Bhanku bear delivered milk in Gopavan forest. Every morning, he would wake up early and deliver milk to all the forest dwellers.
Like every day, he reached Moosram mouse’s house to deliver milk. “Moosram ji, it’s me, with your supply of milk!” he called, knocking at the door.
While Bhanku waited for Moosram to open the door, he heard some strange sounds coming inside the house. When the door opened, Bhanku saw a cat at Moosram’s door with a pan in her hand!
“How on earth is a cat here?” thought Bhanku to himself.
He smelled something fishy. “Who are you and what are you doing here in Moosram’s home?” he asked the cat.
“Uh…Mmm…I… I am his relative,” murmured the cat.
“What!” said a startled Bhanku. “How could a cat be the relative of a mouse?” he questioned.
The cat quickly tried correcting herself! “I am not his relative. I am his friend’s relative,” she said.
“Fine!” said Bhanku and thought for a moment. “Where is Moosram? Please call him out for a moment,” he said after some thought.
“He has gone out for some work. He asked me to take the milk from you,” said the cat, extending the milk pan towards Bhanku.
“Is that so? Fine then!” said Bhanku and poured the milk into the pan half-heartedly.
Just then he heard a voice from inside, “No Bhanku! Don’t give her the milk”. It was Moosram’s voice!
“She is a liar! She burried me inside my burrow. Thankfully I dug out another hole and came out. She is my enemy and not my relative. She has been chasing me and wants to eat me up,” shouted Moosram. “Please call the police!” he said gasping as he was now out of his confines.
Hearing this, Bhanku was shocked.
Now that the truth was out, the furious cat flung the milk pan on Moosram.
Moosram ran inside his burrow, managing somehow to save his life. “Bhanku ji, save me!” he screamed from his burrow.
Meanwhile, Bhanku gathered his courage and had acted wisely. He parked his milk-cart at the roadside and rang the police station.
After receiving information about the fraudulent cat, two police cars arrived at Moosram’s house immediately.
Seeing the police force, the cat jumped out of her skin. She fled as fast as she could and never returned to Gopavan again.
Grandma fox lived in Siddhipur with her family. Her two grandsons, Chiru and Pumpy adored grandma. She dropped them to school every day and also helped them with their homework.
Grandma was a retired principal of the only school in Siddhipur. She was highly disciplined and ensured Chiru and Pumpy were disciplined too.
She assigned duties to everyone in the family and they did their chores on time. During the day, they were all busy with their duties but at night they made sure to have dinner together.
One day, uncle Harry bear from London came to visit Chiru and Pumpy. Dinky bear, his sister, was thrilled as he had come to see them after many years.
Uncle Harry brought mobiles for all of them as gifts. He taught them how to use their mobiles and downloaded games for them. The kids loved this gift and played throughout the day.
Harry knew Dinky was very fond of listening to old songs. So, he downloaded plenty of old songs on her new mobile for her to listen to. He was even gifted a pair of headphones. He gave Jitin, Dinky’s husband a phone that had an amazing camera since he knew his love for photography.
The entire family was pleased with uncle Harry’s gifts but grandma could not understand why they were so excited with these bright, noisy boxes.
The situation in grandma’s house was changing. When the family sat for dinner, each one was busy on their mobiles. The kids were always playing games and competing with each other.
Dinky listened to music the whole day and Jitin kept clicking pictures and checking them. No one paid any attention to the food they were eating. Grandma found it strange as they were all glued to these boxes but she did not say anything.
Next day, when grandma called Chiru and Pumpy over to do their homework, they lied to her that they had no homework to do.
“Why are you glued to these boxes the whole day?” she asked them.
“It is not a box, grandma, it is a mobile,” they replied.
The next day, grandma met the school teacher Holly cat during her evening stroll.
She learnt that Chiru and Pumpy had become very careless about their studies and did not complete their homework.
Miss Holly also informed grandma that they both slept during school hours. Grandma was shocked to hear all this and went back without saying a word.
On reaching home, grandma asked Dinky to make a cup of tea for her. Dinky made tea and gave it to her. When grandma sipped the tea, she immediately spat it out as Dinky had put salt instead of sugar as she was distracted listening to music. Dinky prepared dinner and forgot to add salt in the food. She also added extra chillies to the food, accidentally.
