Fooled, By an 8 Year-Old

     It was a peaceful evening and everything was in order. When, out of nowhere, my sister yells out: “Prashan drew a mustache on all my posters!” you might I think that I would, but this time, I actually didn’t… so while explained to my mom that it wasn’t me, and it was probably one of my sister’s irresponsible, immature, little friends, she grounded me for “lying” to her and for “insulting” the monsters my sister calls “best friends”. So while I stormed off to my room, I was thinking of the most devious plan.

     As most of you know, there are some objects that electrocute you when you click on a specific trigger. My sister had a pen that does that. So I had a simple plan in mind, switch the pens that my sister had and place the new, electrifying pen on her desk. That way when I ask her to draw something with a pen (which she usually does), and make her click on her fate….

     After homework; actually, after everything was done, it was time to put the plan in action. I go to my sister’s room and kindly ask her to draw a cow. But, she had the pen on her hand, have I missed the torture, have missed the suffering that would have been witnessed? No, she hasn’t found out about it. I ask her why she doesn’t use the pen I snuck into her desk. She said that it wouldn’t open. I took the pen and clicked onto my fate instead.

     The electrocution had a more stinging effect than I had remembered. I look at her, and she immediately told me her diabolical plan. She knew the pen was the secret object my grandfather gave her, she knew that I was trying to get revenge; she knew that I would click on that pen. After she had told me about that, she ran to my mom and twaddle tailed again. After my mom screamed at me again, I walked back to my room thinking of how prudent I was to fall for a dumb trick….

     I confess that if you try to get revenge, don’t do it because it will come back and bite you in the ass; 3 times harder. So I’m pretty much confessing that I’ll never try to get revenge on someone… only if it’s necessary.

Still Lackadaisical

He was in his room,
freedom has been confiscated,
thinking of so many ways,
to mutiny,
still learning to embark,
on that journey of his.

His image, still needs to be depicted,
learning how to pilfer for it survival,
yet, not conscientious.
Still on that slovenly stage,
willing to show audacity.

Still causing rankles,
to other people,
never serene.

Still lackadaisical,
still chained to the house,
that he calls a nightmare.

Why rebuke,
on prudency,
why do you always have
that inkling, that the person is wrong….

Oh Holden

I see you rotting
in that madman place,

I see you
being modest, honest, and a liar.

I hear you
tell us your devastating story,

I hear you criticize;
criticize your brother, your father, your mother.

I see you, I hear you,
behave like a child, act irresponsible, and act immature.

I see you wanting to raise the white flag,
I hear you scream,
but your ignored, unacknowledged.

I see you chained
to that place of insanity.

Oh Holden, if only
you listened, you heard, you saw,
you wouldn’t be telling us,
about your tragedy.

Book Report: Ranger's Apprentice 2: The Burning Bridge

     Ranger’s Apprentice 2, the Burning Bridge, by John Flanagan, is currently one of the most interesting books I’ve read so far. So the author, John Flanagan, was born in Sydney, Australia (May 22, 1944). His written 9 other books and they are all a sequel to Ranger’s Apprentice. These books are the only thing that made him famous; and they are already making a movie based on the first book: Ranger’s Apprentice 1 Ruins of Gorlan.

     The main character of the story are: Will, Horace, Gilan, Halt, Evelyn, Erak, Morgarath, and Alyss; but the main protagonist is Will. Will might still be learning how to be a Ranger, but he still does a great job at doing it. His likes to help, and when his friends are in trouble, he’ll do anything to rescue them. So you can also say that Will is very honest, almost never lies about anything. The same goes for Halt, who is a grim and cruel mentor to Will; but during the book, you find out that his actually a nice person in the inside. Gilan used to be Halt’s student. But, Rangers only use bow and arrows, and a small dagger in case the enemy came close; Gilan, on the other hand, was trained onto using a sword. So you could say that Gilan is the only Ranger that wields a sword. He is very nice and nothing like Halt.

     Evelyn is a mistress, who assumed her maids identity because she’s the daughter of the king. She is very friendly and for some reason she felt comfortable around Rangers. Erak is a Skandian, a separate tribe that is introduced in this book. He most of the time is very mean and cruel, but when he captured Will and Evelyn, he showed sympathy and mercy. He and his army saved them from Morgarath (and coincidentally, they worked with Morgarath to invade Araluen and conquer it). Speaking of Morgarath, he is the villain of the book. He desperately wants to conquer Araluen (the kingdom where Will and his friends are from) and he bargained with Skandians help him with his second attempt. Horace is one of Will’s best friends. He very trustworthy and always curios…. Alyss is a very polite mannered person. I found her quite annoying because she was always correcting your grammar… like your mom/dad does.

