

    I slip into unconsciousness. This feeling is surreal. I am in middle of a bridge, voices call to me from both sides. One side is harshly lit, with grating noises, like chainsaw. I register sweet, yet distorted voices, which sound somewhat familiar. The light begins to blind me, so I turn to the other side. The other side is dark and cool, with sweet harmonious music playing. The voices from there however are anything but sweet. I recognize it. It is the voice of death. I back away, but as soon as I set foot on land, pain blinds me and I stagger backwards. I lay on the bridge panting for a few seconds.

     Then to my utmost shock, a picture flashes before my eyes. A young girl wearing a purple tee covered in blood, face disfigured, fighting for her life. The are gashes down her body. Suddenly I remember.that girl is me. Mountain climbing, my hands slipping, shock, fear and other emotions mixed together. After that, I search my mind, but I uncover only blackness. I realize then. If I step towards the light, pain and misery will be there, but I will have more time on Earth. The darkness will be cool and sweet. I am not a bad person so I wont be reborn, or go to hell. No one can choose but me, I am the one who holds the key. After hesitating, I step forward, into the side that is right. Now, i am happy. Pained but happy. I would have pain either way. Emotionally from the dark, or physically from the light 

Chelsea's Smile

 

    Once a girl called Chelsea. She had two brothers, whose names were Tedd and Benedett Her dad's name was Robert. She lived in a utopia where everything was possible. Fairies, magic everything existed in the land of Artimè. Chelsea mother, Loriline, was the most powerful enchantress in all the land. But this little gem of a girl had lost her smile. Her fingers were webbed as well. But Loriline used a sort of magic to free her fused together fingers. Now, the scientists out of you would it had something to do with her 5th and 6th cranial nerve, yadayadayada, (no disrespect to doctors BTW). Probably yes, but in OUR world. But come on people, this is a fairyland.

     Anyway, Chelsea's mother Loriline, tried everything, spells, potions, magic powders. She even resorted to the most despised kind of magic, witchcraft, but nothing would help. She knew that Chelsea was a very intelligent girl,with a special kind of magic- she would be a mage. A few days after Chelsea turned six, Loriline was helping her dress for her birthday party, and she tied two red ribbons into Chelsea's hair. As she adimired it's effect in Chelsea's bright blond hair, Chelsea looked at her mother's reflection in the pool of floating water. "I want to smile, like you", she said. Loriline sighed in anger, at herself, and her magic for failing her at this critical moment. "I will find a way to make you smile, whatever it takes" she vowed. 

    Soon after, she heard of a wizard called Sir Ronaldo Zuckerman. He was a skilled magic worker who had helped many children with the same disability as Chelsea. But the magic consisted of two parts, powders and potions. They both had to be performed seperately, with a month gap in between. If it went wrong, Chelsea could have an artificial half smile on one side of her face! It was a risk, but Loriline had one comfort. Sir Ronaldo had not had a failure yet. 

       Chelsea decided to go. A few days and a lot of worrying later, Chelsea had  no change. She had to practice smiling. One month later, she had a definite half smile. Encouraged slightly, Chelsea went to Sir Ronaldo again. After a few months, she could smile quite well. On her 8th birthday, she gave herself the one gift she wanted most, a perfect symmetric smile. Many people, inspired by the pretty little girl's success, underwent the treatment as well. Since it was a fairyland, it's always happily ever after.........or is it?

 

The inspiration for this story is from Readers digest pages 37 to 43, volume 151, issue 906, October of 1997.

The original version of this story is given below. ( Originally written by Barbara Sande Dimmit)

Original names Chelsea is Chelsey, Loriline is Lori, Sir Ronaldo Zuckerman is Dr. Ronald Zuker, Tedd is Todd, Benedett is Brett and Robert is Bob.

 

The Deepavali of a Prison Inmate

 Friday, November 14th, 2014

 

I take in a deep breath and open my eyes, drinking in the first drops of golden sunshine as they filter through the bars of the window. Prison is the nicest at these times of day. I smile calmly to myself and prepare myself for a routine festive day. I climb out of bed, stretch out, and head to brush my teeth in the tiny sink I share with my half dozen room- mates. As soon as my teeth are clean- well, as clean as I can get them with the low quality, watery toothpaste and sticks of brushes they give us- I run a hand through my tangled hair and wake up my room- mates. They grumble, of course, and ask me how I can bear waking up so early. Truth is, I’ve been waking up at 4 my entire life.

