Intelligent Donkey!

“Stay away from me” brayed Montu. “No wonder you are stupid. You don’t associate with intelligent people. How will you grow if you don’t learn? You adamant donkey!” said Mr. Chathurnath. Braying continues and suddenly Mr. Chathurnath realized that Montu was actually laughing. The most shocking part was that Montu was laughing at Mr. Chathurnath. “What’s so funny Mr. Lazy ass” mocked Mr. Chathurnath. “I am adamant. I am lazy. I may be dumb. I don’t want to grow as I have grown to the best or worst already. But it’s a shame” brayed Montu. “Finally you are ashamed” smiled Mr. Chathurnath. “No. It’s a shame that all these years you thought I was a donkey but never realized that I am actually a Mule. You fool!” and the braying continued, happily ever after.

Bindu and Mr. Humble Bumble

Image: Bharath Kumar (bharathkumar27@gmail.com)

She gently touched his wings. Poof! Vanished the butterfly. Bindu stood shocked. She tried her best to run behind the butterfly but it only made her tired. “Are you lost dear kiddo”, asked Ms. Stranger. Bindu stood silent. “My mother has asked me not to talk to strangers. And yes, my teacher said the same too” said Bindu and kept quite. “Your mother is right. I stay in this apartment. My name is Indu and” before Ms. Stranger could finish Bindu cried out “Yey! That rhymes with my name Bindu”. Bindu realised that she should have not told her name and tears slowly rolled down her cheeks. “Oh! No, no. Don’t cry child. I won’t hurt you. You looked lost and I only wanted to help. I will go now. See you later sweet child” said Ms. Stranger and “Poof!” she vanished too.

Bindu kept staring at the flower where she found the butterfly. She wondered how the butterfly fluttered so fast. “Hello little lady” said an unknown voice. Bindu turned around and was about to say that she does not talk to strangers instead she went two steps behind shell-shocked. “Hello little lady, won’t you say hi to me?” smiled the unknown creature. “Who are you? You are so big and fluffy. Well my mother said not to talk to strangers. Only humans can be strangers right? Who are you?” questioned Bindu. “If you have seen a butterfly then you must have seen me too! No?” asked the unknown creature. Bindu thought for a while and one by one the creatures she knew popped out of her mind.

A for Ant
B for Bat
It’s neither a cow
nor a dove!

It’s in my mind
and I do see
How silly of me
It’s a bumble bee!

“Yey! You are a bee. You are so fat”, chuckled Bindu. “I am not fat, I am just big” snapped Mr. Bumble. He looked dejected and Bindu felt sorry. “I didn’t mean to hurt you Mr. Bumble. I am sorry. I am sad myself. I don’t want you to be sad too” apologized Bindu. “That is alright little lady. Why are you sad?” asked Mr. Bumble. “I lost the butterfly. I only wanted to touch him. Poof! He vanished” sulked Bindu. “Ha Ha” laughed Mr. Bumble. “Is that all? Let me help you find the butterfly. Will you fly with me?” asked Mr. Bumble. “Really? Really? You will help me find the butterfly again? You are so humble. Thank you” said Bindu and hopped on Mr. Bumble.  Bindu and Humble Bumble set out on a magical trip.

On their way Mr. Bumble told her so many stories to remember. He also told her the secret of how he can fly so high. Bindu promised that she will never let the secret out. They laughed and sang songs. They were happy. Time flew and that made Bindu nervous again. “We still haven’t found the butterfly. It is getting late. If it gets dark then I will have to go home” said Bindu. “We touched the sky, we touched many flowers, we touched the world and our fingers have the power” said Mr. Bumble. Bindu started losing her temper and shouted “That makes no sense to me. I shouldn’t have trusted you. You are trying to fool me”. She took her palm and was about to cover her face with shame when she saw something wonderful.

Colours!

Every tiny finger of Bindu had a different colour – Blue, Black, White, Grey, Green, Orange, Pink, Red, Violet and Yellow. “Wow! I am so colourful” said Bindu and jumped with joy. She jumped a little too much and fell off Mr. Bumble and screamed.

