307. Trip to Ooty - Part 1.

17.04.2017 (Monday) was an exciting day.  It was the day on which we were going to go OOTY!  I had never been there before.  For going there, I had purchased a nice blue – colored jerkin.  I also wanted to buy a blue cut – shoe, but the shop was closed every time I went there.  I love the color blue, that’s why I am buying everything in blue. 

We boarded the KPN bus that went to Ooty at 9:00pm.  It was very hot.  A few minutes after boarding the bus, I slept off, and I got up only the next morning at 7:30am. 

When I climbed down the bus, it felt very cold, unlike the scorching heat in Chennai.  An auto came to pick us up and we went to our hotel, Haveli Atithi Bhavan.  Then I brushed my teeth, took bath in hot water, dressed up and went down to the hotel.  There, I drank only coffee.

After sometime, our driver, who was a malayalee (like us), took us to the different places in Ooty.

At first, we went to the Pine Forest.  It was a very nice experience there.  There were many tourists.  It was a very slope - y place.  I was scared whether I’d fall down.  We took many pictures.  There was also a lake, but it was small.  We went horse – riding.  It was very nice there.

Then we went to Pykara lake and Pykara dam.  There were sheep and dogs and horses there.

The path we were travelling by car was a forest.  There was a road in the middle.  Then, we went to another dam.  We went by an eight - seater jeep.  It was very nice.

We ate lunch and then we came to Dodda Betta.  We ate ice - creams.  But it started to rain there.  We went to the Tea Factory.  We saw how tea is manufactured.  It was fascinating.  There were many kinds of tea, including white tea and chocolate tea!  I did not know this.  Then, we went to the chocolate factory.  But, there was no place where chocolate was made.  Only a shop.  We bought truffles and plain chocolate.  The truffles were yummy.  So I bought another packet, but finished that also on the same day.

But, it started to rain a little heavily after that.  So, we came back to the hotel.  Thus, our first day in Ooty was over.

                                           

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306. Best Translator Award.

Today, 25.4.2017, was an amazing day.  Today, I was going to get the State Award for Best Translator  for the year 2016 from the CM, Edappadi K Pazhaniswamy!!  Yesterday, many of my father’s friends called and wished me.  At 8:00 am today, we reached Tamil Valarchi Iyakkagam in Egmore.  I was wearing a green lehanga.  There, we waited for sometime.  There were 10 of us who were getting the Best Translator Award, and I was the youngest of them all.

After sometime, the people in Tamil Valarchi Iyakkagam themselves took the 10 of us and our families to the Secretariat, where we will be receiving our awards.  They told that only the people who were getting the awards should go inside the room.  The others, that is, our families, should wait outside.  Inside the room, they made us sit in order.  I was sitting beside Uma Balu aunty, who translated an English book, which is the biography of Steve Jobs into Tamil.  We became friends and took photos.

Then, we had a practice session, of how we will receive the award for the CM.  Then we again went into the room.  After sometime, they called us for the real award distribution.  I was a little nervous.  I was not VERY nervous, because I did not need to make a speech in front of the people, as there was very less time and a lot of awards to give out.  When my turn came, I greeted the CM and he put a green colored shawl around me.  Then he gave me my award.  There was also a cheque of 1 lakh rupees!!  It was inside a leather pouch, which was stuck to the front of the award with cellotape.  It also had a small photo of Dr. J. Jayalalitha.

When I came out of the hall, all the people, half of whom I don’t even know, came and wished me.  They told that to do something difficult like translating books in my age (12 years) was because of God’s blessing.  Then, I came out of the building and again went back to Tamil Valarchi Iyakkagam.

We had lunch.  My father told that, as I did not have a bank account of my own, the 1 lakh rupees cheque has to be changed to my mother’s name (which was already in my name) in order to put it in her account.  When we were waiting for the new cheque, the award function came in the news in Jaya Plus channel for two times.  As soon as we got the cheque, we came home.  It was a wonderful experience today, and I will write more books and get more awards like this.

                                   

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305. Zootopia.

This movie tells all about trying always.  Judy Hopps, a bunny, wants to become a police officer.  But, other big animals make fun of her and tell that small animals like her can’t become cops.  But, she tries hard and becomes a police officer.  But in her workplace, she gets the job of a metermaid, who puts tickets on carks parked illegally.  Then, she befriends a nice fox named Nicholas Wilde, who is not violent like other foxes.  But, an otter comes to her workplace and tells her chief that her husband is missing for the part 10 days.  When the Chief delays it, Judy takes up the responsibility.  The chief gives Judy 48 hours to find the otter.  She and her friend Nicholas (Nick), find out the last place where the missing otter was.  It was in the car of a rat named mr. Big.  The driver says that suddenly the otter became violent, attacked him and ran away.  But, immediately, the driver, who was a jaguar, also becomes violent and chases Judy and Nick.  But they escape.  Then, with the help of CCTV cameras, which were there in the place where they were attacked, both of them find where the violent animals went.  It was a hospital – like place, where 15 violent animals were kept.  Someone was talking about Night Howlers attacking the 15 animals to make them violent.  Judy and Nick think that Night Howlers are wolves, because they howl at night.  Even though she finds the violent animals out and the chief is happy, she resigns her job and goes back to her home, which is near a carrot farm.

 

But then, her father told her about flowers called Night Howlers.  His brother touched them and became violent.  That was the time that Judy realises that Night Howlers aren’t wolves, but flowers.  She goes back to Nick and her job, and finds the animal which collected Night Howlers from a weasel called Duke Weaselton, who knows nothing other than money.  The animal was a ram, named Doug.  Judy and Nick get all the Night Howlers and bring them back as evidence to show to the chief.

