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Art

Namasthe,

I am Swathi, a 5th grader at Abbotts Hill

Elementary in Alpharetta GA. My parents are Soumya

Kavinamoole and Shivaram Betha. I also have a little brother

named Sathvik. My hobbies are drawing,knitting,crocheting,

animating,swimming,reading,and playing shuttle badminton.

Here is my animated cartoon, hope you like it

"DeepavaLi" animated cartoon by Swathi Betha

Deepavali_mp4.mp4

Namasthe!

My name is Shreya and I am 12 years old, studying in

7th standard, Sharada Vidyalaya, Mangalore. My

parents are Krishna Moorthy and Sneha Bhat.

My sister's name is Shraddha Bhat. My hobbies are to

draw, write essays and poems, read books, sing, collect

stamps and play chess. Here is my pencil sketch. Hope,

you like it.

Pencil Sketch by Shreya Bhat

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Namasthe!

My name is Shreya Hegde and I am 10 years old. I am

in 4th grade at Millstone River School Plainsboro ,NJ.

My mom is Kanchana Hegde and my dad is Ravi Hegde.

I have an elder sister named Disha and she is in 8th

grade. A few things I love to do are drawing

cartoons,painting,playing,baking, writing and

photography. Here is my cartoon. hope you enjoy it!

"Cartoon' By Shreya Hegde

Hi,

I am Aashika, 7 years young! I live in North Wales , PA

with my parents Usha and Gopal Bhat. I am in 2nd

Grade studying at Montgomery Elementary. My brother

Anoop is in 7th

Grade studying in Pennbrook Middle

School. I love Music, Violin, Bharatanatyam,

Swimming, Karate, Computer Games, Reading, Art, and

playing indoor and outdoor games with my family.

"There is nothing more beautiful than a Green Earth and a Clean Environment" by Aashika

Bhat.

The backyard is my family’s favorite activity spot, no matter what season. In winter, we can

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play in the snow, in summer and spring, we can use the other things we have outside, like our

basketball net and our swings. Picking apples, cherries, pears, strawberries and peaches is

also fun in summer. During late spring, we plant the vegetable seeds in pots, watch them

sprout and grow, and enjoy watering them. Amma loves to pick the vegetables afterwards. In

fall, we can just relax outside, enjoy the good weather, and clean up all of the leaves and tree

branches to keep our backyard clean.

We have many visitors in our backyard throughout the season, like deer to chew on the fruit

and vegetable plants, birds and squirrels to eat the nuts Appa puts on the bird-feeder and trays

outside. Anna and I are fascinated by Appa’s compassion towards all animals. Of all the

visitors, I love to watch birds because their flying ability fascinates me. I wish all human

beings could just fly like birds someday. Then our environment will be less polluted as we

don’t have to use our cars to reach different places. We can just fly!

I like the view of our activity spot with green grass, vegetable garden, trees, swing-set, friendly

visitors and clean air.

“Nothing is more beautiful than a Green Earth and a Clean Environment!”

Namasthe!

My name is Priyanka. I am 10 yrs old. My parents are Indira and

Ganapathy.

We live in Georgia. My grand parents live in India. I go to Elementary

school. I am a 5th grader. The title of my work is "Deepawali Fun!"

Deepawali Fun

Deepawali is one of the festivals of India, celebrated as festival of lights. During Deepavali,

people in India celebrate in different ways depending on their belief and region.

In Karnataka, we celebrate it usually for 3 days.

First day is Naraka chathurdashi - people get up early morning before the sun rise and apply

oil from head to toe and take bath and wear new clothes. After that ladies prepare fresh food

and lot of sweets. In the night the houses are all decorated with lights and rangoli and offer

pooja to God. Second day is Bali Padyami - the day celebrated in memory of God teaching

lessons to Bali chakravarthi by pushing him to Pataal lok. Third day is Go pooja - Respecting

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the Go maata by offering pooja and good food. Over all "Deepavali" is a festival of

demolishing all the evils and welcoming the good.

This time we had celebrated it in Shwetha Mudalegundi's house. We had a wonderful party.

