ICE CREAM

 

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream

I started pencil shading a few months ago and this is how much I have improved                                          

A Harappan Adventure

 A Harappan Adventure: Girls of India by Sunila Gupte.

First of all, this is a great travel read ( I hope that's how they call books that are good to read on the go). I finished this on my travel to Yercaud.

The protagonist Avani (oh I love that name) and friends Tavishi, Delshad and Ambar are smart and mischievous but also daring as they get into many adventures. Then there is the wedding of the Village Elder’s daughter Ketika and the son of the priest-king this guy brings fresh excitement into their lives. The monk who travelled from China is also visiting so the wedding has to be perfect. Everyone is busy with work, which gives no time for Avani and her friends to continue with their adventures but Avani suspects something sinister is about to happen. Which may or may not include the two mysterious men who Avani heard talking about Revenge. Other incidents, like a bizarre robbery and a fire at the grain storeroom, add to the tension.

When everyone thought everything was going according to plan, a few minutes after the wedding, Ketika and the priest-king's son is kidnapped. Will Avani and her friends’ quick thinking help save them ???

 I hope this was thrilling enough

I really love how it's not like other history books with the "boringness" of facts, years and dates but it's a blend of history and Fiction or Fictroy make this more exciting and enjoyable.

Next, I will definitely be reading  A Chola Adventure: Girls of India by Anu Kumar

NATURE: THE GENTLEST MOTHER IS by Emily Dickinson

This is one of my favourite poems and I want you guys to know it too.

 Nature, the gentlest mother,

Impatient of no child,

The feeblest or the waywardest,—

Her admonition mild

In forest and the hill

By traveler be heard,

Restraining rampant squirrel

Or too impetuous bird.

How fair her conversation

A summer afternoon

Her household her assembly;

And when the sun go down,

Her voice among the aisles

Incite the timid prayer

Of the minutest cricket

The most unworthy flower

When all the children sleep,

She turns as long away

As will suffice to light her lamps,

Then bending from the sky

With infinite affection

An infiniter care,

Her golden finger on her lip,

Wills silence everywhere

1st STANZA: The poet tells us that nature is patient with all of us. She does not discriminate between people. She warns us all softly

2nd STANZA: 

The poet tells us that nature protects all her children amidst humans. She does not harm the hunters but instead, she protects the animals.

3rd and 4th STANZA: The poet tells us that she does the household chores and prays for all of us.

5th STANZA: The poet tells us that even during the darkest of times mother nature will shine a ray of hope upon all of us.

6th STANZA: Nature gives us unlimited love and care and makes us feel the peacefulness by silencing us

The five run away together

 FIVE RUN AWAY TOGETHER by Enid Blyton

Now the third volume of Famous five. I don't think this book made up to most of my expectations well At least the name isn't The Five Have An Another Adventure. When I saw the title I expected some really cool action-packed story where George and Timmy kick everyone's butt and all of them running away from the police or some baddies.

The story begins when Julian, Dick and Anne arrive in Kirrin Cottage to stay with George for the holidays. Their happiness is spoiled when Aunt Fanny falls ill and has to leave with Uncle Quentin to be treated in a far-off hospital. They have to stay with the Sticks.

The Sticks and the four children come to hate each other. The Five start bulling Edgar (the Stick's son) and Tinker the dog too. ( No wonder they get in trouble so many time the Karma of all the Bulling)

Things got really bad. Slap-up meals are only made possible by stealing the food Mrs Stick has made for her own family, The Sticks threaten to poison Timmy ( Although after many threatenings only one successful though non-fatal attempt was held )

This made them "run away" from Kirrin cottage and go to Kirrin Island and live there. Where they find a cave and a shipwreck

What are you hiding, Island

The children find evidence of the Sticks visiting the island and suspect they are smugglers. 

With the number of times, the famous got in trouble and came in contact with several bad guys, I'm starting to feel their parents don't really care about them.

Of course, they start pranking them to scare them away from the island, which is kinda fun to read. The discovery of a young girl's toys and clothes point that they are kidnappers. And you know what happens next they find the girl and hand over the Sticks to the police and come back for another adventure.

