My name is Anoosh Vijay Patel.  I am 10 years old.  I live with my family in Calcutta, India.

We live in the slums.  We are very poor.  But we are very grateful to have each other.

Father sells fruit to try to earn a living.  Mother stays home to take care of us, the kids.  There are seven of us.  I am the oldest child.  I have two sisters and two brothers.  Their names are Sita (8), Kumar (6), Jaspreet (5), and Varesh (3).  Our grandmummy and grandfather also live with us.

I sometimes attend school, but not usually.  I stay home so I can take care of the house and my brothers and sisters and try to help Mother out somewhat.  I am very smart; I taught myself how to read and write by looking at magazines and what few books I do have.  I wish I could go to school more than I do, but my family needs me.  So I usually stay home.

When I am not taking care of my family or the house, I like to read, write, draw pictures, go to school,  and play with my friends.  My life may be simple compared to a lot of people, but hey, I am happy (for the most part).

We are Hindi.  We don't believe in the god of Heaven; we have our own gods to believe in.  We believe that everything has a god and everything happens for a reason.  There are good gods and bad gods.  We have an altar in the living room of our home and we pray at this altar every single day; we think this is why life has been good for us because we pray daily and try to be kind to others.

Last week we had some missionary people from Australia come to our village where they told us about Jesus, but all that did was leave us feeling even more confused.  So we ran 'em out of town (not so much me, but Father and some other men of the village did).  Father threatened to beat them if they came around again; they left in a hurry and we kids laughed and cheered.

They truly frightened me and the younger children of the village: they looked like ghosts.  Their skin was very pale and they talked strangely; I couldn't understand a word they said.  They also talked very fast.

When I grow up I would like to be a fruit seller like Father or maybe a sultan.  I think I would be good as a sultan or a fruit seller.  Anything has got to be better than missing school or taking care of my little brothers and sisters while my friends get to have all the fun!  

Well, I have written enough for now.  It is hard to find things to write about, so I will go.  I will try to do better next time.  Take care and so long!

~Anoosh.  :)