Bindu saw her mother beside her and breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank god Ma. You caught me at the right time. I would have got hurt so bad. I just fell off Mr. Humble Bumble” said Bindu anxiously. “Look at my fingers, how colourful they are” said Bindu and proudly showed her hands to her mother. Her mother was keenly listening to her and suddenly said “Oh how beautiful. The butterfly looks really beautiful Bindu. You have painted it so well. So many different colours Blue, Black, White, Grey, Green, Orange, Pink, Red, Violet and Yellow” said her mother with tremendous happiness. Bindu gleamed with joy and pride. She finally found her butterfly and said “Thank you Mr. Humble Bumble. I will never ever let your secret out”. “What secret? Won’t you tell me” pleaded her mother. “Well, he is not fat, he is just big. That’s all can I say Ma.” said Bindu and continued painting. This time it was a rainbow!

Little Miss. Mishti and Mr. Big Brown Tree

Image: Bharath Kumar (bharathkumar27@gmail.com)

Mishti sat beneath a huge tree. “I remember Ms. Mary makes us spell the names of so many fruits. But how do I spell this tree’s name? I can’t find any fruit? I thought all trees had fruits” pondered Mishti. Her tiny mind was trying to connect something that she learnt in class with the tree that she saw, but she just couldn’t. The tree had a huge brown trunk and glossy leaves. Mishti was admiring the beauty of the tree when all of a sudden she felt something was wrong. “Oh Mr. Big Brown Tree, why are your branches hanging in the air?” questioned Mishti. Mr. Big Brown Tree did not understand the question and said “Eh?! Why do you ask that? My branches?”. “Oh you talk! That’s lovely. Now tell me, are you weak and dying Mr. Big Brown Tree?“ asked Mishti with utmost sympathy and she instantly started worrying about the tree. “Oh poor you, you look so sad little girl. I am alright. I am smiling, can’t you see? Come play with me” said Mr. Big Brown Tree. “NO!” yelled Mishti and said “You are sick and I am going to help you”. “Aha! I know what to do. I have always seen Ma water her tiny plants and she always tells me that water keep the plants alive. May be you need some water. Let me fetch a pail of water like Jack” smiled Mishti and she ran to her home to fetch some water.

“Mishti! Why are you panting? Is everything alright? Did anyone scare you? Oh my child,” said her mother Mrs. Vani. Mrs. Vani was appalled. Before Mishti could tell anything Vani’s imagination ran wild and brought tears in her eyes. “No Ma, I am fine. That tree, Mr. Big Brown Tree without fruits and hanging branches needs water. You know, he is dying. But Mr. Big Brown Tree refuses to accept it. I want to save him”, said Mishti. “Which tree? Mr. Big Brown? Hanging branches? Where did you go Mishti? I told you not to go too far,” sighed Mrs. Vani. “Maa! I didn’t go too far. Ms. Mary taught me about directions - left and right. I only wanted to try,” paused Mishti to check which hand should she show and said “left side of our home. You should come with me. You know how to save lives!” jumped Mishti.

Mrs. Vani and Mishti strolled to see the huge tree with a pail of water. On their way Mishti told her Ma so many stories about school, her friends, animals, fairies and dragons. Mrs. Vani experienced all kinds of emotions. She loved listening to Mishti. Mrs. Vani was drifting into her wonderland

Little Miss Mishti
Knows how to talk
Tell stories itsy-bitsy
Every time we walk

Little Miss Mishti
Makes me smile
With giggles itsy-bitsy
We walk for a mile

“Ma! Look, look...See, I told you he is dying,” shouted Mishti. Mrs. Vani looked at the tree and was surprised that she never spotted this tree till now. “That’s a lovely tree. Isn’t it Mishti? He is more green than brown” smiled Mrs. Vani. “Stop wasting time Ma. Let’s go water the tree” screamed Mishti and hurriedly ran towards the trunk of the tree. Mrs. Vani was admiring the warmth of Mishti and the breeze beneath the tree. “Don’t worry Mishti. The tree will not die. Those are not branches. They are the tree’s roots. That’s how it’s supposed to be. It’s a Banyan tree and...” Mishti interrupted before her mother could finish and said “Ok. It may be the Banyan tree but I know he is dying. I will not cry Ma. You don’t have to make stories. I know that roots are always underground. Ms. Mary told me a week ago. Please save him”. Mrs. Vani tried her best to convince Mishti but she wouldn’t listen. While both started arguing the magic happened.

It rained!