As we were getting ready to celebrate, all the other families arrived one by one. While we were

waiting for every family to arrive, adults talked and kids played games. While all of these were

going on, Shwetha and I served Majjige Neeru to everybody.Once all the guests arrived,

everyone went to the Pooja Room to sing bhajans and do pooja and aarati. After that while

ladies getting ready to serve the food, others went back to what they were doing. It looked like

everyone was having fun. When all the food was ready, people went to get food. After about an

hour, when everyone was finished eating, we had a talent show. Kids had a blast singing

songs, dancing, and lecturing about nutrition, health, and Deepawali. After that kids went

back to their own games hoping their families won't leave early. When almost everyone left,

the kids whose parents were hosts went to play. The remaining adults watched local news and

other.

That is how our celebration was. As a whole we all enjoyed the celebration and I really

thought it was pretty fun.

(for more photos/actions, please visit the "Community Activity" page!)

Hi, I'm Risha Hegde from Marietta,GA. My dad is Ashwini

Kumar and mom is Jayashree Kumar. I have a sweet little

sister Rithu Hegde. We both go to East Side elementary

school. I am in 5th grade. I like to draw, dance and write

stories. I am involved in many clubs in my school and I'm the

elected representative of our class on the student council. I do

like to choreograph dance for kids with my mom. Last year my

Mom and I choreographed a dance for local kannada koota

for my sister's age group and it was a very fun experience to

work with my little sisters friends and teach them steps. Here in the deepavali story I am

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trying to narrate how much fun it was to celebrate deepavali at Sheela aunty's home. I hope

you all enjoy the story....

Deepavali in Atlanta

Wouldn't it be great if we all celebrated major Indian festivals together as a close-knit

community? That's exactly what Atlanta Havyakas do every year. It is a tradition that started a

long time ago by our elders. Let me tell you what we did and how we celebrated the festival of

lights, popularly know as Deepavali.

The Mudalegundi and Kadoor family invited all of us Havyakas Deepavali celebration. My

sister and I were excited when we learned that we were going to the celebration. We put on

nice clothing. I must say, I was happy wear nice Indian clothing for the festival. When we got

there we saw a lot of people engaged in greeting each other and the kids were running around

playing. Then it was time to do the pooja. We all gathered in the prayer room. While doing

pooja, kids assembled in the front of the room, while the adults sat in the back. It was nice to

see Sheela aunty's son, Vijeth doing the pooja, under his mom's directions. Many people sang

bhajans and other spiritual songs. My sister sang her favorite song, "Namostuthe" . We did

Arati and the popular Arati song, Om Jai Jagadish Hare was a hit with kids. Everyone offered

flowers to the god,.two pooja volunteers handed out yummy prasad. After that it was time for

lunch!!

Lunch included many varieties of food. It was a potluck lunch and we had a huge assortment

of delicious Havyka style food. After lunch, we had our talent show! We had presentations on

education and spices. I did a segment on Deepavali and waste management and the value of

recycling. It was good to share my point of view on the important topic of environment.There

was a wonderful singing and dancing performance. And, we also had a very good violin

performance.

Time went by fast. Soon, it was time to go. Everyone said by

to each other. Sheela anuty was kind enough to take our

pictures. To my surprise she made grown up goodie bags

also. It was by far the best Deepavali yet. (for more photos/actions, please visit the "Community

Activity" page!)

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Holiday Break Adventure with my Sister

by, Anoop Bhat, PA

Namasthe! My name is Anoop. I live in North Wales, PA

with my Parents Usha and Gopal Bhat and with my

younger sister Aashika. I am studying in 7th Grade at

Pennbrook Middle School. Aashika is studying in 2nd

grade

at Montgomery Elementary School. I like Science, Math,

Karate, Swimming, legos, Computer Games, Art, Reading

and Piano lessons. In this essay, I have tried to portray the

fun time I had with my family during the winter break

2012.

During the winter break of 2012, a few days before the beginning of the new year, we had our

first snow of the season. Aashika and I were making snowballs and playing snowball

fighting. Then we had an idea to make a snowman. We rolled up some mounds of snow and

began to construct the snowman. We made the head, belly and bulky leg for the snowman and

put them all together. After some carving and shaping Aashika put the Carrot nose with some

help from Appa.

