Houston – Iniya Writes

Kandasashti

This year, I attended the Houston temple’s Kandasashti celebrations. Kandasasthi celebrates Muruga, and tells the story of his victory over the asuras, and his marriage to Devasena.

The Kandasashti starts by granting the vel, Muruga’s divine weapon, to Muruga. Then, we follow the procession to Muruga’s battleground. Different asuras emerge, one with an elephant’s head, one with a lion’s head, and finally one with a demon’s face- Soorapadman. The asuras are lifted on podiums, and surrounded by neem leaves. Muruga, with his vel beheads them all, proving himself brave and victorious. The demon transforms into Murugua’s peacock and a rooster, which becomes his symbol.

After this, Muruga is set to be married. We sat in the main temple, waiting for Muruga and his new wife, Deivanai, to be dressed and wedded. When the curtains finally drew back, revealing Muruga, the crowd’s gasps said it all. The priests bathed Murugu in milk, yogurt, coconut water, rose water, sandalwood, etc. then decorated him for his marriage.

Overall, the process was beautiful to watch, and there was a much larger crowd than I had expected. I learned so much about this festival and enjoyed watching it be reenacted in such splendor, even in the United States.

The Girl in the Tree in the Bluebonnet Field

It wasn’t supposed to rain. At least, Julie’s ma hadn’t said anything about it and everyone in town knew Ma could “read the weather” with an accuracy that was almost frightening. They would’ve called her a witch and run her out of town if she wasn’t so useful. But useful she was, and so she stayed, baking her bread while Pa was off at work, at the oil rigs, in the Panhandle. He was away more days than not, and so Julie had grown up wild. Running through blackberry fields barefoot, catching fireflies in mason jars, bandaids over scrapes and bruises. Wild smiles and messy hair, her ma ever-so-carefully brushing iodine over the cuts with a shake of her head and a warning to “please, please, be more careful next time, sweetheart”. And Julie would smile and nod, knowing that she’d be back outside the very next day.
As she grew older, Ma had put her to work outside- if she was to run in the blackberry fields, she might as well pick some to make blackberry cobbler, and if she wanted to play outside, she could bring back water from the well by the McGuire’s property. Julie had chafed at these restrictions, these limits on her own time, at first, but as more and more of her classmates disappeared from school to help their own mothers’ with the household work, she realized just what a blessing Ma had given her. Even now, as she neared adulthood, Ma had begun to fret about her appearance, her wildness that couldn’t be tamed. Julie had been successful in brushing off Ma’s concerns with a carefree laugh, but the thought of when that laugh wouldn’t be enough disquieted her.

Today was another one of those days where she slipped out the door to evade Ma, promising with a charming grin to bring back enough strawberries to make shortcake- Phoebe’s favorite. Phoebe was young, prim, and perfect in all the ways Julie was not. Phoebe was Ma’s favorite, of course, but Julie was Pa’s. It made sense- Julie was everything Pa was, a little wild, a little carefree, a lot irresponsible.

Just like Pa, Julie liked getting a little lost. She liked wandering through the bramble-filled thickets, liked not knowing where she would end up. A rumble of thunder gave her pause. She glanced up, frowning as she noticed the darkening sky, thick with grey, angry clouds. She’d have to hurry, then. Unfortunate, but if she didn’t make it home, Ma would worry up a storm and she didn’t need that these days. Not with the townsfolk’s whispers and sidelong glances at Julie, with their rumors of her being “unmarriable”. Yes, Ma had enough on her plate and Julie would hate to add to that. So she gathered up her skirts, stepping through the undergrowth with purposeful strides, making her way to the strawberry fields.

The skies didn’t clear…but it didn’t look like it would rain either, so, with a basket full of strawberries, Julie returned to exploring. And that was when she saw her, a stark contrast to the rich blues of the bluebonnet field. A girl, with the blondest hair Julie had ever seen, the same blonde Julie’s had been as a kid. She was fast asleep in a cedar tree, the expression on her face…content. Almost…almost happy. Julie hadn’t seen anyone with that expression in a long, long time. Not in this dusty old town, where everybody was too concerned with what the neighbors would think. But this girl…she wasn’t from this town. She didn’t live with the heavy, heavy expectations that had started to follow Julie like a shadow. Her lightness made Julie feel…well, jealous, yes, but also, strangely carefree. If this girl could live like this, whose to say Julie couldn’t either?
And so, she turned and went back home, the basket of strawberries swinging gently. She would help Ma make the shortcake. She would be the best big sister to Phoebe. And then, when it was time, she’d leave and make her own path in life. And she’d be happy.

Asia Society + The Holocaust Museum

This Thursday, me and my grandparents explored two iconic museums in Houston- Asia Society and the Holocaust Museum.