I'm not sure whether if this book was  really good or not, but it did seem boring at times although there were some hilarious scenes

"They're in that room where we found the treasure last year! That's where they're camping out! What noises shall we make?"

"I'll be a cow," said Dick. "I can moo awfully like a cow. I'll be a cow."

"I'll be a sheep," said Julian. "George, you be a horse. You can whinny and harrumph just like a horse. Dick, you begin!"

So Dick began. Hidden behind a rocky pillar, he opened his mouth and mooed dolefully, like a cow in pain. At once the echoes took up the mooing, magnified it, sent it along all the underground passages, till it seemed as if a thousand cows had wandered there and were mooing together."Moo—oo—oo—OOOOOOOO, ooo—oo—MOOOOOOO!"The Sticks listened in amazement and fright at the sudden awful noise.

"What is it, Ma?" said Edgar, almost in tears. Stinker crouched at the back of the cave, terrified. "It's cows," said Mr Stick, amazed. "Then there's cows. Can't you hear the moos? But how did cows get to be here?""Nonsense!" said Mrs Stick, recovering herself a little. "Cows down these caves! You're mad! You'll be telling me there's sheep next!"

It was funny that she should have said that, for Julian chose that moment to begin baaing like a flock of sheep. His one long, bleating "baa-baa-aa-aa" was taken up by the echoes at once, and it seemed suddenly as if hundreds of poor lost sheep were baa-ing their way down the dungeons!

Mr Stick jumped to his feet, as white as a sheet. "Well, if it isn't sheep now!" he said. "What's up? What's in these "ere dungeons? I never did like them."

"Baa-aa-AAAAAAAAAAP went the mournful bleats all round and about. And then George started her whinnying and neighing, just like an impatient horse. The little girl tossed her head in the darkness and harrumphed exactly like a horse and then she stamped with her foot, and at once the echoes stamped too, sending the whinnying and neighing and stamping into Sticks" cave twenty times louder than George had made them.

or

Mr Stick went to the door of the room they were in and shouted loudly. "Get out, you! Clear out! Whoever you are!"

George giggled. Then she shouted out in a very deep, hoarse voice. "BE-WARE!" And the echoes thundered out all round."WARE! 'WARE! "WARE-ARE-ARE!" 

Essay

 Click here to see the essay that I wrote on the Battle of Plassey.

My Dad gave me this task since I was bored and I sort of wrote everything that came to my mind

 I have started to do designs and posters online click here to join me.

Yes, I posted this to inform you that I have changed the logo. I just had this wonderful idea and I couldn't just neglect it like that.                                                                                                                                   

THE LAST LEAF

THE LAST LEAF by William Sydney Porter under his pen name O. Henry

This short story was given in my textbook. I have never taken interest in the prose given in my school textbook but this story was different. So, I read the original copy of this book (yes, they changed the lines in my school one).

This story is about two friends Sue and Johnsy who are painters. Johnsy is affected by pneumonia and is losing hope in her life. The ivy vine wind spread near the window starts dropping all its leaves due to the icy winter's touch. Johnsy has taken into head that when the last leaf falls she too will die.

“They’re falling faster now. Three days ago there were almost a hundred. It hurt my head to count them. But now it’s easy. There goes another one. There are only five now.”   “Five what, dear? Tell your Sue.”  “Leaves. On the tree. When the last one falls, I must go, too. I've known that for three days. Didn’t the doctor tell you?”

Then there was Old Behrman was a painter who lived on the first floor of their house. He was past sixty and had had no success as a painter. He had always talked of painting a great picture, a masterpiece, but he had never yet started it.

“Look out the window, dear, at the last leaf on the wall. Didn't you wonder why it never moved when the wind was blowing? Oh, my dear, it is Behrman’s great masterpiece—he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell.”

The last leaf never falls. We learn that in reality, the vine lost all its leaves. What she thought she saw was a leaf, painted on the wall with perfect realism, by the old artist. The Berhaman dies of pneumonia contracted while being out in the rain, painting the last leaf.

"The Last Leaf" symbolises hope, sacrifice and friendship.  Although I'm sad Old Berhaman didn't get to see the magic of his masterpiece this story was beautiful and touching.

