Stories for Children

The First Spy Job of Spy Cat and Spy Dog

2011-11-28T20:22:00.000-08:00

You will enjoy this story more if you first read the story titled "Spy Cat and Spy Dog" at: http://stories-children.blogspot.com/2011/10/spy-cat-and-spy-dog.html. It tells you how Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju's cat and dog were appointed as their spy cat and spy dog for their team.

In our previous story we came to know that the formidable four- Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju- were finding it hard to manage their increased work. Bhanu had generally started cribbing about it.

The other day he said with a bit of anger, "Our friend Percy wanted us to solve the mystery of the missing cake and we have not been able to solve it for past three days. Are we not taking too much time to solve this case? We must find some additional help."

Hearing this their cat and dog offered their services to the formidable four. Initially Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju were little doubtful about the capabilities of their dog and cat. However after the dog and the cat passed the screening test, they were appointed as the spy dog and the spy cat.

Since Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju were already busy up to neck with many mysterious cases to be solved, they decided to give a simpler case, as a starter, to their new team members i.e. the spy cat and the spy dog.

By now you know that Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju are kids; they are no grown-up people as yet. Bhanu the oldest of them all is just 10 years old. His younger sister Shanu is 8 years, his younger brother Kaju is 6 and the littlest sister Biju is 4. Though they are quite young, they have acquired a great degree of expertise in the spy work because of their intelligence and smartness. They can now solve fairly complicated cases of mystery. So they decided that while they would keep working at more difficult cases, initially they would ask their new recruits (the spy cat and the spy dog) to work on a simple case.

Bhanu said to Shanu, "Shanu, can you explain to our spy cat and spy dog the case of the missing cheese? Our mom has been complaining about it."

Shanu exclaimed, "Yes, I know about it. Our mom takes out the cheese cubes and cheese spreads from the fridge for the breakfast every morning and places them on the dining table. After all of us finish our breakfast, the cheese keeps lying on the table. Just before she leaves home for her office, she keeps the cheese back in the fridge. At that time she finds a good amount of cheese mysteriously missing from the cheese plate."

Bhanu added, "Shanu, we need to solve this mystery soon. However, to me, it seems a simple case. That's why we can assign it to our spy dog and spy cat. It will require the basic aspects of the detective work from them. You can supervise and guide them."

Shanu got excited, "You mean to say that I am now the boss. Wow! I will take the two under my wings and do not worry; I will not boss over them. Rather I will behave like a good boss and help them in their first spy job."

Kaju and Biju gave a thumbs-up to Shanu. All the four of them exchanged a high five and got back to their jobs on which they were already working.

Shanu called the spy dog and the spy cat and explained their first detective work.

Shanu cautioned them, "Now you guys are responsible detectives. So, be alert all the time. Don't keep playing as you used to do earlier. You will have to constantly keep a watch on the thief who steals our cheese. The thief seems to be quite clever. You need to be more intelligent. Can you do this job?"

The spy cat and the spy dog literally shouted in unison, "We are on the job, miss. Boss, we will never let you down. We are sure that with our smart and hard work, we will solve this case soon."

Shanu wished them best of luck, "So, get on with the job."

Next day, at the breakfast time, the two of them sat near the dining table right from the start of the breakfast till Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju and their mom and dad finished their breakfast. Even after the completion of the breakfast, they continued sitting there. They were awaiting the arrival of the thief.

They looked at each other and exchanged their plan with each other, "As soon as the thief comes here to steal the cheese, we will pounce on him and catch him. Then we will call Shanu and hand over the thief to her."

They waited at the dining table for some time after the breakfast but the thief never came. Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju's mom cleared the table with the help of Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju and then their mom kept the cheese inside the fridge as usual. However, to her surprise the cheese did not get depleted today. She mentioned about it loudly, "Hey, today our cheese remained intact!"

Quickly the spy cat and the spy dog responded, "We were keeping a guard right through the breakfast and later. So the thief got scared and did not dare steal. We will continue doing it every day. What Shanu? Are we on the right track?"

Shanu said, "You can not be doing this kind of thing everyday. You will be wasting your time and you will never be able to catch the thief. The thief is smart. He did not come today since you were around. He will then find out other ways of stealing the cheese and other eatables. Guarding the dining table is not the answer. You need to catch the thief red-handed. Do you understand?"

The spy dog and spy cat nodded in agreement. Then Shanu went to the school with her brothers and sister.

During the day time the spy dog and spy cat has a brief conference. The cat wondered, "Who could be this thief? Is he the boy next door who is in habit of plucking the flowers from our garden? Perhaps when he comes for stealing the flowers he sneaks into the house and runs away with the cheese."

The dog protested, "No, it can't be he. He is terribly scared of me because as soon as he is near our fence I start barking at him. Therefore, nowadays, he is not to be seen near our house any more. I will rule him out. What about that naughty rat? The rat who dodges you all the time. You have been trying to catch him for past so many days but you failed every time you ran after him."

The cat's eyes widened in astonishment, "Hey doggy, you seem to be more intelligent than me, I must admit it at least once. You are right. I am sure that the thief is definitely that rat. Tomorrow I must catch him red-handed. But you must help me. You know that by myself I have not been able to catch him."

The dog said, "Don't worry dear catty. Now we are a team. And why do you think I would not help you. I will. Let us get ready for tomorrow morning now."

The next day, the spy dog and the spy cat did not sit near the dining table during and after the breakfast time. Rather they hid themselves behind the curtains in the dining room. Thus they could keep a keen watch over the prospective thief and best part of this scheme was that the thief would not be able to see them. So the thief would come in without any hesitation and try to steal the cheese. That's the exact time when the spy cat and the spy dog decided to pounce on him.

And that's how it took place. After everyone finished the breakfast, the thief crept in carefully. The guess of the cat and the dog proved to be correct. The thief was none other than the same rat who was hoodwinking the cat all these days.

The rat looked here and there. He did not notice anyone in the dining room. So he became bold and his whiskers went erect in excitement. He reached near the cheese plate. As he was about to grab the cheese, the spy cat and the spy dog got into action. The cat took one long jump and one high jump and reached near the rat. Simultaneously the dog came from the other side and blocked the rat's escape by putting his paws on the table. Thus the rat was surrounded on one side by the cat and on the other side by the dog. He had no other alternative but to surrender.

The dog and the cat had kept a rat trap ready with them. So, they caught hold of the rat and shoved him inside the rat trap. The rat felt very sheepish that finally he was caught by his enemy number one (the cat) and that too as a thief.