Mishti was happy. Mrs. Vani said “why don’t you now shake hands with your Mr. Big Brown Tree and enjoy the rain?” Mrs. Vani stood there, surprised, watching Mishti talk something to the tree and swing on the roots. “There was no sign of rain before. Well, may be Mr. Big Brown Tree is after all the Wish Tree. I remember Ma telling me about the Kalpavriksha – a wish fulfilling tree” wondered Mrs. Vani.

And with enlightened joy Mishti shouted, “I remember now, Banyan is the National Tree of India!! And now I know how you look. Mr. Big Brown Tree, you are the National Tree. Isn’t that amazing?”

Mr. Big Brown Tree was smiling and Mishty questioned “But where are your fruits?”

Hera the Hero

“Don’t pick your nose, you look so disgusting when you do that”, yelled the school teacher. He looked at the teacher and thought, “Who cares”, and continued picking his nose – it was fun! Hera was a very active boy. He studied in third standard of a very reputed school. So reputed that the school will not admit a child if his parents were not graduates. Obviously, Hera’s parents were very proud and Hera was, like always, ignorant.

It was just another day. Hera jumped into his dad’s car and was all set for school time. He loved sitting by the window and watching. As soon as the smooth drive started, he started admiring the skyscrapers. His admiration went a little beyond and changed into delight when he imagined the skyscrapers to be huge cone ice creams. He saw different colors, flavors and sizes of ice creams. Hera shouted, “Dad! Look at that giant dark chocolate ice cream. It has nuts on top too”. The scream disturbed his dad’s thought process, he was thinking about work. He said, “Hera my hero, I am a little preoccupied now. Can we talk about your ice creams later?”. The gleaming face of Hera shrunk, “Ok dad. They are not just ice creams, they are giant ones”. Till they reached school, all that lasted was silence. Hera slept well.

School was routine. Hera exactly knew what had to be done. Primarily his activities were limited between the classrooms and toilets. Oh! And there were breaks too. He enjoyed the lunch breaks that lasted for 30 minutes. That was the only time when he could talk to his best friends, Ritu and Anand. Well, school was a routine but the innocent talks were definitely a moment of randomness to Hera. Hera had reached school well ahead of time and he decided to sit and wait for other kids to come. He was hoping to play before he entered his classroom.  He waited and the final bell, to enter the classroom, rang. “Argh”, Hera frowned and started walking sluggishly towards his classroom. He said “Argh” again and this time because his bag was heavier than his imaginary dumbbell.

“May I come in? uh..please” requested Hera. “You are late! Look at all your friends. They were inside the room 5 minutes prior to the final bell. Where were you?” asked his teacher. Hera was confused. “How on earth did I miss seeing all of…oh, how did I miss seeing Ritu and Anand enter the school? I was right there. I was waiting for.. I was.. I was…but..and what happened?” thought Hera. “I heard the bell just now and I came running to the class” said Hera. “He was moving like a turtle teacher, I saw him while I was running” yelled a student from the class. “Argh”, Hera frowned again and was disappointed to see someone let him down. “Hera!” shouted the teacher and said “You cannot be this lazy. You forget to do your homework. You are not attentive in the class. You have no discipline and etiquette….”. By then Hera was lost in his thoughts, dreaming about a tiny fire spitting dragon that laughed while spitting fire, as he could not understand what his teacher was mentioning. “And there you go picking your nose again. Shame on you!”. The class burst out laughing. Ritu and Anand were looking at Hera with dismay. Hera burst out weeping. The fire was put off and the tiny dragon transformed into meaningless tears. “Stand out for 15 minutes and then you can step in. This is your last warning Hera. And stop crying like a baby” blabbered the teacher and continued marking attendance.

Hera stood out - of the classroom. He was still confused. He really could not understand how he turned up late to the class. The confusion changed into a bunch of clouds, just that the clouds had all the colors of a rainbow. He was sitting on the cloud and reciting aloud

One, two and three
Look what I see
four, five, six and seven
Colors in mighty heaven
One, two and three
Look what I see!!

“Why are you not inside the classroom child?” Cloud of confusion disappeared and he saw a tall lady standing in front of him. His neck hurt while he attempted to look at her for more than a minute. The lady knelt down in front of him and repeated “Why are you not inside the classroom child?”.

