Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Disney princesses

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There are some dolls called Disney Princesses. The Americans made them. There are eight of them. Their names are Aeriel, Pocohauntes, Jasmine, Belle, Arora, Cinderella, Snow-White and Mulan.
I'll give you the information of my favourite one. Her name is Belle.
I like Belle because she has long hair and her hair is soft and pretty...

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I FOUND CHIP!!!

Aren and Grandpa decided to look for my toy dog Chip. Grandpa said, "Let's go find your dog." They asked me to come in, but I was a little scared. Aren and Grandpa went, though I told Aren not to go. I had
seen something cream coloured before, but I thought that was a snake's egg, because there are many snakes in our [village] fields.

Grandpa said, "There it is." So Aren took his hand and pulled out my dog and said, "I found it."

When he gave it to me, I was very happy. I kissed him and hugged him, because he had found my dog and I like Chip very much, better than my two new dogs. I mentioned my two new dogs in my earlier blog, on November 16, 2007... so you'll find the picture there.

Aren, one day, had thrown Chip in the field, when we were cycling. I went into the field, and could not find it. My grandmother said, "Aren threw it, and Aren found it." He is also a very bad boy sometimes. Ehhe... right now he's pulling my hair and banging me.

He just now asked, "Where are we going?" So daddy replied and told him, "To sleep."

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In The Morning

It's a cheerful morning
It's happy and gay
The birds are singing
To each other
In the morning

It's nice and peaceful
The children are playing
So come and join us
Let's have some fun
Today

["It's a song. That's why it has no rhyme."]
 


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Friday, November 16, 2007

My new dogs

rizawithdog.jpg

I brought two new dogs from Walkover, a shop in Panjim (which has lovely things ... I wish that Walkover was mine and I owned it, because there are so many lovely toys in). I named them Winnie and Minnie. Winnie is dark brown and white. And Minnie is light brown and peach. I like my new dogs very much.
I had another dog before this; it was a bulldog called Chip.
My brother took it and threw it in the field one day, on October 11 (or something) ... can't be, it was after my birthday. Maybe in November. We had just finished cycling, and we were going to put our cycles away. I parked my cycle there, to have a drink of water. When I came out, I saw my brother... he just took it and threw it in the field. I was very angry and sad. I saw two lizzards in the field before that, and after that I saw five... so that's why I couldn't get it from the field. It was also very busy there, and we might be snakes.
These are not real dogs, they're just toy dogs. And my brother had a toy spider, a purple coloured one. He broke its head, and now we only have the body and don't know where the head is gone... Hehehehehe...

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My little tooth

My little tooth was not falling out. So i went to the dentist. His name is Dr Pascal [Pinto]. He took an X-ray. He said (this is a joke)  to tell Dad to take a 'kolso' (mud pot) and throw it in the well, tied to my tooth.
Dentists actually hurt people, but this dentist was a good person. In comics they show that dentists pull children's teeth and they (the children) scream 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh' like pigs. But that's not true. Some dentists are nice and very kind.
My earlier doctor that I used to go to was Dr Colin [Viegas]. He too was a nice doctor, and used to talk very kindly. When he finished doing the work, he used to give me a toy. That's all folks. Hahaha, blogging is fun.

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The Adventures of Tintin

tintin.jpg

Tintin is a young reporter. He solves adventures. I have two adventure movies of Tintin.

Once Tintin helped a captain by getting him out of his own ship, because the people who were working for him were betraying him. Tintin is a very nice movie and a lot of fun to watch.

'The Craw With the Gold Claws' is about this: Tintin was passing by, and there were two bad people who wanted to capture him. There were also two policemen, named Thomson and Thompson, who went into the bad people's ship, which they were inspecting. Afterwards, they came out of the ship. They asked where was Tintin. One man said he had already left. They were surprised that Tintin left without them. At the end, there was a guy selling some liquors to somebody else. Tintin wanted to find out. When the captain was rescued by Tintin, they cancelled that name and put some other name on the ship. That's how Tintin recognised the ship.

In 'The Secret of the Unicon', there was a lovely ship to be sold. Tintin bought the ship. There were two other men who wanted to buy the ship. They asked Tintin, "Could we buy the ship." The end part is when the man in the blue, who wanted to buy the ship, killed the other guy who fainted. There were two thieves who wanted a ticket in the ship. And at the end, that man would not tell him, so they shooted him. Tintin went inside and caught the thieves. The captain and Tintin saved the three tickets.

{So much I wrote, when I didn't know anything?}

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Tuesday, November 06, 2007

At Babaji's

When we reached the restaurant, I saw a girl who was a little bit younger than me. Her name was Ayesha. She had something small in her hands. It was maroon in colour.

I asked her what it was. She replied and said, that that was a game-boy.

She had lot of games to play with it. I also asked her which was her favourite toy; she said the game-boy itself was her favourite toy.

Then, I took out my puzzles and I asked her, which one did she want to choose: Tinker-belle or Pooh-Bear. She took Tinker-belle.

We decided to have a Frankie to eat. The Frankie is a roti outside with chicken in.

