I Remember......

We had the honor of meeting the famous poet, Taylor Mali, in our Humanities class. He talked about his work. But then he talked about his memories. He talked about his early mother's memories, his brother's early memories and he made us all laugh with his funny faces. That inspired us to think about our early memories.

I remember making a makeshift hut with my bed, blanket and books, but it didn't work because the books fell on my head, when I was 5.

I remember helping my mom and my brother make red Thai curry except we had a little malfunction and it turned green

I remember on my 8th birthday a parrot asked for my rainbow ice-cream.

I remember waking up in the middle of the night and hearing my brother talk, I was still afraid of the dark then and I asked him if he could go and turn on the light so I could go to the bathroom. But I didn't realize he was sleep talking.

I remember my cousin picking me up from art class, when a pack of stray dogs started chasing us. They chased us all the way to my front door.

I remember playing on a make shift swing my father made for me. When I was high up, one of the ropes broke and I fell I had enough sense to duck before the swing came back and hit me.

I remember stealing mangoes from the kitchen, until my mother caught me and for my punishment I had to watch everyone eat mangoes while I had nothing.

I remember when I first came to KL, I had never worn short socks so I thought my parents had bought me baby socks.

I remember fighting with my cousin over a pink color pencil (our favorite color was pink!)

I remember crying when my mom told me we were going to move to Malaysia.

My Name

My name says a lot of things about me. My name is a mixture of the lightest of blues, purples and pinks, a very feminine name. My name is one of a kind. Some people say it is weird; some say it is beautiful. But I say it is me; everything about me is my name. In India my name was a beautiful name with the right pronunciation! But here it is a different thing altogether. It is distinguished into three different parts. In India or inside of my family it is one word, three syllables that come together as one to make my name. My name reminds me of silk. It slips out of my mouth. I’m almost used to correcting people with the pronunciation of my name. Very few people have got it right. Some of my friends just call me Nanda, my last name. But that is not me, I share it with my family; it is us, not me. My name is Pratiti.

I have been teased about my name. When I first came to Malaysia there was a big girl on my bus. I was in first grade and she was in fifth grade. She was a Korean and she made fun of my name, I could hear them laughing at the back of the bus, whispering and pointing at me. I still remember her long dark hair, pale skin and her tall frame. The funny thing was, I thought her name was weird! I had never been exposed to international schools so I thought her name was odd. But I had some manners and didn’t think it would be funny to make fun of her name. Other times when the teacher mispronounces my name, some people laugh at it. I laugh along with them, because I don’t take it as an insult, I find it funny.

My name means ‘belief’ -- it is a Sanskrit word. I think I’m very privileged to be named after such an important word. Isn’t it ‘believe’ that always comes before hope in inspirational speeches? “We have to believe there is hope!” Don’t people always say, “you have to believe in yourself” or “I believe in you!” My parents named me Pratiti for two reasons. My brother’s name is Pratik and they wanted my name to be something similar. The second is they believed I could do wonders. I’m going to prove them right! I will make them proud of me. I will make sure that I do wonders. My father wanted to name me Sabrina from a female protagonist in a book he was reading during the time I was born. He doesn’t remember what the book was called anymore since he read it about thirteen years ago! I have a nickname that only my family calls me: Munlee. My brother’s nickname is Leemun, so my nickname is his nickname backwards. But the ‘m’ and the ‘n’ change places and the ‘l’ goes before the two ‘e’s.

I love my name; I believe that it is unique. I mean how many people have you met whose name is Pratiti? I’m not saying that I’m the only one with the name but it stands out. I have always wanted to stand out and I think I do. My entire family is organized with everything. They have all graduated with good grades and they all love to do math, they are consistent in their grades! But me, my grades change from time to time, my room is always a mess and I enjoy reading about myths and history, I love setting my imagination wild and put what I’m thinking into words! It all adds up to humanities! It is true: My father is a marine engineer; it involves high level math! My brother is studying accounting and finance which also involves math. My mother is a housewife ,but cooking also involves math! But I want to study literature, I find it interesting, something that I can study without getting bored!