First, we visited Asia Society, a small museum that illustrates the culture of 5 major Asian countries- India, China, Vietnam, Japan, and South Korea. They had stations detailing the traditional cultures of these countries, as well as their food, their languages, and their music. There were stations to “play” the drums from each country in tune with background music and a “train” that explored the countries. At the time we went, there was an art exhibition of Hung Hsien’s work- an artist who used Chinese ink painting techniques to create stunning and vibrant pieces.

Then, we visited the Holocaust Museum. This museum was dedicated to the Holocaust and the atrocities carried out by the Nazis in 1933. It was a poignant reminder of the horrors of World War 2 and the impacts that we still see today. The main exhibit featured a timeline of the Holocaust and there was also a side exhibit about current genocides and human rights, as well as leaders who fought for these rights. It was such an important museum and I’m glad I got to visit.

Independent Book Store Day

Last Saturday was Independent Book Store Day, a day to celebrate small bookstores. I visited 2 indie bookstores that I’d never been to before and thoroughly enjoyed both of them!

In today’s world, where we can order anything online, bookstores aren’t getting the same traffic as they used to. Therefore, Indie Bookstore Day encourages readers to support these small bookstores to help them thrive and continue to serve the community.

The first bookshop I visited was Good On Paper. Their shop was so pretty and had such a great collection of books for all ages- kids to young adults to adult/nonfiction. They also had lots of stationary, with cute journals and pens. It was so nice to check out a new bookshop and I can’t wait to read the book I bought from there!

After Good on Paper, I visited Kaboom Books, a used book store. They had so many books, filling every shelf, on all topics. I loved getting lost in the maze of books, just scanning the shelves. I exited with two books about mythology and have already started reading them!

Support Indie Bookstores!

Spring

Since spring is now officially here, I wrote a poem about it. This is a sestina, made up of 6 stanzas, each stanza ending with the same words in different orders. I hope you enjoy!

It’s spring again
The flowers bloom, the birds chirp
Rain patters on the windows
The season of life,
that’s what spring is known for
beauty, not just in the eye of the beholder, but everywhere

The greenest trees, everywhere
Saturated by the rain again
whimsy bleeds through for
just a moment, as the chirp
of new life
echoes outside the windows

The spring breeze, crisp, clean, wafts through the window
And for a second, everywhere
is united, under the life
and love of a new spring again,
where the buzz and chirp
just signify the land we all live for

Spring is cleansing, for
finally there are no cold gusts against the window
just the melodic chirp
that echoes from everywhere
Yes, beginning a new season again
truly brings some kind of life

And everywhere you see, the earth erupts with life
with no concession for
the ones who wish for winter again
The pollen will still coat your window,
maybe it gets everywhere,
but that is just the price to pay for another chirp

Life grows anew when you hear that tiny chirp
proof that spring brings life,
that spring brings joy everywhere
not just for one, but for
all, so open your window
and embrace the magic of spring come again

When you hear the first chirps of the season, winter is done for
Life blooms outside the windows
and everywhere is bathed in the light of spring again

Golu

Recently, I went to view the temple’s Golu for Navaratri. Golu is described as a doll festival, where households arrange religious dolls on an odd number of steps. It’s one of the ways Navaratri, or 9 nights, is celebrated. Navaratri seeks to honor the goddesses- specifically Shailaputri, Bhramacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skandamata, Katyayani, Mahagauri, and Siddhidatri.

Throughout the nine nights of Navaratri, many classical performances are held with songs and dances centering around the above goddesses, or any female ones. This year, I performed Amba Shambavi, an item on Devi.

A Mitski Concert

Recently, as a gift for my birthday, I got to go to a concert for my favorite artist- Mitski. I’ve loved her music for a little over a year now and her music still means a lot to me. Being able to see her live was a wonder and I was so thankful for the opportunity to go.

I’d been preparing for her tour as soon as tickets dropped- finding the setlist, listening to it on repeat, educating my parents on her music, you name it. I was so incredibly excited to see her live.

The day of the concert was slightly worrisome, as there were threats of a storm and I was concerned that rain would become a problem. Luckily, the weather remained clear (the storm missed us entirely) and the threat of the concert rescheduling, or worse, cancelling entirely, was alleviated.

We arrived pretty early, taking our time to find our seats and look around. I had known multiple people from my school who would be going and I used this time to try and spot them (in the end, I unfortunately only ended up meeting one).

The opening act was Arlo Parks, a musician whose music I had only somewhat listened to. Listening to her in real life, though, was spell bounding. Her music was gorgeous and her voice was beautiful. I loved hearing her songs in person and many of them are already on my playlist.

