SPRING CLEANING

"Ah!!! at last I have finished my homework, now I can just sit with my phone and relax", I said to myself in sigh of relief. But as was having a good time with my phone, mom came in the room and scolded me by saying, "Again you are on the phone; back in my days we were not glued on that phone. We used to always be playing in the ground, in fresh air during our younger days. Physically we were very active, we used to get injured so many times while playing but still we used to go and play on the ground. Instead of wasting time on that gadget go down and play. Get some physical exercise, get away from that phone right away", Irritably, I responded, "Mom I just took the phone in my hand right now and I am really not interested to know what use to happen in your young days; I don't want to get injured and hospitalized by breaking my leg by playing in the open ground. Anyways, I am taking the phone only for 20 minutes, Please mom; Please allow me." I don't think mom was quite happy with my reply looking at her reaction. I handed her my phone looking at her fierce expressions.

After a while mom came in my room and commanded me to clean my room. Moans and groans didn't move my mother and I had to make my room all neat and tidy. I started cleaning my bed, I changed to new bed sheet and put my blanket for cleaning. Following, I arranged all my fancy pillows and all of my cute soft toys. The next thing on my list was to make my wardrobe spic and span. I got a some dry and wet sponge wipes and cleaned all the inside part of the drawers and shelves. I folded my clothes and put the uncleaned ones in the laundry basket. I gathered all my highlighters, pens, pencils, sketch pens and pen pencils. I put all these in a colorful jar and placed the jar on my study table. Then I did some cuttings and decorated my green colored pin up board. I washed the glass statues which were kept on my window. I opened up the curtains for some natural light. I checked my windows and they were not looking clean. They were not clean and transparent. I took some Lizol cleaner and a news paper to clean my glass windows. After thorough cleaning, finally I could say that my windows were clean and transparent.

"Cough! Cough !!" Don't worry it was just that thick dust which went in my nose when I removed one book from the bookshelf. I tied a napkin around my nose to avoid dust. I removed all the books and dusted the old wooden shelf. Then I arranged all the books author wise and now my room was really looking very clean. But when I looked at the floor there was some dust around. I broomed the dust out. Then I swept it with a clean mop. I kept cleaning, until I could see my face on the sparkling white floor. Now, I could say my room was clean.

I heard my mom's footsteps because of her slippers which make an annoying sound. Maybe she is getting choco chips cookies and lemonade. Surely, I was right she really got that stuff and said lovingly, "Good girl, good job my little princess. These are the cookies for your good job, enjoy them with your favorite lemonade". Just to swagger and impress her I took the vacuum cleaner. Though I had never used one, I thought I was quite well versed with it. I also assured mom, " I will eat my snacks and then get ready for dinner later, it that okay?". She nodded her head happily.

I switched on the vacuum cleaner and everything was okay but I couldn't resist eating those cookies, so I increase the speed of vacuum cleaner to extra fast. Then.....boom...crash....crack...thud.All my curtains were torn, photo frames were lying on the floor. I also dropped my favorite glass with lemonade in it.  I could not see my cookies until..Krrrrrrrrrrr.... I was standing on the cookie crumbs and this was an another disaster day for me where I lost even the chance of eating my favorite cookies.

Not only that my room was dirty and it seemed dumping ground. I heard mom coming again. Yeah... it was her. She was horrified looking at the condition of the room and screamed, "Nothing is going to happen with this girl, I will have to clean the whole room myself." Looking at mom, I was scared as she was as red as a tomato. Hence, I crawled down her hand as fast as Usain Bolt and hid myself in the laundry room. Fewww!!!! I think I can't sleep in my room tonight and am going to have dreams of my dirty room instead of Unicorns.  

MY OZ COUZ

Every brother is born to a sister for protecting, but I got a brother who was gods gift of cuteness. I am sure he will be protective cousin in future but now he is just bringing laughter and joy to everyone!!!! His name is Viraj; he is hilarious, cute, chubby boy from Australia. He is quite small, almost 11 years younger to me as he is not even a year old.