Since it was very cold and windy outside, we took some breaks during the snowman

construction process and sat inside the house. While sitting inside and warming up with a cup

of hot bourn vita milk, a thought came to our mind: “What do squirrels do during these cold

days? Do they store enough food for the whole winter season?.” Sometimes we see squirrels

running on the snow in the backyard. Then we decided to perform a “squirrel friendship”

experiment, by placing some nuts on the patio. We kept some roasted almonds, peanuts and

cashews in a plate, and kept it near the snowman. We also decorated the snowman with

different nuts (almond eyes, peanut necklace, multiple nut belt, a neck tie and a nut crown),

hoping that the squirrel would climb on the snowman and eat the nuts. We put some nuts in a

plate next to the snowman.

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After that, it was waiting time, with camera and camcorders. While we waited for the squirrels

to come, we made gingerbread cookies using a recipe Aashika got from her classroom project.

Eventually, all of us were just munching on our cookies, when Aashika saw something

eating the nuts! But it wasn’t a squirrel, it was a crow! One crow was eating the nuts on the

table, while another one was sitting on the grass. We could not capture the photo of the crows,

because they flew away when we went near the window to take the pictures. Then Aashika

drew a picture of the crow eating the nuts. It seems like the squirrels weren’t hungry that week

(or they had enough stored food), so the crows were their substitutes! Finally, the snow began

to melt, and Aashika, me, Appa and Amma started discussing about why squirrels didn’t come.

I said they didn’t come because the nuts were wet. They wouldn’t eat soggy food, but crows

would eat anything. So all the nuts were covered by continuous snowfall, but no sign of

squirrels.

After a few days, Appa had another idea. He decided to fill up a birdfeeder and keep it

on a tree in the backyard. He also kept a plate filled with various nuts, under the tree. He

thought that the birds and/or squirrels would come and eat the food, and hoped to capture

some pictures. Last year we saw a squirrel hanging upside down on the bird feeder and eating

the bird food. Nothing came for a while that we could see, but after a few days the bird feeder

and the plate were empty. It looks like animals are sneakier than we expected. We could not

get the pictures of squirrels or birds, but we had fun feeding them and waiting for them to

come in front of our camera.

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Hope you liked my Essay!

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Tell the truth Boldly whether it hurts or not. Never give in to Weakness

Anushka Irodi, Inverness, UK

Namasthe! My name is Anushka Irodi. I am 11 years old! I

live with my parents Ashwin Irodi and Sahana Gopal Kaje

and my little sister, Ashmita Irodi who is 4 years old!!!

We live in Iverness, UK. My grandparents live in India. I go

to Inshes Primary School in Iverness. I am in Primary 7. I

have been learning to write stories since the age of 5. I like to

write because it takes me into a different world and I enjoy

writing and listening to the different genres of stories.

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Tell the truth boldly whether it hurts or not. Never give in to weakness.

Those words changed everything. Sometimes I keep thinking about what might have happened

if I hadn’t been browsing aimlessly and stumbled across them. But I’m grateful to fate for

sending them my way. It was a lucky chance, that was all, a lucky chance that saved

everything…

Nisha. My sister. A headstrong, reckless, yet kind girl as well. Mum always had trouble with

her.

“Always dashing out to meet the world,” she would say. “There’s nothing Nisha’s afraid of.”

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But I knew there was. And it was a strange kind of fear. Not the kind that set you awake at

night, shivering and drawing the blankets up to your chin. Not the kind that sent you

squealing in terror. The confused, scared part inside you. Her fear… was of nastiness.

It was strange but I respected her all the more for it. It’s not many people who have such a

disgust and fear for nastiness like my sister Nisha did.

She resented all kinds of meanness and nastiness to people. To animals as well. If she saw

children chasing a cat with a stone, laughing and hitting it, she would be out there in an

instant, stopping them, reproving them, and helping the poor cat. She particularly detested

bullying, but surprisingly, when the anti-bullying assembly arrived and Primary Five did an

anti-bullying presentation, she told me she wanted to slap them.

When I asked her why, she said that if anyone bullied in the school, it was definitely Primary

Five. She ranted all the way home at the irony of it and we got treated to all sorts of lectures

on her view of bullying in the car.

