3 years ago, our trip to Langkawi was planned out of the blue. It was a short and memorable trip, might have been one of the best trips I ever had. Let me walk you through this trip to lively Langkawi!

COVID times! And all our plans for the celebration went up in smoke because of this pandemic. Usually, we would decorate our classrooms, organize events and surprise our teachers with gifts just as a small tribute to our teachers. For the last two years, the Teacher’s Day celebration has been a low-key affair. We could not host any events because of social distancing. The school canteen was desolate as we were not allowed to gather for a small snack party. Sigh! The conditions did dampen our spirits initially, but we rebounded.

For quite some time, I have been visualizing myself as a professional baker. Thanks to my mom’s obsession with following MasterChef episodes, her umpteen attempts to bake almost perfect cakes (not 100% perfect) and having a gang of amazing friends who are utterly meticulous in their baking skills, ignited my passion for baking. So, to pursue this passion, I finally decided that I would bake a simple chocolate chip muffin batch. My confidence was sky-high. I made an elaborate plan that involved collecting the recipes for a thousand varieties of muffins, listing down the required ingredients, and badgering my mom to buy the ingredients that would help me launch my dream baking project. I had been an assistant baker in my best friend’s kitchen and was able to grasp a few tricks and trades of baking. She loves baking, and she seemed even more excited than I was!

Welcome Secondary! Suddenly the world of academics had transcended into a haze of intricacies and perplexity. The concepts more entangled, the questions more elaborate, the teachers more specific and me more resilient. I had clearly miscalculated the enormity of Secondary and so when my term exams were announced, I was pretty relaxed despite the fact that my exams were just 2.5 weeks away. That put me into quite a precarious position when 1 week later, I experienced the true meaning of last-minute rush. I was up late studying, trying to finish the syllabus that had suddenly bombarded me.

Climate change has become far more concerning than anyone could have ever anticipated (or maybe everyone anticipated but did not act). Ever since the 1900s, the climate has been on the fritz. Due to our reckless actions disregarding the health of our Earth, the detrimental effects can now be witnessed, one of them being climate change. Melting glaciers and rising sea levels, recurrent floods and typhoons, earthquakes of greater magnitude and frequency are only a few of the effects changes in the climate are causing. Is it just the tip of the iceberg?

This poem was composed jointly by my mother and me. Today, my brain could not conceive any idea about what my poem would be about. I could say that my mind was blank. She helped me to organize my thoughts and frame this poem. However, the drawing is my own creation. We hope you enjoy this read!

As I scrolled through the album on my mum’s phone, I came across a beautiful picture of us in Australia. This was a picture of us on Surfers Paradise Beach in Gold Coast (Happy times !). I began to reminisce about our amazing trip to Australia…

When my father finally announced proudly that he had managed to buy tickets to Brisbane, I spent the next two days battering him with questions and squealing excitedly. I spent a lot of time carefully crafting a travel itinerary listing down the places to visit. The next few weeks were spent planning and packing clothes and necessary supplies. As it was a 10-days trip, my mum was extra cautious with her checklist. We had a fairly turbulent flight journey, but I handled it well. We landed in Brisbane and from there we drove to Gold Coast. The entire time, I was staring out of the window , completely bowled over the magnificent panorama. It took us almost an hour to reach Gold Coast.

It was Saturday. I woke up late as it was a ‘no-school day’ and had a hearty breakfast. My plan was to complete my homework and then lounge on the sofa to finish my recent read “The Trouble Twisters“. Suddenly at around 11.30 am, my dad suggested an incredible idea to go to the tennis court and play tennis. Well! Honestly, I was not very enthusiastic about it. One, because I hardly knew how to play tennis and lifting the racquet sapped all my strength and two, when I scanned the weather outside, the sun was extremely bright, and it was sweltering! I was immensely scared of receiving sun burns. Not a good idea, Dad! The suggestion was completely ignored by Dad and Em (My little sister) and he changed into his sportswear in a flash. I did not want to be a spoil sport, so I gave in.