The spy dog and the spy cat called out Shanu who was about to go to the school along with her btothers and sister. They placed the thief in front of her. It was their moment of glory. They said, "Shanu, this rat is the culprit. We caught him red-handed."

Shanu in turn called out for Bhanu, Kaju and Biju who came in running. They were mighty happy to see that their new recruits had solved the first case successfully.

All of them congratulated the spy dog and the spy cat, "Congratulations! You did a good job of your first assignment. Keep it up."

The spy cat and the spy dog thanked them and asked, "But what do we do of this naughty and nasty rat?"

Bhanu said, "We will decide in the evening. Let mom and dad return home from their offices. Then in consultation with them we will decide the rat's punishment. Till then our new detectives will take care of the rat."

After Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju left for their school, the spy dog and the spy cat danced a lot celebrating their first success as spy. The rat (locked inside the trap) was the onlooker.

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/

Spy Cat and Spy Dog

2011-10-08T03:35:00.000-07:00

By now you know that Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju are kids; they are no grown-up people as yet. Bhanu the oldest of them all is just 10 years old. His younger sister Shanu is 8 years, his younger brother Kaju is 6 and the littlest sister Biju is 4.

Though they are still very young, Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju form a very strong team. Together they have solved many mysteries in the past. Their name and fame have spread far and wide. People recognize their intelligence, strength and talents and now call them "formidable four".

Since they have become kind of important detectives, people in the neighborhood have started referring more and more mysterious cases to them. And they are finding it hard to manage the increased work. Bhanu has generally started cribbing about it.

The other day he said with a bit of anger, "Our friend Percy wanted us to solve the mystery of the missing cake and we have not been able to solve it for past three days. Are we not taking too much time to solve this case? We must find some additional help."

In the corner of the room where Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju were sitting together and brooding over the delays in solving the mysteries, their cat and dog were lazing around. While they seemed to be lazing around they were keenly listening to what the four brothers and sisters were saying.

The cat and the dog always gave company to Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju. Wherever they went, the dog and the cat followed them. The two pets were in the habit of listening to whatever the "formidable four" discussed. They also keenly observed whatever Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju did. In this process they were learning the tricks of the trade. Gradually they were learning the lessons which ultimately could qualify them as a spy dog and a spy cat.

But Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju were not even aware of this fact that their cat and dog were already getting trained to ultimately become the spy cat and the spy dog. The additional help they needed was just around the corner and they failed to notice it. Pity!!

So when the dog and the cat who pretended to sleep heard Bhanu saying that they needed additional help, the dog opened his eyes and winked at the cat. Cat was keeping her eyes half open and the dog knew that she could see him winking at her.

She spoke, "Hey, why are you winking at me? What's the matter? Is something wrong with your eye?"

The dog replied, "Nothing is wrong with me or my eye. I winked so as to attract your attention. Now that you got my attention I want to tell you to go out of the house and meet me on the lawn. I will follow you soon."

The cat got up and slowly crawled away from the room and went towards the lawn outside the house. Soon, the dog also got up without making any noise and went out of the room. He joined the cat on the lawn. Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju, the famous "formidable four" did not notice them sneaking out of the room.

While Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju were discussing various cases they were presently handling, the cat and the dog were conducting a conference between the two of them on the lawn.

Cat enquired the dog, "Why did you drag me outside? I was dozing off so nicely and also listening to the interesting things our "formidable four" were talking and you disturbed me unnecessarily."

Dog replied, "I did not disturb you. In fact I am going to do some favor to you by revealing some important matter that you did not pay heed to while your were in the room."

Cat retorted, "Don't accuse me like that. I always pay heed to everything that is important. Haven't you seen me catching the mouse even when there is no noise made by the mouse? I can listen to even the most silent whisper made by a mouse."

Dog interjected, "Then did you hear what the "formidable four" were saying about their overload of work and they needed extra help from someone?'

Cat sheepishly admitted, "No, I didn't."

Dog rebuked the cat, "Then why are you bragging about your hearing skills?"

Cat pleaded, "Forget about what I said. You have aroused my curiosity and now, don't let me die. Have you have heard people saying that a cat can die of curiosity. So save me by satisfying my curiosity. Tell me what you heard inside the room today?"

Dog was happy to notice the importance given to him by the cat. He spoke with a lot of dignity, "Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju's work has increased quite a lot these days. They are solving lot more mysterious cases than before. So they need someone to help them in their work. Before they decide to take some outsider in their team why not offer our services to them?"

Cat jumped in the air in excitement and shouted with joy, "I must hug you and give you a kiss for that idea. I can now see that you have picked up some of my brain. You have become intelligent."

Dog objected, "Not your brain baby. It's my brain. Now don't waste any time. Let us barge inside and offer our services to the "formidable four". We will start working like a spy or a detective too."

Then the dog and the cat ran inside the house and stopped only after they reached the room where Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju were still discussing some important matter.

The cat and the dog spoke simultaneously, "Please don't take anyone from outside in your team. We heard you saying that you need some extra help. Both of us will help you out."

Bhanu got angry on them for creating the disturbance. He said, "Don't disturb, get out of here. We are right in the middle of solving an important case. Already we are short of hands and work is increasing day by day. And you guys are disturbing us."

The cat requested, "Please listen to us for a minute. In fact we are here to solve your problem of shortage of help. Both of us will work as your assistants- your assistant spy or your assistant detective."

Shanu questioned, "What do you know of a spy's work? Don't act like a fool."

This time the dog replied politely, "We have picked up a lot of knowledge and skill of a spy's work by being in your company constantly. As they say we have picked up the rope, we have learnt the tricks of the trade. We can work as perfect spys under your guidance."

Kaju and Biju suggested to Bhanu and Shanu, "It's not a bad idea. We needed extra help and now we have our own family members ready to help us out. Why not consider their proposal? If you think it necessary, we can test them for their knowledge before recruiting them."

Bhanu said, "OK. That's fair. I will test their knowledge before taking them in our team."

Then turning towards the dog and the cat he asked them, "So, tell us the most important quality a good spy should possess? If you answer this question to our satisfaction, you are in."

The cat first answered, "I can always smell the rat. Smelling the rat is the first most important quality of a spy. Now don't mistake me. I am not talking about my usual habit of smelling the rats and catching them. I am talking about the quality a spy should possess- one of sensing that something is wrong some where. That's what you guys call as smelling the rat, right?"

The "formidable four" nodded in unison accepting the cat's answer as correct. Then they turned to the dog, "What about you?"

