Feliz y Prospero Año Nuevo

Hello All
Feliz Año Nuevo. I wish you ALL a very very Happy New Year. Hope you will enjoy it very much. In Mexico they eat twelve grapes and make twelve wishes, one for each grape at 12.00 o’clock. They believe that all their wishes will come true, if they do this. Last year I celebrated New Year in India.
Today I am going to tell you what I was doing last year about this time. Last year about this time I was in my country, India. We went there for Christmas vacations. We started our flight on 5th December. Before we were gone to India, we were shopping with our friend Sr. Francisco, his wife Sra. Hilda, their daughter Samira & their son Alan who took us to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon which is about an hour from our city, Saltillo. There we went to Monterrey’s town center. After doing all our shopping in Monterrey, as it was dark we stayed in the house of Mrs. Hilda’s parents. There we met her mother, father, sister & niece. The next day also we did little more shopping in the morning. And after some time we returned to my city. When we returned Saltillo we packed all our things. Our flight was from Monterrey. So we returned to Monterrey on 4th December with Sr. Francisco and his family. We again stayed for the night in the Sra. Hilda’s parents house and on the morning of 5th Dec., we left Mexico. In the morning we went to the airport and waited for our flight, when it came & it was time to go, we said good bye to Sr. Francisco and their family & went to our flight that was going to Chicago. After 3 hours we reached there. We waited there for 6 hours & then flew to Mumbai through London. After we waited for 8 hours, we took our next plane to my city, Coimbatore.

At Coimbatore airport we were received by my achi, thatha, lalitha achi, mani & senthil mama. I was very happy. When we reached our home, devi athai was waiting for us. Aparna, aparna´s thatha, achi & soori mama came home. Then I met samy thatha, shivu athai & ashwini. Later ganapathy mama, santhi athai, janani akka & varshini kutty also came from Kolkata. I played well with janani akka, aparna, ashwini and varshini kutty. We all went to Palani temple & kodaikanal. I enjoyed the trip. We all ate Annapoorna family roast (the big one!). I also saw PTR mama, ganeshkumar sir, madam, rameshsundar mama, raji aunty, shwetha akka, papitha aunty, chandrasekar mama , subhashree, her brother and her parents. Myself with amma, appa, achi & thatha celebrated New Year at devi athai´s house with soori mama, aparna, aparna´s achi & thatha. Then we celebrated Pongal earlier and left to Mexico on 13th January. Our friend Sr. Francisco and his family received us at Monterrey airport and took us back to Saltillo. I was happy about the trip, but was sad. I did not see sithapa, sithi and mishal thambi during this trip. I miss my achis, thathas, athais, mamas and cousins. I am eagerly waiting to go back to India and see all.

Cuatrocienegas - Un bonito ecosistema

Hello everybody
Today I will talk about Ecosystem. We call “El ecosistema” as an interaction between living beings and the ambiente (environment). There are two types of ecosystem and they are aquatic & terrestrial. I think that if we don´t care our ecosystem, I mean that if we throw wastes into the rivers, it will reach the sea and pollute the sea. If we throw batteries and other wastes on the land, it will contaminate the land and also our water resources. More pollution may cause many disasters as hurricanes, tsunamis, global warming, etc.

!!CUIDALA !!
Our region is a desert. It´s hot in summer and cold in winter. There is a famous and protected ecosystem in our state. It is called Cuatrocienegas. Don Venustiano Carranza is native of this town. He was one of the leaders of Revolución Mexicana and also became President of Mexico. This ecosystem is in desert, but has beautiful pozos (natural wells), hot springs with clear blue water and also sand dunes. I took sand bath in the sand dunes. Srta. Ma de Jesus Alvarado Medina (Mary), a friend took us there along with her family. Her native is Monclova, which is near to this place. A Guide told me that there are some fishes and tortoises (Las tortugas Bisagra) very unique to this ecosystem. It is a very nice place to go and enjoy.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Hello!
Harry Potter and the goblet of fire is a book written by J.K Rowling. She has written 6 books on Harry Potter and this is the fourth book in this series. Harry Potter & the Sorcerers stone, Chamber of secrets & Prisoner of Azkaban are the first three books. Harry Potter & Order of the phoenix & the half–blood prince are the fifth and sixth book.
The director of this film is Mike Newell. The principal actors are Daniel Radcliff as Harry, Rupert Grint as Ron and Emma Watson as Hermione.
Actually I didn’t know that I was going to see the special first show of the film. It was on 17th midnight. My amma bought the tickets but my parents wanted to surprise me. At 11 pm, my amma told me that we have to go Plaza Real to buy a gift to one of my friends. When we got there my appa went towards the movie theater, walked into it and when they asked for the tickets, appa gave the lady three tickets. I was very surprised & I asked appa to show me the tickets. When I saw that, it said Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I was very surprised.
This movie is about the Triwizards Championship. Three wizards for the competition is to be selected by the goblet of fire. Goblet of Fire selected Fleur Delacour from Beauxbatons, France, Victor Krum from Drumstrang, Bulgaria & Cedric Diggory of Hogwarts, England. Normally only three wizards compete. But this time goblet of fire also selected fourth wizard for the championship and it was Harry Potter. It was a surprise to Harry and to all at school. All the four wizards fought terrible dragons, under water creatures and went inside an immense maze. You Know Who (Dark Lord Voldemort) had a body in this film. Cedric was dead during the championship. Who won the competition? I think that this film is very good because it has sad, happy & exciting parts. It was thrilling and jolly to see the film. La pelicula esta muy padre (This film is very excellent & enjoyable). I liked it very much. I wish you all see the movie and enjoy it. I bought a sticker album of this film. I am eagerly expecting seventh and final book & the fifth film.