Grandma knew that nothing was in order in her house anymore.
The next morning, she dropped Chiru and Pumpy at school. As she entered the house, she didn’t see the wet floor and slipped and fell. She was in pain and called out to Jitin.
Jitin was busy with his mobile. He replied, “I am coming, ma. Let me just post a selfie.”
Grandma was hurt as she felt that her son cared more about the mobile than his mother. But she was also worried and decided to find a solution to this addiction.
She noticed that Chiru and Pumpy were awake the whole night as they were playing games on their mobiles and understood that they slept in class because of this. Dinky and Jitin were distracted too.
Grandma thought of teaching them all a lesson and she got a mobile for herself. She asked Miss Holly to teach her to use the mobile and downloaded many games and songs.
Now, she dropped the kids late to school and when they complained, she responded that she had to achieve a difficult level in the game she was playing.
She stopped calling them for homework or waking them up for school in the morning. Chiru and Pumpy were getting scolded in school constantly for incomplete homework and reaching school late.
Grandma took over cooking in the kitchen. She prepared food while playing songs on her phone and added extra salt or chillies to the food. When the family members complained, she simply said, “But I cook with utmost care while listening to music.”
One day, Jitin said, “Ma, you are paying more attention to your music and less while cooking.” That is when Dinky realised that she did the same.
Next morning, while grandma was walking in the garden, she heard a loud thud.
Jitin had fallen and he was calling out to her.
Grandma responded, “Let me just take a selfie, I have to post it on Facebook.” She felt bad but she knew she had to make Jitin realise his mistake.
Jitin thought about how his mother’s behaviour was changing but soon realised he had done the same and ignored her when she needed him.
Everyone was feeling sorry about their past behaviour. In the evening, when they gathered to have dinner, no one carried their mobiles to the dinner table. They all apologised to grandma. Jitin said, “Sorry, ma. We will use the mobiles for a limited period in the day and ensure we don’t ignore our duties.”
Grandma was happy and forgave them. The house schedule was back in order.
Long, long ago, in Champakvan, the animals were not aware of any advancements in technology. They lived simple, happy and satisfying lives in
the forest.
Meeku mouse was a resident of the forest. He had completed his education in England and recently returned to Champakvan.
He had brought back with him a box, three times larger than himself, and called it a ‘fridge’.
After he settled in, his neighbour Skippy squirrel came to visit him. “Oh! What have you brought with you? It is huge! What will you keep in it?” she asked, laughing heartily.
“This? It is called a fridge. It will cool things in no time. I can keep whatever I want to store, like vegetables and fruits. Open it and see,” Meeku replied, looking proudly at his shining new fridge.
Skippy opened the door of the fridge and was filled with joy when she got a cold blast of breeze. “Wow! This fridge is wonderful!” she exclaimed.
She was called a tale-carrier in the forest as she was good at spreading news. So the news of the new fridge spread in the forest like a wildfire.
Soon crowds started gathering outside Meeku’s house to see the fridge. After all, it was the only fridge in the forest. Everyone would enter the house one-by-one and enjoy the cold blast of air from the fridge.
Meeku was forced to demonstrate his fridge to everyone. He would say to himself, “If only I had not told Skippy about the fridge! I should have told her that it was a simple box to store things. Then the word would not have spread this fast. So many animals wouldn’t gather and I would use my fridge for storing
my food.”
Soon, as time passed the number of visitors to see the fridge declined and now he could easily use it for storing.
One day, Skippy said, “Meeku, do you know my house is under the open sky?”
Meeku nodded his head in agreement.
“The tree I stay on is placed right under the harsh sun. My house becomes an oven in the afternoon and I get baked like bread. Can I live in your fridge instead?”
“How can you live in a fridge?” Meeku was shocked at this unusual request. “That is a fridge, not a hotel. You will be frozen inside.”
“Oh! I have enough warm clothes with me,” said Skippy, waving her sweater. “I will squeeze in a small corner, please….”
How could Meeku refuse her? “Okay. Bring your luggage,” Meeku frowned.
