Classroom Internet Exchange
Letters from India

Here are some of the topics covered by our students in Mumbai, India :

Monsoon Rain

Two students have written about our weather - currently, the monsoon (rainy) season. This year's monsoon started with a bang with the first rains causing widespread flooding and bringing the city to a standstill for almost 3 days!

Bharti Shah (Mrs)

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Dear Friends,

There are three seasons. They are:summer, winter and rainy. Now rainy season is going on.Rains started from the month of June.

Our first rain made Bombay's streets flooded. The water came upto my knees.The cars were getting spoilt. They stopped on the road.some cars were fully sinked

This happened at Saturday.On that day, trains and buses could not run. Offices were closed. Schools were also closed because of the flood. Small children's made paper boats and played in the water.Water came inside our building.Our building compound was also flooded with water.

Because of the flood,people had to go walking.As the trains were not working many people spent their night on the railway stations.

It was raining so heavily that the water was dripping from my house's ceiling.

The rainy season last for four months.After this season we will have winter and then summer season and we will have no rains. so, it is necessary to have monsoon season because the rain water fills the reseviors and lakes to the top that it lasts for the whole year.

Ratna Vora and Devanshi Shah (both girls)

Henna (Mehendi) Application

Hello!

Our students are back from their vacation.

One of the students attended her cousin's wedding during the vacation and she has written about henna.

Henna paste (Mehndi) is very popular in India. It is used to make decorative designs on the palms of hands. It is normally applied for Engagement Ceremonies and Weddings by the bride and lady members of both the bride and groom's families.

Bridal mehndi is applied on the front and back of hands and also on both feet. It's a time-consuming affair and may take as long as three to four hours.

It is also common to use black mehndi as a natural hair-dye.

Bharti Shah (Mrs)

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Dear friends,

We are going to tell about Mehndi [Henna]. Mendi is made from the green Henna leaves and crushed into green paste. The colour of the Mendi becomes brown.

We apply Mendi using a plastic cone [like cake icing]. We apply Mendi on palms of hands and legs (for bride). We apply mendi in Weddings.

We have to keep it till twelve hours. We do small patterns on our palms eg. peacock, fish, mango, etc. The paste will dry and the Mendi colour stains on the hand brown or orange colour. This will last for eight or nine days.

From your friends,
Rupal and Vidhi (both girls)

Mangoes

Indians LOVE mangoes. The main mango season is during summer - late March to June. Here are some letters on Indian mangoes.

Bharti Shah (Mrs)

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Dear Friends,

I am going to tell you about the mangoes found in India. The mango is the King of the Fruits in India. We get mangoes in summer season, from March to June.

In our country there are mangoes of many types such as Alphonso, Ratnagiri, Devgadh, Kesar, Batli, Langdo, Payri, Rajapuri, etc. We get Alphonso mangoes from Ratnagiri, Kesar mangoes from Gujarat, etc. The Alphonso mango (also called Hafus) is considered King of the Mangoes.

All these mangoes have their own different taste. Some mangoes we eat by cutting into slices and cubes, others we put in the mixer to make smooth raas (thick juice - no water added).

If you too like mangoes, come to India in summer season and have a taste of Indian mangoes!

Your friend,
Nikhil Y Sheth (boy)

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Dear Keypals,

I am Chirag. I am going to tell you about the mangoes in India. Mangoes are known as the King of fruits in India.

There are many types of mangoes in India. Some of them are Kesar, Langdo, Alphanso and Payari.

This year the production of mangoes was less because of unfavourable climate in India. The climate for growing mangoes must be hot and very shiny, but this year the climate was cloudy and rainy.

There were fewer mangoes and the price of mangoes was Rs 200 to Rs 500 per dozen!

Your Friend
Chirag R Shah (boy)

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Hello friends!

We are talking about the mangoes in India. There are many types of mangoes that I know. There are so many fruits but the mangoes is the king of fruit. Mangoes are nutritious and sweet fruits. This year the mangoes were expensive because of the climate.

The mangoes have Vitamin A and Vitamin C. The mangoes are soft to eat. The mangoes are orange in colour. The mangoes have one big seed inside. If we eat too many mangoes, we will become fat!

From Your Friends
Kunal and Akshat (both boys)

Mrs Bharti Shah is Co-ordinator of the Computer Centre.
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Revised: February 02, 1999.