The interesting animal zoo... at Byculla

One day, we went to Byculla Zoo. In the zoo, we saw one colourful bird, which looked like a cuckoo. We didn't know what it was. So, if anybody knows, please can you tell us? I also saw a lion and a lioness; but there was no tiger. I saw a sleeping bear also, and a rhinoceros. I saw some swans, and some pelicans. Not pelicans -- what are those who fish? -- cranes.

In the zoo, there were some nice statues. One was Queen Victoria, the other was King Edward. And I just forgot the others. I don't know why they kept the statues there. Ah, they kept Queen Victoria because it is called the Victoria Garden. And King Edwards.... there's no thing about him....

There was a board that I saw, where it was written the limits of Bombay. When we went inside, we saw a beautiful elephant. It was not a true one, but just made of stone.

Long long back ago, some people had made it, and it broke. These zoo people found it, and put the pieces back again, and they made it like new, and it looks so beautiful.

There was a rhino named Shiva. I'll tell you the story about him.

One day, there was a man, his wife and a child. They went to the zoo. The child kicked his slipper, and kept it on the cage. The father went to get the slipper. The rhino just bashed the fellow, and he died. That's why they now removed Shiva's horns. Finished.

Our Ganesh holiday in Bombay

In Bombay, I have a lot of friends. I went for my Grandmother's birthday to Bombay. It was on August 24, and reached Bombay on the 25th. We went by train.

We met some children on the train. The boy's name was Aditya. And the girl's name was Nandita.

Then, I saw many things. I saw trees, I saw fields, I saw tunnels and beautiful birds in the sky in the train.

When we reached Bombay, we had to go out to pickup my grandmother's two sisters, Maam and Aunta. We also found that we had some new neigbours. The big one's name was Ulrica and the small one's name was Vinona. I made friends with them.

I have some good friends called Moretta, Trinetta, Rashika. There are other children whose names are Kamakshi, Jonathan, Runali, Presley, Twaila and Lianne. I like Moretta and Trinetta, because when I was a baby, I used to go to their house to play, and they always looked after me. Even now. That's why I like them.

Sailee... and the cockroach

We had a very funny thing happening in our class, about Sailee. A girl was s-c-r-e-a-m-i-n-g. "What happened?" we thought.

In our class, some days ago, Teacher Merlin (Kimberly's mother, a new teacher who takes up some subjects) came. Suddenly Sailee started screaming, "Mum-mmie, mum-mmie, mum-mmie."

Teacher Merlin said, "What happened?"

Sailee said, "Zollo ailoh." (A cockroach came on me.)

Aha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

The cockroach then went, and it crawled on a girl named Zinia. But Zinia just sat in her place and laughed. Blossom, Sailee's partner, started laughing at Sailee too.

We didn't know what was happening, that's why it was so funny.

When I came home I laughed and told my daddy, and, in the night, I told my mummy.

Ganpati festival is coming

I'll just give you some little news of Ganesh. Ganesh is a god in the Hindu religion, and many people like him. One day his mother Parvati was sitting. She wanted to have a bath, and didn't want anybody to come inside the house. She didn't trust anybody. So, she took all her dirt and made a little boy Ganesh. As Shiva, Ganesh's father returned, he said, "Let me go in." But Ganesh said, "No, my mother told me not to let anybody to come in."

Shiva got angry and cut Ganesh's head off. Parvati put a new elephant's head for Ganesh. That is how, he got the head of an elephant.

I like the Ganesh festival, because it's fun ... and we also get a holiday from school. Many people come to visit us, and we get to go out. We go to some friends house.

For Ganesh people make sweets like 'neuros', 'kalkals'. They put a Ganesh inside their house. They put fruits for him, to give him an offer. Apples, bananas, organges, whatever.

My principal said children will have to bring clay from home and make a Ganesh. They will have to make it in school, and paint it at home.

A veggies contest... (vegetables)

In my school, my principal said, "We are having a vegetable contest on Monday (August 21)." So we were happy. But many were not taking part. From our class only three are taking part: Diksha, Alister and Sarfraz.

In other schools they have it of cloth vegetables. In our school, it's a fresh vegetable competition.

You have to wear green clothes insides, and tie vegetables and make a dress, and put greenpeas for a ears, make a cabbage dress, or make a crown of ladyfingers. Or you could take a round pumpkin and make a hat.

I'm not taking part in it, because many children like to eat vegetables. We don't like to stick them on our body. Many mothers don't have the time to do it, and my mother also... and I don't like it.

My trip to Santanna

Santanna Tiswadi (Goa)
Originally uploaded by fredericknoronha.

On Sunday, when we were getting dressed to go out. We came out. As usual, I was standing out in the balcony. Suddenly, we saw a car. It stopped by our house. I was wondering who it was.

They all came out.

I ran in and said, "Daddy, Uncle Vijay is come."

Then Vijay said, "Where are you'll going?"

My father said, "We don't plan and we go."

We went for a long drive. Suddenly I said to my father, "Daddy, there look a palace." My father told me it was a church.

Then we went inside the church. A kind lady opened it for us and took us in. My father took many photos. Inside a small tunnel of the church, the ladies found their missing football. They let us then play with the missing football.

I like to visit churches. Specially very old churches, which are fun to visit. You can see old paintings and things. If you visit very young churches you cannot see the old things.

We played football and I scored so many goals on Vijay.

Aren is 3

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Originally uploaded by fredericknoronha.

My brother's name is Aren. He was three years old yesterday.

In the morning, I was very excited, because it was my brother's birthday, and I felt very happy that all the children are going to come to my house. Then I went to school, and then found out that it was a girl named Neha's birthday too. She gave us sweets and all.

