My views

Last week, My family and I went on a week long trip to Kanazawa with some of our family friends. Kanazawa is a city in Ishikawa prefecture which is located near the coast of Japan.  I was very excited for this trip as I had not gone for a vacation to a place outside of Tokyo for more than a year. Furthermore, I was very excited to be going there with my friends and family.  Day 1 I got up at 5:00 in the morning, and left our house at 6. For the trip, we had booked two Toyota HiAces, in order to fit in all 17 of us and our luggage. As we drove along the winding roads and majestic mountaintops, my friend and I settled down to watch a movie(We watched 5 in total by the end of the week!). Our first destination was Kurobe Dam which is Japan's tallest dam. Sadly however, we didn't get the opportunity to visit it as we could only reach the dam by taking a train and the last train had just stopped running 15 minutes earlier. Nevertheless, we continued our drive, exploring the be...

Snow as white as milk was piling up all over the Hakuba valley as I woke up on the fourth and last day of the Hakuba trip. While I was getting ready for the day, I was feeling happy and sad at the same time. Happy, because I could meet my parents and get back to the usual school routine but sad, because this was going to be my last day of skiing for an entire year. Nevertheless, I firmly told myself to enjoy each and every moment to the fullest and headed downstairs to grab some breakfast along with my roommates and friends. After breakfast, which to my consternation, had been declining in quality for the past few days, we awaited our teachers to brief us on the day's events. We learnt that because our school was a six hour drive from the valley, we were to go upto our rooms straightaway and pack our suitcases. Following that, we were going to ski for two hours and then head back to the hotel; after which we would clamber onto the buses and return home.  As all of us starte...

I woke up on day three of my Hakuba trip as a teenager. It was my 13th birthday and I was feeling on top of the world!! As I was marvelling at my natural promotion from childhood to adolescense, my birthday wishes started pouring in. My room mates joyfully wished me and I thanked them with the same emotion. I then called my parents and seeked their blessings. After getting ready for the day, we headed down for breakfast. On joining the rest of my class, I recieved wishes from a lot more of my classmates. I was surprised that many of them knew it was my birthday, as I had only mentioned it to a few people. We were briefed on the day's schedule and I felt buoyant when I learnt that along with skiing, we were also going to experience avalanche training, take a maths test and experience sledding!! Knowing that a smorgasbord of fun events were going to take place, I happily trotted over to the storage room and donned my heavy boots and picked up my skis and poles. I cautiously wa...

The door was knocked on thrice as I lazily rose from my slumber. It was seven thirty in the morning and I had managed to sleep the previous night after a good deal of tossing and turning about. My friends woke up as well; and upon opening it, found one of our teachers standing outside. He wished us good morning and told us to quickly get ready as breakfast was in an hour's time. Thanking the teacher, we went back into the room and set about performing our usual morning routine. Around eight thirty, we headed down to the hotel lobby, where I greeted the rest of my classmates.   After tucking into a sumptuous breakfast, we were given a briefing of the day's events by our teachers. I was jubilant when my teachers announced that we were going to ski today!! After all, this was going to be my first experience trying the sport. Following breakfast, we headed back to our rooms where I proudly donned my ski jacket, pant, helmet, gloves and goggles. We then went down to the stor...

In this series of four posts, I am going to be writing on my amazing school trip to Hakuba , where I tried my hand at skiing for the first time. The trip commenced on 4th February and concluded on 7th February 2020. As a part of my school curriculum, every year we go for two four day trips, one each in the summer and winter. As I had a fantastic trip to Moriumius, Oshika and Kinkasan in the summer, I was eagerly looking forward to my sojourn in the winter. When I got to know that we were going to go to Hakuba, a village in the Nagano prefecture in Japan, I was on cloud 9!! Nagano is situated north west from Tokyo. Not only was I going to stay with my friends for three nights, I was also going to try skiing for the first time ever.  As the Northern Alps(one of the best mountain ranges for skiing) is situated in the Hakuba village, it is Japan's largest ski resort. We could choose between skiing and snowboarding and the reason I chose skiing was because I was thrilled b...

