Two friends, Hemant and Vikas, planned to go hiking in the woods. They packed their knapsacks, lugged them over their shoulders and started out.
One evening, while walking through the dense forest, they heard a bear growl. They were very scared and started to run away, but “Twick, twick”, they could hear the twigs breaking with each step the bear took towards them.
Desperate, Hemant saw a low branch hanging from a tree. He quickly caught hold of the life-saving branch and climbed on top of the tree as soon as possible. He was so scared that he did not even look at his friend once.
Vikas, who was behind the first, was not so lucky. The bear was right behind him and when he saw Hemant save himself, all he could think of doing was to was to throw himself flat on the ground.
And that’s how the bear found him. Face down on the ground and not even daring to breathe. The bear put his nose close to Vikas’ ear – and then he sniffed and sniffed and sniffed. He was trying to make out whether Vikas was just pretending or if he was dead.
Then finally he stopped sniffing. Vikas dared to take small breath. Then the bear growled, and Vikas’ blood ran cold.
But by then the bear had decided that Vikas was not alive and it is well-known that bears will not touch dead meat. So the bear slouched off into the forest.
Seeing that the worst of the danger was over, Hemant slowly climbed down the tree where he was hiding. Walking up to Vikas, who was still so shaken up that he could hardly stand, Hemant he laughingly asked, “Hey, what did Master Bear whisper to you?”
Vikas gave Hemant a long steady look. “He told me,” said Vikas very slowly, “never to trust a friend who deserts you at the first opportunity he gets. So, if you’ll excuse me…” Saying that, Vikas picked himself up, brushed off the dust, and walked away.
He had found Nina talking during dinner time and had punished her by asking her to go hungry to bed. Nothing escaped the eagle-eyed warden.
The ghost looked familiar…It was Rajan, Nina’s classmate, sitting inside the spacious locker, her box of cookies clutched in his arms!
“Remember, now,” said his dad, “you’ll have to walk home through the park.” (something about the park….)
Somu ran down the path and found himself at his doorstep. But it was locked! And the footsteps were right behind him. With no more strength left in him Somu stood there and asked, “Who’s there”?
That evening his mother showed him the toys and games her friend had got for him. One stuffed dolphin and a game of blocks. Ronit got angry. “These are kids toys, kids toys and games. I am a big boy now. My hero is Spiderman. That’s the toy I want for my birthday this year. Spiderman and the spray that makes the spider web.”
As soon as his head hit the pillow Ronit fell asleep. He now slept in a room of his own. A room with sunny yellow walls. But until yesterday, he had gone to sleep clutching Pepper doggy’s ear. The softness of the toy always made him happy. But Spiderman was a metal toy. It was cold to touch. At night, as Ronit’s blanket slipped down the bed, the cold metal of Spiderman poked him. Ronit dreamt that he was being chased by icy monsters who were out to freeze him into a statue. In his dream he shouted for Pepper. Not finding Pepper, woke up screaming crying.
But Kaku loved the long walk to school. He had made a new friend on his way. Sun or rain, Kaku would walk to school. Kaku’s mother was very happy that Kaku loved school so much. She did not know about her son’s BIG new friend. Kaku had told no one. No one knew why he loved walking past the green paddy fields, the village lake and the old Ram Lila ground to reach school. No one knew Kaku’s little BIG secret on the way to school. Kaku wanted to keep this friend a secret. He thought his friends might make fun of him.
One day he asked his schoolteacher if Lal Hawa could stop at Chotti Dadi. Kaku’s schoolteacher laughed loudly and told him that their village was too small for big and mighty Lal Hawa. Disheartened Kaku decided to ask Amma, his mother, the same question. In the evening, Amma said, “Kaku, just as you want to meet Lal Hawa, even Lala Hawa will want to stop her one day and meet you.” Kaku put his arms around Amma and kissed her.
Amma’s words calmed Shankar. He felt happy at the thought of helping out Appa. In the next few days he sat next to his mother while she interviewed several men for the post of chauffeur to Appa. They both decided on Raj. He was 30 years old and had a pleasant way of speaking. “Raj will take good care of Appa,” Shankar thought.
Shankar said, “Don’t cry Bablu. I will teach you to read and write. Very soon you will be as good if not better than your classmates.” From the loft the older boy took out all the books and kids magazines that he had read years ago. The kids magazines were in Hindi and in English, and Shankar’s favourites wereChandamana, Champak, Twinkle and Target. There were fairy tale books, from the Grimms Brothers to Hans Christian Anderson. There were several volumes of Panchatantra for kids, ‘Mahabharata for kids’. And, best of all, he still had his entire collection of early reading books. These would be ideal for getting Bablu to practice his reading. “Shankar thought to himself, “There is enough reading for kids here for Bablu to get over his fear of reading and writing.”