Considering all this, it wasn’t surprising she wanted to be someone who helped people feel

better when she grew older, a cheer-upper, someone who helped. I was sure that she’d be one,

as she was so…nice. She had lots of friends at school, but there was one group of ‘cool’ girls

in her class, that she didn’t like as they were always whispering and sniggering to each other

in undertones, while pointing and staring at particular people. It seemed like nastiness to her.

Sly nastiness.

So that was why when I went out into the playground for break, I was very surprised to find

her hanging around their group, laughing and chatting with them.

She caught sight of me and immediately looked guilty, but the look was soon replaced by an

expression of excess casualness.

She waved nonchalantly and turned back to her ‘friends’.

My mind was whirling as I turned back to join my own friends who were making a start on a

snowman using all the snow gathered around.

I was bewildered by my sister’s behaviour. She’d always made it clear she disliked that group

of girls and now she was suddenly hanging around with them like an old friend. What was

going on?

I asked her in the car home.

“What were you doing?” I asked as soon as we were sitting down in the car.

“What do you mean?” Nisha said innocently.

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“You know,” I said exasperated. “You were playing with those girls at break and lunch. I

thought you hated them!”

“I’ll tell you at home,” Nisha said, abandoning all pretence and clearly stalling for time.

I didn’t want to press her so I said nothing as we drove home. As soon as we were at the door,

I turned to her.

“OK, we’re home. Tell me.”

“We’re still not technically inside the house yet,” Nisha pointed out.

I sighed and when we were upstairs, inside the house, I asked once more, and sighing she told

me.

“I know I said that they’re mean, but they’re not really.”

Seeing my incredulous face, she hurried on.

“Well, they just mean it as jokes, you see. They’re not really dong any harm, they said

themselves, that they would hate to hurt somebody’s feelings. They’re really nice when you get

to know them. There’s Cecilia, Keira, Kylie and Sarah, of course.”

Her face shone eagerly as she counted off her new friends’ names on her fingers.

I was filled with doubt.

“But it doesn’t mean that it’s true if they say it”-

“Oh stop being a spoilsport!” Nisha said irritably. “You spoil everything!”

And she stomped out of the room. I stood rooted to the spot; I hated having rows with Nisha.

So I left it. Nisha made friends with me again soon but I was still uneasy in my mind about her

new friendships. She hung around with them much more, neglecting her own friends, who

were, understandably surprised and resentful towards her.

I didn’t mind it much, as they weren’t really doing anything, and it was obviously, a harmless

friendship, yet still…

I was walking home as the car had been taken away for maintenance, and I was trudging in

the pure, white crunch all around me. I was just thinking about my homework despondently,

when a jolt of realization hit me and I realised that I had forgotten to take my maths sheet of

homework with me. And tomorrow I had to hand in my homework. Groaning inwardly, I

turned around and after I had walked a little way, I saw Nisha who had told me she would

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walk home with her new friends. Mum would never have agreed to it but I wanted to avoid

more rows and so I kept quiet.

Nisha and her new friends were laughing and talking as they walked home. I was in full view.

I looked around quickly for cover. I had a strange, fleeting desire to not encounter Nisha right

now and I gave in to it. I saw an oak tree, camouflaged by the white and ran behind it, trying

to keep my noise level to a minimum. The girls were near enough for me to hear them now.

“-and then she squealed like a pig and started crying!” one of the girls said.

She had a mean face, two sharp eyes, a sarcastically-shaped mouth, and a long nose, that

made it easy for her to look down on people.

To my horror, Nisha laughed along with this, but her laughter sounded half-hearted.

“Sarah, don’t you think it was a bit…mean?” she said uncomfortably.

I felt a rush of affection. Thank goodness! At least she wasn’t completely in their group. I

took another look at the girl who had spoken. So she was Sarah. The ringleader, I supposed.

“Oh come on, Nisha!” another girl laughed. “We’ve told you, we’re just having fun!”

“Yeah!” Nisha said heartened.

I groaned inwardly. Nisha would always see the best in people. She wouldn’t doubt for a

second the truth in the girl’s words.

After that nothing much happened, and they started talking about other things and moving on

past me.