Viva la Revolución Mexicana

¡Hola amigos!
Today I am going to talk about the Mexican revolution.
It’s celebrated on twentieth November. It’s a Mexican tradition to celebrate this day because Mexican people started a revolution against their President. His name was Don Porfirio Diaz. He governed for more than thirty years! When he was a soldier he said that it isn’t right to be reelected. But when he got the power, I mean that when he became the president, he reelected himself as President for many times. He told the poor people to elect him as president or he would make bad things to their family.
Some men stood against him were Don Francisco Ignacio Madero, Don Venustiano Carranza, Don Emiliano Zapata, Francisco o Pancho Villa and Alvaro Obregon. Francisco I. Madero and his companions formed an army to fight this revolutionary war on 20th of November, 1910. So that’s why the Mexican people celebrate this day as Día de la Revolución Mexicana.
In this day there are desfiles (parades) in the city and there are kermés (parties) in the school too. This year in my school we danced, sang songs, played cascarones (decorated eggs filled with confetti & breaking it over the heads of friends) & ate many kinds of food. But unfortunately it rained, so everybody went home early.
P.S. I have seen Harry Potter & Goblet of Fire movie on 17th midnight. It was a surprise. I liked it very much. I will write about that & the movie in my next blog.

Mariposas Monarca

Hi!
Today I am going to talk about Monarch butterflies.
Monarch butterflies live in Canada in the summer. As Canada is near the North Pole, it’s very cold & it snows heavily in winter. To protect themselves from severe winter they migrate to Mexico. They start their journey from Canada in August & reach Mexico in November. They travel nearly 5000 kilometers. They stay in the forests of Morelia, Michoacan & in the state of Mexico. Here they find all the things they need. They sleep most of the time. In February they wake up & start to reproduce. In spring (March-April) they start returning to Canada.
In Mexico people tour to the forests to see mariposas Monarca & their beauty. During tours we should not contaminate the forests because it will damage the living of mariposas. I have been to that place. But when I went to Morelia with the family of señora Clara (our house owner), señorita Karina (our friend, a native of Morelia) & her family, it wasn’t the season. So I couldn’t see them. But I have seen them pass through my city during their migration. If I go now to Michoacan, I can see many Monarch butterflies.
Mariposas Monarca son un orgullo mexicano! (Monarch butterflies are Mexicans pride!)
Note: Appa helped me in linking a web page on monarch butterflies & with the photo, which includes my drawing of a monarch butterfly.

Día de los Muertos & Halloween

Hello everybody!
I am going to talk about Día de los Muertos & Halloween.
Día de los Muertos is a traditional Mexican celebration. It means day of the dead people. It is celebrated on 2nd November. They celebrate this day to remember the death people. This day also signifies that they are not afraid of death. On this day the Mexicans put an altar where they put the photo of a dead person with the food, dress she or he wore & things that person liked when he or she was alive. In my school also they put the altar to Doña Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez (She is a great Mexican Freedom fighter), because my school has her name. They put her photo with her favorite things & dress she liked. We also make calaveras (skeletons) dressed with different costumes. I made a calavera dressed with saree. It was selected as one of the best calaveras & placed in the School Mural.

Halloween is an American celebration (My father says that this tradition came from Europe). It is celebrated on the night of 31st October. Halloween is a day when people dress like witches, mummies, monsters, Dracula etc. I dressed like a bruja (witch). We go in the streets & ask for sweets in houses or stores, by telling dulces o travesuras (means give us sweets or we will do tricks). We also tell queremos (We like) Halloween. You can also make a spooky pumpkin by cutting triangle shaped eyes, a zigzag mouth & lit a candle inside it. Last and this year, I went around two colonies with my friends Katy, Nasty & their mother, Dra. Ana. We collected many sweets. This day is a very jolly day of the year.

¡Feliz Deepavali!

¡Feliz Deepavali! para mi familia y todos los amigos.
When I was in India my achi & thatha gifted me, my cousins with lot of crackers, fireworks. Achi and amma also prepared lot of sweets, bhajji, vadai and different foods. Sometimes my cousins would come to my house. We prayed after oil bath, put new clothes and eat a lot. When we finished eating, we lit fireworks and played with my achi & thatha .
Here too my amma prepares sweets and different foods. But I am not able to get fireworks from my achi & thatha. Also we can not lit fireworks, as they are not permitted. But we lit kambi mathapu inside our house.
I miss my achi, thatha, tios and primos a lot.

Feliz Cumpleaños

My father gifted (introduced) me to blogs on this birthday. He told me that it will be my duty to post atleast one message every week for my family and to all other friends all over the world. You might ask whether I really have friends all over the world? Definitely, yes. Each and every one of you visiting my page will be my friends. I plan to write in English and Spanish in my posts. Get ready for me. See you all soon with more.

My first post is to wish Feliz Cumpleaños (Happy Birthday) to my mishal thambi, who is celebrating his grand day, today at Chennai with my janani akka, aparna, varshini, mis abuelos (my achi-thatha & madras thatha-achi), tios (Ganapathy mama-Santhi athai, Soori mama-Devi athai, Shankar sithappa-Mini sithi, Lovely sithi-sithappa).