Yahoo! I am going to visit the famous Underground Flood Control Channel in Japan. This exuberance was the result of a long wished desire being fulfilled. A year or two back, I had first heard of t he world's largest flood diversion facility  being built underground in Japan, to help drain areas which are prone to flooding. Awed by these facts, this was the first spark for my wish to visit the amazing technological marvel. Recently, one of the t eachers in my school got tickets to visit the Underground Flood Control Channel for about twenty five students and staff of my school. As the number of tickets were limited, we were asked to sign up fast if we were interested. The moment I recieved the mail, my eyes popped out and I ran shouting gleefully towards my parents and immediately asked them to sign me up. I was on cloud nine when I heard that I was one of the students selected for the tour. About the Underground Flood Control Discharge Channel Completed in 2006, it is a ...

  In this blog, I am going to write on one of my favourite outdoor activities, " White   Water Rafting". White water rafting takes place on a river which has fast flowing water(rapids) and huge rocks. Sitting on a raft with  each person holding  an paddle, we have to navigate our way through the rocks and occasionally, have to steer away from a mini whirlpool!! As each raft consists about six people and a guide, team-work and alertness is need for safely paddling to the end point. When my parents broke out the news that they had booked White Water Rafting for the three of us, I was overjoyed as I had heard how fun and amazing it is. We were going to raft on the  Tama river  in a town named Mitake in the Chichibu area. Mitake is located on the west of the Tokyo Prefecture and is two and a half hours away from my home. We commenced our journey early in the morning and reached Mitake station at 9 am. As we were walking towards our rafting point, we h...

Few blogs prior to this one, I wrote on one of Japan's matsuri (check the link!!). This blog is going to be focused on another very significant tradition, the Obon !! About Obon  The Obon is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honour the spirits of one's ancestors. Obon is a three day period which takes place  around August 15th each year. During these three days, everybody goes back to their ancestral house and visit and clean their ancestors's graves(thi s is called "Ohakamairi") The spirits then enter the house riding on a horse(so as to arrive  fast ) and feast  along with the family.  After an enjoyable three day period, the spirits leave riding on a cow, so as to go  slowly  back to their own realm. Though Obon takes place all over Japan, Kyoto's Gozan No Okuribi and lanterns along the Sasebo river (marking Obon)   are prominent. Obon has been celebrated for over 500 years now and is one of Japan's oldest cultural traditions. F...

In the final blog of the Shaashvatham series, I will be writing on my experience of the Shaashvatham exhibition. As we had finished farming, gardening and brick making, we were making flurried preparations for the grand Shaashvatham exhibition. The exhibition was going to take place in a week's time. As our exhibits(plants and cement-less walls) were in the farm, we decided to hold our exhibition right next to it. This was a unique decision as the exhibitions prior to this one have all happened inside our campus. We erected huge shamianas and the teachers agreed to have half of the students to stand in the farm and explain about the crops and the other half to present about the back story of our work in the farm and on the Shaashvatham initiative as well. Since the bricks could be transported easily, most members of the brick and wall making team were under the shamianas while few students were in the farm explaining about the walls. I was very excited for the Shaashvatham e...

In my previous blog on Militvaa , I had written on my sandwich business and helping a social cause. Well, in this blog, I will be writing on the initiative( Shaashvatham ) from where I got the idea to make healthy and fresh vegetarian sandwiches. What is Shaashvatham? Shaashvatham means sustainability in Sanskrit. In the 2016-17 academic year, it was HLC's theme for the annual exhibition. It addresses the topic of sustainable and healthy food, which is one of the three basic necessities of a man. We wanted to take a different approach to producing the food as we were firm that our fruits and vegetables has to be fresh, sustainable, pesticide free, and good for the environment unlike the ones we get in the market. We decided to extend this idea to the public and hence, hosted an exhibition; where anybody could come and see our work in creating sustainable and environmental friendly food. To kick-start on our project, HLC bought a farm for growing our plants!! The layout of th...

In this blog, I am going to be writing on my experiences in my visit  to Kanakakunnu Palace in Thiruvanathapuram. Yesterday, my aunt and I set out to visit the Vasantholsavam festival , also  known as the Kerala Flower Show. This initiative is led by the Kerala Government and is taking  place in the Kanakakunnu Palace.  Kanakakunnu is a hill situated in the heart of Thiruvanathapuram (Trivandrum). Atop the hill, there is a palace. It is said to have been build by Sree Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma at the start of the 19th Century. The palace had been used to entertain guests to the Travancore royal family. Kanakakunnu plays host to the annual Vasantholsavam and the week long All India Dance Festival; where Classical dance exponents from all around India come to display their skills. Few years back, my father and I had visited the Kanakakunnu Palace. At that time there was precious little to see. The hill is a small one and it was barren with grass coveri...