My Hobby
We all do some kind of a work either to earn our live hood or to make a career. Hobby is something which we enjoy doing, we like indulging ourselves in the activity during our leisure or free time. We all have our likes and dislike. We enjoy doing something more than others. A hobby gives us pleasure for we do it, for the love of the work and not under compulsion to earn. Thus, it is more fulfilling and gives us more satisfaction and joy.
Pursuing a hobby also increase one’s efficiency, interest and ability. It gives an opportunity to full development of one’s various aspects of personality. Hobbies like collecting stamps, listening music, drawing, gardening, playing an indoor or outdoor sport, writing, reading, bird watching, collecting antiques, photography etc, are very educative. We learn many things with practical insights which we cannot learn from.
One of the favourite things that I enjoy doing is gardening. I like the joy of beholding a blooming garden, a green lawn and greener plants at home. Therefore, it has become my hobby now.
I caught this habit of nurturing plants from my mother. Now with her help and my renewed interest we have managed to maintain a small garden in front of our porch. It has a green carpet of velvet grass and a small trimmed hedge growing around it.
We have also prepared flowerbeds in which we have planted a few rose bushes, lilies, sunflowers, China rose and colourful variety of seasonal flowers. We also have grown gladioli, orchids, chrysanthemums, germaniums, jasmines, ferns and crotons. Recently, bought Christmas tree.
Everyday after I return from my school and have my lunch, I rush to the garden to do a little digging and watering the plants. We also regularly add manure and other medicines for protection and better flowering. During autumn one has to clean the garden daily because of the number of dry leaves shed. Otherwise, I clean it only twice a week. Grass grows very quickly during the rainy seasons, so one has to mow it regularly.
Moreover, every day before going to school, I check the kind of flowers blooming and the number of buds ready to bloom. On birthdays and anniversaries, I sometimes make a bouquet from my garden as a present.
Now I am thinking to grow vegetables also in one corner of the garden. If I succeed, then we won’t have to buy vegetables and we can even distribute it among our neighbours and friends. At least the common ones can be grown which occupy less space and are eaten every other day.
Gardening is a good hobby. I really enjoy it. When others appreciate and admire our garden I feel very proud of my efforts. It is a great joy to behold the small garden in full bloom. It is not so expensive also and increases the beauty of my home. Gardening also keeps me fit and healthy. I really enjoy gardening.

