All people have something they are scared of. But bravery is not never having fear but to summon the courage to fight it. And one of the most common fear is stage fright. So today I’m going to talk about a presentation I did in front of my whole school.

I had prepared for a whole week and on the day of the presentation I was ready to present. I waited for about 10 minutes for some other announcements. The first 9 minutes were fine. I felt confident, ready, brave. But it is always that last minute that gets to you. I surprisingly didn’t feel too nervous but I still had some fear inside of me. And then my name was called out to present. Walking to the stage is the hardest part. You can feel everyone looking at you. It was harder to walk to the stage alone than with a partner. Because when you walk with 1 or more people you have a feeling that you are not alone and that the attention is split between the 2 of you. But once you get to the stage everything is fine. The fear subsides a lot. And then I presented.

I presented about my maternal uncle’s Indian wedding. It was a brand new topic for most of the people in the audience so there was a lot of interest. I think that is what made my presentation unique.

Then when I finished the speech everyone clapped loudly. This was my first time presenting to an audience so it felt really awesome. When I walked back to my seat I learned 4 things.

1. It is normal to feel scared on your first time presenting to a large audience.

2. Looking at the audience makes y0u more focused and less scared.

3. The most important of all. When you are on stage there is only one thing you can’t do and that is show fear. No matter how hard it is you have to look strong.

4. Preparation makes all the difference!

Here is a photo of me presenting.

 

Many middle schoolers in USA have reads hundreds of books But out of those Hundreds of books how many people get to see the author of their book. Well I personally have met very few authors, so when they come to my school to present on their books I listen very carefully. So today I want to talk about the author Adam Gimwits and my experience when he visited my school.

For those of you who don’t know who he is, he is the author of “Max and the house of spies” and the “Grim series”.  While we were waiting for the author to present, I wondered what the author would tell us about his books/career. I had listened to 3 authors in my life and each one was very different from each other.

When he came on stage, I was excited because all the authors that I have heard from before have given some really exciting and interesting stories. And when he started talking I realized that this author is also going to give us some new stories.

The author Adam Gidwits was a really nice guy. He told us about his career and all the ups and downs. He also gave us a summary of some of his books. He did a really awesome job of enticing the audience because while he was talking, half way though his speech, I knew that when it was done I would want to run to the library ASAP. He also told us that when a book is purchased the author gets a really low amount of the money. For example if a book is worth $18, the author would only get approximately  $1. The rest would go to the library, editors etc.

When he was done I made sure to give him a big round of applause because he taught me a lot of new things in 1 hour. He made the experience of becoming an author so exciting that he added author to my career list. When I was walking back toward  my classes the biggest learning for me was that it is not about what something is, it is about what it can be, (how you portray something), that is what matters.

There are a lot of festivals in the world. All of them have something unique about them. Festivals are more than just celebrating, they are about experiencing culture. So today I want to talk about an Indian festival I celebrate called Holi.

Holi is an Indian festival where you play with colors and water. The purpose of this festival is to show that spring is here and winter is over. Spring brings a lot of colors and that is what Holi is symbolic of. Holi was originally a holiday for married women to spread goodwill and prosperity, but in has evolved a lot since then.

One thing I like about Holi is that you can play with a lot of colors. It is very vibrant so it gives a very positive feeling inside of you. It also brings a lot of joyful memories for me. In fact I still remember my Holi from 5 years ago because it was the only time I celebrated Holi in India. It is played at a very large scale, everyone in the neighborhood gathers together to play.

Holi is more than having fun, it is about valuing the people around you. Festivals are celebrated for many different reasons.  But at the end of the day they are meant to strengthen bonds with your loved ones. And as long as you are doing that, no matter how you celebrate, you did the festival correct.

Here are some photos of my Holi celebration this year.

Who  doesen’t like firecrackers. I know for a fact that I like them. I also love sweets and hanging out with friends. And I love presents. Now I know what you’re thinking. I obviously like these things but why are am bringing this up. Well the reason for that is every year  I celebrate an Indian festival with all those things I mentioned above, it is called Diwali.

Diwali is a really old festival that dates back 10,000+ years. The purpose of this festival is to remind us that good will always triumph evil.

Now I know you’re thinking that you want to celebrate this festival too, and let me tell you it is AWESOME. The firecrackers are a big spectacle. In fact they are so bright that you feel like you could keep lighting them through out the whole night. You also get a lot of presents from your parents and get to have fun with friends. It’s one of the best holidays for me.

Another highlight it that you get to eat a lot of delicacies. We eat a lot of Indian sweets and my favorite is kaju burfi (a sweet made of cashews. We also get to enjoy a lot of other home cooked meals.

But the thing that I like the most about Diwali is that is unites families and friends together. And it really strengthens our family’s bonds. When we are all together we all feel joyful. And we are always reminded that no matter what happens in life our family will always be there.

