What if?

I was recently reading a non-fiction book called "What if?" which has "serious scientific answers to absurd, hypothetical situations". It made me wonder about What if.......this and What if....that?
So I did some research and here are some interesting q's with interesting answers:
Q. Is time travel possible?
A. The great 20th century scientist Albert Einstein developed a theory called Special Relativity. The ideas of Special Relativity are very hard to imagine because they aren't about what we experience in everyday life, but scientists have confirmed them. This theory says that space and time are really aspects of the same thing—space-time. There's a speed limit of 300,000 kilometers per second (or 186,000 miles per second) for anything that travels through space-time, and light always travels the speed limit through empty space.
Special Relativity also says that a surprising thing happens when you move through space-time, especially when your speed relative to other objects is close to the speed of light. Time goes slower for you than for the people you left behind. You won't notice this effect until you return to those stationary people.
Say you were 15 years old when you left Earth in a spacecraft traveling at about 99.5% of the speed of light (which is much faster than we can achieve now), and celebrated only five birthdays during your space voyage. When you get home at the age of 20, you would find that all your classmates were 65 years old, retired, and enjoying their grandchildren! Because time passed more slowly for you, you will have experienced only five years of life, while your classmates will have experienced a full 50 years. In a way this means that you are travelling faster than others in time so you are time travelling. So it is possible.
Scientists however say that time travelling to the past is harder. They dont yet have any concrete theory which could work. On possible option is a wormhole which are supposed to be shortcuts through space-time. I dont know exactly how they work but they could be used to travel through time someday. Wormholes, time as a physical and controllable  dimension and a lot of other cool stuff is also there in the movie "Interstellar".

More Books

Hey guys! I am writing after a long time because between weekly tests and Olympiads and homework, I really couldn't find time. And I'll be honest- I couldn't think of much to write either, although that is a lame excuse. So I'm gonna write about recent books I've read.
I've recently read a couple of non-fiction books- namely "The power of half" and a little of "Phantoms in the brain".

Power of half is a book about a regular, well off family like your's or mine, which consists of a mom, a dad, a younger brother and an elder sister. So one day the sister, Hannah, sees a homeless man on the road and they have nothing to give him and this has a deep impact on her as at the same time she sees a guy in a Mercedes next to her. The economic differences disturb her. So she decides she wants to do something big. She's always been a person who does a lot of volunteering and social work but she wants to do more. So she discusses it with her family and they decide to sell their house and move into one half the size and use the profits for a good cause. They come across difficulties like selling the house but stick to what they want to do. They decide to fund the construction of 2 centers in Africa with loan offices, small hospital wings etc. each of which would serve the villages around it. Their profits are around 400,000 dollars or around 2.4 crore rupees. The point of it is that you take half of something you have plenty of and devote it to a good cause. The book is not inspiring but impact full. The main story is told by the father and at the end of each chapter there is a small note by Hannah. These notes were very interesting for me to read as she is probably around my age but the level of understanding and passion she has for helping the impoverished is amazing.

Second book- phantoms in the brain is a neurological book and it left me wishing I could do a neurology course without having to study medical sciences as I prefer physics and chem. I left it after 3-4 chapters because it got very technical but it is basically about people who have arms or legs amputated or broken but they have vivid experiences of the limb still being there though it's not hence the term a "phantom limb". The author explains why these limbs are felt and takes us through the thought process by which he arrived at his conclusions. I found it a very interesting topic and want to know more about it.

I also recently read a fictitious book called Half bad. It's about a world with witches(even guys are called witches). Everyone is either determined a white or black witch when they turn 18 and it is inherent. The white witches are trying to stop black ones who are murderers and exploiters. The book is about this guy who's mom was a white and dad was black-probably the most evil black witch ever. Interesting but the sequel- Half Wild will come out in 2015 so I'm waiting.

I am currently also waiting for the movie for Mockingjay- Part 1 to release in India(28th November). I am a huge Hunger Games fan. That's it for now:)
PS: I'll probably write a review of the movie when it comes out.

Psychopaths, Genetics and more...