I came out from behind the tree and stood there for a bit, trying to comprehend what I’d heard

and seen. I’d known those girls were trouble. Why couldn’t Nisha see it too?

I turned around and trudged home again, going a bit faster. It wouldn’t do for me to arrive

behind Nisha. It would seem suspicious and for the moment, I didn’t want Nisha knowing I’d

heard and seen her with her friends. As soon as I’d reached the door, a blast of horror hit me.

I’d forgotten to get my maths sheet!

I managed to scrape through without my maths sheet somehow, but my mind was focused on

Nisha now. I started asking Mum to let me and Nisha walk home more and when she finally

agreed, I started following Nisha home, but at the same time, managing to arrive at the house

first.

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For days nothing happened but Nisha seemed to be agreeing to and even enjoying their

accounts of nastiness. I was troubled at this but my anxiety reached a peak when I saw them

in action. I was following them as usual, when Cecilia (I’d gotten to know their names after

hearing them talk so long), passing the park, pointed at a rosy-cheeked girl with brown

tumbling hair falling about her hair as she swung up and down on the swing, laughing.

“Look it’s Piglet,” she sneered.

The other girls turned to watch her and like the others, to my dismay, Nisha assumed the same

sneering expression as theirs.

“Why don’t we go say hi to her?” Sarah said, winking.

The others nodded, cold smiles lingering on their lips.

They walked towards the park, but there was no cover in the park and I could be easily

discovered so I stayed where I was, straining my ears to hear what was going. But it was no

use. They were soon out of earshot. I watched them as they went up to the swing. The rosy-

cheeked girl turned pale as soon as she saw them and swung more forcefully, obviously trying

to ignore their presence. Sarah stepped behind her and as soon as she swung backwards, held

the swing back so the girl fell onto the ground, wincing as the hard gravel dug into her knees.

The girls all laughed, even Nisha, who really didn’t seem to realise that what they were doing

right now, was definitely nastiness. I didn’t understand. How could she no t see that she was

indulging in her worst nightmare?

I watched as they bullied the poor girl, evidently most of it verbally. Nisha seemed perfectly at

ease, as Kylie kept whispering into her ear whenever she looked the slightest bit anxious about

the situation. The other girls were all sniggering, as the rosy-cheeked girl looked ready to

burst into tears. Then Keira said something, which made the girl rush off, crying.

Nisha watched her go scornfully, oblivious to the fact I was watching her puzzled.

I’d seen enough. I ran all the way home, wanting to erase all of what I’d witnessed. I arrived

home gasping, red-faced and went up to my room. I hated thinking that my sister was a bully.

I decided I had to test her.

The next morning as we were eating our cereal, I casually slipped in a few questions.

“Did you hear about that story in the newspaper?”

“What?” Nisha asked, digging into her cereal.

“Oh, it was this thing about this girl who was getting bullied at her school,” I said, watching

closely the effect my imaginary newspaper story would have on her.

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She flushed angry red.

“See, I don’t get why people even like bullying,” Nisha said furiously. “It’s a stupid, silly thing

to do. It just hurts people’s feelings. If everyone just stuck to being nice, how much better the

world would be!”

After this speech, she went back to her cereal, her cheeks still red, her eyes flashing fire as

they did when she worked herself up.

I was glad that she still hated nastiness of all kinds but I felt I had to tell her what she was

doing. I opened my mouth when it suddenly struck my mind that Nisha would hate it. She

would probably cry for days on end. I could see it happening. Perhaps she would even get

angry at me. And this row might last longer than the others. I bit my lip. Maybe it would be

better if I stayed quiet. It couldn’t hurt to just stay silent for a bit, I assured myself. I’d see if

things got better. This couldn’t keep going on forever, anyway.

But instead of getting better, it got even worse. I watched with anxiety as their exploits got

nastier and nastier until I felt like I was a bottle with the cork nearly popping out. I had to do

something. But what? Telling Nisha the truth…I couldn’t do it. But I got steadily more and

more distressed as the days went by and Nisha showed no signs of stopping.

Then one fateful day, I went up to my room, despondent as I’d witnessed Nisha with her

friends yet again, to browse on my computer for a bit, and found a page full of quotes from

this famous person called Swami Vivekananda. I scrolled down the page, getting more and

more interested in the meanings of the quotes, when I came across one that nearly made my

heart stop.

