Newsletter of Bal Sabha of Columbia, MO January 2005 Republic Day Issue Volume 8, Issue 1

EDITOR’S NOTE

President: Happy new issue have captions Leena Pattarkine year 2005, and also detailing the Vice President: happy Republic Day! characters in them Bharat Srinivasan This issue has many on the last page. Bal Secretary/Tresasurer: varying articles, Sandesh would like Sudhashree Garikela ranging from to express its Cultural Secretary: celebrations, to gratitude to everyone Surya Mantrala biographies, tracking who contributed to Bal Sandesh Coordinator: asteroids and comets the relief efforts for Hema Srinivasan and everyday safety, the recent tsunami as well as the disaster. continuing poets and kitchen sections. The pictures seen in this -Ashok Cutkosky Pongal Urmila Kutikkad, Third grade, Ridgeway Elementary

The festival of Pongal is celebrated in the southern state together to celebrate. of Tamil Nadu in India. Pongal falls in the month of Janu- The Indian community of Columbia celebrated Pongal on ary. It is similar to the Thanksgiving day here. January 17, 2005 at the Memorial Union. We had enter- Pongal is a three day tainment programs for festival. The first day is about an hour. Some of celebrated as Bhogi the items were done by us when Lord Indra is wor- kids. shipped. Lord Indra, One of the items was repre- being the ruler of the senting famous people from clouds, is worshipped for the history of Tamil Nadu bringing plentiful rain and This is a photo of that a good harvest. The event. I am Manimekalai, second day is Surya second from the left on the Pongal and is celebrated back row. She is the hero- to praise the Sun God. ine of the great literary work Prayers are said to the Manimekalai. She was a Sun God to seek his Buddhist monk and be- blessing. The third day lieved that nobody should is Mattu Pongal which is go hungry or homeless. an occasion to honor the We had a food drive on cattle. To the farmer the Pongal day and donated cow gives milk and the the food collected to the bull draws the ploughs in Centtal Missouri Food the fields. Therefore the Bank. There were skits, farmers honor their cattle on the day of Mattu Pongal. Lord dances, and songs too. Ganesh and Goddess Parvathi are also worshipped on After the entertainment we had a nice potluck dinner with this day. During pongal celebrations community dinners Sarkkarai Pongal as one of the main dishes. are held where rich and poor people, old and young come 2 Bal Sandesh Tri-Yearly Newsletter of the Bal Sabha of Columbia, MO Siemens Westinghouse Competition Anand Palaniappan, Senior, Hickman High School

months of operation than have sity sites. At my regional competi- been discovered since the inven- tion, held at the University of Notre tion of the telescope. My project is Dame, I met an eclectic group of in developing algorithms to track students from both public and pri- these millions of new objects—a vate schools with projects in problem similar to missile tracking. nanotechnology, computational Based on discussion with my advi- chemistry, group theory, and phys- sor Prof. Uhlmann in the Dept. of ics. All the projects were of excel- Computer Science at the Univ. of lent quality, so the regional compe- Missouri-Columbia, I began writing tition seemed to focus on selecting thousands of lines of computer an individual who can communi- Briefly, my research project, Auto- code to solve this task. As I raced cate their research well to both ex- matic Tracking and Discovery of to finish analyzing results and writ- perts and non-specialists. Potentially Hazardous Earth Ap- ing a paper submission in early proaching Asteroids and Comets, October for the Siemens Westing- The winner of this year’s Midwest is about tracking near-Earth ob- house Competition, I never ex- Regionals was Po Ling Lo, and jects. While baseball outfielders pected to become a regional final- each of us regionalists received may create the illusion that track- ist among only twenty-nine other $1000 for college. Future students ing an object is relatively straight- innovative science students across should aim to get an early start. forward, imagine if one outfielder the country. However, if taking the whole pro- was required to track a hundred This year, in the 2004-2005 com- ject on alone sounds too challeng- baseballs. Odds are, even a hun- petition, over twelve hundred pa- ing, consider the team competition. dred outfielders tracking a hundred pers (reports up to 20 pages in In fact, only one hundred team pa- baseballs would find the task im- length) were received. From these pers were received this year and possible. submissions, three hundred semi- twenty-four move to regionals. Ei- In 2005, the Pan-STARRS wide finalists were selected, and in a ther way, conducting research is field imaging telescope, being con- second round, five individuals in challenging and rewarding. The structed at the University of Ha- each of six regions were invited for research done today, inevitably, waii, will become operational, im- two days of competition and inter- helps the people of tomorrow. aging more new objects in its first views at one of the regional univer-

