Suryanamaskar at Chikkaballapur

International Yoga Day has been celebrated every year since 2014. Yoga is a mental and spiritual practice which originated in India. The theme of this year’s Yoga Day is Yoga for Well-Being. 

Suryanamaskar is considered the ultimate asana that strengthens the body and mind. It means Sun Salutation. It has 12 asanas. 

Here are some photos of my sister and me doing the Surya Namaskar in the morning at Chikkaballapura.

The first asana is called Pranamasana, where we say Namaskar to the Sun.

The second asana is called Hasta-Uttanasana where we lift our hands

The third asana is called Padahastasana where we touch our feet with our hands. Neither my sister nor I can do this very well.

The fourth asana is called Ashwa Sanchalasana. This is supposed to be like a horse ("Ashwa")

The fifth asana is called Chaturanga Dandasana where the body is supposed to touch the ground at 4 points

The sixth asana is called Ashtanga Namaskar, where the body is supposed to touch the ground at 8 points. But my sister and I like to fall flat because it is more fun

The seventh asana is called Bhujangasana.

The eighth asana is called Adho Mukha Svasana or Downward Dog. We have a dog called Perry, and she does this sometimes.

After this, we just repeat the 4th to 1st asanas again in backward order and then we are done!

Happy International Yoga Day to you!

Durga's note on our field trip on the 3rd of June 2021: The Naming of our Plot

 Hello, I'm Durga and I'm eight years old and I'm about to tell you about my new life style and the adventures I had at Chicballapure in my farm. So in the farm at dawn, you will be able to hear thousands of birds including the brain fever bird, leaf bird, peahens and peacocks. And also there is a little tree in the middle of the farm. There I climbed up and saw a fungus on the tree and when I touched it, my finger did a little gentle bounce back. And also when I was taking a little walk, I saw mushrooms growing. I was impressed and at 10 o'clock in the night me, my father and my brother went for a walk. While we were walking, we saw moths flying on a rock and in the gaps of the rock, a mouse came and caught them and took them back inside to eat them. And also on the tree, I did a monkey bar and took a two minute nap on the branch of the tree. In the morning, my brother set off for a walk, my mother went for a walk and me and my father went for a walk. And my father and I were talking about what we should name our plot. Then I saw we will call it The Secret Garden. And so from now on, we will call it "The Secret Garden"

My new favorite TV show...

is "Anne with an E" on Netflix. The quality of acting, the perfectness of the lines, the tender way in which the camera lingers on the faces and on the landscapes... it's got to be among the best shows on Netflix.

It also made me recall why I stopped reading the original books after the first two or three: after the amazing Anne that Lucy Montgomery created, in the latter books, she almost never focuses on Anne. The stories become Gilbert's, or Anne's kids'. If the main reason why L.M.M got her fan following was because of Anne, why in the world didn't she continue to write about her? It's almost as if, after making Anne question and then ultimately follow the accepted path for all women, marriage and motherhood, LMM stops being interested in her. I think she would have had a far more powerful impact if she had continued to show Anne as being curious, questioning and exploding with ideas even after marriage and motherhood. Perhaps she could have a conversation between Anne and Gilbert about whether they should indeed have seven children....perhaps Gilbert could have offered to give Anne some time to write her books by a) spending more time taking care of the kids or b) not having so many of them in the first place. How startlingly novel and blindingly inspiring that would have been for generations of girls, even today! Instead Anne is washed out, apparently even her opinions aren't worth writing about now that she has copped out and married. 

So in a lot of ways, LMM sets the stage for a brilliant protagonist and then fails her entire female fan base.

So I pray that the TV show is a bit more respectful, in some sense, towards women and their value. So far it has been that and much more.

I'm waiting for season 3 to air in India!

Durga again

I also spoke in the mike and sang in the mike on Talents' Day on the stage. I was so happy to sing and tell all the names of who all had to come on the stage for story-telling. Many of the students didn't even come on the stage and tell one word of the story, only the section, the standard and their name. And my family was so proud. My mother told "Great, Durga!"
And my brother was also happy.
And also my friends told "Congratulations Durga"
My teacher told "Very good, Durga"

And I am practicing also the second time for the dance program next time. ↭👶😛😜😄💜💛💚💙💗💃💝🙋🙏🙋💅💤😸💜💜💜

My dance program by Durga

Yesterday was my Bharatanatyam dance program. I invited many people for it. My teacher was very happy. There was also singing and other people were also dancing with me. I loved the dance program. It was so nice.
I danced very well. The dance program was about Vishnu. I was one of the Gods.

Before the program I went to the dance class for makeup. A man put my makeup. And Pranati akka's mom helped with my costume and my hair and my jewelry. It took so much time for me to get ready.

This is when I was doing my hair with Vatsala aunty

This is when I started doing my jewelry

This is with my friend Anvita. We were making faces!

This is before we left for the program

This is when we all were dancing in the program

I also want to dance more and more!

Ants In a Computer

In my mother's computer there are so many ants going in and out of the keys .I think it is because my sister accidentally spilled watermelon juice on it a few years ago.I don't like it because the ants always come out of the  keys so I have to kill them by hitting them.

My Dreams

I like to dream about movies which I have seen .I don't like to dream about 👻 .If I don't like that dream I start to cry . And then I go somewhere else in the room.