When I came back home, I was happy and wished my brother happy birthday. He only looked at me, and said, "Welcome" by mistake. Afterwards, Granme and Joce sent him a gift, because they couldn't come from Bombay.

The gifts what they sent for him was one car, four story books, a short-pant. That's all.

At the party, we had called many friends. But we called one school friend of my brother's, whose name is Steve. Steve didn't come, so Aren was very sad. When we met to the supermarket, we met Steve's father, and he said that he forgot to send Steve. He forgot about the party.

The children we called were Arjan, Rohan, Abigail, Gabby, Heidi, Sachi, Shimmi, Shimron, Joshua, Keenan, Nora, Isabel and Lian (with her brother Keenan). There are two Keenans. Most of them were my friends. Because they were big children. We didn't call the small children because there were not many small children that we knew. Steve didn't come. But Arjan, Rohan and Keenan and baby Keenan and Nora were Aren's friends.

We had lot of fun at the party. There was a nice girl named Ruth, who lives close by our house. She came to help and decided the games. The party went quite well. When the party got over, I counted all the gifts, and I got not even one. Only Arjan, Rohan and my father had given me one. And it was not my birthday. When my birthday is gonna come, I'm going to have a big party with all my friends and Aren's friends too. We're going to have a great time.

My school concert

Tomorrow we have to sing a patriotic song, and the name of our song is Hum Sab Bharatiya Haim (We Are All Indians).

Standard I (Zuyo) is singing the song called Hum Honge Kamayab (We Shall Overcome). Standard IV will sing Vingad Ranga Cho (Of Different Colours).

Tomorrow our chief guest is coming. His name is Mr Orlando Lobo. He teaches in one school. Sister Esmeralda, our principal, said that Mr Orlando Lobo is coming to our school as the chief guest, so we have to sing nicely.

There was a very funny problem going on with our class. When we were singing in our class, our voices used to come out loud and the opposite two classes used to hear us. But when we went on the stage, our voices came soft. So teacher Bella said, we had to do something. Teacher told us that the children who were in front of the stage also had to sing.

Today was the day that we sang quite well. Teacher Nita said every year they have to give out a prize to the students who are the best.

There were two girls. One girl was Jefora, and the other's name was Cleta. They both won the prize. It will be given tomorrow. It was decided on yesterday.

Tomorrow, I am Sarojini Naidu. Sarojini Naidu was a lady who used to speak English and she was one of the leaders of India, who helped our country. She was a freedom fighter. And there's another girl in my class, whose name is Diksha, and she is acting like Jhansi Ki Rani. Jhansi Ki Rani was one of the freedom fighters also ... a queen.

There are two kinds of Jhansi Ki Ranis. One was when she was small, and when she was big. Our teacher said we cannot do Jhansi ki Rani when she was a small kid. Even for Sarojini Naidu, we had to dress up big people. Diksha wore a yellow sari and a little bun on her hair, and a little pink cloth hanging down. And I just have to wear a maroon sari and these purple chappals.

We have to dress up from home. My mother dresses me up, and she dresses it very well. It's not difficult to wear a sari. It's difficult for me, but not for my mother. Because I cannot put it on. It's difficult to put it on. A sari is a very long Indian dress, which you have to tie, and make pleats.

You have to walk with it very nicely. I have a children's sari. I don't know big it is, but I will find out from my mother and tell you.

My book: faiThGirLz! <>

One lady, called Tami Brady, sent us -- sent my father -- some books. So my father looked at all of them, and there was an interesting one about blogging.

My father gave it to me, when I was doing my tuitions in the evening. I've not read it yet. But I'm going to read it when I'm eight years. I'm going to try to read it now. It's for (children aged) 8 to 12, but any other kids can make a blog. Why cannot they?

I am seven-and-a-half. On October 16, I'm going to be eight.

My mother bought me a book, about things to do at home, on your own or with your parents and somebody who can supervise you. I know to read that book.

I manage to read small stories. All that I know. But I'm trying to read like a Harry Potter book now. I'm going to start it. I'm starting from tomorrow. I'm starting from Saturday....

My loving mother

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Originally uploaded by fredericknoronha.

My mother does so much for me. In the night she gives me dinner, she sends me out to play in the evening with my friends or she takes me for a nice outing. She gives me nice things to eat. She takes us for so many outings. She also takes us to Bombay.

My mother gets me ready to go to school. My mother takes me for parties. She brings me toys. And for my birthday, she also makes a cake with her own two hands.

She comes home from work and she gives us tea. She also helps me in my studies. My mother also plays with me and also takes my brother to school. What a loving mother I got. My mother and me are very best friends.

A visit to Colvale

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Originally uploaded by fredericknoronha.

My father told me that Colvale is the last village of Bardez before you reach Pernem. We went to a church in the village, which is near the riverside. We saw some crabs, and my brother was screaming because he was very happy, like a little imp.

Colvale is a nice riverside village, where you can play and all. We bought some nice 'chakli' from Colvale and we liked it very much.

We went to a quiet side and saw a boat. There was a long stick. It was a big one but didn't look hard at all. My brother was breaking some pieces of the stick and throwing it in the water. He was having such good fun at Colvale.

We left at 6.30 and reached at 7 o'clock sharp. Then we went to Florentine and got some chicken cafreal. My brother was very happy. But the chicken was very spicy.

Me and my mama ate the chicken, but it was too spicy for my brother. If any of you want to go to Colvale, you'll might a very good time there.

The beautiful fields in Goa

Fields in Goa
Originally uploaded by fredericknoronha.

We have many fields in Goa, in front of people's houses.