 

First thing in the morning, they take us for a 2 hour run along the icy terrain. We are given each a pair of thin gloves and a small jacket and told the run will warm us up enough. It does, if you run fast enough, and you imagine nice things about the land and your fellow inmates. This works pretty well, as long as I keep myself in control of my imagination. Once, when I was a child, I imagined my neighbour as a witch. I grew so frightened at this fantasy, that whenever I saw her coming, I would cross over to the other side of the road. My neighbour was in fact only a sweet, harmless old lady. As a very keen and sensitive person, she noticed my odd behaviour around her, and was consequentially heartbroken, when she found out from her grandson, that I thought she was a witch. I apologized and later, we became good friends. My Amma always told me I had an overactive imagination, and that I could be an author. But, looksee here, I’m in jail. Big whoop.

 

After our run, we have baths in water so cold, it is hotter than hell. Then, we attend our 4 hour ethics and ‘how to repent’ class with Ms. Penelope, but we call her Ms. Vanellope, like that character from the game Sugar Rush, cus she’s so sweet. Spoiler, Vanellope is actually in 2^nd standard. Her father, Mr. von Darnell, brings her to this class to help us repent. The reason for this is that sometimes grownups are judgemental, and von Darnell wants us to tell someone what we did wrong, so we will feel worse for doing it. So, as a rule, all new inmates must tell little Vanellope what they did and she will tell them that it is alright and that they shouldn’t do it again. When I was brought here about 3 to 4 months back, they left me in a room with Vanellope. Here is how our conversation went:

VANELLOPE: What did you do wrong, Rishi uncle?

ME: I stole some money from the company I worked at

VANELLOPE: Why did you do that, uncle?

ME: I had to live on something, and I wasn’t getting paid enough.

VANELLOPE: Why didn’t you ask for more money?

ME: I did. They told me that they didn’t have enough money to go around currently.

VANELLOPE: If they said that, then wouldn’t they have a good reason.

ME: (bitterly) Bigwigs only want what is good for the company…… and themselves

VANELLOPE: But suppose they had a good reason, and some people were paid less than you, and you stole what was supposed to be their salary. Could you live with yourself?

ME: (after a few moments thought) Ah, well…… I suppose I couldn’t.

VANELLOPE: Now you realized it, will you promise you won’t do it again?

ME: Promise

VANELLOPE: God swear

ME: God swear

 

              And I wasn’t planning to. Isn’t it amazing? I had spent 2 months in a previous facility, and I never thought I was much in the wrong, even with weeks and weeks worth of ethics class and ‘what you did was wrong’ lectures and whatnot, but a 7 year old taught me that what I did was inexcusable, in a 10 minute chat?

 Today we had a pleasant surprise. Vanellope was walking around distributing copies of a book. My curiosity rose, and I gave the little girl a grateful smile as she handed me a copy. It was a handsome little book with a hardbound green cover. Titled in loopy red handwriting ‘Little Women’ by ‘Louisa May Alcott’

Mr. von Darnell stood on the stage and addressed us “You have all been good”-like we were naughty little children- “and hardworking, so we have decided to reward you with this new book. They are brand new and quite expensive. I expect you to take care of them, as you might not get any in the near future” I couldn’t believe my ears! Even if the rest of the day was completely lousy, this would make up for it. A new book! I had not had a new book since I landed up in prison nearly 6 months ago. The only book I had now, was a worn, faded but beautiful copy of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’   I had chosen that one because not knowing what came after the words ‘the end’ opened the gates to a world of imagination that I could only enter in my sleep. The ornate ivory gates of the dreamworld are sometimes more real to me than the dingy walls and cold breezes around me. Past those gates are large fields of dewy flowers and vivid rainbows. Quaint little cottages dot the landscape and each homestead is more welcoming than the last. The colours here are like those in the real world, but in the Otherworld, they reach a vividness beyond comparison. The fruit is most delicious thing you will ever taste. Even the juiciest fruit seems as dry as sandpaper when you put fruit from the otherworld on your tongue. Of course, I tend to ramble on and on about this world and people think me strange.