My mom used to show me few pictures, which Devaki Aunty (Viraj's mom) used to send her. They were so adorable and I wanted to meet him after every picture mom showed me. There were pictures of him with teddy bear, elephant and colourful outfit which I couldn't resist seeing. Everyday after school, I viewed them and I couldn't start my after school routine without having a glance at them.

Finally, they arrived in busy Mumbai city and I still can't believe they will be visiting us. I must have said 100 times to my mom. ''Yes Viraj's coming home"' and she started getting irritated because she was busy with the preparations for such a tiny Oz Couz of mine. Mom got him a Peppa Pig piano toy and I was sure that he would love it. Yeahhhhh its Saturday and my little Couz is coming home....waiting forward to see him.

Finally the day arrived when baby Viraj was coming home. The bell rang, my heart pounced to see him. We welcomed him warmly. I gave him the Peppa Pig gift. Dad told us that he was quite happy to receive the gift as he was busy tapping it as he didn't know how to play a piano. His eyes were twinkling seeing the colourful light on it.

Later it was lunch time and Viraj sat besides me. We happily had our meal and then mom made him sit on my lap. I tried to pick him up, but my mom didn't allowed it as she was scared that I may not able to handle him. So she carefully picked him up and advised me to sit down. But stubborn me, "I ain't gonna do that'', I replied. She gave up on the argument lastly. I enjoyed him sitting on my lap. I hugged him many times.

 He was feeling sleepy, so I took him on my bed and he was peacefully sleeping in less than a minute. He was looking so cute while he was sleeping. I felt like sleeping next to him, hugging my little brother tight. I checked 100 times while he was sleeping, to make sure that he was safely sleeping. Actually I was waiting for him to get up (wink) so that I could play with him. After he got up it was time to leave as Devaki aunty had to go and visit some other place. I bid him good bye with a heavy heart. He cried when he went and sat in the car, I felt much more sad to part from him.

I will be looking forward to meet little Viraj once again. I miss you a lot my Oz Couz.

THE ABSCONDING PET

I am an employee in Airline Cargo Department. There are many different types of cargoes which needs to be transported to different countries. It was a Friday and I had a night duty, so I set off from my house and reached to my work place. Thad day, I had to supervise a cargo filled with cute pets!! I was so excited and looking forward to have a great time knowing my passion towards animals.

The first cage  I saw a Black Stallion, a beautiful horse imported from Russia. The next cage had a sweet cat called Persian Cat, she was so furry and as soft as cotton. The following cage had a colourful Macaw. He was too noisy but with long beautiful feathers and big eyes with a bright orange beak which attracted me. Finally the last cage I went to was out of the world!!! I had never seen such an adorable puppy in my life. I wished to have it too, looking at the innocence in his eyes. I hurriedly unlocked the cage door and took the puppy out. My eyes twinkled looking at it so I pet it. I cleaned him, neat and tidy; fed him with some doggy treats and cuddled him up in my lap.

At first, I thought the puppy was obeying me, it slept for a while in my lap. When it got up,  I was horrified. He was very naughty, he was jumping up and down with his spotless white fur flying. Suddenly, the leash, bright red in colour which I tied him got loose and fell from my hand, he ran down in his warehouse, went down stairs and what a mess. When my helpers came to know about this they told, "Madam, what a blunder you've done, we will have to find him by hook or by crook."

After an one hour tiring time, we were all sweating and the puppy was still not found. We had no other option but to get a puppy from nearby village. We rushed and tried to get a similar puppy as the previous one. Our flight then took off; I got down from the plane but this incident was remembered life time leaving a black spot in my work. After this experience, I never took pets out however cute they were and I was scared that puppy's owner doesn't come saying that this dog is a default, my life and work would be ruined otherwise.