Fields are very important. Children go in the water, and some children play in the water. In the monsoon season, they also get baby fishes and snails. The children collect it. The children love the fields.

For big people it also has a use. The big people grow their paddy. And the big people also collect snails to eat. A field is very important.

In front of house, there is a field. The dogs run and play in it. I will name three dogs -- Pretinho, Blacky and Sultan. In the evening or afternoon, they run in the field and play. They must be running in the morning also, but I never see them because I'm at school.

That's why fields are so important. The ending of my story: the fields of Goa are so beautiful and you can get good value from them.Like good-value toys.

At the concert...

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Originally uploaded by fredericknoronha.

This is a photo of my concert. We were acting about 'The Sleeping Beauty'. I'll tell you all my friends who were acting in it. The reader of the book was Eric (orange tee-shirt) who read the book. Alister (not in photo) was the king. Zinia (in purple dress, partly hidden) was the queen. Shivona (in green) was the princess. Royston (in red) was the soldier. Seejoy (with red bow-tie) was the prince.

Now, the ones left are only the fairies. I was a fairy with a green dress. You can see me behind the princess (second from right). Sarita is the fairy in the white dress (first from left). Velanie was also a fairy (second from left, front row). Alisha (at the very end, partly hidden) was also a fairy. Sandra (next to Zinia) was the witch.

It was very nice. It was the first time that we acted in an English play.

At a cycle ride... an accident

Last Friday, my father said, let's go for a cycle ride. So we went.

Suddenly, near Gladston's house, a little further, my leg went into the cycle wheel, and I started howling. Gabriella and Indra came running to help us. Uncle Eric was going with his wife and his little son Ashwin, and they told us to remove the shoe.

Gabriella and Indira quickly brought some ice for us. They brought it from somebody's house. Aren was crying also, because he saw me howling. My dada was helping me.

The accident was caused because I put my leg in the wheel. Next time, I will not do that and learn to be much more careful. I was afraid of my leg and how I was going to act in the concert on the next day. But everything was fine, except that my leg is still wounded and a bit swollen. My parents put Betadine ointment for my swollen leg. I limp everytime when I like, like this. Tu-tuuk-tuk. Tu-tuuk-tuk. I think I'll have to go to the doctor tomorrow.

Banshi... not liked, but loved

My dog's name was Banshi. First she never used to like me and was a very hot-tempered dog. But slowly she got used to me and started liking me and my brother and all. But by the time she got used to us, she was bitten by two dogs in the fields and was chased back how. For a few days she lasted and then died. That's the end of my dog.

My dog was also very old. She was 15 or 14 years old. I felt very sad when she died, because she was my loving dog. I wanted to make a glass coffin and keep her lying in our house. But my grandfather buried her in the backyard, so I get scared to go there.

No I don't believe (in dog ghosts), but am a little bit scared in the night when I sleep near the bedroom window.

I remember when my uncle and aunty used to come, she used to like it when they used to bring chicken. She used to start wagging her tail, and make 'Uh, uh, uh, uh!' When my mother used to come down, and give her chicken in a plate, she used to be so happy.

She was a very hot-tempered dog and bit many children like Deepa, Simron, Aren and Karla. She never bit me, because she was loving to me. I troubled her but. Yes, she did growl. I didn't like her, but I loved her.

Superman... and me

Yesterday, on Sunday I went for SUPERMAN RETURNS. My friend Isabel and me had gone for the show. Superman's name was Clark, and there was one girl named Floris, no Luis (Lois Lane). Superman was born in a country called ... wait... just phone up Mama to ask her.

He was living in a country, it starts with "G", I don't know... (Krypton).

I saw one man. He simply put a wig to show that he was a nice man; but when we went out of the room, he threw out the wig on a small girl, and she screemed, 'Eh!'. That man went, and superman's father was dead. He went to that cave where Superman's father was in a white stone, and his father was talking to the white stone. His father saw the bad man, so Superman's real father opened that thing, and this Bad Man took out all the crystals. Superman's powers were crystals. But Superman still had little powers let. They were still very powerful powers. These were underground.

That man took those green jewels-like and he took them, and Superman didn't have any powers. Superman flew back. ALl his powers were gone. They destroyed Superman and kicked him. He had to be taken to the hospital. When Lois went to see him, they saw him lying there. Lois' son kissed superman, then they sat in the car and went home. When Lois' son was sleeping, Superman saw him. Then the son said bye. Lois saw superman, and they all went inside the house.

The film was quite enjoying and all....

In my next blog I'll tell you about my new tuition teacher. Her name is Ruth; she teaches well, and I like her very much. Now I'm going off, because i have to go upstairs and my new tuition teacher is coming to teach me. I also learn music, and that's the piano instrument.

Goa's 11 talukas

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Originally uploaded by fredericknoronha.

Canacona is one of Goa's 11 talukas. It has a beach, and here's a beach of which I've put the photo. I couldn't put the pictures of the other talukas, because I didn't have all of them. This was the best one. My daddy had it in his photo collection. He took a photo of Canacona beach and he kept it in his computer.

Some of these photos are only mine -- the ones with me in -- but most of them are my Dada's.

Canacona is a very nice place, because the beaches are beutiful. Canacona has quite a lot of greenery, hills and grass.

I'll tell you a story about Canacona. One day, my mother and father decided to go for a sleep-over at the beach. My mama said it was not a very good idea, because my baby brother was in her stomach. But I cried to go, and we went. When we nearly reached the beach, we stopped our car. It was 7 o'clock and not very dark. But when we stopped our car, my mother asked my father, "Let's lock the car." So my mother asked my father for the keys to lock the car. He said, "I don't have them." By mistake the keys were locked in the car!

