A last Minute Shocker

26 January 2010, Tuesday

I was walking along the footpath near a block of apartments. I would be late for school if I miss the seven o'clock bus. I quickened my footsteps and all of a sudden, I heard a loud crash and a thud. Intuitively, I turned around to see what in the world had happened and I stood astonished.

I could not believe my deceiving eyes when I saw Mr Lee lying on the pavement lying beside a broken pot and a few flowers. He was writhing in pain and his face contorted with shock and spasm. I ran into his side and noticed ounzes of blood oozing out from his injured head. He seemed disoriented. Another resident called for the ambulance from his mobile phone. I had no idea what to say but I helped by saying a few comforting phrases. I assured him that the ambulance was on their way.

Within a short time Mr Lee was surrounded by a large crowd of onlookers and they were all dead shocked. Shortly after, the ambulance arrived. By then Mr Lee had lost consciousness. While the peremedics attended to Mr Lee, another onlooker and I tried our best to disperse the crowd and not attract any more attention from the other people around. A few listened but a few did not. When I got the opportunity, I raced up the stairs and called for Mrs Lee. I pounded on the door and the frail, Mrs Lee finally opened. She was astonished to see me at her doorstep. In between gasps of air, I told her what had happened to her husband. She broke down in tears and ran down the stairs to the foot of the block. The police were also at the scene. They started questioning eye witnesses. The peremedics rushed mr and Mrs Lee, being his next-of-kin, to the nearset hospital. The police swung into action and mounted a house to house search. That was taking too long so I decided to carry on and proceed to school. Though I missed the bus, I managed to catch the next bus and reach school just on time.

when I went to school I told all my classmates what had happened and they were all shocked. I just hope that that man who caused the problems would own up to his mistake as the longer he hides it from the police the more the punishment he would get as one day or the other that person is sure to be caught. I also hope that Mr Lee gets well soon and Mrs Lee takes care of him.

Regards,
Yash

Home Alone

23 January 2010, Satuurday



'The Dead Alive', that was the movie we just went to watch yeasterday. to tell you the truth, it was one of the most horrifying movies I had ever seen in my life. Right after the movie I was sent home to complete my homework. My parents left me home and left to go to pizza hut for dinner. so there I was home alone with fear of not being able to finish my homework on time. I was totally stressed up. Little did I know that ,that was not the only fear I would be having in time to come.



As I sat down and started on my homework, suddenly I began to hear footsteps. They were very soft so I ignored them but slowly and slowly, they began to get louder and it really felt like someone was right behind me. I turned back but there was no one. I got reminded of the movie that happenend earlier. I started to pray really hard so that nothing bad would happen. Then the footsteps stopped as suddenly as it had started.



Then suddenly the front door slammed. I stood up, stunned. I almost got a heart attack. I saw the hair on my arms standing and I felt my palms getting sweaty. I tiptoed to the door to see what in the world had caused the slam. That was until I saw a black cat staring at me intensely with it's piercing green eyes. ''Aaaaahh'' I screamed. It almost took the living hell out of me. Beads of perspiration began to trickle down my forehead. ''How did this cat enter the house? I pondered aloud. My heart was beating so fast that I could practically hear it. Once I finally managed to calm myself down, I shooed the horrifying cat away. Then I remembered that last week my mother told me that a black cat stares at me, something inauspicious would happen. I almost started believing that there were ghosts haunting my house but that moment I stopped myself and told myself that there were no such things as ghosts. I wondered to myself though ''What is happening?''



I considered calling my parents but I knew if John found out about me, he would literally make a laughing stock out of me. that is why, I decided not to inform my parents. a few moments later, I began to hear the rustling of leaves and the tree branches hitting against my closed room window. suddenly my books just fell and I was sure it was not the wind as the windows were all closed. I was really frightened to death but just then I managed to gather my courage and shouted, 'Who are you and what do you want from me.'' There was no response. I was fed up and immediately put on my earphones.



After about half-an-hour, my parents and John arrived. That night I was extremly jubilant and also overcame my fear of the so called "ghosts''. Did not bother to tell my parents about that experience. When I started to look back at what happened, I laughed my head over it. I am sure that it was nothing but my mind playing tricks on me.