The dog too answered quite smartly, "If the cat can smell rat, I can smell the fish. Now don't mistake me. You may think that since I like eating fish I have the quality of smelling the fish. I am not referring to it. What I am saying is the same thing as the cat said. I too possess the same quality of spotting the wrong things at the least suspected places."

The "formidable four" again nodded in unison accepting the dog's answer as correct.

They looked at each other, exchanged glances and cheered up, "We were searching for our assistant spys everywhere and our assistant spys are right here."

They invited the dog and the cat to join their team, "We welcome you in our team as a spy dog and as a spy cat. Now start working immediately."

The dog and the cat became mighty happy to get their new title of "spy dog" and "spy cat". They got ready to help the "formidable four".

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/

Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju on Way to India: (Part 2)

2011-04-23T23:51:00.000-07:00

(You will enjoy this story more if you first read the part 1 of this story- the previous story- the link of which is http://stories-children.blogspot.com/2011/04/bhanu-shanu-kaju-and-biju-on-way-to.html)

Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju felt mighty excited when their parents broke the news of their impending visit to India.

They wanted to know from their mom and dad everything about the journey. So one evening during the dinner time they made lots of enquiries related to their travel to India. Mom and dad gave them very interesting information.

Now that Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju had almost all the information about the journey they needed, they started making preparation.

Each of them already had very colorful stroller bags which they had used for their earlier trips. They dusted the bags and made sure that the bags were clean.

Bhanu, the eldest brother (age 10), had a blue colored stroller bag with stickers of a famous scientist and a famous tennis player on it because he loves to read science and to play tennis. Shanu likes red color and so when they bought their bags, she chose red color for her bag. Kaju's bag has yellow color. He likes all the bright colors and as per him, yellow is the brightest of them all. And Biju, the youngest one obviously likes the famous pink color, the color every four year young child likes. So she loves her pink colored stroller bag too. Hers is a slightly smaller bag so that she can pull that bag on her own.

They took out their most favorite clothes from their wardrobes and ironed them and folded them properly before arranging them in a very tidy manner inside their stroller bags. Since they would be staying in India in the month of June, it was not necessary for carrying their woolens. During June, in some parts of India it is the start of rainy season and in some parts it is still summer.

They also packed few story books to read. They did not want to increase the weight of their bags by taking too many books and they had already planned to buy couple of comics at the airports.

They decided to wear their caps while going to the Seattle Tacoma airport. Colors of their caps were also the same as that of their stroller bags. Bhanu- blue, Shanu- red, Kaju- yellow and Biju- pink. In a small box they filled some gummy bears of these four colors which they would eat during their journey.

Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju has started the count down. They were highly excited and each passing day started looking like a week to them. Yet, finally the day of the start of the journey to India arrived. Since the flight to Newark airport from Seattle Tacoma airport was to take off at 7 AM, everyone got up early in the morning that day. All the four of them and their mommy and daddy dressed smartly and they were ready when dad's friend came with his car to pick them up and drop them at the airport.

Bhanu asked his daddy, "Are we not going in our car?"

Daddy explained, "Since we are going out for a longer period, parking our car for so many days in the parking area of the airport will not be a good idea. That's why I requested my friend to drop us at the airport."

Since it was the morning time, it took them just about half an hour to reach the airport. During the heavy traffic time it could take more than even an hour.

After reaching the airport, they thanked dad's friend for dropping them. They waved him bye and entered the airport with their luggage. They went straight to the airlines counter for checking in. Since they were early at the airport they found very few people ahead of them in the line for the check-in. The lady from the airlines at the check-in counter gave them their boarding passes on which were written their respective seat numbers. The boarding passes also showed the gate number of the airport from which they would board the aircraft.

Now all of them proceeded towards the security check post. They were requested to pass through a screening machine. Their hand bags (the stroller bags) were also checked by the x-ray machines.

After the security check, they went to the gate from where their flight would take off. They had to wait near the gate before the boarding was announced. Since they had enough time with them now, they used the rest room and also drank water from the drinking water fountains installed at the airport. They requested their mom to accompany them to the book stall where they could buy couple of comics.

By this time an announcement was made on a loud speaker that all the passenger who wished to travel to Newark airport should start getting into the airplane which was now kept ready for take off. Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju with their mom and dad walked into the airplane and went towards their seats. They had decided that Biju, the youngest one would sit in the window seat to begin with. And then during the journey, each of the four would sit in the window seat turn by turn.

They kept their bags in the overhead baggage lockers fitted above their seats. Daddy helped them to keep the bags in these lockers.

All of them fastened their seat belts. Bhanu said to the other three, "Do not take off your seat belts even after the airplane takes off. It is always safe to keep the seat belt fastened while flying." Shanu, Kaju and Biju nodded in full agreement.

In a few minutes, they felt that their airplane had started moving and was proceeding towards the runway where it would run at a great speed and then take off. Now the aircraft was already at the start of the runway and the pilot of the plane started moving the plane at a very fast speed and after they were more than half way through the length of the runway, their airplane started climbing in the air. Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju, though initially a bit scared during the take off were now already enjoying their journey in the air.

Kaju was already feeling hungry. He knew from their earlier discussions that the sector Seattle-Newark is a domestic sector and the airlines do not serve the meals in the airplane in domestic sectors. However he knew that mom had packed good amount of various types of eats for this part of the journey. So he requested mommy to give all of them something to eat. And they did eat lots of things.

Then all of them got busy. Bhanu and Shanu were reading a book of short stories. Biju sitting next to the window was watching the outside view and Kaju was reading a comic book. Their daddy and mummy went to sleep since they woke up quite early in the morning.

After some five hours of journey, they reached Newark airport. They got down from their airplane with their hand baggage. Now they were at Newark airport and by using the escalators or even walking, they were supposed to reach the gate from where their next plane will take off to Mumbai in India.

They decided to use a moving escalator to reach near the gate to get into the aircraft. Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju enjoyed the ride on the escalator. It was not necessary for them to walk once they stepped on to the escalator. The escalator carried them all the way to their gate.

It was 3 in the afternoon and the next flight's departure time was around 8 PM. So they had to wait for 5 hours for their second flight.

During this waiting period, Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju went around the various food stalls on the airport along with their mommy and bought pizzas, hamburgers and hot dogs and water. Then all them including mom and dad shared the food they bought. Afterwards they all slept for a while and spent some time in looking at lots of airplanes that were landing and taking off. It was real fun. They also spent time reading books and telling each other stories. They also sang songs in which their dad and mom joined them.