My mummy and daddy tried a lot. Some people came to help us. They took a wire and took out the window pane of the car, and took out the keys. Then we went and stayed with them. They had a restaurant place.

The next day it was morning. We saw the poor children playing with one bucket and a spade. All of them had to take turns. So we felt sorry for them. My father told me I could give them my beach set. At first I didn't agree. Afterwards, my father told me "Don't worry. You give it to them. I'll buy you a new beach set." So I listened and gave it.

Goa also has 10 other talukas. The names are Bardez, Pernem, Tiswadi, Sattari, Bicholim, Ponda, Kepem, Salcete, Sanguem and Bicholim.

I live in Bardez. There's a school very close to our house -- it's just one house and then the school -- so it's very easy to go. Bardez has a lots of fields. There are beaches in Bardez. The beach we go to most of the time is Calangute. Sometimes we go to Baga. Mapusa is in Bardez, I love to go Mapusa to do shopping.

My daddy takes me there to buy my school uniform material. Sometimes, if I want to buy rings and bracelets or my EVS pustaks [environmental studies book], I go to Mapusa. Sometimes I also go there to buy new school-shoes. Many people are there in Mapusa. The people in Mapusa have a lot of shops, so I like to go there. So I like to go there with my father and my mother. YES! And my little brother, Aren, cucuk-koo...

Goa's beautiful sceneries

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Originally uploaded by fredericknoronha.

Goa is a very beautiful place. I think it's so beautiful because in most of Goa, in front of people's houses there are fields and sceneries. In Bombay, when I see the people's houses, all buildings are blocking their way. They cannot even see a school or a field.

In Bombay, the beaches are very far. You cannot go and sit nicely and have a good time. It's very far from your home. There are not that many people. In Goa there are so many nice children on the beach that you can make friends with.

In Goa, I like the parks, the beaches and the swimming pools the best. If I had one wish, I wish that Goa would have snow. Because I love to take snowballs and throw on my friends. But I also like Goa how it is.

If I had a second wish, I would wish that there were more fields and more swimming pools. We have many beaches in Goa, but not many swimming pools. In Bombay, there are many swimming pools. But Goa's still better, because it's beautiful and clean.

My little kitten

Playful...
Originally uploaded by fredericknoronha.

I had four kittens, one was a mother. Two were girls, and one was a boy-kitten. We had too many kittens, and so we sold one.

My three cats were Tigger, Spotty and Whitey. In the picture is my cat, and her name is Spotty. She's a very playful kitten and I used to like her very much. If you want to play with your kittens nicely, you should have a nice, fat rope.

You should turn it in different directions and shake it. When they bite it in their mouth, means they want to play more. You should pet them also and feed them, and then they'll like you more.

If you trouble them and chase them, they won't like it. I know that because we used to chase Spotty's brother and trouble him, and he ran away and didn't like us. We used to be nice with Spotty, and she stayed with us for many years. But now, she ran away too. We hope we can find her again.

Cats are my favourite pets.

Voddekara, canoe song

Shy? Showy?
Originally uploaded by fredericknoronha.

This is a photo of me when, in the evening, I had gone to my school. I had taken part in a dance, and it was a very nice dance called 'Voddekara'. Sometimes my brother tries to dance it at home.

Should I sing the song for you? "Voddekara, voddekara..." No I don't know to sing it. I'm not going to do it, because I'm feeling shy.

Others who took part were Nishigandha, Theresa, Subhrata, Dipti ... among the boys were Eric, Mutthu, Aishwarya (a girl who took part as a boy), and others.

Teacher Savia and Teacher Sybil taught us the dance. They put a cassette-player on, and Teacher Savia was showing us the stops. We learnt it quite fast, in a few days, and the concert was after many days.

I like to dance, because that dance was fun and because the cassette player was playing quite nicely, and also the teachers were teaching us well. We felt we could do it well and all.

Stamps can be beautiful

Today, one aunty sent me some stamps. Her name is Aunty Valerie. I liked them very much.

One stamp is from India. It is the Taj Mahal, Rs 15. There is another Indian stamp, which shows a dog picture. Rs 5. There's another stamp, it's from Kenya. It shows a picture of cashews hanging from the tree with a 50 cents (?) denomination. This stamp comes from the Australia. It shows a picture of a man bending down and he got rainbow colours. 50 cents. Memborune Commonwealth Games.

There are many other stamps. I'll just tell you'll. There are other stamps with pictures of flowers, of birds, of leaves, of stars, of butterflies, of plants, etc.

Stamp collecting is fun because you can collect old stamps, and you can call friends to your house and show them stamps. You can agree which they like. If you can also take each others'. That's why I like stamps. It's good fun to collect also. Sometimes people give me stamps. Like my grandfather. I give others also, sometimes without exchanging. With my grandfather, we exchange together most of the time. He got his stamps; I like his stamps.

Keeping busy in summer

This holiday there were many summer camps. I went for two. One was in the church and one was in the club. I enjoyed the club one more.

We used to play games, and they used to teach us things. In the church, we learnt songs.

Abigail, Gabe and Heide and Sachi and my cousin Kaira, and Jo-Ancy (a girl who used to be in playschool with me when she was small) also came to the church camp.

Now we're doing the children who came for the club camp: Abigail, Gabe, Heidi, Sachi, Simi and Simron (the twins), Suhail and Tarika, George and Victi, Denise, Shawna, Annika and Conroy, Alister and Eric, Sparsh and Sunika, Joshua and Keenan and Nora, and other too came.

