1. "Who I Am"

Before you read: In this lesson we look at what we are like and how each of us is different. We are all interesting people in different ways and we are all good at different things. As you read this, think about what you are like and what you enjoy doing.

 

     My favorite activity is climbing trees. Just outside our house,there is a mango tree which I love to go up. Its branches spread out, so it is simple to climb up the tree, and I can sit comfortably in the fork of two branches. My mother tells me it is not sensible for girls to climb trees, but one afternoon she climbed up too, and both of us sat there talking and eating raw mangoes. When I am high up in the tree, I feel like I can rule the whole world.

 

     When I grow up, I want to become a seed collector. We have cotton fields in our village and every year, my father spends a lot of money on buying new seeds to grow our cotton plants. My grandfather told me that many years ago, he could collect the seeds from his own plants which could be sown to grow new plants during the next year. But today that doesn't work so we have to spend money to buy new seeds every single year. I want to find out why that is so. I want to learn how to preserve seeds so that we can use them again and not spend money every year.

 

     If I had a huge amount of money I would travel and travel. I want to see the mountains of New Zealand because they looked beautiful in a magazine picture. I wish I could sail down the Amazon river in South America on a raft. I want to live on the beaches of Lakshadweep and dive down to see coral. I suppose I should go to the Konark temple in Orissa or the old city in Beijing in China and the Pyramids in Egypt too, but what I actually enjoy is seeing nature more than old buildings.

 

     What makes me very angry is when people don’t believe me when I am telling the truth. For example, if I tell my teacher that I couldn’t do my homework because Ravi borrowed my book and forgot to return it. Or I tell my parents that it wasn’t me but my little brother who started the fight. Or if I tell my teacher that I really did study for the test even if I have got bad marks. They all look at me as if they think I am telling lies. The look on their faces really angers me. Sometimes I have to look down at my shoes and count to ten so that I do not show that I am angry.

 

     When I grow up, I am going to be the Prime Minister of India. People always laugh when I say that, but I am sure that I will do it. Everyone in my class asks me what to do when they have a problem, and my teacher always trusts me when something needs to be done in school. I want to make things
better for everyone. I want us to have good hospitals and roads and schools. I want to make sure that there are many good scientists in India who will invent cures for diseases and send a spaceship to Mars.

 

     My favorite day is the second Sunday of every month. On this day our whole family always goes to the cinema hall to see a film. My father gets the tickets in advance and all of us — my grandmother, my parents, my two brothers and I — take the bus there. In the interval my father buys us peanuts and I love to sit in the darkness of the hall eating and watching the film. Afterwards we always stop to eat ice cream. Everyone is in a good mood and we all feel very lucky that we are such a happy family.