Now it was 8 PM- time to board the airplane. They walked into the plane along with their stroller bags and occupied the seats allotted to them. They were excited about this part of the journey since the air hostesses would serve them lots of eats and various types of sodas and other drinks etc.

After they settled down in their seats, an air hostess approached them, wished them good evening and gave each one of them their pillows, blankets and ear phones. Now Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju noticed that each of them had a television fixed right in front of their seats and they cried out loudly in joy. The music system was also in place on the hand supports of the seats. The whole thing was happening just the way their mommy and daddy had told them during the dinner time the other day.

Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju enquired their daddy about how to use the television set and the music system that were provided for each and every passenger. They learnt it very fast; after all they are intelligent kids.

Soon the pilot of the airplane welcomed all the passengers and announced that everyone should fasten their seat belts as the airplane was about to take off. This time Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju were not scared of the take off any more; rather they enjoyed it.

Now they were high up in the air and the buildings outside started looking smaller and smaller. After some time an air hostess came to their seats and politely requested for their choice of drinks. Bhanu requested her to give him cola, Shanu wanted a lemon drink, Kaju settled on orange and Biju gave order for mango drink. Daddy and mom requested for orange juice. They were also served peanuts and paper napkins.

They had to pass lots of time now in the airplane since the journey time to India was close to 15 hours. They decided to see the movies that were meant for children's viewing. During this period of 15 hours they were served cookies, peanuts and chocolates etc. They relished eating them. Then came the meal time. Air hostess served them a very tasty dinner and they enjoyed it immensely.

They also used the tiny rest rooms that were available in the airplane. First they were curious to know how an airplane's toilet looks like and secondly being such a long journey they had to use the toilets for what they are meant for- you know what!!

For a few hours all of them dozed off and they felt fresh after taking a good rest. They read comics and books and played some games that could be played while sitting in their seats. From time to time they would peep outside the plane from the window but all they could see were the clouds and nothing else because from the great height at which the airplane was flying it was almost impossible to see any thing of the earth.

And finally the time of reaching Mumbai was coming closer. They found that the plane was now going down. Dad and mom requested them to pack up their things that they had taken out of their bags. They went to the rest rooms once more. Now they were looking outside the window constantly. Soon the view from the earth started becoming clearer and larger. The mountains, the sea, the building and the bridges started coming in their sight. They felt excited with the realization they had almost reached Mumbai, they had reached India finally.

The airplane landed at Mumbai international airport. It then reached the gate from where they would have to get off the plane. After the plane came to a stand still, all of them unfastened their seat belts. They opened the overhead baggage lockers and with the help of their daddy took out their stroller bags.

Now with their bags in their hands, Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju entered Mumbai airport along with their daddy and mummy and from there they would proceed to their host's home in Mumbai in a car. Their air journey to India came to an end.

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/

Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju on Way to India: (Part 1)

2011-04-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

By now you know that Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju are kids; they are no grown-up people as yet. Bhanu the oldest of them all is just 10 years old. His younger sister Shanu is 8 years, his younger brother Kaju is 6 and the littlest sister Biju is 4.

Yet, despite their being so young, they have travelled considerably. They have also lived in many cities of several countries. How could they do it at such young age? In fact it is because of their parents' jobs. Their mom and dad have to travel a lot and live in different cities of different countries. On most of such occasions, Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju accompany their parents.

However, in their previous travels except for Bhanu, all the other three were so young that they do not remember much of those. They have some vague impressions of their earlier air, road and rail road travels. Also, they have very vague impressions of the cities they stayed.

Presently they live in Seattle since their mom and dad are posted in Seattle. They love Seattle because they think that it is one of the most beautiful cities among the ones they have visited so far and whose memories they can recall. As per them Seattle is not only the most beautiful city of America but it is perhaps one of the most beautiful cities of the world.

When some of the older people around complain about the perennial rains of Seattle, Biju thinks in her own mind, "How can they complain about Seattle just because it rains here most of the days? They should see Seattle from the top of Space Needle. And then you can appreciate its lakes, the greenery all around, the ups and downs of the roads. Wow, this city is just beautiful."

Bhanu, Shanu and Kaju agree with their sister. Bhanu adds, "I love my school here. It is one of the best schools I have seen." His younger brother and sisters do not understand his sentiments because they have not attended as many schools as Bhanu did; after all he was 10 years of age and acted like a big man.

Any way this story is not about how Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju live in Seattle and how they love this city but it is about their dreams about the journey they are going to undertake soon. Their parents have some work in India and then after their work in India is over they wish to take a short vacation in India. And Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju are now at an age where they can enjoy and remember their experiences of travel to another country and the stay there.

So, the day Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju learnt about this trip to India from their dad, they have already started dreaming about it and talking about it.

First thing they did was to locate India on the world map. They also consulted the globe their parents bought for them to get acquainted with the geography of the earth. Shanu was quite surprised and yelled out, "Hey, India is on the other side of US on this globe. How can we ever reach there? It must be taking months to get there?"

Bhanu said, "Shanu, it does take many days to reach India from USA if you travel by a ship. However, if we fly, we will reach India in around 24 hours. Yes, even 24 hours seem to be a lot of time when it is possible to reach Vancouver in just 2 to 3 hours; that too by a car ."

Kaju and Biju exclaimed in unison,"You two seem to know a lot about all of this. But we do not know anything. we will ask mom and dad to tell us more about journey to India at the dinner time today."

The dinner time came. Everyone sat around the dining table. Kaju asked, "Dad, we are very curious to know more about our journey to India. Can you tell us?"

Their daddy smiled and said, "Hey, you guys have already started talking about our trip to India! We haven't even booked the air tickets."

Biju clapped, "Daddy, does that mean that we are going to travel in an airplane?"

Mom interjected, "Not one air plane but two airplanes. First we will fly within America from our Seattle Tacoma airport to Newark airport of New Jersey. That is our first airplane. Then we will get down from that airplane and board another airplane at Newark airport. That will be our second airplane."

Kaju asked, "Wow! And how much time our flight will take to Newark?"

Shanu knew its answer and before mom or dad could answer she spoke out, "Around 5 hours. But I have no idea about the time it takes to reach India"

Dad said, "Shanu, the journey time between Newark airport to Mumbai airport in India is approximately 15 hours. And there will be some waiting time at Newark airport before we get into the next plane."

Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju enquired at the same time, "How will we pass our time at Newark airport? Hope we will get some pizzas and hamburgers to eat there and may be some comics to read. Isn't it dad? And perhaps we can use the rest rooms at Newark airport to freshen up."

