One day, a messenger from a neighbouring kingdom came to Akbar’s court. The king had sent many gifts for Akbar and Birbal. The messenger gave them the gifts and said, “My king has heard about Birbal’s wit. He wants to test Birbal. He has a question for Birbal.” Akbar said, “Go ahead. Birbal shall never […]
Santosh was a fisherman in the coastal area of Andhra Pradesh. One day, the sea was full of high waves. Soon, there was an announcement saying that a hurricane would be hitting their village. When Santosh heard this, he rushed to bring his boats to a safer area before leaving the village. By the time
Harish was the son of a lowly village potter. He wanted to go to school, but he was afraid that the other students would not let him enter. He would often stand outside the school compound and try to hear what was being taught. One day, he heard the teacher say that every child in
Farid lived in a small village in Uttar Pradesh. Every year, a fair was organised during Diwali. People came from nearby villages. While in the fair, Farid was passing by the enclosure for the bulls. He noticed that there was a lot of noise. He did not pay much attention. A short while later, he
Hassan and his classmates had gone for an excursion. They saw an empty riverbed with beautiful stones in it. They got out to spend some time in the riverbed. While they were strolling around, they heard a high-pitched whistle. No one paid attention to it. Suddenly, they saw water swirling down the riverbed. The water
Jamila lived in Bangladesh. Floods were an annual affair and most people were prepared to handle them. During the rainy season, they would move to safer areas and return to the low-lying lands after the rains. One day, it began to rain heavily in winter. Everyone stayed inside his house. They thought the rain would
Akbar and Birbal shared a close relationship which had its share of strange twists. There were times when Akbar would get angry with Birbal and banish him from the court. During one such incident, Birbal went away. Akbar’s soldiers searched for Birbal, but in vain. Akbar knew Birbal could not resist challenges. So he announced
Laila lived in Turkey. She was a college student, who liked to go out with her friends. During that time, the government in Turkey was very unpopular, and had taken many measures against people’s wishes. People often criticised the government but no one acted up on this criticism. One day, the government announced that they
Elena lived in Russia. She was a student of art history. One day, she saw two girls skipping in front of her. As they crossed the bridge, they stopped to look at the view. By mistake, one of the girls dropped her doll. She peered over the bridge to see where her doll fell but
Neil was a young professor of sociology in a leading college in America. One day, he was driving to his college when he noticed a car in the next lane moving erratically. Suddenly, the car swerved over and hit the barrier on the side of the road; but the driver did not stop. The car
Daphrose lived in Rwanda with her family. She was the eldest of the siblings. One day, while their parents were away at work, a man knocked at their door. When Daphrose opened the door, he barged in and told her to hide him. The man had a knife in his hand and there were blood
Francisco’s father was a train driver. He would often let Francisco ride with him which he enjoyed very much. One day, Francisco and his father were singing songs together in the engine compartment, when suddenly his father fell down. Francisco did not know it, but his father had suffered a heart attack. The train was
Khadija was 10 years old girl. She was very brave and courageous. She lived in a small village. One day, when she was returning from school, she heard the voices of some children crying. These voices were coming from behind some bushes. She looked for the children in the bushes. She found a group of
Kenji lived in a small town in Japan. His neighbour was an old man, who could not walk due to an accident. This had made him bad-tempered and unfriendly. However, Kenji always wished him a good day. One day, Kenji and his friends were playing in the park, when they felt the earth rumble. “Earthquake!”
Jafar used to work in a small hospital in Iraq. As the violence in Iraq escalated, the number of injured patients began to increase. At first, it was only the injured civilians who came, but as the violence progressed, some of the rebels began coming in as well. For the doctors, it made no difference.