Letter to the Editor

Hi Everyone,

I thought I would share my current writing assignment I completed for mum this month. Mum taught me how to write a letter to the Editor of a newspaper. I have written about a subject that is always close to my heart - FOOD!

Letter to the Editor:

Clean Food

004 Apartment Complex

Bangalore

July 7, 2015

The Editors

40/01, S B Tower, M G Road
Bangalore, Karnataka

To the Editors:

I’m writing this letter to bring to your notice that a good percentage of Bangalore’s population are either falling sick or dying due to food poisoning. I feel it is our responsibility to take some action, as all humans are entitled to clean food. So, why do we deny it to them?

Here in Bangalore lots of people make money running food stalls on the road. However, the people who run these stalls, don’t wash the stalls frequently, which makes the surroundings unhygienic. The dirty stalls and the dirty surroundings, both, attract rodents which in turn makes the food inedible.

Another reason why people fall sick from eating at these stalls is because of the fact that the owners of the food stalls don’t buy fresh produce regularly. They use the same old oil and vegetables even though they may be stale.  At the beginning, when the food stalls were brand new the owners would take great care in cleaning their stalls and buying fresh produce regularly.  Then it dawned on them that these were all expenses that they didn’t have to incur. 

Now how do we solve this issue? Well, don’t stop them from running their businesses, but force them to have their stalls inspected monthly by an inspector, who ensures that the food stalls and their surroundings are maintained well. The inspector would also check that the produce used is fresh and that the food meets all required standards.  Furthermore, compel the stall owners to procure a license to run their stalls. 

Now, that you have heard my arguments on this matter I sincerely hope you take this  into consideration. 

Sincerely,

Cade

 

Poetry Month

Hello Everyone,

It has been an interesting month for me in Literature. I have been exploring various poems, learning about rhyme schemes and sequences and poets.

Personally, I was never fond of poetry and much prefer fiction, but this month I explored poetry with mum and dad and understood that poets leave a lot unsaid and hanging in the air. It was for me to figure out and sometimes the poet leaves us with many options to chose from in the meaning of his message.

I chose Sympathy as my favourite of the ones I read because I feel the poet described slavery so well in his analogy of the caged bird. I learned about slavery in History and watched Selma so it sort of connected the dots.

Hope you enjoy my recitation of Sympathy in the video below:

An Autobiographical Incident: The Surprise Gift

The Surprise Gift

I will never forget the day when I got my first Smartphone. I’d been wondering what I’d get for my birthday from Mom and Dad, since my birthday was just around the corner. Then one day, Dad said, “Cade we’re going to buy you your birthday gift we’ll be back soon.” I tried to probe as to where they were going and whether I could come too. I was a little shocked that I was getting my gift so soon, because it was a week to my birthday.

While they had gone to buy me my gift, I was sitting and wondering where they might have gone and what they might be buying; and I had some really weird ideas too,  like – a horse or a bike, a new laptop, a new cycle ( I really thought it would be a new cycle) or a PS4. Anyway, I had some school work to finish, so I went to my laptop and started doing it. However, I couldn’t concentrate as my mind kept wandering off about what I’d get and how long they would take to come back with the gift. I was getting a little dizzy so I got up and went to the balcony for a few minutes. It was a cool, clear day. The sun was out and the main road was buzzing as usual, with its cars zipping about and the sound of the frustrated people constantly honking due to some silly reason.  After five minutes, I went back to my work and finished it quickly.

After I finished my work, I called dad to ask him whether he had reached. He said that he had but, he’d take a little while to come back. I was bored so I switched on the T.V. and started watching a movie. I was halfway in when the doorbell rang. I switched off the T.V. and bolted for the door! When I opened the door, I found Mom, Dad and Seth holding a white plastic Samsung Mobile bag! It was quite cold in the corridor, but I didn’t feel it. I peeked inside the bag to see a few papers and a box wrapped in green wrapping paper. As soon as I saw that, I knew what was inside the box, I quickly opened it and found an enormous, glistening white brand new Samsung Smartphone. I was stunned that Mom and Dad had bought me a Smartphone.  Mom said it was insured for 7 years and that I would have to charge it for 8 hours before I could use it.