WELCOME 2019

My New Year Party was celebrated with great pomp and zeal. We had a get together with family friends had a blast during the party. Well, my mom, my brother n I set off from home at about 06:30 PM and headed towards the airport. My dad and Atul Uncle were supposed to meet us over there. Atul Uncle was heading from Nagpur to celebrate the party with us. We got hold of cab and started to move towards the airport. I was busy looking around through my taxi window. I was enjoying the ride in a bit chilly weather. I saw number of vehicles zooming through, police frantically trying to control the traffic and the traffic jam which was just not ready to move ahead, it was as still as a statue. After a while we reached airport. I feel it is beautifully maintained plus its architecture is something to compliment, it is just out of this world. My dad was on his way to airport to pick us up. Atul Uncle also arrived from Nagpur. Atul Uncle is quite witty and has loads of information to share about his never ending experiences. We started to move towards Borivali. Our car was moving at snails pace due to traffic. It was the most boring 3 hours of life, nothing to do!!! I tried to catch some sleep, I couldn't because it was a usual day for me. We only had 2 modes of entertainment, one was listening to the music, but we couldn't do that as it would have been a disrespect shown towards the speaker who was Atul Uncle. I didn't have any intentions to insult him by telling that though. But my dad kept us entertaining with his jokes. He is quite a funny person! But at the same time he was concentrating on his driving. We were continuously following the Google Map to see where the traffic is going to ease out. Finally after 3 hour of torturous drive we reached Atul Uncles place.

When we reached and entered the atmosphere at our destination, which as Atul Uncles house, I felt relaxed. Gauri Aunty, who is Atul Uncles wife gave us warm welcome. Everybody hugged and met each other.  There were a few more friends present; Manju Aunty who is a very sweet, soft spoken and kind. Vaishali Aunty who is a brilliant actress familiar by the name Sneha Raikar. She acts in serials and movies. Sandeep Uncle who is the singing superstar of the group and husband of Vaishali Aunty. Sandeep Uncle loves me a lot and always pampers me. Saurabh Dada, their son is a pretty much mature and he too plays with me. I was surprised to hear that he has finished his studies and has started working like my dad. Prajeet Dada is a quite boy, I guessed he is quite because he is 10th and must be burdened with studies. There was so much of chaos and laughter's after meeting that I thought some neighbors will come and scold us for making so much noise.

I cuddled up in a blanket on a comfortable and soft sofa. I felt relaxed in the wonderland. Immediately Gauri Aunty started offering us with loads of starters, we gobbled up immediately as we were damn hungry. I saw even elders gobbling it up as they were hungry too. All started talking and started reminiscing the olden days. I was missing Dhruti Didi, she had been to some camp in Gujarat. Selfies, photos and videos were making my phone memory full and the food, though it was lip smacking it was making my tummy as big as a bear. I blame myself for being so ravenous. Coming back to the party, I felt Gauri Aunty had a very good planning, so I rather give her the credit for such a well arranged and planned get together.

Then we started playing dumb charades. Everybody wanted me to be in their team, as I acted quite well in our last meeting where we played dumb charades. We were divided in two teams, I was happy to have my dad in my team as he always comes out with some funny movie names which makes us all laugh. We had fun enacting the movie names.

Then the clock struck 12 and we all hugged each other wishing Happy New Year. We enthusiastically welcomed the year 2019. We called up Dhruti Didi and wished her too. Looks like she was enjoying with her friends.

Then we played Housie. Vaishali Aunty and Sandeep Uncle were getting all the gifts. It was generous of Vaishali Aunty to give one of her gift to me. But I was looking forward to win full housie and I won full housie first time in my life. My happiness new no bounds. Then all the elders got engaged in their talks and we kids started playing PS4. Though these boys didn't give me to play, but I enjoyed watching them play. Finally we all got tired and went off to bed at 03:00 AM.

The next day we got up a bit late and got ready as we had one more function to attend. Everybody were leaving at the same time. Before we left I came to know that they all are friends from last 27 years. I wondered whether even I will have friends who will last so long. Today in this world of gadgets I think it is difficult, but I will make all the efforts to have my bonds of friendship with my friends hold for many many years to come. This will be my new year resolution, I will not evade the personal touch with my friends and families because of these gadgets.