My Classmates
We are a noisy lot, that is what our teachers say about us. This is largely due to Anar. He is the noisiest of us all. His voice is like that of a bull frog but volumes louder. It seems that he cannot talk softly. Actually he does not talk, he shouts. Perhaps his living with his family of ten children has something to do with it.
In this noisy bunch lives a boy who hardly ever opens his mouth. This is Azer, the boy who sits next to me. He is such a gentle and soft creature that one would think that he is a sissy. This is not so. No one dares call him one for he is a member of the school's Karate Club.
Then there is Aynura, our class monitor. She sits right in front of the teacher's table. She is such a model student that all the teachers love her. We all love her for she does not boss us around. She has given up doing that long ago. All she does is to make sure that the teachers have sufficient chalk and that the classroom is clean.
Right at the back of the class sits our class sleepy-head. Elkhan seems to need more sleep than others. He catches cat-naps in between lessons. The astounding thing is that he can fall asleep almost instantly. The moment the teacher leaves after a lesson, Elkhan’s snores start up and we know he is at it again. Remarkably he wakes up when the next teacher arrives.
Every class has a clown. Our class has Suleyman, otherwise known as "Sulo The Clown". He is always up to some prank or other, putting tails on the boys' pants, frogs in the girls' desks and powdered chalk on the teacher's chair. So when we hear a girl scream or see men-teachers strolling around with chalk on the seat of their pants, we know that Sulo has struck again.
The other classmates too have their own unique personalities. Each contributes his or her part to our class. All in all we are a group of young children who perhaps are a bit noisy at times, but on the whole are well-behaved and pleasant to be with.
My Last Summer Vacation
We all wait every your for the final exams to begin and end quickly as that means the beginning of the long and most awaited summer holidays.
I too eagerly wait for the summer break to begin. Actually, long before they commence, each year, I draw out a detailed plan about how I will spend my summer vacation. Last year too, I was eagerly awaiting the holidays. More because I being in the Tenth standard had worked hard all the year round. And so I wanted to make the best of the forthcoming vacation. The last two exams seemed to linger. Yet, I tried hard to focus on the exam and not think about the holidays that were round the corner.
And finally the day came when I have to appear for my last board paper. The paper went very well and I could hardly wait to rush out of the examination hall and shout in joy. I went running as soon as the bell rung to my best friend who was in the other hall.
We were so excited and happy. After a whole year of hand work and persistent toil we will be enjoying and relaxing. It was a holiday well-earned and our joy knew no bounds.
The first thing we did that day was to watch our favorite movie at home which we had missed. We always enjoy watching movies together but we could hardly concentrate on the movie that day. The very next evening we had to leave for Bangalore because my friend’s father was posted there and we had decided long back to there as soon as we finish with our finals.
I returned after staying with my friend for about 8 days. It is one of the most memorable periods of my life. We had enjoyed together everything. On returning, I was tired and so I just lazed about for a few days at home. I used to watch television, listen to music and read novels. I enjoyed in over-indulging and roaming around. Life felt so good for some time. But indolence could not hold me for long and after a few days, monotony and boredom began to disturb me. And so finally, I decide to spend my vacation more constructively.
I, therefore, decide to join a gymnasium and a music club. I also became a member of the local library. Thus, I used to wake up early every morning and be punctual at the nearby gymnasium form seven to nine. After a nine workout, I used to come home, bathe, eat my breakfast and leave for the library. I used to spend the next two-three hour reading all the newspapers, magazines, journals and a few books. Reading was turning out to be my major passion.
Afternoons were spent in a peaceful siesta and thereafter, I used to pick my guitar for an hour at my music class. It sounded a little more difficult than I had expected but I continued to struggle through my daily guitar lessons and gradually I could see the improvement.
Despite engaging myself in so many activities, my evenings were usually free and boring. Someone advised me to take computer classes and so I also joined the latest course offered by a nearby computer institute. But they had classes only 3 days a week. That left me with another 3 days and so I thought of trying my hand at Tennis.
Thus, gradually I got myself completely occupied and busy. Thus, my summer vacation flew by without my realizing how fast the time went by. The time for the result to be declared was fast approaching and that made me anxious many a times. Moreover, the dilemma of what field to choose and what subjects to opt for increased my anxiety.
But my busy schedule kept me pre-occupied and therefore I learnt to cope up with the baseless fear of my result and my dilemma. Soon it was time to be ready to plunge into a new phase of life and after an enriching summer vacation, I was fresher, stronger and mature. This is how I constructively spent my summer vacation and enjoyed every moment of it too.