After that, we headed to Decathlon the local sports shop. Mom, Dad and Seth were scouring the aisles. However, I was in no mood to shop. No, I was thinking of going back home and checking out all the cool features my phone had to offer.  I found it interesting that in our current world of few surprises, that I could still be blown away by something.

 By: Cade Manuel 

 

Vacation in Goa

Hello Everybody,
Today I am going to be writing about my trip to Goa.We went to Goa because my birthday was on the horizon.

November 25th : Train to Goa

We were going to Madgaon and from there we'd be catching a taxi to Vagator.The train left Bangalore at 2:45 pm ....It was a 16 hour journey from Bangalore, and was  very uncomfortable and stuffy. We travelled by AC class but the AC wasn't that great. I found it very difficult to sleep.


November 26th:

We reached Madgaon at 6:45 AM and caught the connecting train to Thivum. From Thivum  we caught a prepaid taxi to the room at Bethany Inn, Vagator. We ate breakfast at The Mango Tree. Then in the evening we went to the Anjuna Flea Market.
 




November 27th:

The next day we ate breakfast  at a new restaurant called Jaws. The food was awesome. I had a continental breakfast and the fried eggs that came along with it were sensational. After that we packed some sandwiches, muffins and steak pies from Jaws for lunch on the beach.We then headed towards the beach. Dad and I went paragliding that day. It was a lot of fun.










November 28th:

 We woke up nice and early to go snorkeling. There was a taxi waiting to pick us up. Before we joined the crew we had breakfast at a bakery at Candolim. Burgers and rolls and  I don"t know wh
at not. When we left the docks, about an hour in we saw dolphins. An hour later, the  crew announced that they had caught a squid. Everyone on the boat (passengers) took turns holding it including me.  Later on , they took us to  a little cove where we went snorkeling. I did it for about 10 - 20 minutes and then came out because I was feeling tired. I was then handed a fishing thread and tried my hand at it. Unfortunately no luck.They then took us to an island to have a barbecue lunch. I thought the food was adequate to say the least. The jacket potatoes on the other hand were a total hit.

November 29th:

We visited Chapora fort, or I should say we struggled up a steep hill to the fort. It had a clear view on all sides to the land or coasts below. I can imagine the soldiers able to spot approaching enemies in the distant past. Then we returned to the room and relaxed. At around 5:30 PM we left to eat dinner at Souza Lobo, which was highly recommended to us by the locals. Then we went to Mackies Saturday Night Bazaar.We wandered between the stalls trying to strike a good bargain.It was great fun bargaining with the shopkeepers. Seth and I used our pocket money to buy some gifts. There was live band playing Konkan music, Goan songs and other best hits. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the bazaar and we left from there around 1 a.m..

November 30th :

Bike ride to Panjim and Old Goa. We had breakfast at Jaws before we left. We stopped over at  a restaurant in Panjim  called Route 66. The food was really tasty. We also visited two churches Dom Bascillia  and Salvadore dos Mundo. After that we rode back to Bethany Inn with major butt aches. We were exhausted.

December 1st :



My birthday! I had a grand breakfast at Jaws which ended with a birthday cake. Then we went to Morjim beach. At about 4:30 PM the taxi which was going to drop us off at the football match came by. By the time we got into the stadium, it was twenty minutes into the game. The seats we had booked were taken and we had to kneel (it was bit like doing penance). However, it was an exhilarating experience, and I loved the sheer energy and atmosphere of the crowd.  Goa won 3-0 against Northeast. Loved it!

December 2nd :

We had breakfast at Jaws and went to Small Vagator Beach. We had lunch at the Fish Tail restaurant. We then hired boogie boards from the Sports Club on the Beach. Dad also arranged for Surfing lessons from the owner who was Swedish.