Welcome 2019!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A PERFECT DINNER

It was a late evening and I  came dog tired from school and was ravenous, I sat down on the dining table and satisfied my hunger with a salad, gobbling it down in a flash. As soon as I finished eating,  I changed my clothes and was all set to continue my day. I entered my room, but it was dark inside. I sat on my study table and tried hard to switch on the table light. After fiddling for a while, I gave up.

Hearing the commotion my family and me rushed downstairs. We realized that our whole area was blacked out. The officers from the Electrical Department came out to our building premises and notified that there is no need to worry and one of the wires burned out and the electrical department is working to fix it. My friends from my building were present too. They were all petrified with the darkness, but me being an innovative girl switched on the torch and kept swaggering about it.

We went back home until my mom just realized there were guests coming home!!!! How hassled she was couldn't be determined. I and my brother chit chatted on the comfortable sofa while my mom was walking up and down around the living room and kitchen in frustration.

I gathered all the courage and came up to my mom and asked "Mom relax, what is the problem. Can I help you, please calm down" She replied, "oh my sweetie Mihu thanks for your help, but you are still quite young, how can you help me. Anyways, guests are coming home and the whole area has been blacked out. How would they manage to come home and even if they succeed in coming home in this darkness; how would they have dinner....hahahaha...what if they dip the roti in the chutney, how hilarious that will be and we all are sweating so profusely because of the summers''.

I started churning my brain to get a solution for my mom. I wanted to challenge my mother that in spite of my age, I can come up with a solution. After a while, I came up with an amazing idea which solved our problem. With a sense of achievement, I said, "Why don't we have a candlelight dinner". My mom heard this and she jumped with delight, she approved my idea; hugged me tight and arranged a candlelight dinner and we were all ready to welcome our guests. My mom was worried about one more issue, "how could they come up climbing 18 floors? The lifts were not working due to blackout". Oops.......I said that out just aloud. My mom got upset again. In contrast, the guests came and climbed 18 floors. When they reach our house, they were perspiring. I served them with a glass of cold refreshing lime juice and then we enjoyed our Candle Light Dinner.

This was a good experience for all of us in the family of a Perfect Dinner. 

Finding Parents

FINDING PARENTS...

My brother, mom, dad, and self were going on a trip. It was not a usual trip where we would go to Singapore, Africa or America but it was an unusual holiday we were going to Harappa. My Mom was very inquisitive to know about the history, so we all decided to go to this place. We were quite excited to visit this place but scared at the same time because the earlier reports stated that the visits of many tourists had come to a mysterious end.

After a day on the airplane, we reached Harappa. We set off on our journey and in a while, my brother and I could not trace our parents!!!! We started panicking plus became anxious. We didn't have any mode for communication which made us even more nervous. As we couldn't find our parents we moved ahead to take a chance to find them while exploring Harappa. On our adventure, we saw houses made from baked bricks and potable water most of the time. We saw a place with grains around and as I was studying about this place in school, I thought it to be "The Great Granary". We also visited a site with drains and taps everywhere, I was sure it was "The Great Bath".

We visited many places but we still didn't give up on finding our parents. My brother and I went to a place known as "Burial Site". Me being an informative girl narrated a few highlights of the place like a tour guide. I noted, the people in Harappa believed in life after their death, so there were pots around the burials which may have contained food earlier. The citizens differentiated between the rich and poor as a result; there are gold, silver and bronze beads around the rich and there is a simple burial for the poor. The things around the burial are considered to be those personal belongings according to the archaeologists.

As we moved ahead, my brother spotted a lady crying and we approached her whether she required any help. As soon as we reached to the lady we were happy to see that she was our mom. She was sitting with dad on a step sobbing as she had lost us. She and my dad gave us warm hug. My mom was inconsolable. We traveled back home together hand in hand.

On the way back in the flight we all saw the movie "Finding Dory". This movie really cheered up the mood of my mom. The next day back to school, I shared my learnings, adventure with my classmates and teachers for which I was highly appreciated by them.