“I was asked to stand out because I was picking my nose..No..no..because I am lazy…oh no…because I didn’t…no…YES..Because I was late to the class.” The lady asked “but I saw you entering our school way ahead of time”. “I don’t know. May be I went blind because I don’t remember seeing any of my friends enter the school” said Hera with a shrunk face. “Hmmm..anyway..do you like coming to school?”. “I like it. I get to meet Ritu and Anand”, said Hera. “And?”. “Eh..I get to pick my nose because my mother doesn’t let me do that at home. But I don’t think I can do that in school now. The teacher finds me disgusting too” said Hera. “Oh! Picking your nose is not a good habit. It can spread infection. You can fall sick and you can make your friends Ritu and Anand fall sick too. Will you like it? Hera was never so shocked in his life before. “Really?” asked Hera. “Oh! I don’t want my friends to fall sick. I can fall sick and I know my mother will take care of me. If picking nose is going to make Ritu and Anand sick then I promise, pinky promise, that I won’t do it ever, never again”. The lady smiled at his innocence and continued talking, “So, do you want to get in and sit with your friends now?”. Hera jumped up and down with joy and was all set to sit next to his best friends, said “YES. YES. YES. YES”. The lady instructed the teacher to let the kid inside and the teacher obliged.

The bell rang. It was lunch break. Hera dragged Ritu and Anand out of the classroom and went to the Neem tree, which was the only tree amidst the tiny plants, before the spot could be occupied by some other gang. They sat there chatting and sharing food. Hera was talking about his heavy dumbbell and how he exercises daily to build his muscle and become strong. Ritu loved listening to Hera as it took her to a very different world, a world of amusement. Anand would listen and pull Hera’s leg now and then. Three of them loved being together and loved laughing without reasons. While they were chatting, Anand said “Sorry Hera. I saw you sleeping at the stairs but before I could wake you up I saw our class teacher walk hurriedly to our class and I panicked. I ran to the class without you. I am really sorry you had to stand out because of me”. Hera felt great relief and thanked Anand. Anand was confused now. “Why are you thanking me? It was my fault”. Hera said, “Since morning I was breaking my head thinking how I missed seeing all of you. I am glad to know that I just fell asleep and didn’t turn blind. We should celebrate. I am alright. I thought something went wrong. I thought…”. And then it was only laughter, cheers, hugs and kisses that the Neem tree witnessed. The breeze was chill and gentle. The bell rang again!

The day somehow came to end at the school. Different subjects had tired Hera a lot. He looked dull and so did Ritu and Anand. They were waiting for the final bell to ring and the jingle bells rang! What Joy! Kids sprung out of the school – the jacks out of the box. Hera bid adieu to his friends and promised to meet them tomorrow before school. He ran to his dad’s car and was ready to hop in for the smooth drive. All of a sudden the tall lady called him, “Child! Sorry. I didn’t ask your name. What’s your name?”. He said “Hera”. “Oh! You are a gem. Is that your father?”. He said, “Yes, he drops and picks me up every day. He is a superman. Just that at times he won’t listen to me. But it’s okay. I often don’t listen to him too”. Hera’s dad was watching the scene with anxiety. He asked the principal, “Is everything okay? Has he not behaved in his class properly? Should I warn him?”. “Please. No. Nothing has gone wrong. I just wanted to tell you that Hera cannot look disgusting no matter what he does. He is your child” Hera’s dad didn’t understand a word of what she said and the principal explained it to him in detail. Hera watched everything with no reaction and before he could drift into his world his dad called him “hop in Hera. Let’s go home. Shall we?” Hera happily hopped in and hoped to see lots of giant ice creams on his way back home.

Hera asked, “Dad, is sleeping being lazy? Is walking slowly, because of my dumbbell and schoolbag, bad?” His dad said, “No! not at all. Sleeping is good. It keeps your healthy. And you have a valid reason to walk slowly. Nothing wrong Hera”. “Hmmm. Can I pick my nose?” His dad said, “No. It is a bad habit. I think you know the reason why. Your principal told me about it.” Hera smiled, “But for my nose-picking whatever you tell me and whatever my teacher tells me, only confuse me. But it’s great, I meet my tiny dragon, Mr. cloud and many other friends while I am confused”. Hera continued admiring the giant ice-creams. His dad went speechless and realized that few of the buildings do look like giant ice creams, and mumbled “Hera, you are my hero”!

Hera shouted, “I want to become a bodybuilder when I grow up!!!”

Contd..

Laugh without any reason. Teach with proper reasons. Wrong reasons can ruin a moment and a future!