The best activity that I liked was when played games. My favourite game was Chocolate Tiger. Somebody stands in the front here, and looks in front. They close that person's eyes. Some children come in walking from the back. Whenever they come walking, the one with closed eyes says stop. If they shake or fall down they are out.

At the end of club camp we had a little play. I was in the play too, and I was acting like one of the grandchildren.

The story is like this: One day, the children's grandparents were travelling to see them. When they landed at the airport, the robbers came. They were startled. They said, "Please leave us alone. We are very old. You take this (our suitcase) and go." Grandparents arrive home. Grandchildren are very happy, and start shouting. Then, the grandparents tell them, "We have bad news for you. We were attacked on the airport. Fortunately nothing happened." Then, one grandchild said, "Granny, but you promised."

Thought the grandparents could not bring anything for their grandchildren, the grandchildren were happy with all they had done for them in the past. The moral of the story is that we should be grateful to everybody for what they have done for us.

In the church camp, there were many dances. They didn't have plays. I did a song. There were two songs, called 'Gonna Walk' and 'This Train'. I was in the first.

Gonna walk
This lonesone valley
Gonna walk
It by myself
Nobody can
walk it for me
Gonna walk
It by myself

This train is
bound for glory
Carries nothing
but the blessed and the holy

There were two dances too. The Portuguese dance and our dance. I was involved in the mando. They played the cassettee and we danced. Many children danced. There were too many girls and less boys, so they took some girls and made them boys. They made me and my friends Abby and Heidi a boy, but Gabe was a girl.

At the moment, there is a small camp for the big children that's going on in the sports hall of the Lourdes Convent. They talk about religious things and sing hymns and also have some entertainment in the evening. My brother saw them putting their noses in the bucket during one of their games. Some girls were laughing, he told me.

Tell me the name of this mango, please

Mangoes are not my best fruit, but they are somewhat.... We get mangoes only in May. We also got a big mango tree at home. I like those mangoes very much; they're my best mangoes.

They are not Mankurad (malcurada) mangoes. I don't know what kind of mangoes they are; and even my parents don't. Can somebody please tell me? If I get the information I would be very happy. They are green coloured mangoes, and big, and sweet and juicy. They contain natural sugar. I like them very much.

When the mangoes are green, they're not raw but ripe.

My brother Aren, who will be three in August, doesn't like the green mangoes from our tree. He only likes Mankurad mangoes very much.

Funny and cute

My brother Aren's words are very funny and cute. When I give him something, he says, 'Tank You'. When somebody doesn't give him something he wants, he says, "Stupid donkey."

When my Dada brings his favourite food biryani, he calls it 'bil-yani' and jumps in the air. He sees the cartoon named Sabrina, where they say "Yes" (with their hands out), so he tries to say the same when he's happy.

He says for his bus, "Volvo bus". It's actually a simple bus. But he likes Volvo buses quite a lot.

When somebody calls him 'Babulo', he says, "Don't call me 'Babulo', call me A-R-E-N Aren." Whenever I go to play with my friends, and he doesn't come, he cries, "Riza, Riza, don't go, come play with me." First I used to not come, but now I play with him.

When he does something naughty, he puts his tongue out and does it. When he's told to kneel in the corner, he's very happy. He goes running and kneels down, but he holds onto the chair.

Three sketches

[Below, the beautiful mushroom, the pink butterfly and the shade tree, from Riza's collection of sketches.] If you want to learn to draw properly, then first you copy from books.

Once you copy from books, you become better at it, and you can draw without looking.

If you want to make a good drawing, you've got to colour the page fully. But if it's not needed, don't colour it.

If you use felt pens, you can use them for the outline, which is good.

If you use them to colour the full page, then all the marks show behind, so you mustn't do that. My teacher told us not to use felt because all the back-page becomes all spoilt.

I'm still only learning to draw everyday.

When I'm colouring from my colouring book, I don't ask my Daddy for papers.

But whenever I'm doing drawing I ask my Daddy for two or three papers, and then I draw. He says, "Okay" and gives me, but first he says "you must write two blog enteries, then only I'll give you papers."

Mrs. Turtle

I like to draw. Drawing is lots of fun, because it's lot of fun to me. You can make cards for people birthday. My Mama also asks me to draw many drawings for her. I draw for my friends.

My favourite drawings are birds and sceneries. In school, they taught us to draw many things, but my favourite was a lotus. Rukshanda likes to draw, and Suhail too. Many other children, including Dipti, like to draw.

We use Faber Castel crayons to draw, and felt-pens for the outline. My best colour are Faber Castel, because they colour very darkly. Pencil colours, I don't like them so much because everytime the point breaks and I have to sharpen, sharpen, sharpen. Crayons colour very darkly and smoothly.

If you draw very often it's nice, because then you will know to draw well, and you can become an artist.

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Mrs Turtle: I drew this at home, at around 2.30 (I don't know the date properly) during my holidays. I copied the drawing from the 'Magic Pot', a very good magazine where they tell you stories, and you got to colour, copy drawings, and colour one drawing and send it. When I was a small girl, they gave me a clay set. Earlier, they used to give Tom and Jerry puzzles. Afterwards I got a 'Magic Pot' bag.

My Konkani book

This is my first standard Konkani book. I like Konkani very much. I learn Konkani in the Devanagiri script. Devanagiri script is very easy. I'll read out the first lesson for you: "Pat Ek. Tan, tan. Tan, tan, tan. Gan, gan, gan. Chal, chal. Ta-na, tan. Gah-na, gan. Ch-le, chal. Te, ne, ge, le, cha".

I know some of you cannot understand Konkani very well, so I will transfer it in English for you: Part I. Ting, ting. Ting, ting, ting. Dong, dong, dong. Walk, walk. Tn, Gn, Cl. T, N, G, L, C."

