What I like most about myself by Swati

What I like about myself

You know what I like about Sarah? She’s dependable. You know what I like about Camille? She’s kind. You know what I like about myself? I am funny! I am a jokester, a prankster, a trickster, you name it. I find being annoying very refreshing. Like, jumping into a pond on a hot summer day. Hey! You know what else I like about myself? I am poetic. Say what? You don’t believe me? I’ll show you!

The Notes
Gliding in a song,
That is all we stand to do.
We are part of the foundation,
Of the music played by you.
Now do you believe me? Thank you for that yes. Do you want to hear what I like about my appearance? I am going to ignore your no and get on with it. It’s my height. Being tall means that I can go on rides meant for people a couple of years older than me. The only bad part is that people think that I am older than I really am so they expect more from me. Hey! I just realized that we haven’t been properly introduced! Okay, so my name is S. G. and I am nine years old. And you are? Oh! So, you are x years old and you are one of those literary types? But I can still talk to you, right?
I hope you like nature. I do. I think we should be more protective of our environment. It makes me happy that I am doing my part. I switch off all the lights that my parents leave on. I try not to waste food. My mom and I are doing a yard sale to raise money to plant trees in Africa.
Alright, bear with me. Only three more things left to say. First, I would like to address the fact that like any other human being, I have faults. One of which is a hot temper. But I have a way of controlling that. I just take a pebble or a leaf and throw it at a tree. When I do this I pretend that the tree is the person that I am mad at. That makes some of my anger go away.
Second, I am proud of my reading abilities. Once I read for twelve hours in a day. Also, I finished all seven books of Harry Potter before I turned eight. That’s pretty good, right? Umm, hello? Oh, she fell asleep. Too bad! She will never know the third thing. I still have twenty minutes before it’s dark. Now I can go to the public library.

How little one needs

In the process of moving as I am packing things, I am realizing that one does not need much stuff to live a comfortable life. We just acquire stuff over time and then just letting it lie in the closets. Have to really get better with not to buy useless stuff.

Agastya's Goofy Questions

During our trip to Florida, we visited NASA. Agastya's question to Astronaut was - How do you poop in the rocket ship? :-)

Another question about the dinosaur - how do the dinosaur drink without a straw?

Call of the Wild by Swati

The grassland is peaceful
So quiet and sound
There waits a tiger
Ready to pounce.

Went he stalking through the night,
When with your gun you ended his life.
We know that it was not in the rabbits sake
For you killed the rabbit in your wake

You are worse than the tiger who kill for food
You kill for fun which we never understood

Hunting by Swati

When silver-backed Gorillas
Lived on mountain tops
Hunters started hunting
And their population went ker-plops.

It happened at the time
When hunting was without reason
And hunters started to hunt
In the birthing season.

And ever since then
Still to this very day
The rule has been made
That hunters can't hunt this way

I hope you will respect this
And respect even more
The fact that you should never hunt
An animal with a less than thousand score

Tree Love by Swati

There once was a tree named Ray,
His trunk was brown, green, and gray,
He had a big crush,
On a tree named Lush,
But she was cut down to clear the way.

Happy Deepavali 2011

This year was a blur and we are glad fall is finally here, with trees turning red and shedding their leaves, the breeze getting cool, and the excitement and craziness of so many festivals, both Indian and American kicking off in October. This is the time we miss our friends and family the MOST so here is to all of you.

Our friends and classmates have started to turn 40. We are approaching the fourth decade fast too. With Swati only a few inches shorter than us, it is hard not to feel old :-) However, there is so much fun seeing the kids growing through different phases and growing old with the person you love. Though we wish our life was not so busy and had more time to enjoy small pleasures like just sitting in the sun, catching up with friends, reading a book, or just going on a leisurely stroll.

No complains though as we did get some time off to enjoy. We took some long vacations this year. We spent several weeks in India in December 2010, seeing friends and family, and truly cherished those moments. In summers, we had a long vacation to China and Cambodia. This has been a very unique trip and very different from what we had done so far. First we got to see the various cultures. We went on the ancient silk route in China and felt like explorers from Ancient times who time warped into this century. We traversed all of China starting from Beijing all the way to Afghanistan/Pakistan border. It was quite an adventure.

Ruchi switched jobs. Some of Ashish’s research got mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, which was fun for a couple of days. But professionally, this was a difficult year, with a lot of hard work and travel.

Kids are busy as usual in their own world. Agastya is now starting to interact more with Swati in a way that she can enjoy and it is really fun to see their interactions. They fight like bitter enemies still they love each other as best friends. Both of them have developed close bonds with their cousins and grandparents. It is so much fun to see them all interact and play.

So here is to another fun filled year – enjoy, cherish, and celebrate.
Agastya, Swati, Ruchi, and Ashish