I had gone with my father to Mapusa to this restaurant, because my father had a meeting there. In the meeting, there was Aunty Hazel, Uncle Cecil, Aunty Yma, Aunty Arlette, Uncle Minguel and my father.

We played with the puzzle. I finished the puzzle before her (Ayesha). She also told me that she was not very good in puzzles... but actually she was. When I was small also, I also was not very good in puzzles; now I'm okay... not that good.

Meeting up at Babaji's: SMC team


We played a lot, and when it was time to go we were very sad, because we wanted to play more. We also played with our parents' mobiles. Ayesha liked my father's mobile.... that's all.

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Games and fun

Riza's ninth birthday party, Oct 2007, Goa

[Above, Shimron (with tongue out) and Shimmi.]

On my birthday (October 16), we had four games to play. The names are Simple Simon Says, Musical Chairs, Bombing The City and Passing the Parcel. We had lots of fun.

Twenty-one children had come. Isabel, Abigail, Shimron, Shimmy, and Gabby and others.

The snacks were croquets, French fries, cocktail sausages, popcorn, and cake. My cake was in the shape of a rectangle. It was a Black Forest cake.

My mother helped to make my birthday, and my grandmother, so did Mangal. And my brother and me. And my father also. My grandfather also helped so much.

Riza's ninth birthday party, Oct 2007, Goa

[All my friends, near the swing. The girl who's climbing is Saatchi, and Isable is in the black tee-shirt.]

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Aren gets wet

I was watching Tarzan on TV. It comes on Letix (we pronounce it as Jetix, but it's called Letix, I think). My brother came running up, and I found him wet. He was fully wet. His hair also.

I asked him, "Aren, how did you get wet."

He said, "My cardboard was out in the rain, so I went to pick it up. Because it was so big, I couldn't carry it and I also get wet."

I called my daddy, and he came and said, "Aren, what were you doing?" (sternly) "Go and change."

He changed his clothes, and put on dry clothes. But the cardboard-box is still wet.

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The mystery of the red numbers


My friend in school, Cheryl, told me about red numbers. That they can phone you up on your mobile, and then you get a shock, and you can die.

They say that many people have died like that, but it's not true.

I tried to call on the number, but the recorded message told me, "Please check the number you have dialled. This number is not available."

My Daddy read the newspaper for me. They say that it's not true what the people are telling.

rIn my class many children were telling me that. One boy called Alister was saying that some people gave him a call, but he didn't pick it up, because it's that number. But I don't believe him.

There's one girl called Vrkushanda told me that those people phoned a doctor, and he died some days ago. Another girl, Sneha, said it is really true. They can call on the mobile, but not on the phone.

I believe that they are talking all rubbish.

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The Harry Potter movie



On Saturday, my mother and me went for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix movie at Inox. It was nice. For snack time, I bought Nachos and a bottle of water to drink. My mother and me shared the Nachos and the water.

In the movie, it was about Valdermoth, who builds up an army. Harry Potter wants to fight. He takes his friends with him. Their names are Ron, Hermoine, Ginny, Neville, and there was another girl with goldish hair, whose name I don't know. She is just like Harry Potter. She lived where some creatures were.

Only the people who had seen death could see those cratures. She had seen her mother die. So she and Harry could see the creatures. Harry had also seen people dying from his family.

Then, in another part of the movie, there's a Chinese girl called Cho Cha. She told the bad principal, who threw Dumbledore out of the school and made him leave to Askerban. She was troubling all of them. Cho Cha liked her. They forced Cho Cha to tell. So Cho Cha told the secret hideout where they were practising their spells.

In the other part of the movied Hagrid had a step-brother, and that brother was a giant. A full giant. Hagrid was a half-giant.

The movie was fun. I liked it very much. I saw this movie when I was two-and-a-half...

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Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Aren's sticker book


Aren has different stickers in his sticker-book. I'll name all the stickers. There's a whale, a shark, a sea-walrus, a seal, a dolphin, a hammer-head shark, a hump-back whale, and others of the fish ones. There's also a princess, there's Mickey with Minnie, there's a small cutie (a small sticker of some cute teddy bears in Australia, I call those cuties), and there is a Jesus cross and a bird, and there are others.

In my sticker book, it's very full, because I started mine a long time ago. He started his some days ago. His sticker book is green with a pussycat on top, a Hello Kitty cat, you can see it on the computer. On mine is the dog. Mine is from England. My aunty brought it for me, her name is Aunty Cissy.

Aren's book is from Goa, it's from the supermarket, and Mama brought it for him. We like our stickerbooks very much. I take my stickerbook whereever I go, including to church and to school. My brother doesn't take his sticker book everywhere -- he's not so stuck with it.

I exchange stickers, including with my class-friend Gitam, with Abi, Gabi and Heidi. They are my friends.

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Aren's drawings...

Aren drew a radio. He drew a loudspeaker, and an antenna. "I like to draw a radio, birds and a train," he said. "I'll show you how to draw an engine."

"Grandpa teaches me to draw," he said. "I like to draw technical things. I want to become a rocket and a train engineer," he said. "I like to draw an eel very much."

I think he draws well. I find his drawings very cute.