Most of you'll have not understood much of this, so I'll translate again. This is a story of children going to school. The school-bell is ringing. All the children gather to go in their class. 'Tan' and 'gan' are the sounds of the bell. 'Chal' means walk (to school).

At the last line of each lesson are all the (new) alphabets that come up in the lesson.

At first, I was not good in Konkani. But I didn't want to give up. I tried, and now I got it. I know Konkani a little. I find it easy. But I like English better, because I talk English at home.

My favourite languages are English and Hindi. I talk Hindi in Bombay with my friends. In Bombay, the TV programmes only come in Hindi. Only some of the big people's channels come in English. So that's why I know a little of Hindi.

Tarzan, Alladin and Ariel the Little Mermaid (with Snow White, Aurora and Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, and Jungle Book sometimes) all come in Hindi. Barbie speaks Hindi. All the channels have to talk in Hindi, because it's Bombay.

When I went to Bombay and watched TV the first time, they used to talk in English (on the TV). But afterwards they changed it to Hindi. When I saw it the next time, I was surprised to see them talking in Hindi, and so I started learning Hindi.

I was very surprised about how Barbie and Tarzan (and Rainbow Girl too) speak in Hindi. Because I feel it's quite funny to see foreigners talking Hindi!

I'm going to Bombay

I am going to Bombay. In Bombay, I'm going to meet my mother's mother (Granmee) and my mother's brother (Joce). I'm going to do so many nice things in Bombay in my holidays. Playing with all my friends. And playing with my Barbie dolls. I'll take my own Barbie doll from Goa. And all my other toys which are there.

Sometimes, we might go to the swimming pool. I love to swim. Now I'm still learning to swim, and I feel it's also lots of fun.

First, I go to visit friends and cousins who are in Bombay. I have one cousin (Brendan) and many friends. I have plenty other cousins, but they are not my small cousins.

Bombay is also called Mumbai. I call it Mumbai; my brother calls it Bombay. It is quite far; I don't know how far. Mostly, I travel on train to Bombay. I sleep in the train and feel very nice; there's no noise of anything. And I get up at six or seven in the morning. When I get up, I am close to Bombay city. We get out at Bombay.

In Bombay, I also play with Grandmee and Joce. I go to Bombay for holidays, and sometimes I take leave from school for special occasions -- like weddings or funerals.

[I got a photo of Borivali from Flickr. My daddy he helped me to get the photo from Flickr. Copyleft. Copyleft means anybody in the world can copy that photo. Copyright means nobody can copy the photo, it's only yours. I think that Copyleft is better, because then you copy it and everybody gets to copy it. I feel happy when somebody else gets to copy mine. We're showing generosity and we are also showing that we're sharing. That's what I like. The photo is about all caves that are very old, two thousand years old!]

Coco Rio

Coco Rio was my pet cock. He used to peck everybody. He used to peck my Mama, the maid, and everybody in the house. We were all fed-up of him, and so we sold him.

But after that, I felt sad. Because the garden became quiet, and there was nobody making a noise. He used to crow early in the morning and wake me up very early. But I used to go back to sleep, ah. Sometimes, when I was in a good mood, I used to get up.

One day he woke me up at 5 o'clock. The morning was all dark. So I came out and said, "Shoo, shoo". So he went away, and I went back to sleep in my bed.

I had many other hens, but we sold them all. What's the point of telling everybody?

All about animals

There are many nice animals. I feel that God has created so many animals. Animals that we keep in the home are cats, dogs, goats, cows, squirrels, fishes also, and turtles. Wild animals are those which are in the jungle. Like the lion, tiget, deer, antelopes, foxes, vizens.

In Konkani, the names of wild animals are shiv, wagh, haran, kolo, and those of tame animals are suno, mazor, bokddi and gai. I don't know what you call the others. That's why I didn't want to add.

I like kittens and puppies very much. You know why? Because they're so playful and so loving. Only when you irritate them, they scratch you or bite, otherwise they are very loving animals.

I'll tell you the story of my cat and me. The mother-cat's name is Spotty. She came to our house, walking. She came since her mistress died. I took a lot of biscuits and fed her with them; we gave her a nice bowl of milk to drink. She became friendly, and started coming day-by-day to our house. She started liking us very much.

One day, I went to my friend's house to stay for the night. I came back the next morning. My granpa told me, "Surprise." I came running and said, "What happened, Grandpa?" He said, "Your cat has littered kittens."

Three kittens were born. The biggest was Tigger. The middle one was Spotty. The last was Whitey.

My grandpa said that Whitey left the house. The mother also left the house, and so did Tigger. Now we have only one kitten left, and she's my orphan. I take very good care of her.

One day, I took her in the garden, and put her in my alms. She got angry; I was not leaving her, and she scratched me. I cried. Then my brother told me, "Don't worry, Riza. You'll be okay." Then, I was better, and I started to play again.

Dogs are also my favourite pets. Because dogs are very friendly, and they lick you and play with you. My dog's name is Banshi. She likes me very much. She also plays with me often.

When we were small, our pets were not used to us. I will tell you what happened with my brother and Banshi on another day....

Some of my photographs...

When I was small I had very long hair. One day, we went to Calangute to take our photos to join Taekwondo. My nana combed my hair, and I had to stand on a stool because I was small. (See photo.)

When I was even smaller, when I was only two years old, my Mummy and Daddy wanted to take a photo of me. They took me to Mapusa. The photographer put me on a stool. He told me to smile. So I did this (made a funny face). I didn't know to smile...