Mom was very happy to hear that question and came forward to answer it, "I am myself looking forward to eat those wonderful things at the airport. I love eating at various airports while undertaking a journey. We can get yummy things at airport food parlors. And do you know that every international airlines also serves the food and drinks in the airplane while the plane is flying high up in the air?"

Biju was very excited listening to that and almost shouted, "That's so cool. Can I have a soda in the airplane for a change? Mom and dad, can you allow me the soda just once?"

Mom and dad replied almost together, "OK, all of you can have just about one soda in the plane. I am glad that you are asking our permission for this."

Shanu asked, "I heard from one of my friends who recently flew to Paris that they show good movies in the airplane and you can see them on a television that is placed just in front of your seat? Is that true?"

Bhanu who remembered about it from his earlier journey spoke out, "I remember to have seen Tom and Jerry cartoons last time we travelled. It was fun. But it was shown on a big screen and not on the television placed right in front of my seat."

Dad clarified, "In some aircraft where they do not have provision of giving each passenger his own television, they show the movies on big screens which all the passengers can watch even from a distance."

Biju prayed loud enough, "Hope we travel in a plane where they give us each a television."

Dad further clarified, "And on the hand support of your seat in the airplane, you will find the video and music system. It gives you a choice of listening to variety of music channels in addition to watching movies on variety of video channels. The air hostess will give each one of us a head set that we can wear and plug into the audio-video system so that we can hear the music and movie dialogues without disturbing others."

Mom added, "She will also give each one of us a pillow to rest our head on it or to give support to our back. She will give us a blanket too. The airplane has the air-conditioning arrangement and if you feel cold inside you can wrap the blanket around you."

Kaju quipped in all his excitement, "But I am not going to sleep at all. I want to sit near the window and watch outside. Mom, can all of us get the window seats?"

Mom replied, "All of us can request for window seats at the time of booking our tickets and may get them also but then we will not be able to sit together in the plane."

Kaju and Biju spoke at the same time, "We do not want to sit away from our family. What we will do is exchange the window seat turn by turn."

Mom and others agreed, "Yes, that's fair enough."

Shanu had one question lingering in her mind for quite some time. She asked sheepishly, "Please do not laugh at me. But I want to know if I need to go potty, what happens? Or I will not eat much in the plane."

Bhanu knew about it and mentioned, "Don't worry. Eat to your desire and then use the toilets in the plane. They are tiny ones but they are quite good."

Bhanu asked daddy, "Daddy, are we going to land in Mumbai or else where in India?"

Daddy said, "We will deplane at Mumbai airport in India. Mumbai is by far the biggest city in India like New York City in America. It is called the business capital of India and more than 13 million people live there where as around 9 million people live in New York City. Seattle's population is just about 600,000."

Mom looked at the watch and said, "My my, it is pretty late; time to sleep and we have finished our dinner too. Isn't it daddy?"

Daddy nodded in agreement.

Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju also nodded and they were very happy to know so many things about their journey to India. All of them wished each other good night and headed to their bed rooms to sleep.

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/

Going to School is All Fun!!

2011-03-14T01:39:00.000-07:00

"Hey mommy, what's for the breakfast today?", Biju, the youngest of the four brothers and sisters took her seat at the dining table and enquired. She was the first to arrive in the dining room this morning.

Her mom replied, "Guess, what it is?"

Biju had learnt by heart the breakfast menu decided by her mother in consultation with her daddy and all the four children. They selected those items for the breakfast that are healthy as well as yummy.

Her mom had meticulously worked out a great menu for all the week days. Oatmeal on Monday, hard boiled eggs on Tuesday, museli on Wednesday, half boiled eggs on Thursday and cornflakes on Friday. A glass of milk was compulsory every day. However, the kids had a choice between hot chocolate and plain milk. Additionally they had to have toasts with butter or cheese or peanut butter or fruit jam. The breakfast menu on the weekend was always a surprise and a great treat.

Biju then could guess on dot, "Mommy, it has to be hard boiled eggs today, isn't it? If it is Tuesday, it has to be hard boiled eggs. Or is there a surprise in stock for us just like what you do on weekends?"

By this time, Bhanu the oldest brother accompanied by his younger sister Shanu and the younger brother Kaju joined Biju, their youngest sister and their mom. Bhanu had overheard the conversation between Biju and mom. He interjected in the conversation, "Can mommy ever go wrong? Menu has to be the pre-decided menu- no deviations. Right mommy?"

Their dad rushed to the table and said humorously, "I am always the last these past few days. All because of Biju. She occupies our bathroom saying that all other bathrooms are already engaged. And on top of that, takes more time in the shower singing all those songs she is learning in the school these days?"

Biju got a bit annoyed, "Daddy, that's not being fair. Don't you tell me to sing those songs again and again so that I remember them for ever? That's why I sing them even when in shower."

Mommy came to Biju's rescue, "Hey Biju, daddy is just teasing you."

Biju was happy listening that, smiled and quipped, "It's OK then."

Shanu loved boiled eggs and could not resist saying, "Today, I am going to enjoy my breakfast. Wow! The boiled eggs!! Wow! The boiled eggs!!"

Kaju joined in, "But I like half boiled eggs better- I am all eyes waiting for Thursday."

Mom set up the table for the breakfast and daddy and all the four children helped her in laying out the plates and cutlery on the table. Then all the six of them sat around the table in their respective seats and ate their breakfast.

All of them used to arrive at the dining table on time and used to give full twenty minutes for the breakfast so that none had to rush. Kids and their parents knew that eating the meals in a relaxed manner is always more beneficial for digestion and to become healthy.

After finishing the breakfast all the six of them together cleared the table. When they helped each other the workload of clearing the table did not fall on one single person and the job was done quickly.

The kids hugged mommy after the breakfast. She had to leave for her office now. Mom and dad hugged each other. They all waved at mommy as she drove off to her office. Daddy used to go to his office after he took the kids to their school.

It was not necessary for daddy to escort his children to their school. Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju were capable of going to the school on their own. But he used to enjoy strolling along with them to the school which was nearby at a walking distance. This was the most enjoyable time for the dad and the kids to be completely together and share many ideas and things amongst them.

So dad latched the door of the house and the five of them started towards the school. As they stepped on to their garden in front of their home, Kaju exclaimed, "Look at that yellow butterfly on that new red flower."

Dad said, "It is spring season now and this is one of the most beautiful seasons of the year. Does anyone of you know why?"

Biju was quick enough to answer, "Daddy, only the other day my teacher told me that spring is the blooming and flowering season. That's why spring is such a special season."

Shanu added, "Also the plants get their new leaves and they look so delicate."