Skippy was overjoyed. She ran and quickly gathered her belongings. She came and dumped them in the vegetable container of the fridge and closed it from inside.
The very next day, Cheeku rabbit arrived at his house. He was a farmer and Meeku bought vegetables from his farm.
“Hello, how are you? I need a little help from you,” he said and Meeku understood, looking at the juice bottles in his hand that he needed his fridge for storage.
“This is carrot juice. Will you keep these bottles in your fridge? In my home, we all are very fond of cold drinks.”
Meeku was frustrated and it was now visible on his face.
“What happened, Meeku? Any problem?” asked Cheeku.
Meeku didn’t want to refuse Cheeku’s request. What if he stopped selling him vegetables. So, he managed a weak smile and said, “Keep them inside and consider it your own fridge.”
Cheeku promptly filled the fridge with his containers and made this a daily routine.
Skippy loved her stay in the fridge. She only went out to gather food and quickly returned. All the vacant place in the fridge was taken up with Cheeku’s juice jars. Meeku was unable to completely utilise his fridge.
Frustrated with the situation, he went to Blacky bear’s ice shop.
“Oh, Meeku, why are you here? You have a fridge at home, don’t you? What do you need here?”
Meeku narrated his plight.
“You are too nice, Meeku. These people are not bad, however, they are taking advantage of your hospitality. Sometimes you have to learn to refuse,” said Blacky.
“They have been good to me. I don’t understand how I can refuse them,” Meeku said to him.
“I have a plan. Come close and I will tell you.” Meeku’s face brightened when he heard Blacky’s plan.
He quickly reached home and set the freezer at maximum. Soon Skippy came out shivering and almost frozen.
“How did this fridge suddenly become as cold as Antarctica?” she asked.
Bholi goat and her son Monu lived in the Rajghat forest near the river. When he was young, Monu used to listen to his Mom, but as he grew older, he became mischievous and stopped listening to his mother. His behaviour worried the neighbours because sometimes, he broke their things and stole their food. He troubled many animals of the forest and their young ones.
As the matter grew serious the forest chief Basanth wolf met Bholi, to talk about Monu.
“If Monu does not mend his ways, I will be forced to go and complain to the police inspector Bhima bear. Either he will punish Monu or will make sure that Monu is not allowed to move around freely in the forest,” said Basanth and left.
Bholi was worried now. She did not want Monu to go to jail.
Her friend Polly parrot saw her and asked her why she looked sad. Bholi told him everything about Monu.
“So, this is the matter. Bholi, you have already told Monu but he still does not listen. I think the only way, is to use fear to make him understand,” said Polly.
Polly noticed the uncertain look on Bholi’s face and whispered something in her ears. When Bholi finished listening to Polly, she was hopeful that Monu would change.
The next day, Polly and her friends kept an eye on Monu who was busy disturbing Lucky rabbit. Lucky was running around, trying to hide from him.
Watching this, Polly and her friends signalled Rocky, asking her to go towards the forest. Monu followed Lucky. He thought that Lucky was escaping from him and that is why, she was going towards the forest.
Polly and her friends, Manu firefly, Dolly deer and Bhanu wolf, closely followed Monu.
When Monu reached the forest, night had fallen and the forest was dark. On Polly’s whistle, Lucky quietly hid behind the bushes.
Monu could not see anything because, it had become pitch dark. Now, Polly and her friends started working as planned.
Polly changed her voice, and screamed like a cheetah. The scream was a cue for Bhanu to walk close to Monu.
Polly’s scream left Monu horrified. He thought it was a cheetah and started sweating profusely. While Manu and some of the other fireflies shone brightly, Sonu deer stared at Monu with her eyes wide open.
“Help me please!” cried Monu.
“Monu, today I am going to eat you,” said Polly, changing her voice.
“Who are you?” asked Monu.
“I am the witch of this forest,” said Polly in a hoarse voice.
Monu started shivering, feeling even more scared.
“Please forgive me. I will not create trouble with anyone ever again,” cried Monu.
“I don’t believe you,” said Polly.
“I am telling you the truth. I will not trouble anyone. Please leave me,” begged Monu.
“Okay. There is a green tree behind you. Go and write on the tree, ‘If I trouble anyone in the future, a complaint will be sent to the king Lion and I will be punished’,” replied Polly.