My daddy takes a lot of photos of me, my friends, other children and other things. My Mummy takes photos when I am dressed up for a fancy dress, and on other occasions.

Daddy's photos are all black and in the computer. Mummy's photos are in the album, and in colour.

Chicken flu in our town

My daddy showed me the newspapers and told me that there is a chicken flu in town. When I was going past Royal Chicken at Calangute, I thought they wouldn't get any money (business) because people would not be coming there.

When I passed by, I saw a few foreigners sitting there, and ordering. They were eating. They like the food, and since they have come from foreign they don't know that there was a chicken flu.

At the Carnival

At the Carnival there were many floats. And in those floats there were many people, dressed up differently. I saw just plain girls. Then I saw cartoons from the TV. Then I saw lots more.

There was lots, lots, lots of nice music. But because my dada was taking some photos, I didn't see part of the Carnival. Then I went to Cafe Tato and ate a nice 'chole masala'; I like it because it's a very tasty snack. Isabel was there with Uncle Cajy and my daddy.

It was so much fun at the Carnival.

I also met my friend Isabel with her daddy, and Tarika and Sohail, and George and Victoria and Leticia. They were with George and Victoria's daddy.

The Carnival was from last Saturday till Tuesday. I went for for the Carnival parade near the Panjim Mandovi bridge. There were Carnivals in Panjim, in Mapusa, in Calangute and elsewhere.

On Wednesday morning, I put ash on my head. Because we have Ash Wednesday. Sister told us not to eat sweets, chewing-gum, or drink ice-candy and not to play if you want to do a sacrifice. I will do the sacrifice of not eating Chitos, Kurkure and junk-food.

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Photo of my friend George, who is acting like a clown. Viva!

Bob, Open The Bottle Tak-Tak

The other day, Bob came to my house. He is a big-man. My father told me that he is a big shot. He comes from Marblehead, and he gets snow in his house. He took my tuition book and drew a tortoise on it.

He talked about Pineapple Almeida, about Harry Potter's real name, and he told me a little story. The story was about a boy, who was asked by the police for his name. He said his name was 'Shaddup'. The policeman thought he was saying "Shut-Up" to him, and sent him to jail.

Bob is a very funny guy. My brother asked to open the Pepsi Cola bottle. Bob asked whether he could do it. He put his finger in his mouth and made a very funny [bottle-opening] sound.

My brother also said Bob is very funny. He called him Bob The Builder, because there is a cartoon with the song: "Bob the Builder, Bob the Builder. Can we fix it? Yes we can..." My brother often watches this cartoon, and when Bob came he thought he was Bob The Builder.

When he went back home, he wrote to my dad, saying: "I was delighted to meet Riza and Aren, especially the former, who is a charming kid with all her chatter. Tell her I've met Pineapple Almeida over here and he wants to say that 'Life is not a potato.' And he knows Harry Potter personally. Knew his mother, Jill Hill, way back when."
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FOOTNOTE: Bob is Robert S Newman, anthropologist based in Marblehead, MA, who has been researching and authoring papers on Goa over the past two decades. -FN

Accidents on the road

When I went to school on Monday, Suhail told me that my friends had met with an accident. I got a surprise. Two days earlier (on Saturday) when I was going to Panjim with my dad for an outing, I saw that there were a lot of people and police on the road Sangolda.

When we were going to Panjim, my mother told us: "Be careful, there are two or three accidents on the road." I also saw another accident at Porvorim. My Daddy told me that a Father from Arpora had died in the accident. Uncle Robert also fractured his hand and leg. My father showed me all the photos of the accidents in the newspapers.

My friend Abigail, Gabbie and Heidi's car got b-a-s-h-e-d, and the lights got jammed.

Accidents are not good. They're dangerous. Please drive safely, and not in a zoom-zoom way.

Something about Shabnam

Shabnam is my tution teacher. She teaches me all subjects. I like my tuition teacher, because she teaches me very nicely, and in the exams I pass well. She also takes Konkani, which is my weakest subject.

She is good to me, and also kind. She comes at 3 o'clock, and goes at 4 o'clock. She talks very nicely and sweetly. Her favourite clothes are a purple sherwani-kurta. She is 21 years old. She has one small brother, and a big brother. The small brother's name is Shadab, and he is in the sixth standard.

She always asks me which lesson I want to do first. I say Maths. Because Maths is lot of fun, and there are shapes in Maths, which you can learn about. There are also sums, which I like best. And tables too. I know my tables of nine (novacho paddo), and of five, four, three, two, one. Also ten, and eleven. I don't know the tables of six, seven and eight too well. Tables of 10 and 11 (from the big tables) and of zero and one (from the same tables) are the easiest.

Drawing I find very easy. But I find craft very difficult. Shabnam teaches me for my craft exam.

I know to read quite small books, and now I'm learning to read big and bigger books. I want to learn to read so that when I grow big I can read big Harry Potter books, and other books. I would also be able to read the newspapers, when there are accidents or something. I would also be able to learn goodnight stories to my brother. My tuition teacher and my mother are helping me to read. Shabname makes me read my school English grammer book, and my mother teaches me different big fat books.

My tuition teacher is very kind to me; I like my tuition teacher very much.

A wedding in Bombay

My mother's god-father Uncle Mario recently brought a photo of a wedding which I attended.

I went to Bombay on January 4, 2006. I couldn't wait for the wedding. as I was the flower-girl. Vanessa, my cousin, was getting married to Dexter. (He was not my uncle, but now he became so.)

Many of my cousins came to Bombay (Borivali) and they were staying in Lionel's house, which is just at the side of my grandmother's flat.