              After ethics, we were sent off to work. My current job was as a baker’s apprentice. I had to lug sacks of flour and manage the register, but today, I would be learning to bake. I head of to the little village nearby the prison with Shashi and Mohan. Shashi is the mason’s apprentice and Mohan is the junior potter. We set off with 3 or 4 four guards behind us, making sure we don’t run for it. Like we’d be THAT stupid. I reach the little bakery, bid goodbye to my friends, and enter the building with the little bell on the door ringing. The bakery owner Mrs. Meringue, a sturdy, kind faced woman in her 70s tells me that today we will make her famous Meringue meringues. We get baking, and before long, she says “ Rishi Khanna, I swear, you must have a natural gift for baking. Your meringues are better than MY son’s, and he has been baking for years and years!”

             

              I finished baking my meringues, and as a reward, she let me have a whole tray of freshly baked cream puffs half price. She would have let me have them free, but I wouldn’t hear of it. I went back at 6’o clock with warm fresh cream puffs in a little bag for my friends. All in all, it had been a very satisfying day. I had cream puffs, I had learned that I was a baking prodigy, I had a new book, a new bit of fancy for my imagination to chew on. The only thing that could make this day perfect was reading a chapter from my old copy of Harry Potter. I did just that. Shafts of soft moonlight fall on my face as I drift to sleep. if sunlight is gold, then moonlight is silver. Deepavali was fun. Tomorrow, my run will be longer, I’ll have to work in the fields, ethics will only be 1 hour, I’ll have to wake up at 3, and I’ll have to switch to a new apprenticeship for a week before coming back to baking, but…….. tomorrow will be tomorrow, I’ll just enjoy today. And so I float to that land hidden behind those elaborately carved gates and pearly walls

The Ruby Necklace

  Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Goldie. Goldie was a bright and cheerful girl. Her dancing blue eyes made one want to twirl and whirl and watch her smile. Her long golden hair was let loose and it fell softly about her shoulders. All who caught but a glimpse of her immediately loved her. As it so happened, she and her entire family were to board a ship to Greenland. A witch was also on the ship, and though she was very evil, she liked the little girl. She was very selfish and wanted little Goldie all for herself.

       She created a hurricane and made it rush at the ship. She made sure that she and Goldie were the only ones to survive. The two were washed ashore and despite all of the witch's precautions they were unconscious and were taken to a little cottage by some kind folk. When the witch awoke, both she and Goldie were in a little room, surrounded by a group of concerned faces. The little girl was up and talking. She was begging the people in the cottage to look for her parents.

       A search revealed her entire family, not one had been spared. She wept for hours, inconsolable. The kindly people of the cottage wept as well, for they felt the child's sorrow. After a few days, Goldie had cried herself out, and the witch began to warm her to the topic of her adoption. Goldie agreed to go with the witch on one condition. She wanted a bit of her family. The witch took a drop of blood from each of the dead bodies and with her magic, turned each drop of blood into a perfect, sparkling red ruby, brighter than the blood that formed them. Goldie slipped the rubies onto a lock of her thick, golden hair. Years passed, Goldie grew up, and one day, when she was 27 years old she and the witch died in a car crash. She was buried in a grave next to her parents, along with the ruby necklace. It had stayed with her near all her life, and it was not going to leave her during her death.

       Many years passed. It was now 20 years to the day she died. Some grave robbers opened up her family's graves and unable to find anything, turned to her's. Her body had been decomposed, and all that was left were the rubies and her golden hair. The robbers took the rubies and split them up. Soon, their gang broke up, and they went their separate ways. 

       Five years later they all met again on a ship. They rubies had acted as a lucky charm, for they had become wealthy and successful. But that night the boat sank. The robbers sank with the ship and the rubies. The rubies sank to the bottom of the sea and were swallowed by a fish. A  poor fisherman caught it and thinking they were shiny bits of glass, took them home. He had a small pot the size of his palm, in which he kept them. It was placed on the window sill. Some birds took them thinking that they were berries. They landed in a graveyard and tried to eat them. When they discovered that the bright red things were not berries they quickly lost interest and flew away. 

       When the place was silent and no one was watching. The rubies slowly rose and hovered for a second. They then shot towards Goldie's grave and suddenly a figure rose. A pretty little girl with golden hair jumped up and did a merry dance. More people came out. Goldie and her family dance again

       

Heaven is gold, hell is red [blood]

 Fields of flowers covered in dew. Large ornate gates. This is what heaven would look like. There would be lots of roses, but without thorns. And dozens of hundreds of June Lilies too. In the fields, the grass would be so soft, you could sleep on it. The houses would be quaint, and cosy. There’d be lots of bunnies hopping about the grass. And the clothes would always smell nice, because they were boiled with sprigs of lavender. And they would never fade, and always like they were brand new. The colours of heaven are vivid and make even the fluorescent colours on earth seem like pastels. But in heaven, all colours, even the paint, is natural. There would be only one big building. In the middle of a clearing, a large yellow building with white trimmed windows and ivy climbing the sides, with a brook running clear through it. This is where the gods stay. All gods, from all religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity, all living side by side, helping those who need it and punishing those who deserve it. The chief justice of the court is Atman. He is just a voice. A light and a voice.

