Holidaying in India

Palaces and beaches

n India, I’ve been to Delhi, Bombay, Chandigarh, Udaipur, Jaipur, Jodhpur

Mostly I go visiting the relatives, and do

Rajasthan was interesting – all those forts and palaces and the stories of the old kings were fascinating. I remember the Sound and Light Show at one of the palaces – amazing battle scenes. I also had my first elephant ride there, and I dressed up as a Rajput prince – I looked even handsomer than usual!

Goa was pretty cool. Loved the resort and the water sport and playing at the

Oh, I liked flying on Kingfisher Airlines – they have great food.

Manan Luthra

Hello, down there, you lowly folk

Street soccer

WhenI was in India, I’d been to Mumbai and Pune. We went there mainly to visit my Nanaji and Nani. The main highlights for me were playing soccer every afternoon after everyone had arrived back from school, and playing tennis with my dad (as you can see I love my sport). The food there was great as well. I loved the mehti roti. Overall the trip was heaps of fun and I enjoyed it greatly.

Extended family Rock solid!

WhenI had gone to India for a holiday, I went to Delhi, Agra and Chandigarh. In Delhi, I visited my aunty, uncle and other relatives. One day, we all went to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, which is made of white marble, and the Red Fort, which is made of red sandstone. They

Chandigarh. I had an amazing time there as well. We went to see the Rock Gardens and when we were there I rode a camel! Apparently camels love spitting! The Rock Garden by the way has a lot of different statues all of which are made with either rocks or waste material like broken cups

Out of the ordinary!

Ihavesome fun memories from my six trips to India so far. I remember:

• buying pink fairy floss from the street vendor with the long stick filled with goodies

• watching my favourite shows on Cartoon Network and not understanding a word because they were all in Hindi

• going on cycle rickshaw rides

• having my palms hennaed at the markets

• being terrified by the stray monkeys on the mango trees in the backyard

• shopping for clothes in Chandigarh’s Sector 17

• ringing the hanging bells at my grandparents’ favourite temple

• teasing and laughing with distant cousins in Delhi

• seeing the room filled with mirrors at the Udaipur palace

• seeing the Mughal kings’ armour (swords and shields and guns) and the queen’s palanquins at the museum

• Christmas carols in Hindi

• being absolutely dazzled by the food display on New Year’s Eve at Jaipur’s Le Meridien Hotel

• watching movies at a special theatrette with huge luxury seats and a waiter serving us food and drinks

WhenI go to India I visit my parents’ home town Bangalore. My parents love their home town and share with us all their family history and Indian culture. My brother and I find it amazing to listen to the fascinating stories of how it was in India when my parents were growing up. We visit all our relatives who give us so many sweets and so much food to eat and the streets are always busy with autorickshaws, cars and people selling bhelpuri (which is my favourite Indian food) and all kinds of things on the side of the street.

In this photo I am acting in a play I did for my grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary. Our India holidays are so much fun!

Tribute to

Mouth watering food

Whatdo I love most about India –food, of course. Yum! I can’t wait for summer holidays to start as we are heading for Chennai. Oh, the masala dosai and chaat are already making my mouth water. And delicious idiyappam, vazhakkai chips, pav bhaji and aloo paratha, the south Indian, Punjabi, Gujarati and Rajasthani thali. I also get to enjoy all the Indian vegetables we don’t get here in Sydney like dhondakkai, podalankai, vendakkai, sliced thin and deep fried, just the way I like it. I can have plenty of coconut water fresh from my backyard and mango Frooti, milkshake and ice cream too. I even think the Indian pizzas are better. Are five weeks enough? The only thing I miss out always is mangoes because we never go there during the Indian summer.

Raghupati Raghav Rajaram, Patiti Pavan Sitaram

We have years of experience in organizing funeral services of various religious and cultural faiths. We now extend our services to Indian / Hindu/Sikh community all around Sydney under the able guidance of Indian/ Hindu Priests from various Hindu Temples and Sikh Gurudwaras of Sydney.

We offer the following services:

1. Provide Hindu Priest, Gyanji for performing last rites.

2. Perform cremation under the guidance of Priest (Pandithji / Gyanji).

3. Offer free boat service for the immersion of Ashes “Asthi Visarjan.” Our boat can carry maximum of 20 people. (Conditions Apply)

4. We organize the repatriation of the ashes to India.

Australian Funeral Services will give family and friends the final opportunity to farewell their loved one in a Dignified and respectful Ceremony. At present we have three funeral parlours in Sydney. We can assist in meeting funeral costs via our various payment plans.

Jasmine gaped breathlessly as she stared in front of her. She clutched the branch tightly, not daring to move. It was coming towards her. Not slowly, but with full, agitated speed. How long would she keep having to stare into those horrible, yellow eyes, or those sharp glistening teeth? Suddenly Jasmine was panic-stricken as she felt something crash into the tree she was hiding in. She looked down. ‘It’ was there. She gasped at the sight of the sickly horrible creature gnawing and clawing its sharp nails at her. Desperately, she tried to find a way of making it go away. Maybe there was something it was afraid of?

At that moment an unknown figure came thundering heavily into the tree. Thankfully, it was a human. A boy slightly taller than Jasmine, but his face was hidden by the darkness of the night. He reached into his pack and swiftly brought out a large torch.

Jasmine thought, “Why would anyone use a torch to defend themselves against an ‘it’?”

Then, without further delay, the boy shone the bright torch in the face of the horrible creature and it ran away whimpering and howling loudly. Slowly, Jasmine turned to the stranger. She narrowed her eyes trying to figure out who he was. Then, she grinned broadly.

“Emmett,” she muttered.

“That’s right, little sister. I thought I told you to stay away from the Prowlers!” Jasmine looked puzzled.

“What? What Prowlers?”

Emmett sighed. “Look, I’ll explain. You know how I left a few days back to find out about the ‘its’”.

“Yes. What about them?” Jasmine inquired.

“Well, it turns out they moved to this forest because they were afraid…of some kind of Light King.”

Jasmine snorted.

“Emmett, you must be out of your mind. There is no such thing as the ‘Light King”.

“You are impatient, Jasmine. The ‘its’ are actually called the Prowlers and you didn’t believe me when I told you I had been chased by one the first time too! But then you DID see for real, just now, didn’t you, with your own eyes, that there are Prowlers! So why can’t there be this… Light King?”

Jasmine went silent. “Fair enough,” she said eventually. “Tell me more.”

“That’s more like it,” whispered Emmett. “I met a man called Aro in the Plains and he told me that the Prowlers all moved away from there because of the Light King. As you might have figured out by now, Prowlers are afraid of light. That’s why you don’t see them in the day. In daylight you are safe. But in the dark night, you are not. It’s a good thing I arrived in time to save you. I told you to stay at the hut but you did not listen! You are as stubborn as an old mule!”

“I heard someone calling me,” snapped Jasmine. And I presumed it was YOU!”

“Very well.” said Emmett calmly. “You should know that these days it is not safe to roam around whenever you wish, according to your own will!”

“Yes, I do!” persisted Jasmine. “It’s just that… oh, you win!”

“Good,” said Emmett. “Now would you like me to tell you WHY the Prowlers are afraid of light or would you rather be a frowning frog?”

“Go ahead!” Jasmine cried rudely as she scowled at Emmett.

“Aro told me the only way to kill a Prowler, is to expose it to light. They aren’t just afraid