Hi! As people who know me personally might know, I really love researching and knowing about how and why thing happen.Today I am going to post two questions and there answers which particularly intrigued and interested me. All content credit goes to the internet. This is just a compilation, simplified and in my own words. But it is research as it is from multiple sources and I have collected the information myself. " Copying from one person is called plagiarism, copying from many is called research".

Q1. Can psychopaths be cured?

The problem with psychopaths is that they show no empathy and are highly aggressive and impulsive. Their behavior is highly resistant to any kind of drugs, hypnosis, and electric shock. Brain scans reveal psychopathic abnormalities can show up in the brain even in early childhood. Their behavior includes not having sympathy, seducing people, lack of guilt etc. Punishments can not be used nor social isolation as psychopaths don't react to these things. Psychopaths are 6 times more likely to commit crimes again after being released from prison. These people are put in special institutions where every small sign of positive behavior is rewarded.

 Developed and implemented by staff at the Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center(MJTC), the Decompression Model operates without the strict deterrence and punishment commonplace at a normal juvenile facility. The hallmark of the Decompression Model is positive reinforcement. The institutionalized youth are monitored continuously by all staff members for any sign of positive behavior, however small. When spotted, the behavior is reinforced with some sort of reward. The youth are also told that their rewards can scale, meaning the longer they persist with good behavior, the greater the prizes become. What starts out as a pat on the shoulder graduates to a candy bar, which graduates to the right to play video games, and so on and so forth. The youth were being introduced to the simple benefits of social society.So has the Decompression Model worked? In various studies, over 300 subjects who were treated at MJTC were matched with similar subjects not treated at MJTC. Researchers followed both groups over a five-year period, even after they were released.The results were nothing short of staggering.98% of the non-MJTC youth were arrested again within four years, while only 64% of MJTC youth were.Moreover, MJTC youth were 50% less likely to commit a violent crime, and, while non-MJTC youth killed 16 people after their release on an average, MJTC youth didn't commit a single homicide!  If we can identify and treat psychopaths early on, thousands of lives might just be saved. Is this a cure? Maybe, but it is more of just control.

Recently, researchers in Italy found a way to completely rewire a psychopath's brain with either eletrodes implanted in the skull or with something known as transcranial magnetic stimulation, which has something to do with magnets. Point is, they may be close to a cure but the lead researcher made recent headlines claiming that human head transplant was not far off. So is there a cure??? Well not right now but there should be one soon if development  in this field continues as fast as it is going right now.

Q2. Is personality genetic?
Yes, in the sense that many character traits are highly heritable. Some of the best evidence comes from studies of twins, especially comparing those brought up in a similar manner and those not. Among the most highly genetic character traits are leadership, traditionalism and obedience to authority. It may seem weird that liking traditions and obeying superiors can be hereditary but that is what research shows. Other highly heritable traits are how outgoing you are, sense of alienation, stress management and risk-taking. This does not mean that these traits are fixed. A naturally afraid person can overcome fear, a risk taker can learn to hold back and stressed people can learn to relax. But we cannot change ourselves into someone we are not, because at the end of the day we are made up of our genes and DNA. There are no specific genes responsible for personality but somehow genes do effect personality as decades of twin research has shown. It is important to remember that personality is also dependent on the environment. Also, even slight variation in 1 or 2 traits can completely change a person's over all personality. In a study of twins in the US involved 50+ aged twins answering questions about whether they were content with life etc. identical twins almost always had similar answers. This proves that there are connections. So is personality genetic? It is not predetermined but yes, there are hereditary traits and there are characteristics passed on from generation to generation.

I hope these questions and answers will instill curiosity in your mind as they did to me. Next time I shall take 2-3 more interesting questions and research on them and write. The need not be from the BBC magazine. If anyone has any preference on questions please let me know either by commenting on this blog post or by emailing me directly.
Thnx,
Smitz.

Artwork

Hi again! I love doing art. I used to think that everything about art giving expression is meaningless. But it isn't as I found out. Today I am posting pictures of some of my artwork.
The 1st one depicts the seaside- the waves at the bottom, sand in the middle and sky above, done with crayon and pen. The one below is a Miniature Painting done with paint.

The next one is just abstract I guess done with poster colors.

