Ganesha Festival

Ganesha festival is a custom we follow. This day is called "Ganesh Chaturthi" and we don't look at the moon because otherwise we will have bad fate coming ahead of us.

We ask lord Ganesha to bless us with the best education and good behavior. We pray for forgiveness from doing atrocious things. Ganesha destroys obstacles from people's lives. Ganesha's head is a little unusual because he has an elephant head and a snake tied to his belly as a belt and goes around on his mouse.

Here is a short story on how he got his elephant head

Ganesha was made by Parvathi, who made him out of clay. Parvathi then used her powers that could make clay come to life. She told her son (Ganesha) to guard the house while she took a bath and not to let any one in. So, While she was taking a bath, lord Shiva came. Ganesha didn't know that Shiva was his father neither did Shiva know that Ganesha was his son.

Shiva tried to get inside the house but Ganesha did not let him in and said "My Mother Parvathi is taking a bath and no one can enter."

"Well this is my house and Parvathi is my wife. So, Let me in." said Shiva.

"No!" said Ganesha.

"Okay fine ! either battle me or let me go inside." said Shiva.

"I want to battle." said Ganesh.

So, Shiva and Ganesha battled. In the battle, Shiva cut off Ganesha's head. At that moment, Parvathi came running out of the house and saw Ganesha's body without the head and Shiva with his bloody weapon.

Parvathi burst into tears and cried "Oh Shiva ! you have destroyed my creation . You have killed your own son."

Shiva tried to console Parvathi but he couldn't console her"

"Shiva I will talk to you if you find my son a head" said Parvathi.

"Okay whatever my dear" said Shiva.

Shiva ordered his crew to find a head of a baby animal that has eaten stomach full and napping without its mommy. So, Shiva's crew found a baby elephant's head and gave it to Shiva.

"Parvathi, Here is a head." said Shiva.

"Well, I was not expecting a elephant's head but atleast it is a head" said Parvathi

Parvathi used her magical powers to put the head on Ganesha and brought him back to life.

This is how Ganesha got an elephant head.

For the pooja, We made nature friendly clay model of Ganesha. Me and My friend with the help of our moms made it on a weekend. 3 days before Chaturthi day. It was really fun making the Ganesha together.

The clay Ganesha was placed in the pooja room on Chaturthi day. Me and Kruthi did pooja for Ganesha in the evening. I wore a traditional langa for the pooja. First, We did arishina and kumkuma pooja. Second, we did abhisheka and then we chanted all 101 names of Ganesha. Finally my dad told the story of "Why we celebrate Ganesha Chaturthi" and then we bid "Good Bye" to Ganesha.

My 2012 Summer Vacation

I did a lot of super cool fun things. But, I also did a lot of boring things. So, here is a scoop of it.

"83 days of summer vacation
Then school comes along to end it
So the annual problem for me and Kruthi
Is finding the best way to spend it."

- Adapted from Phineas and Ferb

I went for lot of classes during my summer vacation. My most least liked class was Kumon. It is a very bad class !!!. You know why ? They expect you to know how to do it, without teaching you.

I also learnt "Madhubani" art. It is a folk art from a place in India called Bihar.

Swimming was my most favorite class. I learned some styles like back stroke, side glide, ketchup style and free style.

Writers workshop is in the middle of my likings. I learned how to write limerick. Limericks are hilarious and follow a pattern. First,Second and Fifth lines rhyme and Third, Fourth lines rhyme.

A young man from Dublin
Caught a train to Rublin
The sign said "NO SPITTING ON THE FLOOR"
So he spit on the very yucky door
Then he said "YAY FOR DUBLIN"

- Krupa Atreyas Sudheendra

I love to read books. During my summer vacation, I read a lot of books. I finished "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series by Rick Riordan and started new "Pandora" series by Carolyn Hennesy. I also started this blog. I saw lot of movies like "Jumanji", "Brave", "Ice Age 1", "Ice Age Continental Drift" , "Harry Potter series", "King Tut" and "Finding Nemo".

Santa's Village was one of the outings with friends and family. We had a lot of fun going on rides, picking and petting cute and soft little birdies at the Aviary. We also went to Willmett beach to celebrate Father's day. We had a lot of fun collecting shells and rocks on the shore. We found a dollar bill. We had a nice picnic after playing in the water. Later we went to Bahai temple.

I also went to California to welcome my baby cousin to the world. My baby cousin's name is "Aahana Rao". She is so adorable. She was born on August 1st at Los Rebels hospital. Me and Kruthi both enjoyed playing with her.

I went to Point Mugu beach. Scenic route to the beach was very good. I collected a lot of big, round and nice rocks. We played in the water and sand. The tides were so high that they knocked me down and i drank salt water Ewwwwwww...I went up the very steep sand dune with my uncle and on the way back, I flipped, tumbled and rolled down. Sand went into my ears, in my hair and the yuckiest part into my mouth.
We also went to Santa Monica beach, This was really really crowded. I saw a man with the snake and asked if could hold it as well...he said yes and i had the snake around my neck. It was really reptylish. The funniest part was when my mom freaked out looking at the pictures of me with the snake. We went on Ferris wheel and saw the beach high up from the sky.

We ended our summer vacation with a magical time in Disney land. It was fun. We had a good time there. We met a few princesses and went on a few rides. My favorite was watching parade. Parade started with Mickey and Minnie followed by Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale. Then came Aladdin and Genie. They both said "Hi" to me and blew me a kiss. Funky Banana man was dancing like crazy. Princess Aeriel came next, Kruthi was very excited and started calling out for Aeriel. Next came Donald duck in a fiesta hat followed by Rapunzel, Aurora, Snow white, Bell and Cinderella...They all looked very very pretty !!!. Lion king and people on stilts followed the princesses. Princess Tiana, Tinker bell and Peter pan , Captain hook and Mr. Smee followed the parade. Finally came Mary Poppins with my favorite song.

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
Even though the sound of it
Is something quite atrosicous!
If you say it loud enough you'll
always sound precocious"

-Disney