Thyagaraja By: Rijutha Garimella, Fourth Grade, Fairview Elementary School

I was saint young. As he got Thyagaraja on older he had the Pongal disciples wanting to parade of learn those famous songs. In 1907 his Tamilians. students and their Thyagaraja students started was born near singing his songs Thanjavur on every year in the banks of January and other the river musicians are Cauvery in continuing this. 1767. He started singing devotional songs on Lord Rama when he was really Tri-Yearly Newsletter of the Bal Sabha of Columbia, MO Bal Sandesh 3 Balsandesh Poets:

Grandpa's Funeral By: Prerna Srinivasan, “I am Thankful that Nature Still Survives” 4th Grade, Shepard Elementary ( A thanksgiving Poem) By: If you hadn't gone to your grandpa's funeral, you don't know how to cry. Maya Cutkosky, Chubby tears roll lifelessly down your chubby cheeks. 5th Grade, Fairview Elementary Sad noises come out of your mouth. sad thoughts come into mind. Yellow flowers flow along golden sheets of grass If you hadn't gone to your grandpa's funeral, Along the lake lotus flowers shower all their beauty You don't know how to cry. The lake itself, see through blue dazzles with life A squirrel shivers wet because it has fallen in water If you hadn't gone to your grandpa's funeral, you And I am thankful places like these exist. don't know how to frown. You try to turn your smile upside down, but it won’t The wild life is plentiful as well as the plants let you. A patient little bird waits for its worms Some people think you are weird, because you smile A fox pokes his nose up at a promising scent when you are angry. The sun set shows while the cool air starts to stir If you hadn't gone to your grandpa's funeral, you And I am very thankful such a place exists. don't know how to frown. A deer runs about glad to be free If you hadn't gone to your grandpa's funeral, you can Color flashing around her, such a pretty home she has always remember your grandpa. Yes, you can always A frog hops across the lilies, his back green and blue fondly remember your grandpa. The yellow green lilies bounce up and down with ripples From the time he carried me to the time he played And I am very thankful these places exist. joyfully with me, there are lots of memories. I am glad, that I even learned my mother tongue from What a wonder it is that these places survive him. Alone in the peace and harmony of nature If you hadn't gone to your grandpa's funeral, in many More prettier than the endless buildings of society ways you 'CAN' remember 'YOUR' grandpa. I am glad nature still survives. But you can’t remember ‘MY’ grandpa. ********* ****************

