Happy Janmashtami!!!

By the local correspondent Inaya Sinha

Happy Janmashtami, everyone! Yesterday was just the first day of Janmashtami, today we break the pot and put Krishna on the swing at around 5:00pm! I am so excited! We even celebrated at school!

We have this Dahi Handi celebration every year where all grades from 1 to 5 come together and dance and then we all made a pyramid to break the pot which hanging from the top of the basketball court. The teacher's even played What Jhumpka, without my request! It was a lot of fun to dance. I was actually surprised that we didn't wear Indian clothes because we usually do. I found it a little unfair because last year Grade 4 broke the pot and this year last year's Grade 4 broke the pot! When will my batch get to break the pot?? But I still had a lot of fun.

Did you know that when I was 5 years old we had a Janmashtami party? My mother and I throw a lot of parties but we had never thrown a Janmashtami party before. We had kept a pot for each friend of mine. So one of us would climb on the ladder with a hammer and the others would stand beneath ( minding the pieces of broken pot ) and try to catch all the chocolates which fell from the pot. It was really fun catching chocolates but breaking the pot was quadruple fun! I am starting to think that we should throw a Janmashtami party every year, don't you?

I had a lot of fun today, did you?

The Sinha - ha - ha - ha Dance!!!

By the local correspondent Inaya Sinha

Have you ever gone to a party and made all the guests burst out in laughter? Well, a few days ago, my father did exactly that. Curious? Well, I’m about to tell you the story.

We had gone to Pankita Masi’s mother’s birthday. Pankita Masi is one of my father’s best friends and we had gone to her mother’s birthday party. She was turning 78! We danced a lot and played a lot of different games like Pick up the Pebbles and Guess the Dance Move. And you won’t be able to guess what happened in that last game.

So in Guess the Dance Move we had to pick up a card but not look at it and then the host would have to dance it and we would have to guess which song the dance move was from. The dance move I got was from a song called What Jhumpka and I guessed it correct! My father also guessed it correct but he, had to dance it!

He got a dance called the Lungi Dance and he had to wear a dupatta around his jeans as a skirt! A boys dance in which you have to wear a skirt! My father didn’t even know how to dance the Lungi so he was just copying Arun Chachu ( Pankita Masi’s husband ) and even created some movements of his own. If you watched the video you would know!

I think The Sinha - ha - ha - ha Dance will be danced for centuries. Nobody can forget it!!!!!!

Finding Ferdie…

By the local correspondent Inaya Sinha

I think you have all known me long enough to know what my biggest dream is, but if you don’t then you’ll soon find out! Have you ever found somebody who you can talk to about anything or who loves no matter what you do? Well, on 12th August 2022 I found someone just like that.

On that night, my mother was traveling for work and my father had gone to pick her up from the airport. At 10:00 pm at night a bell rings, first I saw Mamma holding her sari in such a way that she was covering something. At first, I thought is was a stuffed animal but when she turned! I saw a puppy! For the first 5 seconds I was still thinking it was a toy, until it moved! Mamma put him down on the floor and he sniffed each and every corner of the house. I couldn’t believe it! I had wanted a puppy for 5 years of my life and I finally had one!

We decided to name him Ferdinand after the story of Ferdinand the bull who was different, Ferdie for short. In fact, even my mother wasn’t aware, she had come back from Bangalore with one of her colleagues to find a puppy in the car! My father had found a crib of mine from when I was young and used that as Ferdie’s bed for the first few weeks. On the first night, he wasn’t feeling sleepy so he woke me up at 5:00 am to play with him. He was very trusting towards us and didn’t take long to get used to us and understand that we were nice people.

Unlike our expectations, he is a very quiet dog and isn't aggressive when it came to his food. He is always very gentle and never hurt us on purpose. He always wants to play and is very eager to make friends - in humans and in dogs. He's the best little brother I could ask for. I have only known him for a year, yet I feel like my whole world goes around him. Ferdie has changed my life completely and forever.