December 3rd:
We went to Little Vagator Beach. to learn how to surf. It was quite tough, and I managed to learn how to get on my knees, which believe me is quite an accomplishment. Seth was too scared to let go of the board, but he did try. We then ate at Kumar's, and I felt that the food wasn't that great. After that I went to do a few rounds of boxing (boxing the boxing bag). Then Dad, Seth and I went boogie boarding.











December 4th:

We had breakfast at Jaws and then we went to the beach for the whole day. We had lunch at Kumar's. After that we returned to Bethany Inn, had a bath and had dinner at Jaws. The next day we would be leaving for Bangalore. Seth and I tried convincing Mum and Dad to extend our trip by a few more days. No luck!

December 5th :

We had breakfast at Jaws, and caught a taxi all the way to Madgaon station. We then caught the train from Madgaon to Bangalore.

For all those who wish to visit somewhere exciting, especially for kids and teenagers, Goa is definitely a place I would recommend.

Cade Manuel

Animating

About a month ago, I started learning how to animate. The animation teacher comes every alternate Saturday. When we started classes, the instructor told us to get a  "Wacom." A wacom is connected to your computer and its like a sketch pad. It helps with animation because before the wacom was invented,  people drew all of their characters  on a device called a lightbox. 

This is my Wacom :)...

This is a light box.

On our first class, we learned the basics like who created the first animated movie and how they did it. the instructor even showed us videos and movie previews... He said... "animation is the only subject that requires you to watch movies."
That sounds awesome doesn't it? Anyway, by the end of the class, the animation teacher told us to watch The Little     Mermaid or any
                                                                  other old Animated movie like, Lion King,Mickey Mouse, etc.
  

The next time he came, we had our Wacom ready. He installed it for us .. and that day he showed us some of the Principles of Animation.  He even showed us how different principles were used in animation, by showing the way a ball bounces, and the way it comes to a stop when it's been rolled.He told us to watch Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2 whenever we got free time.

Those movies are hilarious you have to watch it, if you haven't already :). 

,

This is the first painting I did on my Wacom..

    

 

Just last week, we learned one point perspective. It's quite cool, the way everything moves toward that one point. He then showed us some examples of one point and two  point perspective. He said "You usually see things in two point perspective." next time we'll be learning that. Then after that I think it'll be three point perspective. I found three point perspective really confusing. It's got three vanishing points and two different ways of viewing it. The Bird's eye's view and the Worm's eye view. At the end of the session he gave me H.W. - Draw 5 pages of the one point perspective.

One Point Perspective

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it :)

Art

For the past month and half  I have been taking art classes. Just like the music teacher, the art teacher comes home to teach us. Its takes lots of hard work but I am all always amazed by the things I create.

The first class was lots of fun the art teacher told us to draw whatever we wanted!I chose Oil pastels and Seth chose paints. By the end of the class I was happy. The art teacher had given us some homework. She told us to draw straight lines with our left and right hand on  a piece of paper. This seemed easy enough! The second class was stunned me.. The Art Teacher  taught us how to paint a landscape using water paints! It came out really well.So well that, by then end of the class I was shocked I had done that! The third class we had origami .We were making jumping frogs... It was tricky for my brother but not so much for me. When we finally got the frogs. We had loads of fun. We  even made a frog army.

After that it got slightly tougher, the art teacher had  been piling on the homework. There was so much homework that I thought, she was trying to graduate us as Art students! But, then the homework  kinda reduced and it became better. Just two weeks ago, The art teacher taught us             how to paint a painting in first perspective. It looked pretty cool! Even though  I find art tough I know it's just because I haven't learnt the basics yet, just like in Music.

 We've even been working on a project a major project   for Halloween. We were doing a wallpaper in my room (Seth's too). even though Halloween's gone by I think It'll be fun to have it up. It looks really cool in the dark. ( Photo will be uploaded when we finish it ;) . )


Cade Manuel