Safety Tips By Shreyas Srinivasasn, Preschool, Southwest Play School

Be careful when plugging in any electrical applicances. Always wear sturdy helmets and other safety gear, while Small mistakes could even cost you your life, like the way it riding your bike, skate-boarding or roller-blading. happenned to my paternal Grand-father 33 years back. Always look in both directions for vehicles, beforecrossing Small children under the age of 19 should not talk in their the street. cell phones for a prolonged periods of time. Thewaves can Never eat more than one chocolate a day. It will lead to de- damage the brain cells, leading to poor grades in school. caying of teeth. 4 Bal Sandesh in her body like “Kollukatti” because Tri-Yearly Newsletter of the Bal Sabha of Columbia, MO he hit her. He then remembered that . BAWARCHI his mother had said that the sweet Photo Captions was called Kollukatti. He screamed, Seen on the parade photos on The Kitchen Corner Yes, make “Kollukatai” not Athribak- pages 2 from the left are: Nara- Aswath Kumar, sha. His wife made Kollukatti and simha Pallavan, Mahendra Palla- Third grade, they lived happily ever after. This is van, Raja Raja Cholan, Rani Mangammal, Thyagaraja with Ridgeway Elementary an old folk tale. What do you think will happen today? M.S. Subbulaskshmi in front. In addition seen on the front Here is my mother’s recipe for Kollu- page are: Mathematician Ra- kattai. manujan, Ilango Adigal, Mani- Kollukkattai- mekalai on the left end and Bha- lasaraswathi and Thiruvalluvar not Athribaksha Kollukattai: on the right end.

This recipe comes from an old folk Ingredients: Rice rava -8 Oz (Photos by Bharat Srinivasan) tale. Grated coconut – 4 Oz Chopped onions – 2 Oz Once there lived in a village, a man Chopped green chillies – 3 named Shiva with his wife Swathika. Oil – 2 tsp On Ganesh Chaturthi day, Shiva Mustard – ½ tsp went to his mother’s house. His mom Urad dhal – ½ tsp Upcoming Festivals, had made some sweets, and he Channa dhal – ½ tsp Local Celebrations loved them. He asked his mother Curry leaves, what they were called. “Kollukatti” coriander, salt/ to taste and Cultural Events replied his mother. When Shiva was coming home he kept on saying the Cooking Method: Saraswathi Pooja: name Kollukatti, Kollukatti, Kollukatti 12th Feb, Saturday so he wouldn’t forget the name. Sud- denly he came to a big puddle along Heat oil in a pan and sauté mustard, Holi in columbia: the way. He screamed urad dhal, channa, curry leaves, on- March 6, Sunday “Athribhaksha”, as he jumped across ion, chilli, cilantro and coconut. Add Sargam: (classical) the puddle. After he jumped over the 2 cups of water and let it boil. Add the puddle he forgot all about Kollukatti rice rava and salt and cook for a March 13, Sunday and began repeating Athribaksha little while. Make round balls out of it Ugadhi in Columbia: instead. and steam it in a steamer. Kollukattai April 9, Saturday. is ready to eat. When Shiva went home he asked his wife Swathika to make “Athribaksha”. She did not know what Athribaksha Beginning the January 2000 issue this column was because she had never heard of has become a regular feature in Bal Sandesh. If you have recipes to share with our readers, it. Shiva hit her because she did not please send them to our editorial staff or make Athribaksha for him. Swathika parent advisors. We will select a few recipes sobbed and complained to Shiva. to include in each issue. Photos to accompany She showed that there were bumps recipes will also be appreciated.

Bal Sandesh needs your help! We welcome submissions of all types (reports, poetry, short stories, artwork, THANK YOU puzzles, jokes etc.). Work can be submitted to the Editor or the Parent Advisors. We This issue of Bal Sandesh has been made prefer electronic version of the submission (e-mail or diskette). Artwork can be possible through financial sponsorship from: submitted on paper. Older kids interested in volunteering to serve on the editorial/ production team should contact the Editorial Staff or the Parent Advisors. Days Inn/Travelodge Howard Johnson/Panda Pals Taj Emporium Editorial Staff Phone E-Mail Vellore S. Arthi 446-0663 [email protected] Indu Chandrasekhar 446-6143 Ashok Cutkosky 445-2854 [email protected] Anand Palaniappan 446-1962 [email protected] Aditya Srinath 446-8403 [email protected] Meghna Srinath 446-8403 [email protected] Published Tri-Yearly Republic Day Issue– January Parent Advisor Summer Issue – May Hema Srinivasan 445-2854 [email protected] Diwali or India Nite Issue - October Vellore S. Gopalaratnam 446-0663 [email protected]