 

              The people in heaven work sometimes as well. They grant wishes, settle disputes and all, but they mainly either farm, hunt or raise livestock. The forest dwellers usually just eat the fruit growing in the forest and hunt deer. The difference between earth hunters and heaven hunters is that hunters in heaven always pray for the soul of their prey before killing it. They pray that the dead animal will join Atman. The food in heaven is delicious. If you took the tastiest food on earth, and the stalest food in heaven, then heaven’s food will be a thousand times better. There is no disease in heaven either, so those who live there for a long time, they forget what feeling ill is like and their immune system lowers the defences, and when they are reborn, they have lower immunity than the average human, and it is difficult to build your immunity again.

 

              The thing about rebirth is, the kinder and better you are in this life, the longer you stay in heaven. From heaven, the land of goodness, you can see the gaytes of hell, the land of wickedness. While the gates of heaven are elaborate and immaculately carved, the gates of hell are pitch black and coated with blood every evening. If you peeked over the wall, you could see bodies everywhere, all writhing in unthinkable agony. Some have strength enough to climb the wall, but as soon as their fingers touch the top, a spasm of pain racks their bodies and they fall down again. There is blood and gore everywhere and heaven-dwellers who decide to look there are sometimes so traumatized that they take weeks to recover. All in all, if you can, go to heaven. Hell, is torturous.

What's in a name?

 “I read in a book once that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I've never been able to believe it. I don't believe a rose WOULD be as nice if it was called a thistle or a skunk cabbage.”

-ANNE SHIRLEY: ANNE OF GREEN GABLES

 

What’s in a name?  More than you’d think. In fact, knowingly or unknowingly, we all connect names with people, animals or things, an example being the narcissus flower. If you know the meaning of NARCISSIST, then the flower doesn’t look so nice in your imagination. Now think of a daffodil. What does it look like? Believe it or not, daffodils and narcissi are the same flower. Don’t believe me? Look it up. Now let us take another example.

 

              I walk into class just before the bell rings. A flustered Mrs. Gopal runs in. “Sorry I’m late,” she cries. Little does she know she isn’t the only one. My best friend Arya, slips into the class, just as the teacher turns around to pick up a sheet that slipped from her fingers. We smirk at one another as she slides in next to me. Mrs. Gopal turns around and clears her throat. “Attention,” she says. No one looks at her. They chat on, oblivious to her attempts to catch their attention. Arya and I are watching her. This is the most amusing part of class, by far. I look sidelong at my classmates. Arya’s twin brother Aryan, who sits at the desk adjacent to us (I know, only an ‘N’ difference between Arya and Aryan. What were their parents thinking? It is confusing. And annoying. Once Aryan forgot the n in his name when writing his name on the answer paper, and Arya almost failed a test) and his deskmates, Shiva and Kumar are making grotesque faces at the teacher. She isn’t pleased. Not one bit. “ATTENTION!” she screams. Her face is flushed and she looks like she wants to squash the boys to a pulp. Everyone looks at her, shocked. Normally, she’s such a pushover. Once we calm down a bit, she glares at us like she’s questioning why she even took a job teaching 7^th standard students science. I mutter to Arya, “Mt. Gopal’s gonna blow!” Mrs. Gopal waits till we are silent, and tell us, “ we are getting a new student. His name is Aryan Hitler. I understand his last name is a bit…… strange, and he has undergone much teasing due to it, which is why he has switched schools. He is unable to change his name due to some snag in the judicial bit of it. I trust you will be kind to him. Also, Aryan we will refer to you using your last name now, Dilip. I know it our custom to use the new student’s last name. This time, however, you’ll have to adjust.” However, even after all Mrs. Gopal’s warning, Aryan, sorry, Dilip teased him so much that his parents were called in, along with Aryan H. and his parents.