Regards,

Yash

A Learning Experience

22 januaury 2009, Friday

Today my dear mother took me to the orphanage. This was all a set up as she said that today we were going to see something different. So mum came to pick my brother and me up straight from school. After a long and tired day of school I was all set to have some fun. after half an hour of driving, we reached our destination. I stood shocked as the heading on the building read ''The Singapore Orphanage''. I stared at mom but she asked be to be quiet.

I stepped through the wooden frame which held the dilapidated doors. A riot of light and colour greeted me. It was a small courtyard, surrounded by four walls and a ceiling of sky, with the peals of laughter bouncing of the walls. A bunch of children were running and playing with light-heartedness in a whirlpool of sunlight.

All of a sudden they saw an intruder. There was an instant silence and they stopped in their tracks. They stared at me as if I was an ugly alien. The tallest child, maybe the oldest among the girls, ran into the dark interior and emerged with their caregiver.

Slowly and slowly I managed to get to know about some of the girls and interact with them. I will have to say that it was quite hard to get them talking but unfortunately the boys were out on some excursion.

When the girls told me their pitiful backgrounds, my heart broke. Some came from poor families who could not afford to give them their basic neccessities. Others had been raped or their parents suffered from problems like mental illnesses and could not care for them.

To the girls, home is where the heart is. The orphanage is their home because their caregivers love them. They are always thankful for a plate piled high with white rice topped with a little curry sauce. They never know what hamburger's, french fries and those kind of food are. Electricity supply is from eight inthe morning to eight in the night. When there is no water for them, they leave without their water bottles and without brushing their teeth.

Today I really learnt alot of things. I have learnt to live with greater gratitude and commitment and be more thoughtful towards others. Constantly, I remind myself that when I am in rome, I must do as the romans do.

Just before i flew out of the dusty, house , my thoughts were-How can i do better than that drop in the ocean? Better still, how can i inspire them to inspire them to dare to dream to make a different in others' life. Today, I really thanked my mum for bringing me hear and I could say with my head up that this was not that bad.

Regards,

Yash

A turn of events

18 January 2010, monday

After what happened yesterday, I was in seventh heaven and everything seemed to go the right way, but after what happened today..... it is unbelievable... hear this.

Today I woke up late as I was dreaming of the victory match and I was smiling from ear to ear. ''Good morning, Mom and Dad''. ''Same to you son. By the way today we are going to a concert and you and your little brother, john was his nickname, will have to stay at home, Mom explained. We had no say in the matter.

The day went on. After sun rise, they immediately left and John and I were left at home. John is a very anti-social guy and really does nothing but reads shakespear novels. I really did not have the patience to spend a night watching John reading his book. So I decided to teach him how to appreciate the beautiful game of soccer. At first he was not willing to learn but slowly once he grasped the rules of the game he could not wait to play it. ''No playing any kind of ball games in the house''. This rule was set by Mom and I could not bother but ignore it. We immediately started after having a few gulps of water.

John started with the proceedings and to my surprise, he was not that bad. This is what I would call hidden talent. I managed to steal the ball and score the first goal. Every five minutes we would stop for a breather and would start again. The pace of the game was very fast. Though John 's ball control was bad he could tackle and also shoot, this made it hard for me to score too. I was really in the mood to play it well. The next second John slid tackled me and I fell on the cemented foor, it really hurt. I got up and tackled him back. However, he fell and hurt himself and the ball rammed into Mom's glass window and I was screwd. On one hand it was John who had fallen down and hurt his arm and on the other hand the glass window pane was completely shattered. I really did not mean to trip John, I did it just for fun. He was crying and I could not stop him. He could not move his hand. I asked him to get up and put some ice but the pain was really excruciating. I had no choice but to call for my mother. When I dialled her number my fingers were shivering and told her everything. She was totally astonished and said she would reach as soon as possible.

While waiting, I tried to calm John down and scary thoughts were shuffling through my mind. I knew I was going to get punished and I was in hot soup. I began to tear up as the last time I did something like this I was really grounded for a week and that week was the most boring week of my life. I knew that this time the punishment would be worse as John was really in deep pain. Moments later, he fell unconscious. I was terrified. I tried calling mom and the moment I picked up the phone my parents arrived. I ran to the door and told the that that John has lost consciousness. Without saying a word to me they immediately rushed John to the nearby hospital and left him to the specialist. While waiting outside the operation theatre, I told my parents what had happened and they were enraged with anger. After a lecture they told me that my punishment was that I would not get any allowance until I recover the cost of the window pane and for the few months John will take to recover, I would have to take care of him.