After another 30 minutes of waiting, it was Mitski’s time to shine. Her songs were so beautiful and I loved her choreography and lighting, both of which were incredibly unique. For example, in one of her songs, she slow-dances with a beam of light and in another, she is trapped in a cage of light. Being able to see all of these songs which I loved live was amazing and I could tell the whole crowd was enjoying it too.

As the show came to a close, we were one of the first ones out, meaning that we were able to stand in the merch (short for merchandise) line before it grew too long and I walked away with a T-shirt which I really love.

This concert has been one of my favorite experiences and I’m so grateful and happy that I was able to go. Have you ever been to a concert?

Being in a Production

Recently, I was part of a production of Kannagi, a classic Indian myth. I was part of the ensemble, playing small roles here and there, such as Kannagi’s friends in one section, or personifying bad luck in another. The entire production was around 18 minutes long, therefore being a shortened version of the story.

In the story, Kannagi meets Kovalan, a merchant, and the two fall in love and get married. However, when out on a trip, Kovalan meets the dancer Madhavi and spends all his money on her. Kannagi forgives Kovalan and gives him her anklet to trade and get money for. However, when he tries to get it sold, the jeweler charges him with the theft of the queen’s anklet, which had been missing and looked like Kannagi’s anklet. The king, normally just, orders the execution of Kovalan. When Kannagi hears of this, she is furious, opening up her anklet to prove that, unlike the queen’s, hers has rubies inside. She curses the city of Madurai to burn and becomes a goddess.

In our production, we played the role of Kannagi’s friends, dancing with her when she was joyous and celebrating the wedding, the role of bad luck, chasing Kovalan when he goes to sell the anklet, the role of soldiers, killing Kovalan, and the role of fire, showing the city burning down.

We learned this entire item in a week and I had class most days- Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday- leading up to the performance (Sunday the 8th). We learned the item in the first 4 days, using the last 2 as days to review and clean up the dance. Often, classes were 2 hours long including time to choreograph and practice.

The dance itself was a mix of styles from Southern India as the story originated from there. This included Bharatnatyam (Tamil Nadu), Mohiniyattam (Kerala), and Kathakali influences (Kerala).

During this time, I had the misfortune of injuring both my knee and my ankle. We made sure to order braces as soon as possible, hoping to alleviate the pain. Luckily, the braces did help, providing support for both areas and allowing me to continue to dance while still “resting” my leg. I wasn’t able to properly rest it with all the classes, but over time, as I continued to use the braces, the pain faded, though still there. For the final performance, I did end up wearing the knee brace.

While the performance wasn’t perfect, I was proud of what we’d learned and performed, especially at how emotional and powerful it was. It was an amazing item and I really enjoyed it and hope to learn something like it again.

My Superhero Story

Recently, for English class, we had to write a short story were we starred as the superhero.

As Phantom ran through the streets, dodging angry pedestrians and the occasional scooter, she couldn’t help but wish that her power let her teleport short distances. “I mean, what use even is teleportation if it only works to faraway places?” As she finally arrived at Minute Maid, she huffed, running a hand over her face. Looking up, she found herselves face to face with Typhon, the behemoth that had the nerve to be terrorizing Houston for weeks now. Normally, the problem would’ve been handed off to a larger superhero, someone way above Phantom’s pay grade- not that Phantom was getting paid- but all the local superheroes were “off on vacation”, a likely excuse. So the case had been assigned to Phantom. Lovely.

Typhon was…an interesting problem, for sure. Phantom had read her fair share of Greek mythology, devoured it in fact, and the so-called “father of all monsters” would be no small feat to defeat. Last time he had resurfaced, it had taken Zeus burying him underneath a mountain to keep him gone. As Phantom ran her eyes over his figure, she tensed, preparing herself for the onslaught of battle. She wasn’t one of the fighters, normally, that was handled more by the likes of Sylph and Undine, two higher-ranking superheroes, but she could handle a low-grade monster. Typhon…wasn’t low-grade. In the slightest. As she got into position for the upcoming fight, the advice her trainer had given her ran through her head and she took a breath, getting in stance to run and jump onto Typhon’s body, hopefully giving her a better chance to- wait, no way that was a rock, it was too... She shook her head, wrenching her gaze away from the rock, forcing herself to focus. Distractions were…unfortunately common on the job, especially shiny things…like that rock. She took a sharp breath, gazing back up at the beast in front of her. Well, better to get it over with, right?

That was the last fully formed thought she had before the fight began.

