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The Foolish Thief
The moon was like a giant fluorescent light in the sky. It was a full moon night. And a foolish thief was getting ready to rob a villager’s house. He located the house he had decided upon and tip-toed inside. From the silvery world of moonlight outside, he had entered a dark room. He could not even see his own hand or foot. But on the wall near the roof, there was a ventilator. The moon’s rays came sliding through it to create a circle of light....
Why Do Horses Need Shoes?
Clip-clop, clip-clop goes a horse on the road. If you look carefully you will see that it walks on the tips of its toes – like a ballet dancer. Walking on tiptoe for a long time is difficult for us, but horses find it the easiest thing to do. The foot of a horse is divided into a toe with a broad tip. While other animals have nails and claws, the horse has a hoof surrounding the toe....
A Town Called Boring
Once upon a time in India,there was a town called Boring. It was by the side of Dull Lake. The people of Boring never smiled; they did not know how to — Whether it was grownups or children. All the children ever did was study. They studied in school all day. On returning home they got busy with homework and with revision for class tests in school. No one played any games — there were no playgrounds in the town....
Programmed to learn
Two boys and two girls. They were to be found at one of the busiest traffic signals in south Delhi. The boys were about five or six years of age. The girls looked older, about eight or nine. As the traffic zipped along on the road, the four of them would play their own games on the divider. As soon as the traffic stopped on one side of the road, obeying the red signal, the children stopped their games....
Schoolboy’s Diary – 4000 years ago
When I was in the fourth standard, I got my first real diary as a present from a cousin. It made me feel very important because it was gifted to me in the year for which it had been printed. Until then the elders had always shoved at me, two or three-year-old diaries in which the listed holidays and Sundays made no sense. Naturally! It was a diary bound in dark brown leather and was printed by some company that must have been making a lot of money....
Boomerang: From Weapon to Fun
This goes back a long time. The aborigines, or the original inhabitants of Australia, needed an effective weapon to hunt animals and birds for food. When they looked around, their eyes rested on wood, which was so easily available. They made banana-shaped weapons of hard wood, with a curve on top and a flat bottom. That made each leg act like an aircraft wing. They held it from one end over their shoulders and threw it hard and straight with such force that even animals could be killed....
Crafts kits for kids
I live in a neighbourhood of Delhi which is full of children of all ages, shapes and sizes. In the evenings, the quiet of the place is shattered by the blood curdling cries of boys and girls let loose in the park. They play games that are certainly not for the fainthearted! Ishaan and Tarini are no different. This brother-sister pair is particularly mischievous. Eight year old Ishaan and 10-year-old Tarini are known for playing pranks on others....
What is a Tsunami?
Last year there were three more fishing villages in the Pacific island country of Papua New Guinea than there are today. You might ask why. The answer is that these three villages were washed away by an ocean wave that was more like a giant wall of water. It goes by the name tsunami, a Japanese term meaning a harbour wave. Ocean that Becomes a Giant Wall [Illustrations by Kusum Chamoli] A tsunami is caused by a disturbance in the sea floor, just like the disturbances on land....
What Toothpaste did the Ancients Use?
One of my earliest childhood memories of Delhi is seeing morning walkers, milkmen, or shopkeepers chewing away at the neem stick, much like a cow chewing the cud. It seemed strange that they should go to all that effort when readymade toothpaste was available. Neem (Azadirachta indic a) twig still used as toothbrush in many parts of India The world was divided into four kinds of people: those who used toothpaste and brush, and they were the elite; those who used tooth powder for which the index finger doubled as the brush; people who used indigenous “monkey-brand” tooth powders and lastly, those who used neem sticks which were two-in-one....
The Rich Man's Vessels
Once upon a time there lived a rich man in a village in Kerala. His house was full of vessels of all sizes – some as small as a bird, others big enough to seat a child. Whenever there was a ceremony in any household, the villagers would borrow his utensils. After the function, they would return the whole lot of vessels to the rich man. Then one day, a strange thing happened. A villager who had borrowed some utensils, returned a couple more than he had borrowed....