This one is an oil painting on canvas which is of flowers... as is evident:)

This is a drawing of a leaf in which using different densities of dots the dark and light and shadows are shown.

This is a warli painting depicting a typical day in a typical village- there are workers on the fields, woman preparing food etc.

This is also a warli painting but this one shows a happy event with dancing etc.

This one is again abstract with shading done with oil pastels.

This is a drawing of a grass land done with color pencils.

This is an abstract drawing done with oil pastels. I like to call it "Echo of a rainbow".

This one is done by pen and is also abstract in a way i.e., it is not of a real thing.

The last one is done with oil pastels and is also just a design.

I hope you like my works of art. Open to feedback.

Bye,

Smitz.

''Teens"

 Hi again. This time I am going to write about teens since I recently became one on the 6th of August. Firstly, there's this common misconception that as soon as a child becomes a teenager, he/she starts acting ''melodramatic'' and becomes "tough to deal with". I don't believe that this is entirely true because often wanting freedom is confused with rebelling... in a way. We get a mind of our own and may wan't reason for things we earlier just accepted and also sometimes not accept them anymore if we don't find them logical. This is also known as "tough to deal with" because we don't always listen and blindly follow. We might make a big thing out of something adults think is small because we have different priorities and we might take lightly what people think should be taken seriously. In this case, instead of correcting our priorities- which I admit can be wrong, we are called 'melodramatic'. So to all parents and teens of the world, this is a dictionary/guide to common phrases and what they actually mean or what they actually imply.(it is as a joke)
tough to deal with- not taking things for granted
melodramatic- having different priorities
rebelling- wanting freedom
moody- expressing feelings
arrogant- answering back to a question
rude- being straightforward
Secondly, even being "tough to deal with" and melodramatic does not happen overnight. So you won't wake up on the day of your 13th b-day and suddenly want freedom. Thirdly, this has nothing to do with the word 'teen'.It can happen from 15-18 or from 12-14. It is only to be expected, as we are changing from kids to adults in this time. It just happens to be that these specific years are mostly numbers with a -teen suffix. So if I am constantly told 'Now you are a teenager', I will be seriously bugged cause that word actually has nothing to do with me becoming an adult from a child. I would love to hear about the opinions of other teenagers on this point as I can actually only give my perspective. BTW, there is a G+ page I think called teenager posts. So here are some of the teenager posts:

Now isn't everyone :) :)

 How come only mothers can do that ???

 Language changes to gibberish btw!

 So totally relatable!

 It happens to everyone- That's life for you!

Not my fault my friends steal my stuff!
You can check more out on their G+ page.
I hope you liked this post and parents- take it as advice, "teens"- I hope you can relate and let my know your opinions on these matters.

Yours awesomely,
Smitz.
P.S. Smitz is what all my friends call me.
P.P.S. My school friends, I mean.
P.P.P.S. I know that my last post was a little haywire- will take feedback.

What's going on...

Hi! This is an essay I wrote for a school assignment on the topic of torrential rain:

Rain through a car window

     When I opened my car’s window to feel the rain, the first thing that hit me was the strong smell of rainwater. Although I felt excited by the rain, I was hit by an icy blast of cold air. I could feel the raindrops on my arm. I could taste the salt in the rain. Shop owners were packing up their displays and the sun was setting making the already grey, cloudy sky darker. The road glistened with raindrops and I could hear the pitter-patter of the rain all around me. In the distance, I could see lightning and hear thunder. The overall atmosphere was dull though stormy. As I was stuck in a traffic jam, I could hear cars honking all around me due to water logging on the roads. The smell of pollution from the cars was terrible.

     I felt grateful that I was in a car and not walking through this rain. I could see pedestrians scurrying for shelter with umbrellas over their heads. The rain was cascading down like a waterfall and the pitter-patter sounded more like bullets. The storm raged on as it became more like a cloudburst. The streets were flooding up and trees swaying like something had hit them. Shop fronts had ‘closed’ signs on them and most pedestrians were stranded. The honking of the cars sounded like an orchestra gone horribly out of tune. I no longer felt drops of rain on my hand, it seemed as if someone had turned on a tap.

