My Sister, Anya
Anya is my little sister and she is eleven years old. She likes to read Harry Potter. She likes to eat kidney beans and garbanzo beans. She likes to spell words. Her favorite word is 'spelling bee'. Her favorite restaurant is Amber India. Her favorite hairstyle is two ponytails. She wants to be a fashion designer when she grows up. I always like to squeeze her cheeks because she is so cute. When I was little, I asked my mom if I could kiss her cheek. Instead of kissing her cheek, I bit it. Poor thing.
My Dad, Sohil
Sohil Patel is my father and his favorite color is purple. He works for a company called Deloitte. He usually reads to us every night. He tells us the word of the day every morning. I sometimes get two copies of the same book and my Dad and I read one copy each. He sometimes takes us down to his office and we make art projects for him. He has a big drawing board in his office and we draw lots of pictures on it. I love Daddy,
My Mom, Sheila
Sheila Patel is my mother and her favorite color is black. She made up some stories called Chyla stories. These are about a girl who is really naughty and her name is Chyla. Chyla has a special power and that power is to get invisible. Sheila has two brothers. She likes to eat Brussels Sprouts and Kale. She likes to go for jogs. She goes almost every day. She reads me good books and she makes the best aloo parathas in the world. Sheila is probably the best Mom on earth.
My Uncle, Nizar
Nizar is my uncle who lives all the way in New York. We call him 'Swiper' because whenever we get something to show him, he swipes it. We used to visit him more often when we used to live in Avon because we were able to drive there. I want to go and visit him soon or maybe he can visit us. His wife is dad's sister. Her name is Roma. The trick with Swiper is when he swipes your stuff, if you say, "give it to me", he is not going to give it back. If you say, "I don't want it", he is going to give it back.
My Aunt, Roma
Roma is my aunt and she likes to read my essays. She bought me a princess blanket and she bought my sister a moon blanket. Her favorite colors are red and yellow. She has a red car. She is my Dad's big sister. She has a picture of my dad and her when they were little playing with a fake gun. She has tabbbouleh for me every time I am there. She lets us sit on the big chairs for dinner, She has a big cozy red blanket that we go under every time. Roma is a really good aunt and we love her.
My Cousin, Neil
Neil is my cousin and he is 22 years old. We used to have pillow fights with him. He works at Pitney Bowes. He got his job on June 2011. He loved to eat pop tarts. When we had pillow fights, his friends would tell me to steal his favorite doggy bone pillow and hide it.. We have a a big bin full of Neil's toys that he played with when he was little. He had a stuffed dog named Lucy. His favorite color is purple. I wish I could meet him more often.
My Uncle, Venky
Venkatesh Iyer - -Venky Mama is my uncle. He is my mom's brother. He has two stuffed animals for us at his house. One is Totoro and the other is Peachy Head. They are both really big. We keep calling Venky Mama Totoro. He also has a lot of comics like Tintin. I like to read them. He once had us ride on his back and pretended he was Totoro. He has the same favorite food as I do -- Aloo Paratha. He has a really big bookshelf and some white clay that we can play with. I love him.
My Aunt, Tara
Tara Mami is my aunt. I call her Tara Mami because Mami is Aunt in Indian. She has a really book bookshelf. She bought us a lot of kiddy books to put in the bookshelf. I like reading Little Pea. It is in Tara Mami's bookshelf. She has a bid box full of art stuff under her bed and it is all in a big green box. She bought me a stuffed kangaroo. She even made me a stuffed animal. It was called an amoeba. It is blue in color. I am always excited to meet her. I love her.
My Uncle, Anand
Anand Iyer and Bahaar Faqih -- My uncle lives in San Francisco. I call him Anand Mama because Mama means Uncle in Indian. He sometimes turns into a ghost named OOmba GOOmba, He has lots of toys for us in his house. He even has a Japanese dolly. I have not given it a name yet. He has a swing in his garden. OOmba GOOmba is afraid of books. Sometimes we have belly fights. You have to push the other person to the other side of the room with your belly. Anand Mama always wins. He lives next to the Transamerica Pyramid. I love Anand Mama.
My Aunt, Bahaar
Bahaar Mami is my aunt. She has a really big house and a big box full of toys for us, She has books with mazes and dot to dots. Sometimes she takes us to the toy shop close to her house. She buys us toys and she plays with us a lot. She makes really good biryani. I like her chicken biryani. She sometimes tells us stories. She has a haunted guest room but it is pretty cool. She once took us out for a whole day at Fisherman's Wharf. I love her.
My Grandfather, J.I. Patel
J. I. Patel -- My grandfather lives in India. He lives in the Orient Building. He writes us letters almost all the time. He has a big bowl of marbles and we play games with it. My favorite game is when we close our eyes and we have to try to guess if the number of marbles is odd or even, Anya always guesses even. She likes to make up her own game with the marbles. He watches horse races. He took me once. I watched the race on a really big T.V. I love him.
My Grandmother, Hamida Patel
My grandmother lives in India. She lives in Orient Building. We call her Dadi. He real name is Hamida Patel. She bought me a Hannah Montana painting kit and a Hannah Montana coloring book. She is my grandmother on my dad's side. She has a really pretty house and she cooks really good food for us. Next summer, we might go to India just by ourselves --just me and my sister Anya, Dadi cooks really good Chole. She makes little bags of peanuts and raisins and gives them to us. We love her.
My Grandfather, R.C. Iyer
Tata
R. C. Iyer -- Tata is my grandfather and he loves ladoos. He lives in Great Eastern Royal.He has a big cupboard full of toys. He has a dog named Poochie. He always has ladoos. He lives next door to a girl named Tweesha. Tata tells us good stories like 'The two cats and the cake'. He likes to watch cricket. Once he bought us squirt guns. He has a really bid podium where we like to play hoola hooping. He likes to play 'Snakes and Ladders' and 'Jungle Ludo'. We love him a lot.
My Grandmother, Kamal Iyer
My Grandmother lives in India. She lives in the Great Eastern Royal. She wears a sari all the time. She made up stories and they are called Tetunia stories. These are about a naughty little girl named Tetunia and she is friends with two good girls named Lyla and Anya. She cooks really good food. She has a really cool shower where you have to put water into buckets and then on yourself. She bought a really big rubber ducky and we used to go inside. She may still have it. I love her.
My Great - Grandfather, K.K. Lalani
My great grandfather, K. K. Lalani is my dad's mom's dad. My dad calls him Bhai. He used to be a judge. After he retired, he was a lawyer. My dad said that he was an upright and honest judge, I get my big ears from him. He used to live in Bhavnagar. When he retired, he lived in Rajkot. He had four sons and five daughters. He used to take my dad to the library. I have never met him. He used to eat khichdi, yogurt, milk and papad for dinner every night. I wish I could meet him.
