Pulkit was the naughtiest boy in class. In fact I would say that he was the naughtiest in the whole school. He always seemed to get in trouble with the prefects and teachers. The prefects avoided him and the teachers had a hard time controlling him. He was destructive to say the least. Our classroom […]

The evening was very pleasant as we strolled to the “Hotel Taj” where we intended to have our dinner. The sun was setting and the air was cool.John, Allen and I sat down at a table. The stall-owner came and we ordered some fried rolls.Soon the large plate of piping-hot rolls arrived and we happily

The day I went to school with a crew cut, I was greeted by roars of laughter and plenty of comments. I really looked funny with a crew cut but I was forced to have my hair cut that way. It was my foolishness and my cousin’s fault that it happened. Here is how it

The first time I acted in a play was when I was in Standard Three. Come to think of it, it was the only time I acted in a play. I was chosen to play the role of a farmer. Raavi, the prettiest girl in class, played the role of the farmer’s wife. So I

It all began with a blister on my lower eyelid. I happened to rub it accidentally and it was painful.Soon after blisters appeared on my hands and neck. I suspected that I must be coming down with something. My mother examined me and immediately pronounced “chicken-pox”. I had come down with chicken-pox.She took me to

Grandma is 88 years old. Her hair is snowy-white, skin wrinkled and teeth all but gone. She is also quite deaf. Otherwise she is strong and active, often arguing with my mother over who should mop the floor.The doctor said she has Alzheimer’s disease. In other words, she is senile. It is a sad fact

My cousin has a orange orchard about five kilometers from town. I visited him once during a fruit season.I reached the orchard at about 9 o’clock in the morning after having cycled all the way from my house. My cousin was waiting for me in his modest little wooden house in the middle of the

It was raining cats and dogs. Fortunately we were in a car and my uncle, who was driving, had the situation under control. We passed slowly by an oil-palm estate. The driving rain made visibility poor. So my uncle drove very carefully. He had all the lights on. So did the other drivers. I could

I had to walk through an area filled with undergrowth to get to the shop. It was not too unpleasant except that I had to keep to the narrow footpath and not blunder into the bushes.Buying some flour from the shop seemed harmless enough. The shop was the nearest one and my mother reckoned I

We take so many things for granted at home that we do not appreciate them until they become unavailable. One of these is the water supply to our house.Disruptions to the water supply do occur now and then. However there was one that was the worst.It began one morning when we got up to prepare

The road in front of my school is a narrow one. It is also very busy. Every afternoon when school is dismissed the road becomes almost impassable as children, bicycles, cars and buses jostle and struggle to use it. Sometimes a policeman is there to help things out, but generally chaos reigns and we have

It was twilight time. I was watching television in my house when I heard an explosion. More followed. So I went outside to see what the matter was.A column of dark billowing smoke told me the story. There was a fire raging a short distance away.I got onto my bicycle and pedalled in the direction

Sam helps his uncle look after the latter’s sundry shop. Business is brisk and Sam is kept busy most of the time.One evening at about 8 p.m., just as Sam’s uncle was about to close for the day, two men on a motorcycle stopped outside. They got off and walked into the shop. Sam thought

Our bodies are made of flesh and bones. Anytime any part is injured we feel pain. So we try to avoid injury as much as we can. Usually it takes a painful lesson to teach us to avoid injury. The following was a particularly painful one.I, like any young child, love to run around as

Early one morning when it was still dark, I woke up suddenly. I felt very cold. The funny thing was that I had the blanket on but I still felt cold. I could not get back to sleep because of it. So I got up and put on extra clothes. Only then I managed to