The Last Day....

Hello, my fellow friends! How are YOU, yes YOU, on this lovely day? All well, I hope! I am about to tell you a bit about myself. I, yes I, a 13 year old girl studying in the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious est school in the world, The Somaiya School, am about to tell YOU a bit about me. And even though I am obsessed with talking to my friends on the phone for hours and hours together (and get scolded by my mom for that for hours and hours together), I am going to keep this short. Six words, to be precise. Here they go: I am obsessed with Time Travel. See, I am done! Six words! But I am sure, I do need to explain as to WHY in the world am I telling YOU this.
Because…….. That is exactly what I am going to do in this blog. Time Travel, I mean. So here we go! Let us travel to 20 years in the future…….

2036

I am in a small, cozy room. I am sitting on the couch with my friends: a pen and a notebook. I am a fairly successful author, who writes fiction for young adults. Presently, I am writing a book titled, “The High School Adventures of a Teen Girl – Based on a true story” and you guessed it, that girl is ME! I am writing about the successful completion of one year in the Best School Ever. This is what I am writing: On the Fourth Day in the Third Month of The Sixteenth Year in the Twenty-First Century after the Birth of Christ, I was SAD. I have completed ONE year in this school and now feel like starting all over again. I remember I was extremely reluctant to leave my previous school and join another school that was alien to me. No, wait! Don’t blame me! After all, I had spent almost a decade in the other School! I felt anxious, a new kind of anxious. Not the type you feel before you write an exam. Nor the one you feel when you are about to see your mark sheet. Nor is it the type that you feel when you are a nervous wreck, a shivery cat with stage fright and have to go on stage to give a complex speech written by your English teacher. (After all, there are many types of anxieties in the life of a self-respecting teen student!) Finally, I decided to not think much and change schools. Verdict: That was the best decision of my life!
So, getting back to the point, I was sitting in my classroom, with my friends, and talking about random stuff in life. A girl announces,”Half an hour more for the academic year of 2015-16 to end.” Translation: Half an hour more in Grade 8! OMG, NO!!! I don’t want Grade 8 to end! I picture myself holding onto a life-size rubber 8, tugging with all my might, only to find it firmly pulled away by an archaic, bald wizard with huge glasses and evil, supernatural powers. “NO!!” I blurt out. This surely can’t be true! Why, I remember, just yesterday had I walked out of my house, a cheerful smile on my face, waving goodbye to my mom, on my way to The Somaiya School for the first time in my life! But my reluctance to accept the fact that School was over only made me dread the bell ringing for the last time. But all my willing, prayers and hopes couldn’t stop the bell from ringing…. ttttrrrrrrriiiiiinnnngggggg!!!!! Waaaaaaaaaaah! All my hopes are dashed and ground to dust! Noooooooo!! This can’t be true! Grade 8 is over! Most of the girls in the class were reduced to tears. But not me. No, no, no. No crying for me. Well, the crying didn’t last long, because an announcement made by our class teacher brought all of us back to reality. This miraculous announcement was, “All the best, students, for your exams. Study well.” Right, we forgot about the exams. A period of darkness and gloom in every student’s life.

Back to the present.

Well, dear readers, that is all I wanted to say. I better get going and study for my exams. Maybe, if I had hoped harder, time would have come to a standstill, and I would be able to relive Grade 8 again, but no amount of hopes can stop exams from approaching at break-neck speed! Goodbye, and enjoy your life!

Mumbai: The station that will make you halt forever and ever....

Hello, Everyone!
So, I know that I haven’t been writing anything for a really, really long time. So you might wonder, what is it that compels me to pick up my laptop and start writing again, and that amazing, wondrous, marvellous, fantastic, magical, outstanding, awesome, fantabulous thing is the one and only, ANNUAL DAY!!!
Now you might wonder, what is so very special about some Annual Day? For starters, the Annual Day was all about the best city in the world, Mumbai! And because it was about the best city in the world, it was the best performance with the best storyline and the best everything ever! It was a super duper hit with the audience, and we were overloaded with oodles of praises!
Consider this: 10 days to prepare, a two-hour play script to write, about 250 students of all shapes, sizes and mental capacity to manage and cast, and to ensure that every single prop and costume is in tip top condition to bring about the feel and essence of this great city…… Sounds impossible right? And, on top of that, to live your life and try not to go insane….. No child’s play for sure! But the impossible was made possible by the one and only, Amishi Ma’am!!! By the way, to the unassuming, she is our speech and drama teacher, and we look up to her for inspiration for almost each and everything under the sun, moon and rainbow!
Mumbai is the city that never sleeps, Mumbai is the city that never stops, rain or shine, life must go on… This was precisely the message brought out by our super-duper drama. The audience had goose bumps throughout the play and were anticipating the next move in each and every scene. Amishi Ma’am had beautifully displayed what Mumbai actually is. The people in Mumbai are driven to work, dream and believe and never stop striving and toiling for their goals till they become achievers. Mumbai is the city that no disaster can stop, and Mumbaikars are the people who no obstacle can stop.
Every dialogue, every song, every dance, every scene, every character and every second of the show carried the essence of Mumbai. The end made each human sitting in the auditorium proud to be a Mumbaikar. The “high” created by the entire show was so great, that I don’t think that anyone would want to leave this palatial city for anywhere else in the world. The whole thing was a magical experience, and seriously my friends, the Mumbaikar who hasn’t seen this show hasn’t seen Mumbai at all! Right from the hustle and bustle of the local trains, to the very ironic fact that the billion dollar home of Mukesh Ambani, Antilia (which also, by the way, is the most expensive private home in the world), overlooks Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum, each tiny detail, that makes Mumbai what it is, was kept in mind while framing the play. Bollywood, a film industry even greater than Hollywood, has its home in Mumbai. The fact that hundreds of people come to this land in the hope of fulfilling their dreams and the Never Say Die attitude of Mumbai have developed Mumbai as an emotion. The play did full justice to the spirit of Mumbai, and it seriously made every Mumbaikar sitting in the auditorium introspect and be grateful for being a part of this special city that does not simply live life, but it celebrates life.

Well, before the entire world starts thinking of moving into Mumbai and wrecking havoc with any population control measure, I will seriously stop getting philosophical about the greatest city on earth and bid farewell to everyone. Goodbye, and have a nice day!