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My new friend

My new friend's name is Rashila Lobo. She came to know me because she saw my blog, and wrote a comment. I went to VIII B and I saw her. I was nervous, but when I came to know her, I didn't feel nervous. I wait for her after school. She is very  sweet to me. I like her very much. Her sister's name is Veruna Lobo, and she has a smaller brother called Carlos. Her sister was with me in play-school. Her sister is in Shiksha Niketan, and she and her brother are in Lourdes Convent.

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Friday, June 15, 2007

My brother's going to Lourdes Convent


My brother is in KGI(A). Teacher Virginia is his class teacher. They learn songs and they do other things.

My and my friend Saachi (she has two sisters that are in KGII B) we all go to see them. Her sisters are Shimron and Shimmy. When we go to see Shimron and Shimmy, they get disturbed because they're always doing their studies. So their teacher tells us to go away.

When we go to see Aren, the door is always closed, the windows are closed sometimes. Today the window was open, and yesterday the window was closed.

There's one girl called Theresa, and her sister is in KGI (B). Her sister's name is Eunicia.

So, Theresa went to see her, and called her, "Eunicia, Eunicia." And one other small girl was looking at Theresa. Theresa told the small girl to call Eunicia. Eunicia didn't know who was there, and she saw her afterwards. Theresa was screaming, "E-u-n-i-c-i-a, E-u-n-i-c-i-a." And when she saw her, she became more sad, and she burst out into tears. Because she misses her parents and Theresa. When she sees Theresa, she thinks of her parents and home.

In my class, when I was in the KG, no children used to cry. They used to all be good. Only Jorge used to cry, because he was new. He had come from America, and it was the first time being in the school. He had not joined from nursery, but joined from KG II.

I'm the leader for the primary section. I have to stop children from running in the corridor, and I have to make them go quietely, without running, to go home. Our school is brown-and-yellow in colour. It has three floors.  It has a ground floor, with all the big children's (secondary) classes. The first floor is the chapel (and where all the sisters live). The second floor is the primary section. At the side is the KG. Where the primary section is, at the right, is the teachers' library. There's also a children's library.

We also have a computer hall, and a basketball court, and a park.

We have a little pond (a little lake-like thing) where there's a wall, where you can go. But we cannot go, because it's surrounded by water, and there are fishes. There is one lotus, and it's purple colour.

Aren says that he likes his class-teacher very much. His class teacher has three daughters, named Leander, Lorraine and Lillian.

Her husband, Uncle Henry, died recently. When I was a small girl, I was going with my daddy on the cycle, and we saw him. And I was eating leaves. My daddy had not seen that I was eating the leaves; he didn't know. When my daddy came to know, he grabbed them and threw them out. But by that time I brought up, and Uncle Henry saw what was happening. He was very surprised and said, "You're giving your daughter leaves to eat."

I was eating the leaves because I was feeling hungry, and I didn't know to tell. Sometimes I would just eat whatever I found, sometimes I would just cry for chocolates, otherwise I would bite my waterbottle. At this time I was two-and-a-half and my daddy used to take me for cycle rides. We had a bike, but in the evening or morning or afternoon we would go by cycle. Air is not so costly, but petrol is very costly.

Cycling is good because it's exercise, to lose weight.

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Du'bunk....

We went for a walk in the evening... in the rain. My friend, my grandfather and my brother were with me. My friend, me and my brother went to the convent chapel to pray. I prayed, but my friend (Sachi) and my brother didn't pray.

Then, when were coming back, Sachi was carrying Aren. And du'bunk... they fell.

They fell in the water near the steps. The corridor steps.

Sachi was carrying Aren, and she was wearing crocodile slippers... the slippery slippers. So she slipped with him! He said he got hurt on his b*m. Sachi got hurt on her leg.

After he went home, he said, it didn't pain. But it was not paining.



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Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Train-geneer

Aren wants to be come a train-geneer. Train-geneer means people who repair trains, Aren says.

Aren told me, "I want to look after the trains. I will fix up the engines. I will on the Konkani Railway ... Konkan Railway."

I am back to school

I like to go back to school. I am in the fourth standard, and my new class is fun. My teacher's name is teacher Savia.

Yesterday was my first day. It was Monday. There was no rain on Monday. I have many friends. My partner's name is Anagha. Now I got a new partner. It's a boy; his name is ... I forgot.

Partner means a girl or a boy who sits besides you, and helps you. But normally we have our own games; the girls have their own games, and the boys have their own games.

In my third standards, the girls used to play many types of games. But the boys used to play lock-and-key, or catching cook. Now we didn't start playing as yet.

My class is joined to the other class. Our door leads to the same door. The other class is Fourth Standard Zuyo, and mine is Fourth Standard Zayo. Zayo means little flower, and zuyo also means little flower. They are two names of classes, like how you have 'A' and 'B' . It's like that till the fourth. In the fifth (standard), they have A and B. In the first-to-fourth it's Konkani (medium), so they have Konkani names.

Aren also goes to school, to Lourdes Convent. He is in KGI(B). No, KGI(A). In Teacher Virginia's class.

Saturday, June 02, 2007

My visit to Aldona


I went to Aldona on May 30, 2007 (Wednesday). There are all big houses in Aldona. There are rivers and all. From here, it is 30 kilometres, yeah dada? Maybe less. Or maybe more.