As they walked for some five to six minutes, they crossed the lake on their left side. Everyday they used to stop there for couple of minutes to watch the ducks playing in the clear water of the lake. They saw some new baby ducks today. They were amused to see the new ducks.

Bhanu and Shanu had brought with them some bread crumbs. They gave some to Kaju, Biju and the dad. They threw the bread crumbs in the water. All the ducks including the new baby ducks rushed to eat them. It was fun watching them.

Suddenly they saw that two white rabbits were peeping out of a bush near the lake. The rabbits had carrots with them and they were nibbling at the carrots. It was a great sight.

Daddy carried his camera with him to capture such interesting events. Kaju and Biju spoke at the same time, "Daddy, please click at the rabbits. Look how they are enjoying their breakfast- just the way we do."

Then daddy took the photograph of the rabbits with Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju in the foreground.

They walked for another five to six minutes and they were already in the school. During that period, they talked about the colorful birds that were chirping around. Then they talked about the basket ball match that Bhanu and Shanu were going to participate in the school that day. Daddy, Kaju and Biju gave Bhanu and Shanu lots of encouragement to play a good game.

Now it was time to bid bye to each other and go to the respective class rooms and for daddy to go home. Biju said, "It's so much fun coming to the school with you and with Bhanu, Shanu and Kaju."

Everyone agreed, "Yes, it's fun all the way. It definitely is!"

The four of them went to their class rooms and daddy turned back to go home. He used to go jogging while returning home to exercise himself. He reached home, took out the car from the garage and drove off to his office humming a tune he liked. He was humming because he had a wonderful time every morning with his children and he loved it.

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/

Who Will Bell the Cat?

2010-08-02T05:59:00.000-07:00

As all of you know, Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju are brothers and sisters and they also are very good friends of each other. Yet, they are more like a strong baseball or soccer team. They support and help each other a lot all the time.

Bhanu being the oldest of all is physically stronger. So, he is kind of protector of his younger sisters Shanu and Biju and his younger brother Kaju. Bhanu is 10 years old; Shanu is 8 years, Kaju 6 and Biju 4.

They used to go their school together and on way to the school, they used to pick up their friend Jolly from his home. As usual, today also, they reached Jolly's place and called him to join them to go to the school. They were surprised when Jolly did not come out of the house immediately. Normally, Jolly used to wait outside the house most of the days. So, they went near the house and found the house locked from outside and it looked like as if it was vacant and there was no one staying there. This situation was a kind of a puzzle to Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju. Bhanu said, "Has Jolly gone out with his parents on holiday?"

Biju, the youngest of them who was quite observant quickly replied, "But he would have told us if he was planning to go out somewhere."

Kaju added, "But why they will take away all of their belongings if they were to go on a holiday?"

Shanu joined in the conversation by saying, "Yes, the house looks completely empty. But I can hear some noise inside as if some one is banging the walls."

Bhanu said, "Let us go to the school. Perhaps, we may meet Jolly there".

And then the four of them walked to the school. They did not speak with each other on way to the school. All the four of them were in deep thoughts about their friend Jolly.

Then, Shanu suddenly talked to himself but loud enough to be heard by the rest three, "But why that banging the wall type noise?"

The three exclaimed in unison, "Yes, why the noise?"

As soon as they reached the school, they started looking out for Jolly. They found him in his class room sitting on his desk. He looked very sad and also frightened. They asked him, "What happened?"

Jolly spoke out with great difficulty, "Hey, there was a big problem in our house this weekend. When my parents and I returned from the shopping mall, we heard a big noise from inside the house- from the guest room. We normally do not use the guest room. My mom and I got quite scared. We thought that in our absence some burglars might have entered the house. Somehow, dad gathered courage and entered the house but came running outside within few seconds as if he had encountered some ghosts."

Jolly further mentioned what his daddy told after he came out of the house, "Daddy told us that Something funny was happening in the guest room; it felt eerie inside the house. Some ball like thing was jumping around in the room banging the walls and the ceiling and the floor. The ball like thing was moving on its own as if it is live; it was pretty scary."

Jolly then went on to say,"Our neighbors came out of their house when they saw that we were standing outside and not entering the house. Though our neighbors Mr and Mrs Wilson are not very pally with us, they still enquired. Mr Wilson asked that they noticed us standing outside the house for quite some time and not entering our house. He asked, what was the matter?"

Jolly continued speaking, "My dad replied to Mr Wilson that he heard some big noise in our guest room and something funny was happening there. He requested Mr Wilson to accompany him inside the house to help and check out the things. Mr Wilson also got a bit scared but he went inside with my dad. And within few seconds they returned. You could see fear written all over their faces."

Biju asked, "Jolly, what happened then? Why have you guys vacated the house? And where are you staying now?"

Jolly replied, "After the incident, Wilsons told my mom and dad some very frightening stories of ghosts. They are old couple and quite superstitious. They believe in ghosts though we learnt in our science lessons that positive proofs of existence of ghosts are not available. Wilsons advised us not to stay in such a spooky house or something inauspicious might take place. My mom and dad agreed with Wilsons and we shifted to my aunt's house. My mom and dad are looking out for another house for us to stay."

Bhanu put his hands on Jolly's shoulders to calm down his excitement and fear. He asked him, "Jolly, do you have the key to your house? Normally you keep one on you?"

Jolly said, "Yeah, I still have the key with me. Why?"Bhanu replied, "Today, we have a long recess. So during the recess, all of us will go to your house and inspect it from inside. It will be some adventure. What do you think, guys?"

Shanu, Kaju, Biju and Jolly almost shouted together in excitement, "Yep, let us do it. We did not have any adventure for quite some time now?"

Then all of them went to their respective class rooms to meet up again during the recess. During the recess, they went to Jolly's house which Wilsons had declared as spooky. With the help of the key that Jolly had with him Bhanu opened the front door and all of them followed Bhanu towards the guest room.

At present there was silence in the house but as soon as they pushed the door of the guest room open, suddenly the banging type noise started. They saw that the ball like thing was jumping around the house from wall to wall and from floor to ceiling.

Shanu suggested to Bhanu, "Why not go inside the room and we will position ourselves in the four corners of the room and one of us will stand in the middle of the room. Then we will try to grab the jumping ball."

All of them agreed with Shanu's suggestion with one voice. Accordingly they took their positions on the five stations inside the guest room. After lots of efforts and time, finally Kaju who stood in the middle of the room, grabbed the jumping ball. But his hands being small, the ball was forcing to free itself from his hands. Seeing this rest of them ran towards Kaju and held the ball tightly in their hands.