"Once you choose hope anything is possible"   Hope is indeed a weapon

HAROUN AND THE SEA OF STORIES

 HAROUN AND THE SEA OF STORIES by Salman Rushdie

''What's the use of stories that aren't even true?''

Haroun is the son of a famous storyteller, Rashid who's power to speak is lost when his wife runs away. He is invited to speak at a gathering but whenever he begins to speak only 'ark' is coming out. They(Rashid and Haroun) stay at the Dull lake and Rashid has to tell stories tomorrow morning. As Rashid and Haroun exchange rooms Hauron meets Iff the water genie. Iff explains that Rashid gets his power to tell stories from the Ocean of Streams of stories itself and he has come here to close the connection. Haroun goes to Kahani(earth's moon) meets Butt the hoopoe, Mali the floating gardener, Bagha and Goopy and much more. He learns about Khattam shud the enemy of stories even speech itself. The whole of Gup city along with Haroun and Rashid(who joins in later) are going to war against the Chupwalas to save Batcheat(a princess who is kidnapped)and the Ocean.

At first, I thought that this book would be boring but it prove me wrong.                                                      

 This book was really entertaining. It talks about how graceful darkness and silence could be. It is not about good and evil, light and dark and all those stuff. I would really recommend this book to people who like fantasy and humour.

 I found on the web that Salman Rushdie wrote Haroun and the Sea of Stories as a short novel for his son Zafar, then aged eleven. It was Rushdie’s first book after he had to hide because of a fatwa call for his death.

 

Pottery(again)

 

It's a watermelon. I wanted to use pastel and soft colours but in my opinion, the pink came out a little bit darker.  As you can see I did not improve much                                                                                

I wrote a story

I was bored so wrote some sort of a short story. It does not really have a good plot but it's the best story I have written so far.

Pls, give me reviews.

 THE MISSED LOTTERY TICKET

Me and my gang of friends were sitting at the tea stall chatting and sipping tea and sharing a single sweet bun. A person from the fair came with lottery tickets. Twice every year there were these lotteries and I had a weird habit of buying them every time. I have never won any and I never cared for them. I called him over and bought a ticket with the number 27000. After he went, my friend, Sheela said it was useless to buy a lottery ticket and Neha continued talking about the frauds that happen in these games. Hausa said “ You buy a lottery ticket every year and never win, you have bad luck Varsha you should throw the ticket away” All of them agreed that the ticket had no use. Reluctantly I threw the ticket inside the dustbin and went home. My heart said I shouldn’t have thrown the lottery ticket away. After a week the lottery results have come and I won or at least I would have won. The number that won the lottery was 27000. I felt so sad and heartbroken. I cried for 5 mins about all the things I could have done with that amount of money. I felt wrong for not trusting myself. I know I will hate myself. I know I will regret it but I know I will never get tired of life itself. I know I will do what my heart says, not what others say. With this thought, I got ready for another tedious day of college.

Don't hate me 

Rusty Goes To London

 RUSTY GO TO LONDON by Ruskin Bond

I wanted to read this book because of the cover of course even the author but mainly the cover

Rusty travels to London to fulfil his dream to become a writer. This book is all about his feelings and experiences in London.

What is it about??

Being homesick

missed opportunities that could have made your life better

friends, old and new 

Indian culture's essence.

This book is about life with ups and downs, a little bit of spice and bitterness, and way too many regrets. It reminds us that the author was also a youth, just like us, striving to be seen. 

Great book for 10+ ages 

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

 

Hi, everyone and as know today our country is celebrating its 75th Independence day. 

We got freedom after a long struggle. So many people gave their lives for us and we will never forget their sacrifice. Happy Independence Day

click here to know about some of the unsung freedom fighters of India

and I did this poster

(The animal is supposed to be a tiger, but it looks like a lion...so umm I messed up a little)                           

FIVE GO ADVENTURING AGAIN

 Hey, I have been avoiding this blog because of exams and they are finally over.

Malgudi Days

 MALGUDI DAYS by R.K. Narayan.

