Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us. -Oscar Wilde:

Keeping a diary

Dear children,

How many of you are in the habit of recording the important incidents of your daily life in a diary? If you do not maintain a diary start it at least now.

It could be an exciting experience to go through your own diary after several years.

Oscar Wilde once stated that he never travelled without his diary as there should always be "something sensational to read in the train."This means that reading his own recordings provided him satisfaction and pleasure.

Have you heard of Anne Frank's diary? The little girl who was one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust (The massacre of over six million European Jews during World War II by Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler) penned her sorrowful experiences in her diary. Her diary which was posthumously published gained immense popularity.

It was through her dairy that we all got to know her. Even today we share the sorrow and the pain felt by this girl whom we have never met.

Life is like a long journey. You may have to walk on thorny paths as well as smooth ones. You may come across friendly people as well as unfriendly ones. Each of these incidents and people has got a lesson to teach you.

The incidents you experience today may even give inspiration for your future creative work. Hence it is better to keep a record of them.

Why not start keeping a diary from today itself?

Bye for now,

Sanju

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Sunny Stories

Visitors

Sandun felt very happy when he realized there was only one more day to go before school closed for the August holidays. He liked school but the holidays were better.

Specially the holidays in August because this year too father and mother had promised they would take Sandun to visit grandpa's younger brother whom Sandun called podi seeya. Sandun had loved the few days he had spent with podi seeya last August and looked forward to staying with podi seeya and aththamma (grandma) in the small village they lived in, in Kothmale, this August too.

Every morning during the holidays Sandun woke up early to help podi seeya and Ungu, who came to help seeya in the garden, to water the chili and tomato plants. After a breakfast of green gram with coconut or rotti with homemade kitul treacle he walked with aththamma to the junction which had one big shop called the Junction Hotel.

The hotel served tea and buns but also had everything else you could think of from plastic plates to torch batteries to pens and pencils to dried fish and coconuts, stacked on the shelves or kept in piles on the floor. Sandun helped aththamma carry the bag of coconuts and the parcel of dried fish home which took them a good twenty minutes as aththamma stopped every now and then to chat with a passerby.

Once home, after a glass of fresh milk Sandun went with seeya to Nugadeniya where seeya wanted to check if the pepper seeds were ripe for plucking. In the afternoon Sandun watched Maani who was the official fisherman of the village, fishing in the Kothmale Oya. But what Sandun remembered the most were the nights. On the first night he had spent with podi seeya, he woke up with a jolt at about ten in the night. "Thud. Thudas. Tuck. Tock". Sandun heard strange sounds followed by squeals and groans. Sandun jumped out of bed and ran to podi seeya who was in the sitting room reading the newspaper.

"What is that noise, podi seeya ?" asked Sandun.

"Did the noise wake you up?" said podi seeya. "You must get used to it. There are some polecats living on the ceiling."

"What are polecats?"

Polecats are a bit like squirrels only bigger and darker" explained podi seeya. "They are harmless. You will get used to them soon enough."

Sandun went back to bed and covered his ears with his hands. He wished the polecats would not make so much noise. In the morning Sandun asked podi seeya why he did not do something to stop the polecats from living on the ceiling. Podi seeya's explanation surprised Sandun.

"Son, in the past the polecats lived on trees. But now we have cut down all the trees to build houses for ourselves. It is because they have no other place to go that the polecats have decided to live on my ceiling. They have been there ever since the day I put up the ceiling twenty years ago." said podi seeya.

That night Sandun waited to hear the sound of the polecats on the ceiling. He was happy podi seeya had let them live on the ceiling instead of chasing them away. When Sandun heard a loud "thump" he thought that must be the father Polecat. When he heard a sound not as loud as the first, he decided that must be grandpa polecat. As he stared at the ceiling he noticed a small black square in one corner where one of the planks were missing. Two tiny black eyes were peeping through the hole. Sandun realized a baby polecat was staring at him. Sandun smiled and said "Good night Polecat" before he fell fast asleep.

Sandun waited eagerly to see podi seeya and aththamma again. He wanted to see podi seeya's visitors on the ceiling too. He wondered if the baby polecat would still be there to watch over him as he fell asleep.

- Aditha

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My best friend

*My best friend is my cousin.
*His name is Houdh.
*Houdh is eight years old.
*He lives in Kohuwala.
*He is fair and tall and has black short hair.
*He helps and plays with me.
*He is good in his studies.
*I wish he becomes a doctor one day.
*I like him a lot.
*He is my friend forever.

Naahidh Malick
grade - 2A
Lyceum International School
Panadura

My school

1.My school is St.Sebastian's College.
2.It is in Moratuwa.
3.It is a boy's school.
4.My Rector is Rev.Bonney Fernandopulle.
5.My school is very beautiful.
6.There are 150 teachers and 25,000 students in my school.
7.There is also a beautiful chapel.
8.I love my school very much.

I P Nirmal Perera
grade 3B
St.Sebastians's College
Moratuwa

Year end variety concert of CIS

The Infant School of the Colombo International School (CIS), Kandy held their year end variety concert, Star Studded Rainbow recently at their school auditorium. Here are some colourful items presented at the event. Picture by Sunil Gunawardana, Kundasale group correspondent