Thrifty Thirsty Thirteen

Lost childhood calls
newfound attractions
a journey green and brown

:: Coffee Walnut Cake for the Teenager! ::

Arhaant’s Birthday Interview at 13: 

1. Me:  Current best friends.

Arhaant:  Alan, Jay, Ilona, Matthew, Azim.

2. Me: Favourite band/musician. Mention your favourite song by that person or band.

Arhaant: Coldplay, OneRepublic, One Direction and many more. One of my favourite songs by OneRepublic is probably ‘I ain't worried' because it was played in the movie ‘Top Gun: Maverick' and it sounded really good; it kept getting played in my mind over and over. My favourite song by One Direction was really tough to decide because they make so many great songs. I think it's ‘History'; which was the last One Direction song released before the band went on hiatus or disbanded. In the official video of ‘History', they showed many old pictures and videos of them together when they were younger; hanging out, making jokes, laughing and that reminded me of my friends and I. I don't know why but the song ‘Speed of sound' by Coldplay is one of my favourites. The music in the background was really vibrant to me.

3. Me: Favourite teacher and why.

Arhaant:Mr Warren; he's always so fun and he even hosted one of our amazing pizza parties after school.

4. Me: Favorite activity with your mother.

Arhaant: Playing table tennis with Amma, swimming, yoga. She really wants the best out of us (me and my brother)

5. Me: Favourite activity with your father.

Arhaant:Football was mainly the sport my father liked as a child and that carried on towards me and my brother. We love playing football with Baba. 

6. Me: Favourite sport and why.

Arhaant: My favourite sport, you guessed it, football. Football brings people together, it's really fun; doing skills, slide tackling and mainly scoring goals! I've never thought about playing it professionally, but most of my friends are like, "You take India to the Fifa World Cup." That was kind of funny. Another thing about football, the rules aren't that hard to understand.

7. In football, the biggest question is “Messi or Ronaldo?" I prefer Messi because I think he has a better playing style; less diving, better freekicks, WAY better dribbling and he has won more trophies (1 World Cup, 4 Champions Leagues, 7 Ballon D'ors, I could go on for hours.) Yes you can compare their stats and say Ronaldo is better, but my choice and many others' choices are going to be that Messi is the G.O.A.T (Greatest of all time.)

8. Me: Favourite food.

Arhaant:My father's famous ‘Chicken strips and mushroom sauce' and my mother's cakes - THEY'RE LITERALLY TO DIE FOR!

9. Me: Favourite movie and why.

Arhaant:There's so many to choose from. But one of the best has to be ‘Top Gun: Maverick'. It's a great mix of action, adventure, drama, romance. In addition, ‘I ain’t worried’ was played in this movie.

10. Me: Favourite book and why.

Arhaant:One of my favourite novel series has got to be the ‘Percy Jackson’ saga. It greatly displays Greek mythology throughout the books. It shows Percy going on adventurous and daring quests with his mates, Annabeth and Grover. After reading these books, my interest in Greek mythology has grown. The series unveils Greek gods, villains and valuable treasures very well. However, I think the ‘Harry Potter’ series is even better; the names of the characters, places and even spells are really cool and interesting. To me it feels like you’re part of the book when you say the spells, like Expecto Patronum or Expelliarmus.

11. Me: Do you like school? If yes why, if not, why not.

Arhaant: Most of the time, I do like school because I love meeting my friends there, chatting with them, and playing. I like most of the lessons taught at school, like: Math, English, P.E, I used to like Humanities until our teacher changed and I also like Science as it's very intriguing.

12. Me: What is your birthday wish?

Arhaant: On one of my future birthdays, I wish to get Retro Air Jordans, however I know that they are very expensive and I’ll probably buy them when I’m older. 

13. Me: What do you want as a birthday gift?

Arhaant: On my birthday I want to probably get some Percy Jackson or Harry Potter books. 

14. Me: Is there anything your friends have that you don't and you want it so bad?

Arhaant: Most of my friends have PlayStations, which I do want badly!

15. Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Arhaant: I have not decided yet but some of my choices are: Lawyer, Pilot, Engineer, Architect.

16. Me: What do you miss about Ajji (maternal grandma)?

Arhaant: The first things that remind me of Ajji are the soft touch of the blanket she would always carry along with her and the fresh smell of Nivea Cream. And the amazing smell of her famous and mouth-watering ‘Sabudana Khichdi’ that would flow from the kitchen. She was also very helpful and playful with everyone.

17. Me: What's your favorite memory of COVID times?

Arhaant: My favourite memory from the COVID times was when I found Harry Potter movies and watched them - they were so interesting - and then I started reading the books (yes I know I was late in starting to read them!) 

18. Me: Which family trip was your favourite and why?

Arhaant: My favourite family trip has to be the one to Thailand, where we went to Bangkok (not knowing how dangerous it is) and saw the tall skyscraper MahaNakhon with an exceedingly scary skywalk on the top floor! The hotel there was really cozy with a top floor swimming pool and restaurant. Then we went to Udon Thani - mostly famous for its sea of lotuses: Talay Bua Daeng (where we went) However the city seemed very quiet and almost like a ghost town. After that we went to an extremely beautiful city full of sea and green. The beaches there almost looked like they were from a website or magazine. And the water was crystal clear. Even with all this beauty, there were some downsides or one downside. While we were riding on a ferry in the waters of Krabi, I somehow got stung by a jellyfish! Oh the burn! Anyway we met some of our friends there and had a great time, we even made some sandcastles and found fascinating seashells and ate great Thai food. 

19. Me: Which place do you want to visit next and why?

Arhaant: The next place I would like to visit would probably be Rome. I've heard many fantastic things about the place and the great landmarks - The Colosseum, The Pantheon etc. And I’ve heard the weather isn’t too bad there.

20. Me: Which animal do you think you resemble the most and why?

Arhaant: I think I resemble a wolf  because sometimes I act like a bit of a loner and sometimes I act like a leader.