I saw a river, and there were four canoes. Two were broken, and two were okay. Aren was troubling daddy to go in the canoe, and daddy was taking photos.

Before that, we went to the market, and we stopped at the 'tea shop'. Niyati had nothing; my dad had a tea and a laddoo. Aren had half a laddoo; I had half a laddoo, and Mountain Dew (a fizzy drink, like Coke and all).

After that, we saw a statue of one teacher. He used to teach the high-school boys. He was very nice to them, and they liked him very much, so in remembrance they put a statue.

We also passed the boys' high school. We went in one lane (on the right side), and then we saw one house. It was maroon and yellow, and after that, we went to Niyati's house.

They had one dog. The dog's name is ... I cannot remember, it's on the tip of my tongue, I'll tell you later.

There was another dog. The other dog's name was Rudy. He was a puppy, he was three months old, he was brown colour, and had lovely-fluffy-hairy ears, and he was playing catching-cook with me. He was just chasing me all over, even when I was eating... specially when I was eating.

Niyati's mother cooked the food. I ate rice and dal, and some tomato, and chicken, and two nice and red-inside guavas. I ate some banana chips. There was also some pork and it was lippery. It came like lipstick on the lips (as you ate it). [Laughing] I don't like pork , beef or mutton or chicken lollypops (except garlic chicken lollypops), because they have some fat. I liked the other food also, but I liked the gauvas and the dal the best. There was spinach curry too.

We had a lot of fun in their house. We watched Jungle Book II.

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Aren is learning to draw



Aren drew a drawing. Aren drew a crab, and a eel. I drew a sea-horse, and Aren coloured the sea-horse. Aren drew the crab, and he coloured it. Daddy drew two crabs, that Aren coloured.

Aren likes to draw with me. I help him to draw with his drawings.

He likes to draw mostly fishes, crabs and boats. Because he likes the beach very much, he likes to swim. He likes crabs very much. He likes to eat crabs also very much. And now he's saying, "Those are the squiggly-wiggly worms."

He's going to become a computer engineer when he grows up. When I grow up, I would like to be an artist, because I like drawing very much. Aren wants me to become an architect. Now he's asking me, "Are you going to become an architect", and he's jumping on me.

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A temple... Riza 2007

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Sunday, May 27, 2007

The rain has come ...

Today morning it rained near my house, and in the whole village. I saw that it rained at 9.30 a.m. At that time, I had just got up, and I dressed and I went to play in the rain -- on the road near my house. With an umbrella. Later, in my garden, I was playing without an umbrella.

It was so cool and nice. It was cool because all the rain had just gone, and cool air came. All the tap water was cold. Otherwise, usually, the tap water is not too cold and not too warm.

In the summer season, it's very hot, because there's a lot of sun. The taps are not cold in summer. In the summer, there is a shortage of water, just before the rain. And then, when the rains come, the water becomes a lot again... because we fill in our buckets and in the well also.

The rainy season gives us a lot of water, and makes the air cool. The beach gets wet, and a lot of big waves come. In the rain, you have to use an umbrella. When there are small showers you have to use an umbrella. When it rains heavily, you have to use a raincoat. And when it rains really, really heavily you have to use a raincoat and an umbrella.

I went in the rain with my brother, and we were playing in the rain outside the house. My father made a small paper-boat for Aren.

There were a few transparent clouds in the sky. It rained till 3.30 p.m. First it started to be light, then it started increasing. It was not a lot, but quite a lot.

I saw some puddles all over on the road, where there were potholes. My brother called it "piggy puddles" because piggies are quite dirty, and he must have thought a pig must have gone in and made all that dirt.

The top photo is about (a place) close to the beach when it's going to rain, and that's why it's very cloudy. It's not this year's photos. It's of 2005 or 2006. The below photo, that's my home and that's the roof of my home and all the trees across the road, and that's the big field. There's all water collected because, when the farmers work, the mud sticks there, and it doesn't give way for the water to go out. The water gets stucks. Even near my road, there's a ditch and the water wants to go down the ditch, but there's some mud which won't let the water go. My grandfather says there's going to be a flood of mud.

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I am going back to school

My school re-opens on June 04, 2007. I am happy to go back to school. I got to go and try my uniform. My brother is going to KG I, and I am going to Std IV.

I didn't do very well in Maths. In English, I did well. In EVS also I did well, and in Konkani.

In my results, for the first test, I got "You did well" (Tuven borem kele), second test I also got (Tuven borem kele). In the third test, I got Tuven khub abhyas korunk zai (you have to do a lot of studies). And in the fourth test, I got, "Tuven ganitant abhyas korunk zai" (You have to study better in Maths).

Next year, I'm going to study well in all my subjects. I think my mummy might get a tuition teacher, or I'll study by myself with a little help from my father. My mother, grandfather or grandmother will teach my brother. I have to go to school early; his school starts at 9, so he has to be there at 8.30. I will go first at 7, and then my mother will bring him to school.