I would have really prefered to be grounded for a week but I think this would be a fair punishment. When I met John, I apologised to him and told him that I would take full care of him. I just hope that this does not happen again and yes I also learnt that I should always listen to my mom's and anyone else's rules.

This day was really a bad day as firstly I broke the glass window pane. Secondly I broke my brothers arm and thirdly I broke my mothers rules. I also spoiled my parents night out which only happens in a blue moon. Over these two days the many turns of events is really something to learn from.

Regards

Yash

The Soccer Finals

16 January2009, saturday
Today, this is what happened. Here it goes.

"Here, here pass the ball.''I screamed to my teammate Shawn. The day had finally come which we had all been waiting for. It was the inter-school soccer finals between Victoria School boys and Daredevils United. We had to overcome many games and outdo many teams, and to tell you the truth, it was an unbelievably hard experience. We had won all our matches except for one which had been against Daredevils United. Our opponents were known to be the strongest team in the tournament and forget about losing any match they had not even conceded a single goal in the whole tournament. We knew it was going to be really hard or rather close to impossible but we had to do it.

Our team was all set and ready to get on to the field and perform. I put my captains armband on and together as a team we marched on to the field. The moment we walked in, there were loud cheers from the crowd and students from all classes of the school surrounded the field. In other words you could say it was a completely packed arena. I was not surprised by the loud cheers as we were playing on our homeground. I began to fell more nervous as I really had no intention of breaking the crowds' hopes. My determined teammates approached their positions as we looked deep into the opponents eyes. There were fiery glares and I was sure that they too were really serious about the game.


'3, 2, 1 -ppeeeeeeepp' the referee blew his whistle and the game began. We were passing the ball around and both the teams had many shots on target. This happened before their midfielder broke through or defense and slid the ball past our keeper right into the bottom corner. The crowd was silent. The opposition were one up. Astonished, I asked my defenders to buck up and told them to have man to man marking to avoid any more breakthroughs. The game continued. Though we were more on the defensive mode. The crowd did not relent and there were non stop cheers. To tell you the truth ,that was the only thing that kept us going.


''Here, here pass the ball to me.''I screamed to my teammate shawn. The moment I got the ball, I dribbled the ball as fast as I could and crossed he ball right into the penalty box where josh my striker headered the ball into the top corner of the net. Elated, I ran to him and gave him a big hug. This made the crowd roar. Our hopes did not die down and we continued with the match the game went on. Soon the clock ticked for half time. We were all relieved as we really needed a break to freshen up. In the dressing room, I told my team that this is the most important moment of our lives yetand the next forty-five minutes would really be crucial. You really have to give it your all and work as a team. We had a few drinks and then went out.

The referee blew the whistle and we continued the match. Just when our opponents got the ball their captain made a through ball through two of our defenders to give their striker the ball but to our relief this caused a collision between the striker and our keeper. I managed to get back in and clear the ball. Unfortunately our keeper was badly hurt and had to be sent off. Our reserve keeper had to come in as a substitute who was not really that good. This realy brought us back on the defensive mode as we could not let the opponents get past our defense. The game went on and the clock was ticking fast. Before we would know it five minutes was left. We did it our all to step up and take chances. We got the ball and pushed it up the field. David, one of our defenders made a long cross to me and I was near the penalty box.

I stared at the goalkeeper in front of me,trying to intimidate him by staring in intensly into his eyes. I dribbled the ball,swerving from side to side to avoid the opposition. As I neared the goal post, my foot shot out. Clumps of grass and soil flew out as the ball crashed into the bottom corner of the net. I fell onto my knees, jubilent.Tears of joy began to fall from my eyes. I could not believe it. I got up and hugged my teammates by then,it was already too late for the opposition to equalise.''peep,peep,peep'' the referees whistle blew. We had won the tournament! The crew on the sidelines ran onto the field and they all lifted me up. They were singing cheers and I joined in. We did it! Today was really a great day.

The prize presentation took place and i was given the trophy. I held the trophy high up for my school. The principal congratulated me and I was really excited. I hope to have more of such days in my life.

Regards

Yash