     The lightning lit up the whole sky like a display and thunder sounded more like cannon shots. If I closed my eyes and listened carefully, it sounded almost like I was in the middle of a “science-fiction-end-of-the-world” movie. The atmosphere was changing from gloomy to thunderous and thrilling. I could taste the dampness in the air. I was hoping the rain would stop soon when all of a sudden our car’s engine stopped whirring. GREAT!

I hope you liked it as it is probably the best descriptive essay I have ever written and I got a 19 on 20 for it. Earlier, a while ago my best family friend had come to visit from Dubai- here's a pic of my parents with hers:

This year April my family and I shifted into our new house and one or two weekends back we had a house warming party which was majorly overdue! It was fun- sort of...

I recently finished reading Insurgent which is the 2nd book in the Divergent trilogy. Now I am waiting for my mom to finish the second book 'cause then she will start the 3rd one and tell me if it is appropriate for me to read (which by the way I am sure it will be), just like she did for the 2nd one- and all because she heard from one of her friends that it is inappropriate.Whatever.

 Even though I am blogging this very late, on the 15th August and Janmashtmi long weekend, we went to Orrisa with some friends. First we went to Bhubhaneshwar and then to a nearby beach place called Puri. In Bhubhaneshwar my parents went to see a temple while I watched Houseful in the hotel! It was a good resort with loads of fun stuff. In Puri we went to the beach and pool.
This is a picture of me with my sister (right) and my friend (left).

This is temple we saw on our way driving from Bhubhaneshwar to Puri- the famous Sun temple in Konark. We got a guide who explained the whole philosophy in a lot of detail but I won't bore you with that!

TTYL

SMITI!

Cool Stuff

Magic maths:

Infinity + 1 = Infinity cause that's the highest number ever!

Subtract Infinity from both side and you get:

0 = 1

Therefore 1 = 2, 2 = 3, 3 = 4 and so on. Weird?

.999...= 1

Let .9999...= x

Multiply both sides by 10:

9.9999... = 10x

Subtract x from both sides:

9 = 9x

Divide both sides by 9:

1 = x = .9999...

Therefore, zero point nine repeating is one! There's no trick there, it's just the way it is!

For more proof: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/recreational-math/vi-hart/infinity/v/9-999----reasons-that--999------1

There's also some other really cool stuff in the recreational math section of Khan Academy- be sure to check it out.

Top 20 Completely Useless Inventions

20. Non stick Cellotape

19. Solar Powered Flash Light (torch)

18. A black highlighter pen

17. Glow in the dark sunglasses

16. Inflatable Anchor

15. Smooth Sandpaper

14. Waterproof sponge

13. Waterproof Teabags

12. AC adapter for Solar powered calculators

11. Fireproof Matches

10. Fireproof Cigarettes

9. Battery powered Battery Charger

8. Seatbelts for Motorbikes

7. Hand powered Chainsaw

6. Inflatable Dartboard

5. Silent Alarm Clock

4. A Pedal powered wheelchair

3. Braille Drivers Manual

2. Double sided playing cards

1. Ejector seats for Helicopters

Most of them are contradictory and ironical. That reminds me of a joke:
On a wall in Delhi these words were spray painted by some gang in the colony.
3 things I hate:
1. Vandalism
2. Irony
3. Lists

This is an interesting list of interesting and ironic facts:

• More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.
• If the government has no knowledge of aliens, then why does Title 14, Section 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations, implemented on July 16, 1969, make it illegal for U.S. citizens to have any contact with extraterrestrials or their vehicles?
• The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
• Nutella uses 25% of the world's hazelnut supply.

• 25 million of your cells died while you were reading this sentence.
• Daniel Radcliffe broke 80 wands in the filming of the Harry Potter series as he often used them as drumsticks.
• If Americans recycled even 10% of their paper annually, they could save 25,000,000 trees each year.
• In 2008, a beach was stolen in Jamaica. The 500 truckloads of sand are missing till date.

I hope you find this interesting. Some of the things are truly amazing.
Smiti.

