Room 613 Student Blogs - 2005/2006

Indira Gandhi. Who is she? On Nov. 19th, 1917, Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was born in Allahabad. She was the daughter Jawaharlal Nehru and Kamala Kaul Nehru.

When her parents taught her everything she needed to know, she went to collage and studied at Visva Bharati University in Bengal. She then attended University of Oxford in England, shortly after her mother died in 1936. As college left Indira’s life, she joined the Indian Nation Congress in 1938 for Indian Independence. Love was next on Indira’s list as she met Feroze Gandhi and got married. She then had two sons, Rajiv (1944) and Sanjay (1946).

A year after Sanjay’s birth, India won it’s independence! Indira’s father then became Prime Minister having Indira the hostess of political confident. Working as a hostess, tragedy struck. Indira’s husband died in 1960. Four years later another loss in the family occurred. Indira’s father, Jawaharlal died. Now you may be wondering, well who was the Prime Minister in replace of Jawaharlal. His name was Lal Bahadur Shastri. He was the replaced Jawaharlal but soon died in 1966, leaving Indira to follow the footsteps of her father. Indira became the third Prime Minister. While Indira was Prime Minister, her beloved son Sanjay, died later in the year of 1980. He was piloting a private airplane over New Delhi and crashed.

Indira was a great Prime Minister. She accomplished many of her dreams and brought together many people. I quote, ” You can not shake hands with a clenched fist.” but apparently some people did not agree with Indira. Indira was killed by two sikh body guards who took revenge and killed her by the grounds of her home. Rajiv then became Prime Minister, replacing his mother. Rajiv was Prime Minister for five years. He shortly resigned in 1989. His life had other plans for him when he was killed in a suicide bombing.

Indira Gandhi was a great person, we will never forget her.

I have learned a lot more about Indira Gandhi that I ever thought. Now I understand how she was a great person and an inspiration to us.

“Even if I died in the service of the nation, I would be proud of it. Every drop of my blood…..will contribute to the growth of this nation and make it strong and dynamic”

I got my information from Encyclopedia 2000 and my picture and other information from the website below.

http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Independent/Indira.html

1938

Dear American friend,

As you know I am a citizen of Turkey. Much has happened that you have yet to hear. So without further ado, let me tell you! You know those hats that men would always wear? They were called a fez. Men started wearing them when an Ottoman sultan demanded his officials and soldiers to where fezzes. This was actually an advantage for the Muslim men because when they prayed, their hats reached the ground and made it easier for their foreheads to reach. Then in the year 1925, Mustafa Kemal (our president of the Turkish republic) showed up with a hat that had no brim, and western clothing. So being the dictator he is, Mustafa made all men wear these hats. Yuck! These poor men then had to give up their lovely fezzes because Mustafa made it a law that they shall no longer where fezzes. Many men disliked this law and wished the could have their fezzes back! If I had to do that, people might have thought I’d given up my religion! But for us, we just had to wear veils. So I thought! He then took our veils away. He was like taking everything away from us! Then we got to go to school, get jobs and vote! That was pretty good. But all this was new to us so we adapted pretty slow. Wouldn’t you? All of this took part after World War One. But Mustafa carried on again about how he wanted more changes to our government.

You know Mustafa gave the idea of western clothing? Well guess what else he did, he moved the capital from Istanbul to Ankara, showed an alphabet that was related to the Roman alphabet for Western European languages. Then he printed new covers of newspapers, books and street signs in his own style. You may recognize this name Mustafa came to be known by, Ataturk. That means “Father of the Turks.” Pretty cool name! The government changed many times over the past five decades after Mustafa’s death, this year.

Well I’m out of time!

Write back as soon as you get a chance!

Hope all is well in America!

~ Katarina

On February 10^th the Olympics will officially start in Turin, Italy. In just 17 days 84 medals will be given out to many athletes. Whether its biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, luge, ice skating, or snow boarding, only one will receive the gold. These games are not in only one spot. They occur in eight others, Bardonecchia, Pinerolo, Pragelato, Cesana-Pariol, Cesana-San Sicario, Sauze d’Oulx, Sestriere, and Torino followed by Claviere and Torre Pellice, the two training centers. Now that you know where it will take place and what you will see, lets move on to the judges. There will be 650 judges and referee’s. 10,000 journalists and media operators will be there to ketch every game. Back then the Olympics were nothing what you thought they were. They were only one day until 684 B.C. That’s when it extended to three days. But as the 5^th Century B.C. came along, the Olympics moved its way to five days. What you would watch was, running, long jump, shot put, javelin, boxing, pankration and equestrian events. Men could participate and watch the games. But not all women could go see these games. Some of the women did not like this segregation and would dress up as men to watch the games. If they were ever to be found they would be thrown off the Mountain of Typaion. As listed in the rules. There were also regulations. 14 articles in the regulations had an article on corruption. If a judge or opponent made a corruption, they would serve their punishment by being whipped.

Well there you have it. All you need to know about the Winter Olympics is taken care of. Now all you have to do is watch them for yourself!

For more information on the 2006 Winter Olympics,

go to: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/winter-olympics-turino-preview.html or http://www.sportsline.com/olympics/winter/

Credit to ‘Columbia Crossroads’

If I could go anywhere in the world I would have to say Italy!I would love to visit Italy because my family tree traces back to when our ancestors lived there.I would also want to know more about the food,language,and lifestyles.I have always wanted to go to Italy since the day I found out I was Italian!Maybe one of these days I can!!

Hello