My Room
In the solitude of my room, I find my place of refuge where I retire everyday and night. Inside, the room is neat and clean. Most of the time, when it is clean, there is a soft, calm serenity about it as the cool, crisp air flows through from the vent, circulating air through the room. This sets the atmosphere, which soothes me. In my room, where it's my only space, I can tell you what it's like inside, venture into my own world, and express my feelings aloud.
The inside of my room is small and comfortable. The walls have a salmon-pink cast all around, except for the ceiling, which is white. The lighting in my room is dim, but it counteracts the brightness of the walls. I keep my light off because it affects the beautiful color of my room. It's a little dark, but is so soothing that I fall asleep with it. I have two windows, one on the side, and one in the back. I do a little spying when I just want to look outside my windows, wishing I could go outside and join other people and their adventures. The windows have honey maple syrup blinds that are made of wood, and tumbleweed golden drapes above them. I keep my clothes in chestnut oak cabinets and drawers, as well as in my closet. I have a full-size bed I can curl up in at night to feel warm, safe, comfortable and happy. I used to have my paper dolls on the wall and on the ceiling of my room, but I took them down due to insects. When I write in my journal, I write down stuff that happens each day I write in it. Remembering the good old times and the feelings I used to have when I was in a relationship. Or, so I thought, I just wanted to be loved. It left me confused, and depressed in the beginning, and I didn't know why. I used to play dress-up in my mirror and mix and match my outfits for the next day. When I move out of my little room into my own place one day, it shall be better than what it is now.
In my own world, I fantasize that I am different people, in different situations. I am the new girl and I become popular. The feeling is a good one because everyone will look up to me, asking me for advice or complimenting me; I'm the new girl and there's a unique spark I have within me that makes me interesting, something that no one else knows about me. When I remember something funny, I laugh when I’m in the privacy of my own room. When I'm with people, I don't usually laugh alone in public. People might think of me as crazy, which sends an awkward message to me that I should stop, but when I'm mad or sad, that usually cheers me up. I also play music so that I can have some inspiration that is powerful to me. Although I love silence, I also love to listen to my music loud on occasions, which motivates me to get hyper and pumped up to clean up or draw a situation. When I create this wonderful scenario by playing with them, I only wish I could video-record it, because it's less writing down on my part, and too much writing makes my hand hurt, so I let it rest. I shut out all frustrations and focus on something cheerful to make me forget about a bad day, or something boring. In my own world, my room is the best place to escape.
Finally, my feelings can be expressed in my personal space. When there is no one home, and I am home alone in my room, I talk aloud about random stuff. It's not good to hold in feelings, so I let them out in my room. While I am talking aloud, I talk to God. He and I have a really good relationship going on. I can tell him about my day, and confess my sins, I feel better about myself afterwards. It's as though I'm in this spiritual state where I have a sound, balanced mind where's it's crystal clear. I can make proper judgments when my mind is clear. It also feels as if a heavy weight has been lifted off my chest and that I can move on. I do a lot of soul-searching in my room, and I discover a lot of knowledge and wisdom inside me, so I can move on to the next chapter in my life. I also practice singing, shouting aloud, and dramatic acting, which is improving, but I'm just too nervous to perform outside my room. It's like a barrier, or force-field, or glass bubble that I can’t break, all because of my fear. My feelings and thoughts have improved since I talked with God in the privacy of my room.
The best place in the world, temporarily, is my room. The beauty of my room is that it’s safe and secure. I venture into my own world through fantasies, I create scenarios, and I can let myself open up like a butterfly from a cocoon. By talking aloud about my feelings, soul-searching and finding my inner self, and having a deep relationship with God, everything goes well from there. When I move out, my little sister is going to have it and she will love it, just as I did, but in her own way. After all, room sweet room.