Books

Today I will be talking about the latest books I've been reading. So my latest favorite is an author, not a series- Sophie McKenzie. Her books are mostly action-packed thrillers. All though she has written some romance novels as well I haven't read them. The books I have read... Her first series I read was the Medusa project series about four teens who were implanted at birth with a gene for psychic abilities and they are unaware that their psychic powers are about to kick-in. The first book in the series is ''The set-up'' and all her books are appropriate for preteens and teens although many adults also enjoy her books as they are thriller and romance. The other books in the series all follow up from that but giving summaries of them will spoil the first book for you. That's why I also advise you to read the books in the right order as in each book you learn something new without which you can't understand the next books and it spoils all the previous books for you. The Set-Up:

The order of books is: the set-up, the hostage, the rescue, hunted, double cross and hit squad. Later on she added a book 2.5, between ''The hostage'' and ''The rescue'' called ''The thief'' which she wrote especially for World book day. She has also written the Missing trilogy . The first book is ''Girl, missing'', the second is ''Sister, missing'' and the third is ''Missing, me'', all three gripping and exciting. Here's a summary'of the first book from the author's website itself:

''Lauren has always known she was adopted but when a little research turns up the possibility that she was snatched from an American family as a baby, suddenly Lauren’s life seems like a sham. How can she find her biological parents? And are her adoptive parents really responsible for kidnapping her? She manages to persuade her family to take a trip across the Atlantic where she runs away to try and find the truth. But the circumstances of her disappearance are murky and Lauren’s kidnappers are still at large and willing to do anything to keep her silent…''

I hope the summary intrigues you and you read the book because it;s truly amazing. Another one of her books which I am currently reading is called ''Blood Ties''. It also has a sequel called ''Blood Ransom'' which will probably be my next purchase on the kindle! Again, here is a description from Sophie McKenzie's site    ( http://www.sophiemckenziebooks.com/) :

''An explosive thriller series featuring two teenagers, Theo and Rachel, who uncover a human cloning project. With chapters alternately narrated by both characters, Blood Ties and sequel Blood Ransom follow their quest to uncover the truth as they find themselves in increasing danger among criminals intent on causing them harm.''

She has written other books as well but this is what I've read! Some other books for people my age which I've recently read are Hunger games, Inheritance cycle, Divergent series(though I've heard the second two books are inappropriate)etc. I am currently waiting for the movie of the third book in the hunger games trilogy- Mockingjay. The movie will be divided into 2 parts so Mockingjay Part 1 is expected to release in India in December some time as it will release in U.S. in end November. I have already seen the Divergent movie and as far as I know, there is only a movie on the 1st book of the Inheritance cycle- Eragon, which I have already seen.

Thanks,

Smiti.

My birthday and other things...

Hey! Yesterday was my birthday and one of the best days of my life. I had told my parents to surprise me as I had already celebrated with my friends on the 2nd. When I came back from school, my mom told me that she had arranged for a baking session for me with a friend of mine and her mom who bakes amazingly. It was amazing and  we made a carrot cake and a banana cake, we later iced the carrot one for my birthday. When I came back, my mom handed me a package from amazon and said it was a surprise. I could feel it was hard and from the size, thought it might be a book or something but when I opened it, it was a............. kindle paperwhite. I have been exploring my kindle and have already downloaded 5-6 free books including ''The memoirs of Sherlock Holmes''. I also think the power-saving display when you switch the kindle off is really cool. Of course, it'll take time time getting adjusted to reading on a kindle versus a physical book but I'll get used to it I'm sure.

I was totally not expecting that. It really was all I could ask for since I love baking and reading. But then... In the evening, we decided to go to Cyber hub for dinner and were recommended Hard Rock cafe as a good place for a 13th birthday celebration. The ambiance there is amazing with signed guitars etc. hung up all over and I really cant describe it- you'll have to see it for yourself. It is just the type of place young people and teenagers of the 21st century would  love going to. Any way, it was karaoke night so I sang a song on the karaoke (Set fire to the rain) and there were plenty of volunteers. The karaoke lyrics were being displayed on a large screen and the music was loud English music- latest songs. It was amazing. They have this tradition if it is someone's birthday- they dunk your face on a plate of whipped cream! So first I was told to stand on my chair and close my eyes and try and eat the cream with my sister guiding me (wrongly I think) and then suddenly I found cream all over my face! It was a lot of fun though equally crazy at the same time. As I've already said- one of the best days if my life.

