More of an Indian

Table of contents

Chapter 1: Love for India

Chapter 2: Secrets

Chapter 3: Travel to India

Chapter 4: Bursted

Chapter 5: Actually not

Love for India

Shreya was alway curious,and that is exactly how she wanted it.

Shreya always wanted to go to India. Her mom moved to America because she was divorced. She did not want Shreya to know about it. Although Shreya was born in America she was good at speaking Tamil. She has never been to India before. Till now she does not know that her mom has secrets to hide from her. She does know she had a dad though. Speaking of her dad, her mom works at CitiBank. She is an only child. Every weekend she goes to her patti’s* house“patti” means grandma in Tamil. Well one thing that is to know is that her patti hides secrets too…

                                                                                           

*patti” means grandma in Tamil

 

Secrets

May 12

 This weekend Shreya did not go to her patti’s house because she was stuck in her room reading the Roald Dahl books. She loved the book Matilda by Roald Dahl. When her mom called her Friday evening to go to her patti’s house, she said “just a few minutes.” She ended up not going. She couldn't go on Saturday because her mom was busy on Saturday and Sunday. Later, she got bored of reading so she decided to have a snack. After she exited her room she saw a beautiful looking box. It was filled with pictures. Deep inside she saw a beautifully knitted scarf and a diary. The 2 things looked 

 magical. When she wore the scarf it took her to one of the wonders of India. Everything was gold in color. She saw the Taj Mahal. When she entered she saw an elephant and a blue bird. The 2 animals started talking. At first she did not listen but then she believed. The animals took her to a sunset area and told her about her family. She took off her scarf to see what happened and she just went back to her house. She quickly took the diary and went back. The animals introduced themselves. The elephant’s name is Jadav and the bird’s name is Kandam. Shreya finds out a lot about her family but she didn’t find out her mom or her patti’s secrets. Well she is yet to find them. She finds out that her family used to make scarfs, even her mom, after she got divorced they stopped making them because they moved to America. Her great great grandma worked in an Indian weaving factory. The name of the cloth is Kanjivaram. She was the best worker in their town. Her name is Gayatri (ga-ya-thri). The factories did not have machines so people had to weave by hand. The factory was named Kanchipuram Silks. The 2 animals took Shreya back to the place she started. Realizing that it was Evening in America she went back knowing that there was more to be found. She almost forgot she had school the day after.

May  13

She did not go back on Sunday, instead she read her mom’s Diary. There she found out that her mom knew about her grandma when she got divorced. Her mom told her about her grandma. That was the time her sister suggested she settle down in America the day after. That was exactly what happened. Shreya never knew of her aunt who was in India right now. Later she searched in the box to find stuff about her. She found a letter hidden inside. Before she opened it she gave it to her mom and asked “where did you get this and who is it from?” her mom replied “this is from my sister” the letter said this.

Dear sister,

I suggest you go to America for a better life.

It is the best way you can get through all this I  understand

how it is for you but it is for your good. But do not forget to visit us

once in a while. 

                                                                  Sincerely,

                                                                Your sister 

Travel to India

After reading that letter her mom sobbed because she missed her sister but she did not know if she could go to India or not. Shreya asked her mom if they could go to India. Her mom was strict on her answer no. After they ate dinner they went to bed thinking about whether to go to India or not. Well Shreya did know she was not going to but it made her think about her father if she had one or not.

May 14

Today is school, which is what she was worried about. On friday her teacher Mr. Peterson announced that there was a poem contest the winner of the contest would earn $22,500. Her teacher even spoke with Shreya in private to tell her that she was good at poems and that she should join. Keeping that in mind when she went back to it she did not have a single letter written on her paper. But she had to ask her teacher for 2 days time. Since he thought she was a hard worker he was nice and announced to everybody that they get 2 more days to work on their poems. She took this as an opportunity to go to India with $22,500. She came right back home after school instead of going to her friend's house. She  went back to her room and finished her poem. After that she went into her closet with the scarf. Then she magically disappeared into thin air. You know where she went. This time she went to the Golden Temple in Amritsar. After they explored the place Shreya went back to eat and sleep. 