Many children go to school in the junior classes (like KG I and KG II), go to school at 9 o'clock. So I too had the same problem. When I had to go to Std I, it was my habit to get up late, at 8.30 am. Now I get up at 7 a.m. In the coming year, I will get up at 6.30 a.m., because I have to go to school in the morning. In the fourth standard, you have to go early, to see what is not completed, and give your books for correction. On the first day, you can come a little late... but on the first day itself, I'll go more early.

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Sunday, May 20, 2007

My cousins' calendar


My cousins' names are Josh, Craig and Daniel. Josh is six years old. Craig is four years, and Daniel is one year old.

They live in America. They made a calendar for their grandmother.  They made a calendar of 2006, and I brought it to Goa (from Bombay).


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The jackfruit

My neighbours have a jackfruit tree. This year, the tree gave 48 jackfruits. My best fruits' names are gauva, jackfruits, strawberries, and others.

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Friday, May 18, 2007

An architect


One day an architect came to our house. She came to meet my father.

When they finished speaking at 3.30 [pm], I was playing with her. She showed me all her maps. She told me that she studies in a college.

She had a big file, and so many colourful maps.

Architects build houses. They draw pictures. Architects mostly work together; Uncle Dean is her boss, and we all know Uncle Dean, because he is Aunty Patsy's son ... no , brother-in-law... no, son-in-law. He has two daughters, named Gabriella and Olivia. Gabriella is older than Olivia.

If you want to find out more about architects, you can go to the Wikipedia page. My father showed me. When I grow big, I am going to become an artist. If you learn to draw, and if someone teaches you, and if you like drawing, and if you draw most of the time, that's how you can become an artist.

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Aren's double-decker bus

Daddy had gone to Pune. He brought a double-decker bus for Aren. Aren likes his double-decker bus. Aren plays with it a lot. Grandpa told Aren that he wants to see how many days he keeps it nicely. And he still kept it.

He's all the time with his new bus, and he likes it very much. Mama thinks we got it with Cadbury.

Daddy bought a bal for mel, and colour pencils.

I also like the bus. If I was in a bus like that, I would sit on the first top seat, with my brother. I would keep the window open so I could see everything.

Aren told me that they put the double-decker bus inside the scanner, and they got the picture. But I don't know if it's true. I think they (Daddy and Aren) must have taken a photo, no?

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Thursday, May 17, 2007

My brother is famous...

Today we were searching on the Internet... my father was working... and we found a report about Aren. It was about the bees. One man, a scientist wrote about Aren how he sent away the bees from our avocado tree:

Now he's jumping on Dada's neck, and saying "he, he". When he came to know about it, he was jumping. He called Grandpa and Nanna, and said: "Click a photo of me."

A novel method to drive away rockbee swarm!

It was the usual SOS about a swarm of rockbees settling near a house; there are children playing, their safety in peril! This was in August 2005.

Mr. Frederick Noronha who sent out the SOS message received several helpful suggestions to deal with the bees. And then after three weeks, his own son drove away the bees inadvertently and in the process got us a new method to deal with unwanted rockbee swarms. He was playing with a tin - banging it - inside a room near the tree holding the swarm. The bees probably disturbed because of the noise fled the scene!

Let me give you the story in detail, starting with a mail in August 2005 from Frederick Noronha from Goa.

Frederick Noronha fred@bytesforall.org

Re: URGENT *** Query about a bee hive

Dear Sir/Madam,

A colony of bees has set up home about about 3 metres from my home. The hive is about 3/4 metre in size, and located on a tree.

Any suggestions on how, and who, can deal with this? Do you know the contacts of anyone in Goa?

We checked with someone who works at the Goa Directorate of Industries, who recommends removal. The 'pest control' solutions also offers a Rs 500 per hive solution, that involves destroying the bees. Is this the only way out?

Since I have small children in my home, I'm afraid of their safety.

Any help, tips, or links to knowledgeable beekeepers in Goa would be appreciated.

FN

On Thu, 2005-08-04 at 08:33 +0530, M.C. Suryanarayana wrote:

Dear Noronha;

Let me, at the outset, assure you that the bees on the tree do not cause any problem to you and others, unless deliberately provoked (throwing stones, hitting with a stick or any such sudden movement directed at the bees). You may therefore like to leave them alone, as long as they dont disturb you (some worker bees may stray into any room of your house in the evening/night if any window is open and if there is light in it; but that is an instinctive behaviour of insects and the bees do not mean any harm).
 
Now, for the removal of the hive: unfortunately I do not know of any beekeepers in Goa; moreover beekeepers do not know about this type of bee (from what you said the bees are the 'rockbee' variety and are not 'kept' or reared. Tribal people usually 'hunt' these rockbee hives for honey and beeswax. If the colony (the bees and their wax comb) is newly settled, it may not have any honey; so, you have to pay such tribal honey hunter some money to remove the hive - depending on your anxiety and status in the society, the charge for this may vary, but it should not be more than Rs. 50 - 100. My advise is not to use pest control chemicals. Did you try the State Office of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission? The staff in the beekeeping section of this office may know somebody who can do this for you.
 