Tell the truth boldly, whether it hurts or not. Never give in to weakness.

It related so closely to the situation I was in. I stopped to think about it, my heart thudding, as

I realised there was a way out of this dilemma if I was strong enough to take it. Telling Nisha.

I knew it was the only way to end this once and for all, but I was scared. Scared to do it and

experience the consequences. But I had to do it. I made a split-second decision and raced

downstairs. Nisha was watching TV and I tapped her until she looked up at me questioningly.

I pulled her upstairs until she was sitting on my bed, looking bewildered as I sat in the chair

opposite, heart banging, breathless.

“What are you”-

“Nisha.”

My voice was quiet, in contrast to the chaotic whirlwind inside me.

“I followed you home today, and all the rest of the days as well.”

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Nisha looked as though she thought I was going crazy.

“Why?”

“You were with Sarah and the rest, right?”

“Yeah…”

“Didn’t you notice what they were doing? What you were doing?”

“Naomi, what are you talking about?”

“A while ago, in the park, you were bullying this brown-haired girl, who was swinging. You

stopped her swing, called her names and she ran off crying. Doesn’t that mean something?”

Nisha’s expression clearly showed her shock.

“I wasn’t…We didn’t- Kylie said it was just a game, that Ruby was just being a crybaby as

usual, the way you say it, it sounds horrible”-

“It was being horrible to her. Calling her a crybaby, isn’t that nastiness?”

Nisha looked as though she was being torn apart.

“I didn’t”-

“And all the other things as well. I’ve seen you every day walking home after school and every

time you’ve been with them, you’re either laughing and talking about nasty things or doing

them. They’ve been telling you lies, as you believed them, while they were actually laughing

behind your back.”

“You’re lying.”

Her voice was suddenly quiet, calm, but had a hint of scorn in it.

This completely threw me apart.

“What?”

“I bet you’re just jealous.”

“Why on earth would I be jealous?”

“You just want to stop me being friends with them. I know you are. You even said you didn’t

like them that first day,” she said stubbornly.

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“I’m your sister, Nisha.”

“So?”

I was lost for words. This wasn’t going, at all, how I’d hoped it would. It was going as I’d

feared it would.

I didn’t think that Nisha could really think her own sister would lie to her, she was just trying

to find an excuse to stop up the terrifying doubt I’d created in her mind. But now I’d started, I

had to clear my name. I didn’t feel lost like before. I felt determined. One way or the other, I

would prove to Nisha she was wrong. And my chance came, just after school the next day.

I was the last one out of class, as I’d misplaced my pencil case. As I walked into the

cloakrooms, I could hear voices behind the next row of coat pegs. Familiar voices. It was

Sarah’s gang. I didn’t particularly want to encounter them so I stayed where I was, out of

view. Then my ears pricked up as I heard what they were saying.

“-so silly!” Cecilia laughed.

“Yeah,” Sarah said. “We actually managed to get Nice Nisha to be Nasty Nisha!”

“Oh that’s a good one!” Keira laughed.

I listened with mounting excitement mingled with disgust. A plan formed in my head at

lightning speed and I fumbled for my phone. I found it and as quietly as I could, clicked the

Record button. They carried on talking for a while, then Kylie broke in.

“Everyone be quiet, she’s coming!” Kylie said, in a stage whisper and everyone giggled, then

became quiet and solemn.

I heard footsteps and hastily crossed away, to my coat peg, grabbing my coat and clicking the

Stop button. I was shivering with excitement at my newly-found evidence.

At home, I took out my phone, and listened to the recording. I couldn’t have done it better. I

listened to their horrid voices laughing about Nisha, until I felt like throwing it out of the

window. But I hung onto it and when I heard the front door bang and Nisha’s tell-tale

footsteps climbing up to her room, I silently told myself Swami Vivekananda’s quote again, to

give me strength, and breathing in deeply, I knocked on Nisha’s door.

“Come in.”

I pushed the door open, and without waiting for explanations, I pressed my phone into her

hand, clicked the Play button, and watched as Nisha’s face grew colder and colder as the

voices in the phone chattered on, until the end where she laid the phone down onto the table.