     The theme of the book was to always rely on your friends when you desperately need help. The moral value of the story was to never abandon a friend in need, especially if that friend saved your life more than 3 times. The other value that the book showed was to never feel guilty if something happened to his friend; if you do, it could lead you into some serious problems.

     I think the plot was handled very well; there were only some unnecessary descriptions in the book. Apart from the cliffhanger that author left (which has tempted me to read the third book), the conflict of the book was when Will discovered Morgarath’s battle plans, but suddenly found out that they were phony (when he was with Horace and Evelyn) and had to somehow alert the castle of this discovery.

     Will and his mentor, Halt, are in the field riding back to their home (Araluen). They encountered 3 Wargals (Morgarath’s army) along the way and killed them. But while Will endeavored to kill the last Wargal, he panicked and was almost hit by the Wargal if it wasn’t for Tug (Will’s Horse) who blocked the hit. When the whole mess was over, they acquired Morgarath’s battle plans. Seeing how Will never acted like that, Halt decided to send him with Gilan and Horace to Celtica and warn them about the war that was going to take place in 2 weeks; according to Morgarath’s battle plans.

     While Will, Horace, and Gilan went to Celtica, it was completely deserted. Gilan knew that Celtica wouldn’t do this unless they were attacked because, if Celtics moved, they wouldn’t have left their valuables; but on the other hand, there wasn’t any sign of a fight. She claimed to be the maid of her mistress. Her name was Evelyn. She confirmed Gilan’s prediction and told them where the Celts were; but most likely captured by now. Gilan Decided to investigate this more so he went deeper into Celtica, while Will and Horace took Evelyn back to Araluen. Along the way, they encountered more Wargals and followed them to a cave and a bridge that the Celts were constructing (by force).

     Will went into the cave and discovered that Skandians had been working with Morgarath. As he returned back to Evelyn and Horace, he encountered a dyeing Celtic. He questioned him about the bridge and he finds out that the bridge was used for crossing the Three Step Pass (a passage that takes you to Araluen, but couldn’t be crossed). He also finds out that the battle plans that he and Halt were phony and Morgarath was going to attack from the front with Wargals, and from the back with Skandians. While he told this discovery to Horace and Evelyn, Evelyn suggests that they should burn down the bridge. So as they did that, Horace went back to Araluen to warn them.

     While Will and Evelyn tried to burn down the bridge (and succeeded), they were captured by Skandians and were enslaved by them. Horace got to Araluen in time to warn everybody about the new attack. While he was there, he met Gilan who too, returned. Then Gilan told the king about Evelyn, who actually turned out to be the king’s daughter assuming her maid’s identity, Cassandra. So as the king still had hope for his daughter, he sent some of his men to kill the Skandians and to kill Morgarath; who has no clue that the king discovered his diabolical plan. So when the fight was over, Morgarath surrendered and challenged Halt to a 1 hand combat. Morgarath has some hatred towards Halt because Halt sabotaged Morgarath’s last attempt to take over Araluen. As much as Halt wanted to accept, the king kept on telling him not to. In the end, Horace challenged him by mistake.

     Somehow, Horace defeated him with luck, but was still injured in the fight. After the fight was over, Halt races across the fields for Will, which was being taken with Evelyn to the Skandian ships. The ships will take them to their territory, which is known to us as Antarctica.

     So this all that I’m going to tell you about the book because I don’t want to ruin the ending for you. Even though this book (262 pages) was short and easy, it included a lot of action, drama, mystery, and a very interesting ending. I recommend it to anyone who loves to read books that pertain to those qualities and love to read about fantasy fiction novels.

My Mother

Is Indian,
is Japanese,
with a touch
of British.

My mother is a peacock,
a lioness when I’m bad,
an angel when I’m good,
a famous chef when I’m hungry.

My mother is a teacher,
when it comes to homework,
an astrologer shaping my future,
a doctor when I’m ill.

A friend when I’m in need of help,
an unpaid chauffeur,
that takes me to the movies,
a bank, when I need to waste money.