If you are desperate, and cannot find anyone to remove the hive, try this: on any day in the late evening put off all lights in the house and advise your neighbours too to do the same and remain indoors for about 2 hours. Using some dry sticks, leaves, dung, etc. light a fire on the ground right under the 'hive'; cover with green leaves and let the fuel smoulder and create lots of smoke. The smoke should go up and reach the hive. The bees are afraid of fire and smoke and as soon as they sense the danger of fire, they sip some honey in the hive and leave the comb to settle somewhere away at a safe distance. At this time you (covering your face and hand with protective clothing -- like gloves and a monkey cap; and using - if required - a torchlight covered with a red transparent paper) have to cut the comb off from the tree with the help of a knife tied to a long pole. If possible, scrap off any wax on the tree where the comb was attached. The bees may return later to the spot, but as there is no comb now they may leave the spot for good.

Best wishes, M.C. Suryanarayana

Frederick Noronha (FN) wrote 8.26 am, October 15, 2005:

I'm really grateful for all your help. FN

Thanks for all the help to everyone. This story indeed had a strange ending!

One day, my daughters friends were over to play. My [two-and-half-year-old] son was feeling left out. He went into a small room below the stairs (not far from the hive), and started banging on a tin there.

None of us were looking at the bees, whom we had got quite used to by then! "Uncle, look," said one of my daughter's friends. By the time I noticed it, the bees were 200 metres away, and were determinedly flying off past the fields in front of our home.

Apparently, the noise generated by my two-year-old had unsellted them. Aren wasn't even aware of what he had done! I shooed all the kids into a bathroom which is fairly airtight. But the bees just seemed intent on getting away!

We were initially afraid about safety while the bees were around. But then, a whole lot of friends, including some of the top bee specialists in India, responded to my email queries, and had predicted their behaviour aptly. Minguel was helpful particularly. So did beekeeper Ambrose in Saligao.

They would not trouble any of us. In the evenings, if the doors were left open long and there was a light-source inside, some 3-4 bees would enter the home -- of course, not with the intention of attacking anyone. In that sense, they're less harmless than a mosquito (which bites without provocation). We could just swat the 3-4 bees that came in, and they would fall down harmlessly.

We would stand-by and marvel at the disciplined and coordinated manner in which the bees would fly about their work, with two or four leaving the hive(?) and the same number returning every few seconds!

Maybe I'm imaging it, but the flowers around started blooming when they were around.

In a few seconds, they flew off as suddenly as they landed up at our place. They were gone. What was most surprising was that there was no honey-comb left around. My wife felt that there had been no honeycomb, as they gave the appearance of just sitting atop each other, and the 'comb' seemed to be changing its shape. Miguel feels they might have disassembled the comb as they went off.

So, a story which ends well. Even if we were afraid when the bees came in, and were around (what with having two kids in the area, and a schoolful just nextdoor... some had told us that the bees would probably move off after two days, but they took over three weeks to do so!). When I was talking to Ambrose, he said he felt he ought to be going in for keeping some more tame bees at his home!

Does anyone have a list of bee-keepers in Goa? Just curious after having a subject of interest thrust on me ;-) FN

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My cousins from Hyderabad


[Photo (from left): Ronu, Riza, Aren (in front), Rachel and Richie at Venessa's wedding, 2006 December in Borivali, Bombay.]

My cousins have come from Hyderabad. Hyderabad is near Secunderabad, in India.

They are 13 of them.

The children's names are Rachel (10), Richie (14), Ronu (about 17), Ronan (4), Reiden (2-and-half). The adults names are Albert, Soiny, Harvard, Shalini, Kevin, and others.

In my aunty's house in Nerul, they have three dogs.  Their names are Cinnamon, Skipper and Bambi.

We went, and we are going to go also, to the beach everyday. We went to swimming pools also.

Sometimes the whole family comes, or sometimes only a few come. They have one car, and if both are there, they can use both. If our car is also there, then we all go in three cars.

I spent some days in their house, three days and two nights. We have lot of fun there.

[In Bombay, Jude Haven building... my neighbour's house. Ronu, Rachel, Riza, Aren (in orange tee-shirt), Richie. December 2006]

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My naughty brother



My brother Aren listens to me sometimes; sometimes he doesn't listen. He threw a banana on my nose (heh!) and hit me. I hit him back sometimes. Otherwise, sometimes when my mother and father tell me to keep quiet, I keep quiet; they correct him sometimes.

My mother makes him stand in the corner. My father sometimes shouts or sometimes keeps quiet. He argues with elders.

At the moment, he is climping up the table and he is telling Nanna "You give me the teapot."

He is little naughty, but also at the same time he's good. He stopped hitting. He has to stop pulling my hair and stop biting me to be a good boy.

 

[Photo: Aren is playing with all his toys, and posing. He has made a "computer".]

No I don't want any other brother, because I like him.

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My cousins from Hyderabad

My cousins have come from Hyderabad. Hyderabad is near Secunderabad, in India.

They are 13 of them.

The children's names are Rachel (10), Richie (14), Ronu (about 17), Ronan (4), Reiden (2-and-half). The adults names are Albert, Soiny, Harvard, Shalini, Kevin, and others.

In my aunty's house in Nerul, they have three dogs.  Their names are Cinnamon, Skipper and Bambi.

We went, and we are going to go also, to the beach everyday. We went to swimming pools also.