On the day of the wedding, I went at 1 o'clock to their house. We dressed up, and the photos were taken by 3 o'clock. The wedding was in the church, at the Mary Immaculate Church, which is close to our home.

My brother Aren came for the Mass.

Tammy and Danika were the other two flower-girls, and Halley and another big girl were the bride's maids. There were two best-men, and a page-boy. Danika was the smallest. She and the page-boy were walking arm-in-arm and everyone said, "So cute." Tammy and myself were behind them.

I have been flower-girl for three weddings so far. First for Dolly, my cousin. Then for Eula, my mother's friend. And Vanessa's. When I was a small girl (three years old) I didn't know how to be a flower-girl; but now I know.

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In photo (from left) Aunty Charlotte, Gavin, Aren (reaching for my hair), mama, me, Uncle Dexter, Aunty Vanessa, Uncle Joe, Aunty Sylvie, and Ian (who is becoming a priest). This photo was taken by the photographers.

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Picnics are lotsa fun

Last week we went for a picnic. We went to Bicholim and Mayem lake. We saw pottery there. And we went to see three factories.

Then, we got so tired. At least we reached the picnic spot. We settled down. And we ate out food and then started playing.

I was playing with Isabel. She didn't bring a bedsheet to sit on, so she collected all the towels on the ground and started sleeping. Zzzzzzzzz.... She took a handkerchief and covered face. She was just lying down.

We had so much fun. By playing and all.

Last, they took us to the park at Mayem Lake. Then, only those who had two rupees with them could buy ice-cream. I bought two; I gave Isabel one and I had one.

Teacher Sybil, Teacher Savia, Teacher Bella, Teacher Judy, Teacher Rosy, Teacher Maria, Sister Angeline and another teacher from the first standard also came. Our school Aunty, who keeps the place clean and tidy, was in the first standard bus.

Two buses went together. The first standard was together with the fourth standard. The second standard was with the third standard. I like picnics very much, and they're lots of fun to me.

Dr. Elephant

Have you ever seen an elephant that acts like a doctor? I saw one in the Empire Circus at Mapusa, yesterday.

At the circus, I also saw a horse on which a boy was standing, and taking out all his clothes -- he had many -- even while the horse was running. He finally had a shiny top and a shiny pant on.

I saw a donkey. It was running round and round on the circus grounds, and a man kept hitting him. I was feeling very sad.

There was one big man, and he was a 40-year-old man. But he was a dwarf. He had a whistle and he was blowing it. Someone else took his whistle and hid it in his pants. And whenever the man turned around, the shistle kept blowing. I found it very funny.

I laugh at dwarfs because they are very funny. I also feel sad for them; but they act nicely. It's so funny.

There were two grils, and they were moving with a stick. Like this. Parrots of many colours were on the stick. The girls kept going back with the parrots on the stick.

The elephants only played "doctor doctor". The Doctor Elephant was also dressed up like a doctor. He brought a ... what's it called... yes, a stethoscope, and he checked the other elephant. Then, he went back and brought a screw-driver. The Doctor Elephant took the screw-driver and poked the other elephant. It was like an injection! We clapped, and we were so happy.

My friends were with me at the circus. Their names were Joshua, Keenan, Nora, Abigail, Gabi, Heidi, Saachi, Rajat and two other boys. My brother came later, because he is small and because he cannot stay for a so long while, because he gets bored.

Now, I had enough of this. Don't write that....

Sometimes good, sometimes bad...

My brother's name is Aren. He is two years old. Sometimes, he is good to me. Sometimes, he is bad to me. When he is good, he plays with me nicely. When he is bad, he beats me, and pulls my hair. He says, "Bad girl, Riza."

Before my brother was born, I used to go to the chapel and pray everyday, "Jesus, give me a little brother." One day, Jesus heard my prayers. I got a baby brother.

My father took my Mama to the hospital.

Then, in the evening, at about 5 o'clock, my Daddy phoned me up. I said, "Daddy, do I have a sister or a brother?" He said, "You have a little brother." When I heard that, I started jumping. I was happy.

Then, my Daddy came home. He told me, "Come on, let's go to the hospital." I saw my little brother. He was sleeping. He looked wonderful, I thought to myself. I said, "My baby brother!" He got up. He started crying. "Weehhhhhnnnnn". My Daddy carried him and said, "Don't cry little boy."

When he was just born, I asked him 'What's your name?' He blew a big bubble and said, "Ah-poo-poo-zuh!"

Grandmee was with us to help; she came down from Bombay. She came with us to the hospital. After the baby was born, my godfather and uncle (mother's brother) Joce also came down.

Before he was born, I didn't know what to call him. First I thought of calling him Bonny. Then, I thought of calling him Johnny. Then, my Mother said, "No." Everyone decided to call him Aren. My father pronounces the name as Ah-ren. My mother calls him Aron. My grandfather calls him Bootikens. My nana calls him Baba. Joce calls him "Rajaboy". Grandmee calls him "My Nunooboy". If anyone asks him his name, he says, "I'm not Baba. I'm A-R-E-N Aren."

Aren like chicken. He also likes juices; his favourite juice is guava juice. He drinks a lot of water. He likes to eat biscuits. His best junk food is Chitos, which are a kind of sometimes-spicy sometimes-sweet sometimes-plain cheesy stuff.

He is in Teacher Cherie's Play School, in Saligao. His best friend in the school is Alea.

When I get punished, he takes up for me.[He says in a stern voice, "Mama, don't shout at Riza...."] And when he is punished, I take up for him. But, we cannot stop fighting on our own.

I love my brother. He loves me too.

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Photos (above) Aren a few months old and (below) at Calangute beach, September 2004.