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 7 of 16
Ride the Camel
The world looks very strange from a camel’s back. On a recent trip to Rajasthan, we travelled on camel back from the city of Jaisalmer to the Sam dhani or sand dunes of the adjoining Thar Desert. We were travelling to Thar, just 42 km away, to watch its dazzling sunsets. Deoram and Raju When we set out from Jaisalmer, the desert city famous for its golden fortress, the early evening sun dazzles our eyes. Bright, beige wasteland stretches all around us for miles....
Shri Guru Nanak Dev
Shri Guru Nanak Dev was born at a time when the world was plunged into the darkness of ignorance, feudal tyranny, religious & cultural strife. Born in 1469 at Rai Bhoeki Talwandi (now known as Nankana Sahib) situated in the Punjab province of West Pakistan, he went on to lay down the foundation of Sikhism. He preached brotherhood and humanitarianism irrespective of caste, creed, colour and economic status. According to him, love of God implied love for his creations and thus service for humanity indicates one’s love for God....
The Boy who Lacked Sight but Had a Vision
It was like any other day in school for six-year-old George Abraham. He went to La Martinere school in Lucknow, where he lived with his aunt. The school was open to boys till the fourth standard. That day, as usual, the teacher found that the little boy was holding the book next to his nose. She complained and George had to undergo several eye tests. The doctors found that his retina was damaged beyond repair, and said he would lose most of his eyesight....
The Joy of Flying
Come Independence Day and the markets are flooded with kites. The sky looks like an ocean swarming with tiny tadpoles swimming across from one place to the other. Colourful tadpoles, though! Although kite flying has been popular in India for hundreds of years, historians believe that kite flying originated in China almost 3,000 years ago. There are many stories, which talk about the origin of kites. One of them goes like this: The Joy of Flying [Illustrations by Shiju George] There was a king in China who asked his army men to tie him to a kite and fly him off to the enemy’s territory....
The Silken Web
While working on a machine in a sericulture unit in Karnataka, a little girl was severely injured in the head. Sericulture is the art of raising silkworms to obtain raw silk. The incident ocurred in the Ramanagaram-Channapatna taluk (a group of villages make a taluk) of Karnataka, where there are many such units. The little girl is one of hundreds of thousands of children employed in the sericulture industry in the state. Owners of sericulture units prefer children over adults for the work....
The First Woman to Fly High in the Air Force
Across the world there are tales of women who take up adventurous careers as a challenge. They fly planes, climb mountains or travel to space on a rocket launcher. Some among them have another remarkable quality. They know how to include their striking achievements into their normal day-to-day life. Fifty-five year-old Dr Padmavati Bandhopadhyay is one of them. At home, she is like any other mother, happy to retell tales from the Mahabharata, cook elaborate meals for her family....
Why Father's Day
Father’s Day, contrary to what many people believe, was not established in order to help greeting card manufacturers sell more cards. It began in the US about a 100 years ago when cards were not as common as they are now. It was started by Sonara Louise Smart Dodd who lived in Spokane, Washington, in 1909. Her father, William Smart, a Civil War veteran, was an outstanding dad. He had raised six children singehandedly after their mother died during childbirth....
A Train Journey beyond Childhood
The year was 1938, and the fear of war was looming before Europe. Hitler’s Nazi Germany was becoming more and more arrogant, with its fearful philosophy of the superiority of their (Aryan) race and the inferiority of the impure Jewish race, which made them less than human. That year holds the key to one of the most tragic and unknown events of the Second World War era. For, in 1938, 10,000 German-Jewish children bade a final farewell to their parents before being sent off to foster homes in England....
Welcome Rains?
April 21: A few days ago, Delhi residents were pleasantly surprised when the sweltering April sky suddenly darkened with clouds and it began to rain heavily. A freak shower, they thought, since it hardly ever rains in Delhi in April. But, surprise, surprise… the rains occurred the next day, too. And the day after. The unseasonal showers have transformed the weather marvellously. It hasn’t happened in Delhi alone. Most of northern India, from Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh to Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, western Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand, have been hit by the rains....
The Shoe-shine Women
Ludhiana, the industrial capital of the state of Punjab in northern India, is like any other prosperous Indian city but for one interesting difference. Its cobblers are largely women. A trip to the inter-state bus stand, outside the railway station, at roadside corners, in the local markets, under trees, and in almost every other place that you can think of, will reveal scores of them, polishing shoes of commuters in the vicinity. The Shoe-shine Women [Illustration by Sudheer Nath] Actually, they may not like being referred to as cobblers....