 

              Do you see how badly Aryan H suffered because of his name. Adolf Hitler was a tyrant, so this new boy, who they for all they knew could be as sweet and humane as Mother Teresa, was lumped into the same category as a murderer. Another thing, we tend to judge people very easily. If the students at his old school and Dilip had not jumped to conclusions about someone just because of his name, then Aryan need not have suffered so much bullying at their hands. Also, it is very tough to change your name for someone who does not the correct judicial procedures, so YOU don’t jump to conclusions about Aryan’s parents.

Water Ahoy!

    I lean over the railing and breathe the fresh sea air. The crisp salty breeze whips my hair across my face. Mum says I have found my sea legs specially fast. Poor Harry hasn’t. He keeps vomiting, and frankly, it’s disgusting. I see in the distance a glittering mass the size of a skyscraper. It looks gorgeous. I yawn, it is time to sleep.

 

              I wake up with a start, as Mum shakes me up. Then I feel a jolt that throws me backwards. With a shake of my head I look up at Mum, who is clinging to the bedpost, so as not to be tossed around. I follow her lead and grab on to the windowsill. I feel something wet around my ankles. I look down and almost lose my grip on the windowsill. There is water everywhere, including inside my socks. Dad runs in, with Harry, my 12 year old elder brother. Both of them have faces as white as ghouls. Let’s go, let’s go, their mouths move, but I can’t hear anything but my own blood rushing through my ears .WE’RE SINKING! Suddenly I feel lightheaded and fuzzy. However, I find myself moving down the stairs. Harry mouths to me, ‘Are you okay?’ I don’t want to worry him, so I nod. Basically, I’m fine, I guess, except, I’ve a stomach-ache, a headache, feel like vomiting, I think I’m getting a nosebleed, and I can’t feel my feet.

 

              Me and Harry clamber into a lifeboat, but before Mum and Dad can get in, it is swept away by a particularly large wave. I cant hear a single sound, but I can feel Harry screaming for them, mingling with my own thoughts. We are looking on helplessly as the ship sinks down, disappearing completely. The bow of the ship hits our lifeboat and it is shoved far away. I look around. Normally, Harry is the more level-headed of the two of us, but today, he is just freaking out. He is screaming for Mum and Dad at the top of his voice. “Shut up, and let me think, Harry” I yell at him. He quiets down, and I say “First, let’s state the facts, then figure out a WAY out”

“Well, let’s see Krystal, we are a 9 year old and a 12 year old, who HAVE NOTHING BUT THIS BOAT AND ARE STUCK IN MIDDLE OF THE ARCTIC OCEAN. ”

“OK, one, you are almost 13 next month is your birthday, second, I brought my rucksack, we have enough food and water for 3 days, 6 if we stretch it, and third, this is the Atlantic Ocean, not the Arctic.”

“Still doesn’t get rid of our main problem-- one year doesn’t make much difference by the way—which is we are stuck here, and we don’t know if Mum and Dad are OK.”

              I have a thought. Then 20 more. And none of the thoughts are good. “What if no one finds us!” I am the one near hysterics this time. As Harry calms me down, I chance a look up, and to my pleasure see a helicopter. It hovers close to the water when it sees us and the door opens. A blonde woman in her early twenties opens the door. “You kids from the Titanic,” she asks. I open my mouth to answer and Harry tells me, “That question was probably rhetorical”

“Righto, kid. I’m pretty sure you guys are from there. We are the pickup service.”

 

              It isn’t smart to go with strangers, but at least it’d be better than starving to death in a tiny lifeboat about a million miles away from humanity. Me and Harry scramble aboard. There are two more women and a man all around the same age as the blonde that pulled us on. They introduce themselves. The blonde is Nina, the red head woman is Rihanna, her brother is Ronald, the other red head, the girl with raven black hair and big, almond shaped eyes catches my eye immediately. The others are cheerful, while she looks sad. Her large brown eyes seem to be pools of misery. Nina sees me watching her. “Her name is Meena. We fished her out round an hour ago. We still haven’t found her little brother, Roshan. She is completely—oi look down, there’s another kid in the ocean.” They hovered over the water and this time Rihanna went over and yanked a little girl out of the water. She is about my age, and shivering with cold. Meena shot up out of her seat and hugged the girl. “Meena.” She shivered.

 

              Soon after picking up Sanjana and a few others, the Helicopter was full. They had found Mum and Dad too, but not Roshan. Meena and Sanjana are crying at the back. I really feel for them, but there is nothing that I can do. We landed in an hour or so. The Titanic is a dangerous ship, and I never want to sail ever again.