My Birthday
Birthdays come only once in a year and last year I celebrated my birthday the way I wanted to. My parents were gracious - enough to ask me for anything on that day and I asked them to arrange a grand party for my friends.
My mother is my best friend when it comes to inviting friends home. She helped me to make invitation cards and to fill them up with names. She made a list of all the friends I wanted to call and then made a card to send to each of my friends. The contents of each card were different so as to suit the taste of the particular friend to whom it was sent.
Thereafter she took me to the market and bought balloons and streamers, masks and caps, etc to decorate the house with. We ordered the cake and bought wrapping paper along with the return presents. As we reached home we sat down to work. We put up the streamers with tape and hung the balloons all over the walls and on the fans and doors and windows. We arranged the marks and caps in such a way that each friend of mine would pick one of his choices.
Mother was very busy. She spent the whole day in the kitchen cooking for all my friends. The cake arrived in the evening and soon my friends started pouring in. My father arranged some games for them and he became the referee for all our games. He arranged musical chairs, passing the parcel, follow the leader, dumb charades, etc. and all the children enjoyed themselves.
We had our tea after the cake was cut by me. The cake was in the shape of a beautiful house with colourful fencing and big chunks of chocolate. I was drowned in gifts once my friends left and I went to bed with the satisfaction of having enjoyed the best birthday party of my life.
My Family
Family is an important unit of society. It holds great importance in social life. It is the strongest unit of society. A society is made up of families.
A family is the first school in which a child receives the basic values of life. He learns good manners in the family. The morals and values learnt in family become our guiding force. They make our character. They lay the foundation of our thinking. I feel fortunate to be born in a family where values are inculcated in early childhood.
I belong to a middle class family. There are six members in my family. They are our parents, grandparents, I and my younger sister. Our grandfather is the head of the family. He enjoys a commanding position. His decision is final in family matters. Nobody can dare to go against him. Everybody respects him. He is the guardian of the family. He is a cool and considerate man. He is just and fair. His decision is never influenced by any other. He is a retired teacher. He helps us in our study. Our grandmother makes us hear good stories.
My father is a police officer. He is a great disciplinarian. He is sincere and hardworking. He always goes to office in time. My mother is a simple housewife. She is a postgraduate in English. She is soft-natured and caring. She takes great care of us. She does not care for her comfort for us. She looks after our grandparents. She helps the poor and the needy. She is religious and God-fearing.
Our family has been known for discipline and values. We give great importance to values and morals in life. Since our early childhood we are taught to respect the elders and love the children. We learnt the lesson of punctuality and honesty from our grandfather. It is due to the good education of our grandparents that we could excel both in sports and education. Since our childhood we have been put into the habit of rising early in the morning. This has a natural effect on our health and physical fitness.
Our family is like a heaven. There is peace, prosperity, love and care. The younger’s have regard and respect for the elders while the elders shower them with their love and affection. The instructions of the elders are followed with great respect. If a member has some problem the whole family is beside him. I am proud of my family.
My Favorite Film
I enjoy seeing good, artistic, relevant and meaningful films. Indian Cinema has produced many great and timeless films. , But Shelley is my favorite film. I have seen it many times over. Even now, whenever, there is an opportunity to see it, I do not miss it because its appeal is irrepressible.
Every time I see it, I find something new, something fascinating missed before. It is now almost 20 years old and yet it is ever fresh, green, wonderful and fascinating. These 20 years could not diminish the repeat value of the film.
Shelley is undoubtedly one of the best films Indian Cinema has produced. It was a great and unique teamwork of the best talents in the field. The team included director Rajesh Sappy, actors like Ajar Khan, Santee Kumar, Dharmendra, Amite Bacchant, Hemi Melina, Jay Bacchant and screen writers like Salem Jived. They were all at their creative best, and the result was a blockbuster. There are only a few films which can come near or measure up to this film. The film has tremendous and timeless appeal because of its superb dialogues, characters, combination of reality and fantasy, and great entertainment. People still remember Gabber Singh, Sonoma Bhopal, Samba, Kalian and even the mare Drano. Many dialogues can still be heard being repeated by the people here and there. Shelley proved a turning point, a corner-stone in the history of Indian Cinema as it introduced a new sensibility, a new style in the art of celluloid. He audience can very easily see their desires, hopes, fears, fantasies etc. reflected in the vast a panoramic sequence of scenes, situations, characters and their life-styles. Moreover, a couple of its songs too have been all torque hits.
Everything about Shelley is so good and wonderful that it gives much pleasure to talk about it. To visualize its scenes, characters and dialogues is really fantastic. It holds a special place in my mind because it is once in life-time creation. It is simply extra-ordinary in conception, characterization, scenes, dialogues and audience-appeal. Even after 20 years of production it still commands a very large audience and appreciation. Rajesh Sappy was very right when he commented; it was a labor of love.’ Nothing he did after it measured up to it in dimensions quality, style and entertainment value.
My Ideal Person
Ideals vary with regard to everything. So every man has his own ideal of human greatness. Some worship the man of power, some look up for inspiration to the silent, patient worker, who is dedicated to knowledge, trying to keep the torch of science and philosophy burning like Einstein, C. V. Raman or Satyen Bose. There are others, again, who love the man of action, the doer of deeds as Stalin in Russia or Netaji Subhas Ch. Bose in India and outside. And there may be others also, who are impressed by the man who obeys the inner call and renounces the world and dedicates himself to duties of love and service, like Swami Vivekananda.
But my ideal of a great man is something different from any of those mentioned above. A great man, in my opinion, must be, above all littleness, — the petty jealousies and prejudices that afflict the ordinary man. He must be dedicated to a noble ideal, entirely selfless, free from all narrowness, truthful in speech, fearless in action, but polite in manners and yet a lion in spirit. He must appeal to the noblest elements of our nature. Such a great man has faith in the fundamental values of life. He must be a dreamer of dreams and a doer of deeds; among the great, equal to the greatest, among the humble one of the humblest.
Such a man is, no doubt, rare. But here in India we had one who fulfilled all these. He is Mahatma Gandhi and him I regard as my ideal great man. Born on October 2, 1869 be had the usual education of the son of well-to-do Indian parents. He spent a few years at school where from he matriculated; and then, against much opposition, he went to England, where he qualified as a barrister. But from the moment that he learnt to think for himself, he followed the path of truth. He had vowed to his mother to abstain from animal food and wine. While in England, no temptation or inducement could make him false to his vow. A pledge once given was, for Gandhiji, a sacred trust.
He subsequently went to South Africa and there he discovered his true vocation. He found the Indian community suffering under the most humiliating indignities. He took up the cause of his countrymen and organized the famous 'passive resistance' movement on Tolstoy’s principles. For ten years, he struggled, suffering imprisonments and other punishments. In the end he succeeded in getting many of the anti-Indian laws amended.
In 1915 he returned to India. In course of the next few years, be became a political leader whose integrity ever one came to admire and whose convincing arguments few could resist. In an age of violence he fearlessly preached and practiced the gospel of nonviolence. To the unarmed people of India, he brought the weapons of Non-co-operation and Civil Disobedience. He felt in himself the woeful poverty of his people and literally put on a beggar's robe show his identification with their cause. For wearing a loin-cloth Winston Churchill jeeringly called him the 'half-naked' Fakir.
But nothing would deter Gandhiji. Beggar though he made himself, (eating meal daily that cost him six pieces), no prince could match his dignified self-assurance. He spoke without rhetoric, but his elequence touched the inmost chords of our heart.
He went to the Round Table Conference in London in 1932 to get justice for his countrymen. In prison or in other places his mind remained serene. His heart was big with love and sympathy for humanity. But he always retained the logic of a scientific thinker. He did know what his people wanted, the freedom that meant life, the food they were denied, — and out of his knowledge came his plans for giving them food flag and freedom'. In his Satyagraha of 1931 these ideals were upheld.
During the Second World War he refused to compromise with his gospel of ahimsa, or to co-operate with the British in their war against Hitler, unless he could do so as a free citizen of a free country. The record of his life during these years is, indeed, the political history of India.
Nothing became him so well as the end of his life. Freedom had come, but with freedom had come communal passion and Hindus and Moslems, on both sides of the Border, were cruelly killing each other. The frail old man, on the verge of his seventy-eight years, went from place to place, seeking to establish peace and goodwill where there were enmity and strife.
He went to Noakhali to soothe and assuage the feelings of the Hindus who had suffered from Muslem atrocities. He went to Patna to heal the sufferings of the Moslems. He went to Delhi and each day he preached love and communal amity in his post prayer meetings. In one such meeting, on 30th January, 1948 an insensate fanatic, unable to bear his message of goodwill, shot him dead. It was a noble death, much like that of Christ's crucifixion. Humanity will realize afresh the way of Peace that was Gandhjji's article of faith as the apostle of Non-violence. Let us revere his memory by preaching —"Peace upon earth and goodwill to all men."