“Okay, I will write that. But, how will I write in the dark?” asked Monu.
It was then that, Manu and the other fireflies gathered together and spread some light. Their light allowed Monu to write on the tree as instructed by Polly.
“I will show this to the king Lion, if you trouble anyone again. Please follow the light coming from the fireflies and go back home. Do not come back here again,” ordered Polly.
Monu quietly obeyed Polly and ran away to his house. As they watched him run away, Polly and her friends feel happy that they had taught Monu a lesson.
Next day onwards, Monu gave up troubling the animals of Rajghat forest. All the animals were surprised and happy to see a change in Monu’s behaviour.
You will need:
1. Cut 14 circles from the coloured chart papers. Fold the circles in half.
2. On a long rectangular white sheet, glue the folded circles near each other.
3. Take a thick strip of chart paper and cut fringes on one side as shown.
4. Stick the fringes at the bottom of the white sheet.
5. Roll the white sheet into a cylinder and secure it with glue. Your base of the lantern is ready.
You need:
Adult: Pre-heat the oven to 175°C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
Steps:
1. Whisk the butter and jaggery together in a bowl until mixed properly.
2. Add all the dry ingredients to it and mix it gently with a spatula.
3. If the dough mixture is crumbly, add 1 tablespoon of milk at a time till it becomes smooth.
4. Divide the dough into 12 to 14 equal parts. Roll it into balls, flatten it and put it on a tray.
5. Add gems, edible sugar eyes, and nuts to decorate the cookies.
6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until they are golden brown. Take the cookies out of the oven.
7. Add gummy sweets carefully before the cookies cool.
8. Enjoy the monster cookies this Halloween!
All the animals were busy preparing for the Diwali celebration.
They were all allotted a different task to oversee. Chinku bear was given the task of collecting glowworms to light up the forest. He had collected many and was lovingly taking care of them.
On the night of Diwali, he had to place them on the trees, which would then be illuminated, appearing as if a thousand lamps were flickering around.
Mintu monkey had to arrange for firecrackers. He had already bought different kinds of crackers from the market and had safely stored them.
Gittu elephant had to collect decoration items and he too had completed his task.
Rangoli fox had to make the rangoli, just like her name.
Two days before Diwali, everyone gathered at the venue along with the things they were responsible for.
Rory rabbit sat in the centre and inspected the materials. He praised everyone for their work. When Mintu took out the firecrackers, Rory frowned and said, “I do not like these things at all.”
Mintu was annoyed and said to him, “Rory, if you do not like these crackers, then you can go to the city and buy those of your choice.”
Gittu said, “Relax, Mintu!”
“No, I want to know what is wrong with the crackers I have brought,” said Mintu.
He was upset that the crackers he had bought so thoughtfully, had been rejected by Rory.
“Mintu, you completely misunderstood me. There is nothing wrong with these crackers or you. The problem lies with the harm the crackers do to us. I had expected that you would bring crackers that would cause less noise and air pollution. If we burst the ones you bought, the pollution levels will increase as much as in the cities. And we know that pollution is harmful to us,” explained Rory.
“How does that happen when we burst these crackers?” asked Mintu.
“The smoke that comes out when we burn them, pollutes the air. This in turn causes harm to our nose, ears, throat, eyes and skin. And the loud sound it creates, damages our ears and brain,” said Rory.
“But how can we celebrate Diwali without crackers? Our Diwali will be joyless and pointless.”
“I have a good suggestion. Let’s all go to the nearby cybercafé,” said Rangoli.
“Why?” asked Chinku.
“She is planning on showing us pictures of firecrackers. Hahaha…” said Mintu jokingly.
“No! I will show you all the beauty of firecrackers, which you will enjoy, without the pollution,” said Rangoli.
“How?” asked Gittu.
“By celebrating e-Diwali.”
“What is e-Diwali?” asked Rory.
“Let’s go to Genny giraffe’s cybercafé. We will be able to see and enjoy the bursting of crackers and a lot more. We can see it as many times as we want and control the volume too,” suggested Rangoli.
“That is a great idea. Let’s go now,” said Chinku, excitedly.