R. K. Narayan is among the best known and most widely read Indian novelists. His book Malgudi days is just enchanting.

This book is the chronicles of the lives of people in a town called Malgudi. It shares the lives of entrepreneurs to beggars even dogs. R.K. Narayan's writing style is simple but elegant. The stories are funny, emotional or bittersweet and remind us that life really is all these things.

There are 32 stories and my favourites are Engine trouble, The willing slave, Father's help, Selvi.

It is really great how R. K. Narayan shows the life of common people in a captivating way and with vivid details. The only thing I didn't like was that some stories had an abrupt ending.

No bookshelf is complete without Malgudi days.

FIVE ON A TREASURE ISLAND

 FIVE ON A TREASURE ISLAND by Enid Blyton.

Enid Blyton's Famous Five is a classic.

This is the first volume of the 23 Famous Five books and establishes some basic groundwork, like the characters.

JULIAN- eldest and the mature one. he cares a lot about his siblings

DICK- Funny and adventures type

ANNE - youngest and loves to play house

GEORGINA - the hot-tempered girl who wants to be a boy and prefers to be called George

TIMMY - adorable and funny dog. He is the action hero of the whole series.

Julian, Dick, and Anne discover they have a ten-year-old cousin they have never met -George. We also get introduced to Kirrin Island and its remarkably well-preserved castle. The four don't get along at first but they become friends after quite some time.

The action centres on the island where the children find a treasure map. Unfortunately, they hear the island is going to be sold. They try to take the gold before the island is auctioned off.

Apart from the story, we get to know Aunt Fanny- a caring woman and Uncle Quentin- a hot-tempered scientist and disciplinarian, Alf -a fisher boy. ( his name changes into James further in the series probably due to faulty proof-reading )

TALES OF BEEDLE THE BARD

 TALES OF BEEDLE THE BARD by J.K. Rowling

This book has 5 Tales: The wizard and the Hopping Pot, The Fountain of Fair Fortune, Babbitty Rabbity and her Cackling Stump[ this was my favourite], The Warlock's Hairy Heart, and at last the most famous The Tale of the Three Brothers.

It was actually written by Beedle the Bard [guy with a long beard] he gives insights on what will happen if we misuse magic or trying to gain magical power by being a muggle. Dumbledore`s notes explain it even more. His notes give real-life experiences. These tales have hidden morals inside them. This whole book was translated from ancient runes to English by Hermione granger.

These are just a solid set of bonus stories that remind you how fun Harry Potter books were.

Pottery

Hey, this week I TRIED pottery. I know this is not the best thing in the world but hey, Give me an A for effort. Sculpting this was laborious and very boring but painting this was a whole nother story. Let me know whether it's good or not.

WONDER

 WONDER by R.J. Palacio

   " You can`t blend in when you were born to stand out " 

This is book was given to me by my aunt and as soon as I read the first pages I realized this is book is the same as my taste

It is about a boy called August Pullman, who due to some genetic disorders has a different face. His parents don`t want him to feel bad about it so they are quite over-protective of him. At the age of 11, they enrol him in Beecher Prep. Auggie wants people to treat him like any other ordinary child, but people take a lot of time to adjust to his extraordinary face. The book begins from Auggie’s point of view but soon switches to his classmates, sister, her boyfriend, and others. These perspectives converge in a portrait of one community’s struggle with empathy and acceptance.

It changed my mind on Bravery and Acceptance. Auggie is really an icon.

This book is great for all ages. Overall it is WONDERfull😁

Flowers and Mountains

Hey, I drew these pieces during lock-down and hope you like it 😊

  

I used watercolours and acrylic paints, just so you know

HALF THE FIELD IS MINE

 HALF THE FIELD IS MINE by Swati Sengupta

" Each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women "

I found this book in a children`s newspaper and I tortured my mum to buy me this book and it didn't go to waste.

First of all, I would like to say this book is amazing and has an interesting plot.

 It focuses on class difference, gender, and how these words are insignificant. I really liked the way the book alternates between Champa and Oli's perspectives. This book is about mystery, crime, friendship, and fighting for women's rights. It completely changes your view about women. It also highlights how Oli and Champa are best friends despite their class differences.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly and I am sure it will steal your heart too.

This image is not owned by me