She woke up in an unfortunately familiar bed, groaning as the room came into focus. The agency that had recruited her, ACE, had rooms for each of its members, not that there were many. Phantom’s room was decorated sparsely, a few of her favorite books on the table and a poster or two of her favorite artists adorning the walls. She forced herselves to get up, wincing as her weight rested on her sore legs. Not only had she just fought Typhon, she had been to dance class just the day before. And now she was paying the price. “Not that I knew that I would be fighting this guy today,” her inner monologue reminded her.

She made her way downstairs, fidgeting with the pendant around her neck as she did. The powers that she had, well, really, she could’ve been anybody’s. She had been walking home from school one day, when something shiny caught her attention. She had kneeled down to pick up the object, a medallion, delicately engraved with a star. And…nothing had changed. She had tucked the medal into her pocket and thought nothing more of it. Things had taken a turn when, later that night, she had wished to go somewhere else, anywhere else. Being deposited in the harsh, stinging winds of the Sahara wasn’t exactly what she meant, but the medallion opened up a whole world of possibilities.

Before long, the word of her power had reached ACE, and she had reached out, offering a job and a promise of a “back-to-normal” life. Phantom had been hesitant to accept at first, but now, a year later, it was the last thing she regretted. She had been able to go back to school as Iniya- living a normal life with normal friends and normal classes. Most of the time, she was free to be herselves- going to dance classes, reading a lot, everything she had done normally. However, ever so often, her pendant- that medal she had picked up that fateful day- would begin to glow, softly at first, then more intensely, until she went and battled the villain that had chosen to terrorize the city that day.

The power to teleport was fun, sure, but…as just a high schooler, there wasn’t a lot to do with it. One day, far in the future, she wanted to be known. Known for doing good. Known for being a strong force in the world who people looked up to. Her dream of all dreams, not that she would tell anyone, was to rescue people around the world, freeing her from situations of peril and conflict. She could only hope that ACE would sponsor that dream of hers.

Even with that dream, Iniya hoped to settle down for life later, not as Phantom, but as herself. Get a good, steady job, have a nice house, a few cats, the works. She didn’t hate being a superhero, far from it, but she didn’t want that to be her entire life. She wanted a life dictated by her, not by a medallion picked up on the street or an agency that happened to realize her power. But that was in the future. For now, all she wanted was to survive in high school, no, more than survive, thrive.

Iniya left the agency with a backwards glance and a smile to Rose, her favorite concierge. As she headed home, she permitted herself a glance at the window of her favorite bookshop, admiring its neat and colorful displays. She had been hoping to buy herself a copy of ‘If We Were Villains’, one of the best books she had read in a while, but it had been sold out for a while. Reading was one of the things Iniya genuinely enjoyed and nothing could pull her away from a good book. Ever since she was young, her parents had encouraged her love of reading…which had potentially backfired as Iniya now needed a book in hand to even think about going to any social event.

Breaking away from her thoughts, Iniya focused on the tasks ahead of her. She would need to get home, recharge, work on homework, then get ready for the next round of fighting, after all, there was no way that Typhon would have been killed from just one volley of attacks. She headed home, already formulating a plan for her next attack. Phantom’s fighting style wasn’t anything incredibly unique, other than added acrobatics, usually just to show off. She had been hoping to add archery into her fighting style for ages now, though ACE had been picky about sponsoring her classes. Rolling her shoulders back, she let herself into the house, disappearing into her room to start studying for her math test. “Really,” she thought, “Math teachers should be more forgiving towards students who are quite literally superheroes.”

A few hours later, Iniya was ready to go, this time as Phantom- (hopefully) killer of Typhon. Typhon had retreated slightly, moving over to the Botanic Gardens and as Phantom ran through the foliage, she couldn’t help but wonder at the flora. “Maybe I should come here sometime…”. She ran up to Typhon, standing there, with the sun at her back, flanked by both Sylph and Undine, offering nods to her both, though her inner voice was screaming at her just casually standing next to the two greatest superheroes the city had. But now wasn’t the time.

So with the sunset fast approaching, the three stood together, one final force against the father of all monsters, one stand against death. It was time.

I hope you enjoyed reading!

Looking Forward to 10th Grade

In just a few days, I’ll be in my sophomore year of high school. I’ll be taking more AP (Advanced Placement) courses and my workload will increase. I’ll also be spending more time on dance as well as other extracurriculars. All the same, I’m looking forward to that time and am excited to get back to a solid routine!

In school, I’ll be taking English 2, Chemistry, AP World History, AP Pre-calculus, AP Statistics, Spanish 3, and AP Seminar, a research based class. All of the AP’s are going to be tough and I’ll have to take a test for each of them at the end of the school year. Additionally, I’ve heard that Spanish 3 is a tough course, so I’ll be sure to put in a lot of time and effort to study for it.

Even though I’ll be doing a lot of work this year, I hope that I’ll have a fun time overall and will learn a lot from all the classes!