By now they were a bit tired. They were also quite scared to think in anticipation as to what could come out of the ball. Is it true that the ghost might have entered the ball or was it some thing else? But with one voice they negated such a possibility as they had learnt in the school that ghosts did not exist.

And while they were exchanging these thoughts with each other, they heard a "meow", a very weak "meow" from inside the ball. That made all the five of them laugh loudly, "Hey, it is our dear Katy- the domestic cat of Wilsons. They were complaining about their missing cat for past couple of days?"

Then, they freed Katy from the ball. She purred and felt very happy in the company of Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju, Biju and Jolly. She was already quite friendly with all the five of them as she knew them very well. Biju brought water for her, Kaju gave her cold milk from the refrigerator and Jolly gave her some things to eat. Bhanu and Shanu were stroking her lovely soft fur. Katy looked at them with lots of love, affection and gratitude and said, "meow" in stronger voice as if she was thanking them.

Bhanu requested Jolly to call his mom and dad to tell the entire episode. Upon hearing that, his dad and mom rushed to their house. They thanked and appreciated Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju and also their son Jolly for their courageous act.

Then they went to Wilsons and handed over their missing Katy. Wilsons' happiness knew no bounds to find Katy back. They also thanked and appreciated Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju, Biju and Jolly. Finally Wilsons and Jolly's parents agreed with one voice, "One should not believe in superstitions. One should learn to examine the situation with cool head and then act courageously, just like Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju, Biju and Jolly."

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/

Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh Saves Biggy Elephant

2010-04-26T03:39:00.000-07:00

Biggy elephant was not big by age. He was quite a young elephant. But all of you must be knowing that even young elephants are quite big in size. So elephant named Biggy was also big in size at his very young age.

He was residing in the zoo of the city where Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh used to live. Dholu Ram is the famous rolypoly boy who is also very strong and intelligent. He is very helpful too.

Dholu Ram used to visit the zoo often and had become friendly with a chimpanzee, a zebra, a dolphin, a duck, a panda, a rabbit, an ostrich, a raccoon, a kangaroo, a giraffe, a deer, a flamingo and also Biggy elephant.

Dholu Ram took a special liking for Biggy elephant. Biggy used to give Dholu rides on his back. Dholu used to enjoy these rides. Dholu always used to take bananas with him to feed Biggy. Biggy loved eating bananas. He could eat a dozen bananas within a minute.

One day when Dholu visited the zoo, he met all of his animal and bird friends but he did not see Biggy elephant. He enquired with the in-charge of the zoo about whereabouts of Biggy. He told that Biggy was missing from the zoo; he was not traceable anywhere. It was suspected that some elephant thief had taken Biggy away with him.

Dholu missed Biggy elephant a lot and also felt worried about him. The in-charge of the zoo assured Dholu that he had reported the incident to the police and they were already searching the thief and Biggy elephant.

A couple of days passed.

Then one day Dholu was going on a picnic along with his friends from the school. They were traveling in the school bus and were enjoying themselves by singing the songs and eating tasty things. And suddenly, Dholu noticed an elephant lying right in the middle of the road. The drivers of the cars, trucks and other vehicles were driving past the elephant but no one stopped to see the lying elephant. The driver of the bus in which Dholu and his friends were traveling also circumvented the elephant and kept driving.

Dholu did not like this attitude of all these drivers. He went up to the driver and requested him to stop the bus. He said to the driver, " Please stop the bus. I suspect that the elephant is hurt badly and he is therefore lying across the road. Please stop the bus. We must help the elephant." All of Dholu's friends also requested in chorus. Reluctantly the driver had to stop.

Dholu Ram and his friends got down from the bus and went near the elephant. Dholu saw that the elephant was badly hurt and was bleeding. The elephant seemed to be unconscious. Dholu started going around the elephant and as he approached the head of the elephant, he recognized him immediately. The elephant was none other than Biggy who was missing from the zoo for the past few days.

Dholu shouted, "Biggy, wake up. How are you? Are you hurt?" But Biggy did not reply at all. He was lying absolutely still and made no movement whatsoever.

Then some villager came to Dholu and said, "I saw the accident. A big truck came from behind and dashed against the elephant with a big force. As a result, the elephant got hurt, started bleeding and fell down unconscious. The mahout of the elephant ran away leaving the elephant on the road, unattended. Even the truck driver drove away his truck without bothering to see the condition of the elephant."

Dholu Ram felt very concerned. He was already missing Biggy for the past few days and now he found Biggy but he found him in such a bad state. Then it occurred to him that his mom had given him her cell phone so that they could be in touch with each other- his dad had one more cell phone. He took out the cell phone from his pocket and called his dad.

He said, "Dad, do you remember that Biggy elephant was stolen from the zoo. I have found him on the road unconscious. He needs immediate medical attention. Can you please call the veterinary doctor along with the local police chief and zoo in charge immediately and ask them to reach here in the fastest possible way?" Then Dholu gave his dad the location of the place of the accident.

Within fifteen minutes police chief, zoo in-charge and the doctor came. Doctor had brought with him many medicines and injections. He administered the required medicines and injections on Biggy elephant so as to minimize his pain and to make him feel stronger.

The police chief had brought a crane and a big open vehicle with some police men for help. Zoo in-charge had also brought with him the zoo attendants for any help that Biggy elephant would need All of them tied Biggy with a big and strong belt and the crane operator lifted Biggy and placed him on to the big open vehicle. Then they drove Biggy to the city's hospital for animals.

Dholu also went along with the zoo in-charge, police chief and doctor to the hospital. He requested his friends to go ahead for the picnic. He told them that he would join them soon in his dad's car as soon as Biggy became conscious.

The doctor performed a minor operation on Biggy and bandaged him properly. He also gave Biggy some more medicines. After about an hour or so, Biggy opened his eyes. He was not feeling any pain because of the pain killer injections the doctor had given him. As he opened his eyes the first person he saw was Dholu Ram. Biggy smiled at Dholu.

Dholu smiled back and rested his hand on Biggy and consoled him. He said, "Biggy, you met with an accident. Now, doctor has given you the required medicines and you will be fine again. Just take rest for a couple of days." He gave Biggy some bananas. Biggy ate them all and said, "Thanks for the bananas. I was missing you and bananas for past so many days; from the time the thief stole me away from the zoo."

Dholu assured him that now he was safe in the company of his friends and need not have to worry about the thief any more.

