Feature stories for kids that focus on unusual and interesting write-ups on the world we live in. About its customs, ways of life, about cinema, sport, champions, rare feats and artists. Cool reading for kids.
156 items in this section. Displaying page 6 of 16
Roman Holiday
Suitcase – checked. Diary – checked. I am writing my last lines before I take off in the time machine. Time machine – checked! This time it’s going to ancient Rome at the height of its empire. Only this morning I read somewhere that when in Rome, do as the Romans do. If you want to accompany me, sit in your seat, hold the mouse firmly, and whatever you do, don’t press the escape key on your keyboard....
The King Who Tested Babies
Children are always asking questions, like ‘Why is the sky blue’, or ‘Why do we have only one nose’. And sometimes they also open up things like clocks to understand how they work. Emperor Akbar was also like that — always wanting to know this or that. He continued to ask such questions even after becoming the emperor. Once he asked a very interesting question. How do babies learn to speak? Was it by listening to people talk?...
Puppets on a String
June 10: Who is that mousy lady in a sari? What is the clown doing with a huge ball that looks like the sun? And what is this — a man with the heads of two big-eyed cows in his hands? All of them look like they want to tell a story. Their story. And that’s exactly what they do, for they are all puppets. And when their master pulls the strings and speaks from behind the curtain, they sing and dance, play and fight, laugh and cry....
Puppets on a String Dance Again
Vishnudas Bhave’s puppets had to go through a long ordeal before they finally got to the right place and in the hands of the right people. It was not just a long journey but a tough one too. This story dates back to the year 1843, when the father of Marathi theatre, Vishnudas Bhave created his puppets, in Maharashtra’s Sangli district. They were not ordinary wooden puppets. They were so life-like that it seemed they would talk to you any moment....
Script your own Cartoon or Movie
Superman flies. Mowgli grins. A pig speaks and a dog identifies a thief. Children live in the land of toys and ice creams. You must have seen one or the other in cartoons or movies. So how does it all happen? How does it start? Well, it starts like most things do — with an idea. A person, or a group of persons, may have an idea. Then they work upon that idea and create a story around it....
The dabbawalas of Mumbai
Late every morning at Mumbai, in India, rows and rows of neatly stacked dabbas (boxes) with weird markings on the top are trundled across busy office buildings. At fifteen to one, a cloth capped man delivers one of these cylindrical boxes on my table in the Fort area. At once I open the case and find the lunch my mother had packed. Hot lunch delivered at the doorstep. Is this the same food my mother packed for me?...
Peru's Barefoot Librarians
Twelve year-old Leonardo Herrera had never seen a book in his life although he knew how to read. He and his friends used to carve letters and numbers on cactus leaves after seeing their teacher do the same on small blackboards. He belongs to poor peasant family in Bambamarca in Peru. His family grows maize and potatoes in a place which is 12,000 feet above sea-level. But Leonardo wanted to see what a book looks like....
When two Voices become One Voice of Peace
Have you ever asked your family members or friends about the images they think of when a mention is made of war? Chances are that many would think of the mushroom cloud made by the atomic bombs that were dropped by the United States over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6 and August 9, 1945, during the Second World War. Bombs wiped out more than half the population of the cities, and made the survivors and future generations suffer the harmful effects of radiation, in the form of terrible diseases and illnesses....
The Taziyas of Old Delhi
I was wandering in the crowded streets of Chandni Chowk, the heart of purani Dilli or Old Delhi. Until India gained independence in 1947 and a new Delhi came up, it was the ‘only’ Delhi. For close to 300 years, it had been the seat of Mughal power and culture, especially when it came to cuisine. And that is what drew me to that place! I had taken the day off to savour Chandni Chowk’s famous parathas and the juicy sweet jalebi at the famous 200-year-old sweet shop, Ghantewala....
Seeing the City
I have a friend with whom I argue a lot. No, that seems as if I am the one who does the arguing all the time. Half the time it is he who says something ridiculous, and then we start arguing! There is one topic that we keep coming back to argue upon. I have stayed in one city all my life — in Delhi, the capital of India. He from childhood has lived in many places — cities as well as small towns across India....