Then today in school, we did community service- 8 A of The Shri Ram school Aravali, Gurgaon. A group of 30 4th-5th grade students came from a school in Mewat and we got to interact with them. First we had lunch with them and then we did some clay modelling with them and it was mutual fun unlike what I had earlier anticipated. Some of them were quite talented. They were quite shy though, especially the girls, but then it is to be expected because they are younger and from a different community. However, as the afternoon progressed, both them and we opened up more. Overall a great learning experience!

Diary of a depressed girl

Hey! Today, I am going to write a purely fictitious entry in a diary format called ''Diary of a depressed girl ''. Disclaimer: Any resemblance to anyone dead or alive is purely coincidental.

I didn't really know who I was, and frankly- I was sure I was not even worth knowing. If someone would have asked to describe myself, though no one ever would've, I wouldn't be able to because I thought I was a nothing and how can one describe nothingness? Oh sure I could tell them my name- Adaeze Blanchard- Adaeze means king's daughter, but then my parents had no idea I would think of myself as a nobody when I was born let alone king's daughter. I used to think I was useless and that no one loved me, failing to realize that I had a family who took care of me everyday. I used to think my parents were useless, setting rules all the time. There was even a phase where I thought I had been unanimously shunned because my parents were hated. I had gone down as deep as you can and still haven't recovered entirely from what I now know to be post traumatic stress disorder in the form of depression. It happened after my sister died, and perhaps my parents were a little overprotective over there only child but I thought they were my jailers.

I didn't realize that my teachers were trying to help in school and that Mary was trying to reach out to me. I was blinded by a low self-esteem and thought these people were mocking at me and thinking of me as mental. They were really only trying to help me get past a difficult phase of my life. It started with survivor's guilt. As I saw people crying over her, tears refused to come to my eyes. I felt guilty for not missing her even though I was traumatic because of the loss. But then, in my dark tunnel, emerged a speck of light. My mom became sick seeing me distressed and suddenly I knew I had to help. It wasn't easy for me to realize this because I hated my parents. But from somewhere inside me came out the instinct everyone has to save family. It was my very last reserve of respect for my mom but it took me out of depression. I realized the world hadn't shunned me, I had shunned the world, including my mom. I still didn't know my teachers or Mary thought me sane but slowly, I realized that my parents at least loved me. They did everything for my benefit even if they didn't understand me at times. Then I tried to reconnect with Mary, even though I didn't understand her. And as our bond grew stronger and stronger, I rose out of my depression and started to feel as if life was worth living. I realized my teachers intentions and am sitting in my favorite teacher's room right now. I go to her regularly for counselling and have emerged a strong person. She asked me to write this so that girls around the world would be inspired. Inspiration and motivation leads people out of depression. I was inspired by my parents and motivated to help my mom. But now, I am inspired by the way the people around me kept faith in me and were by my side even on my darkest days.

Please let me know how you liked it as it is the first time have written a fictitious article on a topic like this. It is meant to inspire. Even though it hasn't happened in reality to me, things like this happen to people all over the world and believe me they need all the help they can get.

 The girl is still afraid of going back into depression and has dark memories of those days, but she resists dwelling on them and has mastered her fears.In fact, it is good she is afraid for it reminds her of what can happen and keeps her on her feet, standing up for who she is.

''Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.''   - Mark Twain.

Smiti.

Dive trip

I just came back from my diving trip and enjoyed it a lot. It was amazing seeing all the underwater life. We went to 4 dive sites and for anyone going diving to Phuket, I would recommend the last one- Shark Point. Ironically, we didn't see any sharks :(. But there were amazing corals and hundreds of fish including anemone fish, sea urchins, star fish, schools of barracuda and a snake eel! I went underwater with my dad and one of his friends who was also doing the course, accompanied by an instructor. Here are some pics from my trip:-

First day we arrived in the morning and practiced some skills in a 3m deep pool which was supposed to stimulate a dive. 2nd and 3rd day, we had 2 dives each. The first 2-3 dives we were so busy worrying about our equipment that we couldn't really enjoy the dives, but the last dive, which also happened to be the best site, was amazing and surreal really. The last day, we had a flight at 12:30, and then a 4 hr stopover at Bankok because the flight from Phuket wasn't direct. It was mostly travel. 