She got up and hugged me and I hugged her back, feeling light-hearted than ever. There was

no need for any words.

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After that, I never saw her hanging around with them. I don’t know what she said to them but

it did the trick. I wanted to laugh when I heard that Nisha, fiery Nisha had stopped them

bullying. They were no longer nasty although they were resentful in a way towards Nisha.

And it was just those words that changed everything. I always remember them now.

Tell the truth boldly, whether it hurts or not. Never give in to weakness.

Smt.Vijayalakshmi is a retired high school teacher from

India. Now, she lives in Cupertino, with her son, Girish Bhat,

daughter-in-law, Gauri and two grand kids, Nilabh and Anusha.

She has been participating in Kannada Sahithya Ghoshti and she

likes to read books. She speaks Kannada, Hindi and Englsih. Her

hobbies are writing kannada poems and short stories, translating

kannada poems to English and English poems to Kannada.She

loves music, art and cooking.

?

?

?

- ,

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My name is Nishanth Salinamakki. I am 14 years old and

live in San Ramon. Currently, I am a freshman at Dougherty

Valley High School, San Ramon, CA. My passion lies in

computer science and physics. I have devoted myself to some

individual projects in these subjects.

In my 8th grade summer holidays, I designed and released

my first game on the iPhone App Store that has over 100+

downloads.

iPhone app "Bomb-a-Mania!" created by Nishanth Salinamakki

If you want to download my game, please visit https://itunes.apple.com/app/id555728105. It’s

free! You can find more information about my app in my web page

http://nsiosapps.wordpress.com. Currently, I am working on another game for iPhone and iPad

with more challenging and better features. In the future, I am planning to develop more games

and educational apps for students.

I competed in the science fair in 8th

grade for a project in the electronics category. The project is

based on capturing electromagnetic waves emitted from the phone and utilizing it for energy. I

won the Contra Costa Science Fair, $100 in cash bonuses, other awards, and qualified for the

California State Science Fair and nationals. In the future, I hope to expand and research more

on this project. For more information on my project, go to www.cccsef.org

bwcnews.blogspot.com/2012/03/motion-monday-trip-to-science-

fair.html and http://www.srvef.org/assets/files/Newsletter%202012.pdf

I am a student-athlete and love sports. I am a competitive swimmer, and I spend 18 hours in the

pool every week. I qualified for the Junior Olympics and Far-Western championships, where

swimmers from California and Nevada compete in many events.

I enjoy music and have been playing piano for six years.

I played piano at many recitals and was selected for a

prestigious one called 'Branch Honors' last year.

I want to continue working on my interests in the future to

gain more knowledge and recognition. Most of all, I want to

have fun pursuing

these !

19

Rashmi (Puttur, India):

Presenting Rashmi Parvathi...2nd PUC [12th Grade] student, an

Innovative Young Scientist from Puttur, Karnataka, Rank

holder in SSLC [10th Grade], award winner in versatile areas

like Science seminars, Prathibha Karanji, SCOUTS and

GUIDEs, Essays, Elocution, Bhavageetha and so forth. Her

project, "Salt from coconut palm petiole -a remedy for skin ailments" has won the Gold Medal

at INSEF [Indian Science and Engineering Fair] - Puttur microfair 2012. The project got

selected for National level competition and then was qualified for International Science Project

Competition I-SWEEEP-2013 [International Sustainable World Energy Environment Project

Olympiad] which will be held between May 8th to May 13th 2013 in Houston, TX USA. She is

the daughter of Ravishankar K, lives in KESHARA House, Nekkila, Bannur, Puttur. Her project

was made under the guidance of Shankara Bhat Badanaje.

Rashmi's continous excellence in Science and Research coupled with excellence in academic

arena is an inspiration to all youngsters!

Highlights of Rashmi's Hobbies, Ambition, and Achievements:

Hobbies - Reading, Essay and story writing, poem composing, Elocution, anchoring, singing,

trecking, Interested very much In Science related programs

Ambition – To become Scientist

Achievements:

1. S.S.L.C [10th Grade] – Secured 2nd Rank in the state ( 99.04%)

2. 1 PUC [11th Grade] – Continued excellence (97.83%)

3. 2 science projects were selected for IRIS National level competition(2011-12) and Presented

Science project in the Intel-IRIS national level competition (2011-12)

4. Science Innovative project presentation competition: Project – “Salt from coconut palm

petiole – a remedy for skin ailments” under the guidance of Sri Shankara Bhat, Badanaje -

secured gold medal and first grand award in INSEF Puttur Micro Fair 2012 and selected for

National level held in November 2012.