Sometimes the whole family comes, or sometimes only a few come. They have one car, and if both are there, they can use both. If our car is also there, then we all go in three cars.

I spent some days in their house, three days and two nights. We have lot of fun there.

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Monday, May 07, 2007

At Mandrem

We went by bike to Mandrem, and we were living in one beach. We were living in some huts. Coco-huts. We were actually living in a house. Small room. We had nice fun. The water was very nice and warm. We are going to go there with our friends.

We met one girl. Her name was Dee-Anne. Her aunty's name was Emily, and I don't know what her mother's name was. They were a big family. She was two years year old. Her aunty was 16, and she's in the tenth. We had gone there on Saturday, and they came later.

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Friday, May 04, 2007

These are beach huts



These are beach huts. (My brother calls them 'beach cuts', because he doesn't know to say the word properly.) I like beach huts because they are small and cosy, and also comfortable. Once we had been to a beach hut. When we got up in the morning, we went to the restaurant to have some lemon tea, and then we went for a swim. They are in North Goa and South Goa.

My cousins abroad



My cousins live in America. Their names are Joshua, Craig and Daniel. We are related to them because my mother is their father's brother. He's my uncle. Joshua is the oldest, then Craig and then Daniel.



Daniel is quite small. I don't know how old, but Craig must be 5 or 4 or 6, something like that, and Joshua is 7. We have videos of them in Bombay. I would like to show you some photos of them here.... (my father will scan them).

I passed in my exams....

We were in Bombay, and I phoned my father up. He told me that I passed in my exams -- in English, in Konkani and in EVS (Environmental Studies). I failed in Maths. I got 11 out of 25 in Maths.

I like Maths and English very much. EVS and Konkani are okay. In EVS I have a little bit of a problem, because there are very hard words, and I don't understand most of it. Konkani is okay. But English and Maths I understand.

In my Maths paper, I did one thing wrong that I know. There were some sums that were given, and I wrote them one on top of the other. That's why I got it wrong.

My Math's teacher's name is Teacher Judith (Judy), my English teacher's name is Teacher Nita.

And in the next year, my teacher might be Teacher Latika or Nita, they teacher the fourth standard.

In the fourth standard, I'm going to study well and on my own. I'll take little bit of help from my daddy if something is difficult. If I have a little problem in EVS. In the third standard, my father used to teach me. Also Ruth used to teach me, till her exams came.

Our trip to the jungle...

We are going to go to the jungle. It's in Dakshin Goem (South Goa). We are going to go on Saturday (tomorrow, May 5, 2007). My mother, my father, my brother and me are going. It was a surprise for us. I didn't tell my brother as yet, but now I know. Today my mother told me, in the morning. There might be few animals there, like snakes (I'm sure). There might be all wild cats. Or wild dogs. We might see them. I think there will be many other creatures like monkeys. We are going to live in a small house, and are going there only for one night. We are leaving the house by morning....

Friday, March 30, 2007

Katrina Kaif

I saw the movie in Inox called Namaste London. My friends had taken me for it, because my friend had taken me for it. Her name is Gabbi. Katrina Kaif used to live in London, but then her father decided to take her to India, and then to some people's house, and they went to the Taj Mahal.

The movie was fun, because there were funny parts. One day she spilt cold-drink on her husband. And her father was drinking milk with his hands, so badly.That was what was funny.

After the movie we went to a restaurant, Kamat, near the church. I ate chole.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

We went to the Fontainhas festival

The Fontainhas festival is where art things are displayed. There also was one picture of Jesus that somebody had drawn. And there were pictures, and I thought it was a photo because it was so neat.

I saw one man using other things to play music. Once he took a pot and he was playing. Then he took a glass and was playing it (as a drum).

We met some friends of ours. The mother was related to Ashley's wife. Ashley is my daddy's work-friend. We had met him on the same day (when I bought stickers and showed him).

I saw some people dancing, and when I looked at the children most were buying red kurkures.Almost everyone. I though tlhat was funny. I think there must have been only red kurkures for sale. Kurkures are some things like chips, more like Chitos, and they're long and crunchy. Children like them very much; I don't like kurkures. I like Chitos and chips.

I saw some girls dancing. One gang was dancing with sticks, and the other was dancing with pots. The gangs dancing with sticks, one lady was singing and the rest were dancing. The gang dancing with pots, they only were singing.


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Going to Betalbatim

On February 18, 2007 was our church picnic.

We were all excited. We were going to Betalbatim. Betalbatim is near Canacona (?). We reached Betalbatim by bus. We were close to Margao. It took a long time to reach there. We reached there by lunch-time.

In the picnic there were many children: Alister, Earl, Vinella, Abigail, Gabby (not Heidi), me, Merryl, Victoria, and others.

At the picnic, after lunch, we had to sit, and by evening time we went and they took us to play, and we were playing dog-and-the-bone and passing-the-ball on the beach.

We had to bring our own food from home. They brought some watermelons. I took pulao. For snacks, I took chips and sandwidth. For evening took some more chips, but as I was hungry in the afternoon, I ate it up. They also gave us juice.

While going to Betalbatim, in the bus I was sitting near Abi, Gabby and Victoria. While coming back, I was sitting next to a girl, and Gabby and Abi were standing. There was place when we were going, because the Communion class went first. But when we were coming back there was less space.