I think it is true that books are a window into the world. I have always been inspired to read different books. But one book I felt like stood out to me was the book Grenade.

The  book Grenade is by Alan Gratz. It’s a story about a boy named Hiediki in Okinawa, Japan during WW2. He is a normal citizen and his goal is to survive the American bombings and to find his sister. Do you want to know how it ends? Well I’m not going to give any spoilers. If you want to know more,  please read the book.

I really liked the book because I have only seen the Allies point of view. But this book made me see a whole new point of view.It also made me realize that just because one person from a region is evil doesn’t mean that that whole region is evil.After reading this book I thought about a lot of things. And after hearing Hiediki’s point of view, it made me think about all the people who are mean to me.  It made me realize that they are probably not a bad person but just influenced by something bad. To quote Mr Miyagi from Karate kid:

-“There is no such thing as bad student, only bad teacher”.

After I read Grenade, I decided to try to not be rude to anyone, because I don’t know how things are going for them. This book has helped me have a better outlook on life and become a better person. And as a result, helped me help other people around me. It’s interesting how one book can make your environment a better place. I guess that’s why people say you should read a lot.

 

One assignment it I did in Language Arts was make a comic. We were reading a book called wisdom tales and we had to choose a story to do a comic on.

I made the comic using C0mic Life. The comic is based off of the story, The Wooden Bowl.

The story was about a Gramps who lives with his son and his son’s wife. And the wife is cranky, so as the old man gets old he has bad hand coordination. So he starts dropping his daughter-in-law’s plates. So his daughter gives him a wooden bowl that is made for chickens to him. But then the old mans grandson tells his son that he is making a wooden bowl for him to eat out of when he is old. The old man’s son realized that he was setting a bad example for his son.

Here is a picture of my comic

 

The purpose of living is to have varied experiences. And one experience I’ll remember for a really long time is when I went to South Africa. I got to see a lot of animals and many cool habitats.

We first arrived by plane in this really small airport. Then we took an hour’s drive across the reserve. We would occasionally see a few impalas and wildebeests . We even ran into an elephant!

Everyday we would go to 2 safari’s. Each was 3 hours long. The first safari was 5:00 in the morning and the second safari was 4:00 in the evening. I was there for 3 days. Every day I saw a new animal.

On the first day it was hard to wake up in the morning at 5:00 but I saw a lot of animals. Giraffes zebra’s elephants etc. And in the end I saw a female lion resting. But when an impala saw her, she made a whistle and all the zebra’s within a quarter mile were alert. It was so cool how everyone was suddenly alert and how they worked together to keep each other safe. Driving through the safari felt so majestic. The breeze on your face, the open landscape, all of it was so amazing.

On the second day I saw everything that I saw the first day, and additionally I saw a leopard, a crocodile and a rhino. I even saw a male lion try to hunt something. He didn’t catch his prey but it was still pretty cool. At night I got to see a hyena. They look so weird! Especially at night. You got a really spooky feeling in you seeing those animals.

On the third day I got to see an ostrich. I also got to see a cheetah! Cheetahs are very hard to find because they are hidden so we got lucky. She was holding in her mouth newborn cubs. A day old max. Our tour guide told us it was the sighting of the year. I guess I got really lucky. In the evening we went to a place uphill to see the sunset. It looked so beautiful, so serene. When you looked at it you got a really warm feeling.

And then like all vacations, it was time to go back to our home. But I really enjoyed the safari experience. It was so cool seeing animals in their real habitats instead of zoos . It is definitely an experience I will never forget.  I hope that other people go on this safari so that people can have empathy for animals in zoo’s. I also hope that people will stop poaching these animals. I hope we can all share this awesome planet with everyone. Not just humans.

Here is a list of all the things I saw.

Lion, zebra, hippo ,giraffe, elephant, ostrich, cheetah, rhino, leopard, impala, wildebeest warthogs, crocodiles, hyenas.

Here are some photos.

 

Who likes Thanksgiving? The turkey the thanks, the giving. But what if I told you that you that I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. But I sometimes I turkey.

 

Why be thankful on one day of the year. But it is nice not to hear the words

 

Thanksgiving was a pilgrim holiday to celebrate the harvest.

Ten things I am thankful for are

my family

my friends

Teachers

books

video games/Tv

food/water

Marvel

house

School building.

A car to get me to places.

But like I said I am not thankful for these things on just one day of the year. I am always thankful for them. But on TV it shows that Thanksgiving always gets messed up. I wonder if that actually happens.

I had a friend whose cousin sneezed all over the turkey and when his aunt tried to rub it with a tissue it was a tissue that his cousin already used.

And last but not least. For everyone out there, always be thankful and enjoy Thanksgiving (if you celebrate it).