"Birthdays and Exams" (Rajni)

Its my birthday next week and here i am giving competitive exams one after the other without actually doing well in any of them. How do you think am i feeling at this moment?

i sit in the examination hall and i can see many around me who are sure to do well. many would do better than me. i have decided that i will only concentrate on my exam now. thoughts are flooding my mind but they don't seem to affect me for some strange reason. other than some one or two thoughts in between i have been successful in keeping my mind clear of them. Gosh, the questions are tough!

i am going through the maths section first, as i always do. after completing a major portion i can sense the time slipping away through my fingers as i write so i go to the g.k section straight. the questions here are absolutely Greek to me. literally!  i probably know only a mere 30% of the total asked here. leaving the ones i don't know, i use my pen to answer the biology part. this one is better. i am able to answer most of the questions.

now its time for my brain to go the chemistry way. i am answering all of them but also circling many because i still have doubts in my mind regarding them. after completing chemistry i open the physics page.

i like physics a lot. it is uncomplicated and if your concepts are right you'll have no problems in it. so physics isn't so bad. with 15 minutes left out of the 90 we started with, i set myself to complete the rest of the maths portion. by now i am stressed. i need to darken the circles in the OMR sheet.. i borrow a sketch pen from one of the kids in my class and do the darkening.

i am great at colouring. my abilities have been appreciated by many and even got me admission into nursery. so filling those tiny circles with black ink was no tough job.

the invigilator comes and collects my answer sheet. with that sheet i can also see my last hope going with her. as i wait for my friends who are going to go back home with me, i can see my classmates discussing the paper. i have no wish to go near them.

durga puja (trisha)

durga puja is the most fun part of the year. waking up at 4 in the morning to hear mahalaya(description of maa durga's journey from mount kailesh to the earth) on the first day to celebrating the arrival of maa durga on the sixth day and her departure on the tenth is a time of the year that every bengali on the face of this planet eagerly waits for.

this year, same as the years before it, i forgot to wake up at the right time on the day of mahalaya. so as usual we had to play the recorded casettes instead of listening t it on the medium wave. the next 5 days were ordinary. since maa durga was fighting and ultimately killing the demon mahishasura, i had to go to school and study.

during durga puja the whole school gets to know that i am will be celebrating it it due to my excitement.

the day it was shashthi( six days after mahalaya and mahalaya being on the zero day) my happiness knew no bounds. from this day not only was  free from studying for some time  but even mum was in a permanent good mood. i got to wear absolutely new clothes and the whole day i flitted around in them showing them off to the whole world.

next day on saptami my aunt and my grandparents went to pitampura puja pandal. wearing traditional clothes i was absolutely fit for the traditional environment. since we were on a fast since the morning so we quickly gave the anjali( special prayers) to maa durga and had the prasad (prayer food ). we also went to the rohini puja pandal. inn the evening we went to the nivedita enclave puja pandal and enjoyed ourselves ever the great food there.sometimes you might just think that durga puja is all about new clothes and good food. but it is much more than just that. it is time to feel happy without any guilt and and sharing joy with the masses. and the saying that joy increases with sharing is just appropriate for this great festival.

the next two day that is ashtami and navami were equally fun.we went to the bigest puja pandals across the city. we went to kali bari with my uncle and my kid cousin and my aunt and her parents. the street food wasn't so good this year but the crowd was as huge as last year.i kept on clicking the picture of everyone and the beautiful idols on all the days.

the last or the ninth(numerically tenth) day ,after the sindur khela in the morning by the married women in the puja pandals, the idols of maa durga and her four kids are taken to the rivers for immersion. when the men wade into the river water together carrying the idols on their shoulders it is like saying bye to your own family member. as she floats in the water and her clay and straw body disintegrates, the show comes to an end. now we just have to go back to our normal lives and wait for the next year.

slideshows (suhasini)

it is the time of examination result days. my marks haven't been very satisfactory and i would go as far as to say that have beaten the daylights out of me. even though i have managed to remain an A2 for now but i can no longer go on at the same pace as earlier. we still have our English results to be announced so it is very evident that everybody is feeling a nerve wrecking nervousness.

among all this we happen to receive some amount of joy coming in packets through rare incidences.