5. The same project has been selected for International Science Project Competition ISWEEEP

2013 which will be held at Houston, Texas, USA from 8 th to 13 th of May 2013.

20

Science Camps attended:

1. INSPIRE Science Internship Camp at Christ University, Bangalore, conducted by Department

of Science and Technology, Government of India during April 2012.

2. CSIR Programme for Youth on leadership in Science at CFTRI (Central Food Technological

Research Institute) Mysore (November 2011)

3. Interaction with Scientists (State level)—at Dayanand Sagar Institutions, Bangalor e, June -

2011

4.Interaction with Scientists (district level ) 4 times attended

Prizes received:

1. National level Seminar – Science paper presentation Competition on “Endangerd Bio-spicies

and its conservation” conducted by Vidya Bharathi Akhila Bharathiya Shikshan Samsthanam

(2010-11) – 1st prize

2. National level Seminar – Science paper presentation Competition on “Radiation hazards and

measures to control it” conducted by Vidya Bharathi Akhila Bharathiya Shikshan Samsthanam

(2011-12) – 1st prize

3. 22 nd Rank in Talent Hunt conducted by Rao IIT Academy, Kota Rajastan and Brilliant

Coaching Centre Mangalore

4. Prathibha Karanji – State level many prizes in Kannada, Hindi and English Elocution, Essay

and Nadageethe competition—by Sarvajanika Shikshana Elake,Karnataka

5. SCOUTS and GUIDES –Received Rajya Puraskar award in Guides and preparation for

Rashrtapathi Puraskar

6. ISKCON—Shri Krishna Exam – State level – 3rd Rank (2006 and 2007)

7. Hindi Exam – Passed Rashtra Bhasha Exam with Distinction

8 District level Bagavadgeetha Quiz Competition – 1st Prize

9. 1st Prize in District level Essay and Elocution Competitions conducted by Shanthivana Trust

Dharmasthala and Samskar Bharathi

10. Carnatic Music—Passed Junior Exam with distinction and doing preparation for Senior

Exam under the guidance of Vidwan Kanchana A Ishwar Bhat.

Best Wishes to Rashmi for her presentation at I-SWEEEP-2013 in USA and for all her

future endeavors!

21

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Anushka Irodi (Ienverness, UK):

Anusha Irodi's story "HEIGHTS" wins the "All Write-2012"

contest of Manchester University and the story gets published

in antology book of young writers of ages 9 - 14yrs.

The book is also listed in Amazon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/All-Write-2012-Sophie-

Chivers/dp/1905476795/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355574737&sr=1-1 .

Just a preview highlight of the story "HIGHTS!"

Heights is a story about a girl who has an uncontrollable fear of heights. Her sisters tease her

mercilessly on her fear but when her parents tell them that they are going on a ‘nice camping

trip’ in the holidays, it all goes haywire. Each girl has a reason for not wanting to go, and when

they finally reach the camping ground, a terrible secret awaits them. When she finds out what it

is, she tries to forget about it. But when it puts one of her sisters in danger, she has to conquer

her fear and save the day. But can she do it? Can she finally step out of the shroud that

surrounds her and fight back at her fear? (Note: Due to the Book publishers copy-writes, we can

present only the above summary!)

Note: Please also see the special story writing talents of Anushka under "Stories" section with

another new story!

Community Activity:

1. Bay Area Havyaka Sankranthi Celebration, 2013:

Pictures by Rajesh Bhat (CA)

https://picasaweb.google.com/105954928919783370443/Sankranthi2013

2. Atlanta area Havyaka Deepawli Celebrations, 2012

Photo album link by Sheela Mudalegundi (GA)

https://picasaweb.google.com/102941337479055777727/December92012?authuser=0&authke

y=Gv1sRgCMihlrnBzaWvjAE&feat=directlink