And they all joyfully went to Genny’s cybercafé to celebrate a pollution-free Diwali.
All the animals and birds in Champakvan forest lived happily and peacefully under the rule of their king, lion Shersingh.
Every year, Shersingh organized the Champakvan Festival during Diwali week.
The festival included competitions such as rangoli making, floral and light decorations, games and drama. There would be a delicious feast for all the inhabitants of Champakvan. They would also visit their family and friends with gifts.
The week-long festival would end with a prize distribution ceremony for winners of all the competitions at a grand finale of the celebrations.
This year too, they had a great time during the festival! And finally, the much-awaited grand finale was being organized at the bank of the forest river.
It was a pleasant afternoon. All the inhabitants were gathered at the river bank. It had just stopped drizzling. Peacocks gathered there were dancing in joy. Nandu mynah enthralled the gathering with her melodious songs. Naughty monkeys played and ran about with each other.
When king Shersingh arrived at the bank with his advisor Jumpy monkey, everybody greeted him. After casually interacting with some animals, he sat on a rock under the banyan tree.
“We have been celebrating our Annual Champakvan Festival every Diwali for many years. Like every year, we organized competitions in various categories.” After a pause, he continued, “I hope everyone enjoyed all the events like dance, music, drama, sports and the eating competitions, as much as I did! I personally judged many programmes and shows performed in the last few days. But before I reveal the names of the winners, I have a big surprise for you – an event neither seen nor imagined before! Please put your hands together for a very special performance by our dearest, Chameli butterfly and her team!”
Chameli, the pretty butterfly, came fluttering in front of them with hundreds of butterflies, dragonflies and moths Flapping around, they synchronized their movements to form beautiful patterns above the river in the air! Then, they queued up separately based on their colours.
The moths made red, blue, orange, yellow, white, brown, purple lines. Slowly, they started coming together. Chameli remained at the center fluttering her wings first. The line of red moths circled her. The blue, orange, yellow, white, brown and purple team-members of Chameli followed, and made different coloured patterns circling one after another. Finally, in front of the inhabitants was a big rangoli in the air.
Now, the colourful rangoli flew about in different angles in perfect synchronized steps. Nandu mynah enhanced their movement with her songs. Nobody had seen a flying rangoli before!
Chameli and her team enthralled the audience till the sunset, and as the evening set in, they slowly started disappearing. To everyone’s surprise though, after a few minutes, the butterflies and dragonflies came before them with thousands of fireflies joining them, forming shapes of diyas, depicting an illuminated world!
“Wonderful!” exclaimed King Shersingh. Everyone gave a huge round of applause for Chameli and her team.
In a few minutes, as planned by Jumpy monkey, the rabbits and deers of the forest lit diyas all around. From the river, Indu swan came out looking beautiful. “Diwali is the festival of lights- victory of good over evil and knowledge over ignorance,” she said, addressing everyone.
Jumbo elephant distributed sweets to all. Baddy fox and team opened the non-polluting fireworks. The king had banned the use of noisy crackers to avoid sound pollution. However, crackers that lit up with minimal noise were permitted.
It was now time for the feast. All the animals had carried something from their homes. Nayana squirell and Chandni parrot arranged the food for everyone.
After the celebrations were over, the Shersingh appreciated Chameli and team for their magnificent performance and presented them a beautiful honey pot decorated with jasmine flowers. He then distributed prizes to the winners of Diwali competitions. Nobody could control their laugh when Jumbo elephant was declared the Best Eater! Each participant got a bouquet as a token of appreciation by the king. The king then, thanked the organizers and the audience for making the celebration a great success!
Champakvan celebrated its annual Diwali festival in a special way – brightly, generously and deliciously!
“Happy Diwali!” cheered everyone, as the night fell
October 31 is Halloween. It’s a day when everyone wears a costume. Ruchika wants to go dressed as a Wizard but she is missing a few accessories to complete the costume. Read the hints, look at the picture and find out what she is missing.
Hints
World Mental Health Day is on October 10. In the following scenes, read the options and pick the right one.
World Mental Health Day is celebrated on October 10. Just like how we keep our body healthy, we should also keep our minds healthy by staying happy and making those around us happy.