We had a lot of fun there. We collected a lot of shells. I had a snail one, and many others. I don't know more.

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Receiving communion together

Four of my friends received communion together with me. Our party was at the club (Saligao Institute). We had a joint party.

[Abigail, Riza and Gabby, February 11, 2007. Photo FN]

I was excited when I was going to received Communion. Because I could take Communion every day and know the taste of it.

In the Church, we had to say different parts. There were some children who had to sing one song. It's called 'What Can I Give Him'. Few children who sang it were Merryl, Alvina, Alister, Earl ...

We had to prepare for the Communion for ten days, when we had to go to the Church. They taught us all about sacraments, and how to receive them.

After a few days, they gave us some readings to say. On the last day, we knew it well. We said it nicely on the last day finally.

Fr Calisto, Teacher Felicia, Teacher Marina and Teacher Massia helped us. Teachers Felicia and Massia were in our class, and Teacher Marina was in the Konkani class.

The parish priest said the Mass and and there were two fathers with him, that's Fr Fermin and another father who came to our school one day. Fr Fermin told a story during the Mass, about God and gifts. I liked the Mass. There were many people in the church. They had asked us bring a hundred rupees, and they gave us the candles. So all of us had same candles.

The ones who were holding the pictures up, were given the candles afterwards.

After that, we had gone to the party. There was one man who was playing all games. He had come to organise the games. He was playing action-games. And only one running game -- bombing the city.

There must have been 200 or 300 guests in all (for all four children). Dalton, who was receiving Communion with us, his brother's birthday was on Feb 16, so they put his birthday on the Communion day. It was also the 75th birthday of some grandparents, so we gave them gifts and had a little party for them together. We had ordered some food from some caterers. It was nice. I ate pulao, noodles and chana-masala. There also was fried-rice, custard, jelly, pork, chicken curry xacuti and something else.


[At the Mae de Deus Church, Saligao]

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Sunday, February 04, 2007

This year, we will receive Communion

I am going to receive Communion this year. Communion is the body of Jesus. When you take it, people say Jesus goes to your heart. This year, I am going to receive Jesus. My dress is white. The tailor's name is Leander, who stiched my dress. It's very fluffy inside, and comfortable.

There are other children receiving with me. Few of them are Alister, Abigail, Gabby, Darlton, another Alister, Sylvester, Elban, Keenan (yeah), Clayton, Joshua (not Keenan's brother), and few others.

We are having a joint party in The Club (Saligao Institute) at 12 o'clock. We might have a small magic show. Darton, Abigail, Gabby and me have all invited 72 people each. My daddy makes fun of us and says we're all going to have a big wedding. First he started saying that we're going to have a big party. Then he started saying we're going to have a small wedding. Then he started saying we're going to have a big wedding. {Now type.} My story's over. Prrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

My sticker collection

People give me stickers often, and then I trade some stickers, and put the rest in my book. I'll show you my book also, with all the stickers. There are these kinds of stickers: Christmas, Tweety, Barbie, Poo-Bear, one bubble and one shell.

One pack costs ten rupees. One pack my grandmee gave me from America. Four packets my god-father brought. Otherwise, my father buys all the time... and my mother sometimes.

Stickers cost ten rupees for one pack. I buy my stickers from Mapusa market. Specially from the book shops. There's one man who sits on the ground, and he keeps all his stickers. Mostly I buy from him. But he closes in the evening... must be at 7.30 [pm].

In school, when I mind the class, I give them stickers. But I don't give them often.

I also trade with my friends calledl Abigail, Gabby and Heide.

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Monday, January 15, 2007

My grandmother and godfather come to Goa

My mother's brother and mother's mother (godfather and grandmother) came to Goa for a holiday. They actually live in Bombay. Our house is not too big, so they live in Nerul. That's our house only, but it's fully ours, because it's my mother's father's... and it's shared by all his brothers.

They took us fishing, and they took us to the beach and swam with us.

They gave us a very good time. They went on Sunday morning (Jan 14), at 6 o'clock (in the morning) sharp. They got up at 5 in the morning. They woke me up in the morning also. It was so dark. I wanted to play also, but I was scared. I also wanted to take a morning walk, but I was scared.

They still kept the prawns (bait) in Nerul so that we can fish.

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Aren ... and the rats

Aren is my brother. Aren is three years old. Once, me and Aren were sitting upstairs and watching TV. And I saw one rat running up.

Aren was watching Tom and Jerry, and he asked me, "Can you give me a Jerry."


So I told him, "It's better to have a Tom, because we have a lot of Jerries running around, and eating food and all that. I don't know if he understood the joke.

He must have thought so, because in the movie, Jerry is colourful and he's the good guy. But in the real world, Tom is the good guy. Because the cats catch the mice. The mice just eat our food. The cats protect us.

I had two cats... many cats. Some were named Whitey, Spotty, Tigger. There were two Spotties. There was one Billy and one Spotty. Three Spotties, actually. But my cats ran away and died. I had only one dog, since I was a child. My dog's name was Banshi... and, she died. Very sad. She was vomitting first.

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