i sat with some of my classmates to amuse myself. soon we started to imagine everyone in our class in the most silly dance sequences. the pictures that came into out mind were completely horrendous but very funny.
saksham unfortunately had these pictures permanently imprinted in his mind and the slide show of these pictures continued to haunt him throughout the day.

creative writing(suhasini)

its been two months since i've joined this school. it puzzles me how the time just flew away? anyways there are two absolutely fantastic things that happened today.

first-football is justifiably called the game of Gods. its no wonder i love it so much. so much that i don't care that i am probably the only girl in the whole class  who plays alone with a pack of boys. my pathetic skills absolutely fail to subdue my spirit. but today there was something good on my cards. kartik skillfully maneuvering the ball kicked it towards me and i ,further protecting it from my opponents,  kicked it hard. and lo and behold, it went straight into the goal in a diagonal direction passing 6 boys on its way. thus my day started with the boys cheering me and hi 5ing me. wonders happen and they happen in the most unexpected and wonderful ways. i have experienced it first hand.

second-an audition was held for a creative writing competition where you had to write the back page of any imaginary book of your choice. the title of my book was titled " her blood was blue". the story's burp seemed just appropriate for the 10-14 age group that it was intended for. i am proud of my creation because it was so good that even i could have read the book had it been given to me. i just can't stop my giggles due to the joy i hold in my heart right now. sigh, what a wonderful day it was!

2nd entry (riddhima)

2nd ENTRY(28 sept)
it's so hot today. and we have to attend the assembly in the scorching heat. "maneka, i so wish the assembly could be cancelled. its really annoying to hear all those people talk on and on and on"

to this maneka replies,"yeah. why do they even have to have assemblies? instead we could finish our leftover homework. "

dhani is listening to all this and giving a sly grin. she looks funny so i just can't stop myself from asking her why."is there something funny going on in your head?"

"you can say so riddhima. i was just thinking of the new girl and her 99% marks. does she think of us as dumb?its impossible to get such marks."

"i think that miss smarty girl would also say that she now has the largest house in the world.", i say.

"riddhima that was lame."

i coolly reply to maneka,"i could be lamer!"


the day was okay. looks like that new girl suhasini has made good friends with rishika and kanishtha. good for her.
why does the maths teacher need to be so strict? i am just 2 days late for submission. even though i told her that my work is complete, she couldn't care less. i'll have to give her the notebook tomorrow for sure otherwise she'll probably kill me. i feel so satisfied today for some reason. i helped a 2nd grade child after i saw him tripping and badly hurting his knee. i simply took him to the clinic after that but the genuine thanks i received in return from him made my day. cool!

the first day 2(mihir)

my bus is full of crazy guys. the seniors just don't don't seem to allow anyone to come near the last seats.my friends and i don't like them. they are bullies.

at last we've arrived at school. ronit calls out my name;" have you learnt the bio chapter? we have a test today."

i reply,"oh really? i'll do it it in the free periods."

we go to the class together. i really don't think today's going to be anything different from yesterday. 

I've gone through the two pages that ma'am is going to test. what's there? is that girl coming to our class. she looks quite old to be coming to our class with that kind of a bag. must be new girl. i couldn't care less about this addition to our class.

the first day(suhasini)

here i am, standing in front of the school gates wondering whether i should enter or not. in absence of any substantial reasons for not entering, i set my right foot on the other side of the gate. while seeing all those kids jumping in the ground, i can sense that nobody really is interested in the new child who is walking with her mother. i can't really say i am offended since it's nice not to have kids swarming over you as if you are the new sports equipment they've been waiting for so long.

i get a peck on my nose from my mother who i really hope would leave soon because now the spectators include a few teachers too. i am taken to my class which is just right for the forty surprised children it holds. i am strangely conscious of myself. i don't have my glasses with me so my teacher kindly seats me in front in the place of a girl. its obvious that she might just be the first of many who don't like me.

though there are many girls who have become friends with me but i am clearly aware of their scrutiny. gosh, they are so different from me! i am sure that girl in the corridor would have been punished had she been in my previous school. anyways this is my school now and its better that i soon become a comfortable part of it.

i think the boys are not bad. at least not that guy. he's smart. i can't say anything about the others. the rest are okay. most of them are quite decent.seeing form the class response i can make out that most of them are all right in studies.

by the end of the day i have two invitations for accompanying in the lunch period. my bag is heavy with notebooks which have to be photostated. and i am also very scared of french now.i hope i cover up quickly.