May 15

After school her teacher called to ask if her poem was going ok. He also told her in private that she was talented in writing poems. That day flew by with all the revising and stuff. She also figured out that her great grandma fought through the burned factory. Until then she disappeared, people thought she died and other stuff. Well the thing Shreya did not know is she was about to figure out what is true.

May 16

This was the day before they would get the results. She was so excited and worried about not winning and that means not going to India. Her teacher then announced today that they should give their poems now. After a few hours after school ended she began preparing on what to say to her mom if she wins the $22,500. 

May 17

Now is the time the winner will be announced. This is the day she might get to go to India. This is the day the truth will show. When her teacher announced that Shreya was the winner she almost fainted. But yeah she kinda did think she would win. She really wanted to get home the time it was announced but no. When she got home she went straight to her mom and told her that she won $22,500 for her poem and that it was sent to her mom’s bank account. She persuaded her to ask her aunt to come to America and take her to India. Her mom was finally convinced and she called her sister to come and pick her up from America. 

After her school year was over she started to India but first gave her mom a big hug. After they were boarded onto the plane she asked her aunt a lot of questions.

Bursted

She later found out why her parents got separated. Few hours later they reached India. While in the car Shreya saw that there were a lot of beggars and broken houses which people still lived in. She thought coming to India was a bad idea but she is yet to find out the truth. When they went to the house her aunt lived in she showed her where her room is going to be for till she stays. Well her aunt has a secret too. The both of them decided where to go. Finally they came up with a plan. They decided to go to Janakpur to see the school her aunt used to work in. They planned to go to  Jaipur, and Kanchipuram too. When they showed her uncle he reacted in a bad way because her aunt was pregnant and he thought that she could not travel to places. Her aunt was calm and took her anyway so later she had a rest. After she was through with her jet lag they started to janakpur. There she saw the students studying nicely. When Shreya’s aunt entered they were so excited because she was a really good teacher. She just resigned a few months before. That time she got reminded about the secret that she did not want to tell anyone. But she knew she had to tell Shreya. She did not want to tell her now because it would hurt her. Well she actually started liking India. It was full of wonders and mysteries that were to be found, one of them was Shreya’s mystery.

Actually not

For Shreya India felt like home. She felt that it was the place to live but Indian people who were born in America think that is the place to live but she is different. The place she is most excited about is Kanchipuram because it will have facts about her great grandma. When they reached Kanchipuram silks they saw a lot of workers except Gayatri, her great grandma. One of the workers told them that she was out living in a cottage but they were not sure because they never saw her get out of the burnt factory. When they went there she literally had no idea how she looked. But goddess Durga showed the way. She found out about the scarf which was told to her in secret. Goddess Durga was there to explain why she told her to go to the burnt factory which was now rebuilt. She told her that it was to get the golden thread to make the scarf. It was passed down to her grandma to mom and now to her and it will be to the baby which was going to be born to her aunt and to her aunt. After all the questions were answered she went back out and goddess Durga disappeared. Later when they were home she gave the scarf to her aunt and she wore it and her dead daughter was shown. When the time came her aunt told her the secret. Soon it was time for her to leave for America. She was happy she found out about her family and happy to meet her mom. Most of all she was happy she had the experience of India.

Acknowledgments

This Indian book is written to talk about Nationality never being forgotten. This made up character Shreya meaning the auspicious one. She never forgets about her hometown Chennai, India. You know some people tend to lose their nationality by forgetting about it. The people who don’t are the ones who hold up their generation. 

About the author

Hi, my name is Anu and I am in 4th grade. I am in Frisco. I am 10 years old. I write non-fiction too. That is a bit about me bye.