This is Me in 3!

Guess what I am doing right now? I am staring blankly at my computer screen trying to figure out the third thing that describes me! The first two came to me very easily -- all my books and my tennis racket. But I just can’t figure out what the third thing should be. A million things are going through my head right now but I have to find the perfect one, the one that will be the final piece for me that I will be sharing with you. Something that I love dearly and gives me love, joy, can bring back beautiful memories from the past and maybe even from the present! I know it, my big stuffed pink toy dog. I know it sounds silly but I love that dog and I have had him since I moved to Malaysia.

I love reading; everyone who knows me knows I love reading. When I really like a book I can feel everything in it. I feel as if I am in a new world, a new person! Sometimes I get so lost in a book that when my mom calls me, I can’t hear her (I get in trouble for that all the time!). I have only been in three countries: India, Malaysia and Singapore. However, in books I have been to England, Hogwarts, Elantya, Medieval times, Forks, dancing with the 12 dancing princesses, in the labyrinth with Annabeth and many more! As you can see I only like to read fantasy, fiction , romantic fiction (e.g., Twilight) and adventures. But all the non-fiction and biographies bore me. My parents try to make me read them but I don’t. I feel sleepy when I try to read non-fiction or biographies. When I walk into Kinokuniya, MPH or Times I feel like I am a five year old again and I get to pick out a new Barbie doll! Any place that is filled with books is like my own wonderland, a portal to many different worlds, like the library where they have plenty of books, it’s my favorite place in the school. I sometimes spend hours on the library catalog trying to find a good book to read!

My tennis racket is important to me because my brother is really good at tennis and I am taking lessons with his old coach. I hope to be as good as he is someday. I do lessons every Sunday. Sometimes when my brother coaches me I feel like he really cares about what I am doing and how good I am. He spends the whole hour we booked the tennis court for coaching me when he could be doing wall practice! I feel like he really cares about me. It’s like our special bonding time. I really suck at serving so my brother spent a half an hour trying to teach me how to do it properly! Thanks to him I am much better at service now. When I pick up my tennis racket, I tie up my shoe laces and make sure my water bottle is full then I turn myself onto alert mode. When I am running around hitting the ball on the court I feel alive, sporty and healthy. I feel strong when I really am not! The ball comes towards me and everything is slowing down: my pony tail bounces on my back, sweat trickles down my spine and head, my hands move in a circular motion and hit the ball with all the strength they can muster. That's what it feels like to play tennis, for me. I love it, it is a part of me and always will be!

My big pink stuffed dog’s name is Purple because she has a big purple nose . To me Purple is not a stuffed dog; to me she is a protector, a guardian or my very own archangel. Whenever I have a nightmare she is always lying there on my bed and I grab hold of her pull her close and fall asleep feeling safe! Do you ever get the feeling when you look at someone or something that you think will protect you for the rest of your life and always will be there for you? Well Purple is the dog who I wiped my tears on when I was upset about something. She was the dog I held onto when I woke up in the middle of the night with a terrible nightmare still playing in my head! She is very battered right now but she has all these good memories! Like the first time I ever scared my brother, he was about to turn the corner and I threw Purple at him: he was so surprised that he jumped back and almost toppled over! That was one of the funniest memories ever! Purple is a big part of my life I will never throw her away or do anything to her that will take her away from me!

My Awesome Bio-Poem

Pratiti

Who is surprisingly nice, devastatingly disorganized, consistently loyal and sometimes unpredictable

Who admires her brother Pratik, Loves her mom and dad and values all her best friends

Who reads only fiction books, spends hours on the Internet and stares at landscapes

Who feels dead tired after swimming, goofy after drama and hyper after a boring day of sitting around

Who is scared of all kinds of slithery snakes, pitch black darkness closing around her and saying good bye to people she loves

Who is very proud of winning her first bronze medal ever in breaststroke

Wants to see Paris, feel the cool snow falling around her and hear a mockingbird sing in it’s beautiful voice

Lives in KL, Malaysia, Asia, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy

Nanda