In Phuket, we went for a morning walk on the famous Patong beach and saw the street markets. 3 things which are widely sold there are Tuk Tuk rides, dress suits, and massages. Thai boxing is also very famous there. Overall, an amazing trip. If anyone wants to do scuba diving, PADI is a good organisation cus the certificate is recognized world wide. At the end, I couldn't believe that the thing I had been looking forward to for so long was over already and that I was actually a Certified Open Water scuba diver!!

The best part about diving is the thrill and the excitement and even though there is a potential risk, normally nothing serious happens. The adventure and the adrenaline the first time you breathe underwater and don your equipment is unmatched by anything else I've tried so far. It's not really ''difficult'', just a lot of things to remember in the beginning. Once you are comfortable in the water, it's like you don't have a care in the world. I hope I'll be able to do many more dives in the future.

Smiti

Trip to Kashmir

Hello to the world! I am starting this blog as a learning experience to know what it's like. As someone who is posting online for the first time, I'm gonna start by introducing myself. I am Smiti Mittal. I am 12 years old and a student in 8th grade. I enjoy indian classical singing, cooking, playing tennis, swimming, painting, science and hopefully I'll enjoy blogging too! The blog is called Smitipedia- kudos to my friends who gave me the nickname in 4th grade on account of my brains (Wikipedia) ! It used to be a joke that one day I should start a website called smitipedia.com. I suppose I've got there now, 4 years later. To start off with I'm gonna tell you about my trip to Kashmir in the summers.

"We left for Kashmir on the 23rd June, 2014. The flight was really short- just over an hour. When we arrived in Srinagar it was afternoon and so we hadn't felt the cold of Kashmir yet! We drove to a popular tourist spot near by- Pahalgam, where we stayed for 2 nights. There, went to a valley, Besaran about 1/2hr away on horse. The ride was fun but even more was the panoramic view.

 We got pictures clicked there while wearing traditional Kashmiri clothes. It was a magnificent journey and the horses seemed to have carved their own route through the mountains.

 Afterwards we went on a drive to a well-known tourist spot- Aru valley. There was a slight climb to get to the main valley and it was raining but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

The next day we drove to a small valley- Gulmarg where we stayed for another 2 nights. At Gulmarg we went to a counter early morning to buy tickets for going up to see the snow. We had to wait for 2 hours before we got the tickets and that was after booking them online but it was all worth it. We went up to the snow(2nd level) and were immediately bombarded by people trying to get us to use their sleds where they took you up a slope. But we wanted to try climbing so we climbed up. From there we went on a short accompanied ski trip to a place from where we could see the LOC or indian line of control(border). We came back and played in the snow making snowmen, though the snow was all dirty snow. The gear we had rented- thick jackets and snow boots- served its purpose well thought it was still cold. We came down to the 1st level and had lunch at a 'dhaba'. We came back down in a gondola.

Next day we headed to the summer capital- Srinagar. Evening time was devoted to a beautiful Shikara ride on the famous Dal lake.

Later we saw flowers at a garden although the real blooming time is Aug-Sept, so there weren't many flowers. 



We spent the night at the beautiful Taj hotel. After lunch, we headed to a houseboat called "Buckingham palace" which although quite lavishly furnished did not match the rating of 4.5 on tripadvisor. Nevertheless, a unique experience, especially since I haven't been on the house boats of Kerela either. 

The whole of Kashmir was fun and busy because of the peak season visiting time.

It was much better than I thought it would be.

I thought it would be boring because it wasn't abroad but boy was I wrong.A perfect end to my summer vacations. "

So that was my experience of Kashmir. Hope you enjoyed reading about it. I would be more than happy to receive comments/feedback as I am new to this.That's it for now!

Bye,

Smiti.