But then, the mayor of Zootopia, Dawn Bellweather, who all along acts like a sweet sheep to Judy, comes to them and tries to get the flowers.  But, Judy has a recording pen.  It can be used to record what people say.  She records whatever Bellwether tells and within a few minutes, all the cops in the city come to the place and arrest Bellwether and her cronies.  At the end, Nick also becomes a cop and the chief finally gives them a big job to do.  I loved this movie very much and am waiting for its second part to come, maybe in 2018.  

                                           

304. Ridley Run.

This was my first ever experience of running a marathon.  On March 4, 2017 (Saturday),  two of my friends, who are also a part of the Little Journalist organization, and I went to S10 Health in Guindy to collect our BiB.  There, we collected our chest numbers and t – shirts.  Then, the people there asked us to do some fitness exercises, so that we would be fit and ready for the next day’s run.  We finished our exercises and came out.  Hafiz uncle, who was the head of the Little Journalist organization, told us the way to the Palavakkam beach, where we would run the marathon called ‘Ridley Run’ the next day.

The next day – March 5, 2017 (Sunday), I woke up at 4:00 a.m and started dressing.  My friends and I had planned to go in my friend’s car together.  We started from their house at 4:45 a.m and reached there at 5:30 a.m.  I had made some questions ready the day before itself because, as we are a part of the Little Journalist group, we had to take interviews from people who had also took part in the run.  My friends and I planned to run 5 km. 

We started to run.  At first, it was easy.  But then, when there was only ½ km to finish the run, I became tired and started to walk.  We collected our medals, certificates and breakfast and started taking interviews.  My classmate and I took interviews together. 

At first, we took an interview from two women.  They wouldn’t tell them names.  They had come from somewhere far.  They felt that the run was really good.  They also thought that the aim of the run was excellent.  They had run 5kms.  They had come to know about this run from a friend of theirs.

Then we took interview from a family consisting of a mother, a father and a little boy.  They felt that this run was interesting.  The mother had run 1 km along with her son.  My friend asked the little boy what was the aim of the run.  His mother encouraged him to answer, and he told us that the aim was to save turltes.  We congratulated him for saying the right answer.  The kid also felt very excited and happy.  This was the first time running, like me.  The mother also told us that if there would be other events like this in the future, she would be happy to participate.

Then we interviewed another little boy, Adithya, who was with his mother and aunt.  They were a part of the Chennai Runners group, so they got the information from the site itself.  The boy was only 3 ½ years old.  He had run 1 km.  He also told that he would run again, if there are any events like this.

Thus, our experince of taking interviews came to an end.  This was such a memorable day in my life.  I too, would be happy to participate again, if there are any other events.

                    

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303. The 'Harry Potter' series.

At first, I did not like the Harry Potter series.  The cover of the book made me think, ‘Who will read all this?!’  But thanks to my mother, this series have become my all – time favorite series.

I often go to a library called Eloor Lending Library and borrow books from there.  One day, my mother told me to have a change and switch over from the kids’ section and start reading books written for teenagers.  Then she gave me the first book of the series ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’.  On seeing the book, I refused and went back to the kids’ section.  But something urged me to start reading the ‘Harry Potter’ book.  So, I borrowed the book and came home. 

The first few pages were a little boring.  But afterwards,  right from when Harry Potter receives his admission letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it became very interesting.  After reading the first book, I was very eager to read the rest of the books. 

The author, J.K.Rowling, has an extremely brilliant mind, which enables her to take the readers to another world, the magical world.  Harry Potter, an orphan, was a great wizard.  He himself did not know this fact until he was 11 – years – old.  There are eight books in this series.  The villain of the series is Voldemort.  He is neither human nor ghost.  He was the one who killed Harry’s parents.  In all the books, except the third book ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’ and the eighth book ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’, Harry fights Voldemort and in the seventh book, kills Voldemort and wins The Battle Of Hogwarts.  The third book is about Harry finding his godfather, Sirius Black, who was the best friend of his father, James Potter.  The eighth book features the next generation of Harry Potter.  The first book to the seventh book feature Harry’s adventures in his seven years at Hogwarts.  The series inspired me a lot.  It gave me self – confidence to do anything without the help of others, even though Harry is an orphan, he decided to avenge the murder of his parents.  So he fought Voldemort alone until the end. 

The movies are not as convincing as the books, but still they are really good.  Harry Potter has many friends at Hogwarts, but his best friends were Ron and Hermione.  They help him till the end.

I love the series, although I don’t like some characters in it.  I am deeply attached with the Harry Potter series.  I appreciate J.K.Rowling for authoring such excellent books and I also encourage her to write more and more great books like these.

                                      

302. Parents during exams.

Usually during exams, children are stressed out.  As for parents, they are the ones whom children depend on.  They must give the needed confidence and full support and try their best to make the children stress – free. 

Some parents put over – pressure on children and always make them study the lessons by – heart.  Children are scared of the pressure from parents.  Some parents talk only about competition and marks.  It makes children nervous.

Parents need to spend some of their time sitting with children and giving them the support.  That makes children perform well in exams.  But, parents must not make children study for 2 hours or more in one go.  Children can take breaks and go out and get fresh air every 40 minutes or one hour but they must have self – control.

 

Exam pressure is one of the leading causes for depression amongst teenagers.  Parents should try to prevent that.  They must not demotivate children, instead they must motivate them.

                                     

                   

301. My book - release photos.