My favourite actor

Since I am a slightly cynical man of the world, I don’t approve of the hero-worship of Hollywood film stars. That said, I must confess to a particular fondness for a man who is, in my view, the world’s greatest living actor.

Anthony Hopkins was born in Wales in 1937. Whilst that makes him 73 years old, he has yet to retire. He is perhaps best known for his portrayal of the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, its sequel, Hannibal, and its prequel, Red Dragon.

Mr Hopkins is renowned for for depth of his preparation for his film roles. He has said in a number of interviews that once he has committed to a film, he will go over his lines as many times as is needed (sometimes upwards of 200 times) until the lines sound natural to him, so that he can "do it without thinking". This unparalelled amount of preparation leads to an indelible, almost casual, style of delivery that belies the amount of groundwork undertaken beforehand. In addition, Mr Hopkins is a gifted mimic, adept at turning his native Welsh accent into whatever is required by a character.

I am not the only person who thinks highly of Mr Hopkins. His skills have been recognised by Hollywood. He won an Oscar, or, more formally, an Academy Award, in 1991 for his most famous role as the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.

As befits not only a truly great actor but also a humanist, Mr Hopkins is a committed philanthropist. He is a prominent member of Greenpeace. He also works to help drug addicts in rehabilitation.

Besides The Silence of the Lambs, Mr Hopkins’ other great performances can be seen in The Remains of the Day (1993), Nixon (1995) and Amistad (1997).