Biggy elephant spoke with him for a while and then went to sleep. He needed lots of rest to recover soon. He insisted to Dholu, "Now I am fine. I must thank you. But you must not wait here. I am going to take rest by sleeping a lot for next two days. You must go to picnic now. When you return we will talk a lot with each other. Bye for now."

Dholu requested his dad to drop him at the picnic spot. He joined his friends and told them the good news of Biggy's recovery. All his friends also felt very happy to hear the good news and said, "Now we can really enjoy the picnic."

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/

Surprise Party

2010-04-03T04:14:00.000-07:00

Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh, the rolypoly, yet very strong boy was now big enough to stay alone at home for a day or two on his own if his parents went out of station once in a while. On such occasions he used to invite his friend Golu to stay with him. Of course, his dog Rex and Golu’s dog Rex were always around them. And together they used to manage the show pretty well.

You may ask a question: how come Dholu’s dog’s name is Rex and Golu’s dog’s name is Rex too? You know that Golu and Dholu are great friends. When Dholu got his dog, he named him Rex. Now when Golu saw that his best friend named his dog Rex, being a great friend of Dholu and also because he liked the name Rex too much, he too named his dog Rex.

Now, you may have another question. When both the dogs are together, don’t they get confused when someone calls them? Your question is valid. But then dogs are dogs and they are more intelligent. And that’s how they decide between them as to who should respond when someone calls Rex. Even if they make a mistake and the wrong Rex responds, the caller does not know the difference because both are so identical. Only Dholu and Golu and their parents can make out the difference. And so when they call their dogs, particularly when the two dogs are together, they call Dholu’s Rex as Rex and Golu’s Rex as Rexona.

After satisfying you on this count, let us see what Dholu and Golu are doing together at Dholu’s home when Dholu’s parents have gone out of station for a day on some important work. The parents mentioned to Dholu that they would return home, in any case, by the late evening.

Before going out this morning, all of them had a very nutritious and tasty breakfast of double egg omelet and milk. Golu had joined them the evening of the earlier day and slept in Dholu’s bed room. They told lots of stories to each other in the night and they did not know when sleep came over them.

After a healthy and heavy breakfast, Dholu and Golu waved bye to Dholu’s parents who sat in the car and drove away.

It was school time and both Dholu and Golu got busy with their preparations to go to the school. Soon they were out of home and were walking towards their school. Their school was nearby within walking distance.

As soon as they went out, Rex and Rex (Rexona) got together in the living room of the house and had a conference between them. They wanted to decide something but did not know what. So they wanted the help of their other friends to take a decision.

These days almost every human being has a cell phone which some people also call as mobile phone. The animal kingdom is never backward. When they saw how useful the cell phone was, the wiser of the animals also invented very tiny cell phones for their animal friends. So every animal carries a tiny cell phone these days.

Rex and Rexona got busy calling their friends using their cell phones. They called Blacky bear, Bunny rabbit, Bina butterfly, Ratty rat and Quibee honey bee queen and requested them to join them in their urgent and important conference. All of them agreed to join them soon.

Then Rex and Rexona had some waiting time. During this waiting time, they played some games. Soon their entire friends joined in.

Blacky bear was still in his sleepy mood. He asked Rex and Rexona, “Why did you have to call all of us at such an early morning? I wanted to sleep more and your cell phone ring woke me up right in the middle of my sweet dream. In my dream I was about to pluck the jack fruit from the tree and you disturbed me.”

Rex told Rexona to speak out in the meeting of these friends. Rexona would not speak out. He told Rex, “You speak out. You know that I am not good at making public speeches.”

Ultimately Rex opened his mouth, “Friends, we have to take a decision.” And then he stopped.

Ratty rat got pretty annoyed. He said, “That’s not a complete speech. You must give us the entire background and then alone you can ask us to take a decision.”

Rex gathered some courage and said, “Dholu and Golu are alone at home today. Dholu’s parents have gone outstation and will return by 9 PM tonight. Though Dholu’s mom has cooked some food and stocked it in the refrigerator, I cannot see our dear Dholu and Golu eating the frozen food for the dinner. Why not give them a surprise party? They are such great friends of ours and today we are getting a very good opportunity to show our friendship to them. What is your decision?”

Blacky bear, Bunny rabbit, Bina butterfly, Ratty rat, Quibee honey bee queen and Rexona cheered in one voice, “Hey, hey. Hear, hear. We pass the proposal. Yes, let us throw a surprise party to Dholu and Golu.”

Together they worked out a menu for the dinner party. Every one volunteered to make or bring at least one dish.

Quibee honey bee queen declared that she would get the fresh honey from her honeycomb.

Bunny rabbit said, “I will get some very fresh carrots from the kitchen garden in the backyard of Golu’s home. Golu’s parents have grown the big red colored carrots in their kitchen garden. I will then make carrot pudding (gajar ka halwa).”

Blacky bear always dreamt of jack fruits and so he volunteered to pluck some jack fruits from a nearby garden and then slice them and make a nice fruit platter.

Bina butterfly suggested that while everyone was making or bringing some nice things to eat, she would take the charge of decorating the interior of the house and the dining room with nice flowers. She mentioned that Dholu had a beautiful garden in front of his house and there were so many varieties of flowers and so, she would make many flower arrangements out of them.

Ratty rat had been watching Dholu’s mother’s cooking every day and he used to taste the dishes made by her. By now he was almost like a well trained chef. He had particularly liked a dish called “ratatouille” which is made from eggplant, tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers and zucchini. He liked ratatouille because it tasted delicious and he had one more reason to like it- in its spelling his own name was also there- “rat”.
He could find all these ingredients eggplant, tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers and zucchini in the kitchen garden in the backyard of the house, so well maintained by Dholu’s parents.

Rex and Rexona took charge of laying out the dinner table. They also took charge of lighting the dining room with lights of different colors. They arranged for some jazzy music. They told that they would also perform other miscellaneous tasks.

So everybody got ready for the surprise party.

Rex said, “As per their daily routine, Dholu and Golu will play a few games of tennis on the tennis court of the school before they return home. Then they will rush towards the refrigerator to scoop out some frozen dinner for themselves. So just about that time, we will switch on all the colored lights, uncover the flower arrangements and play some jazzy music and let them see the well laid out dining table and so many exotic dishes spread on it. That will definitely surprise them and then we will shout together welcoming them home and appear on the scene. Till then, let us all hide behind the sofa.”

And they did exactly that. As soon as Dholu and Golu reached the refrigerator, Rex and Rexona switched on all the colored lights, uncovered the flower arrangements, played the jazzy music and removed the covers from the food stuff on the dining table. Also simultaneously, everyone came out from their hiding places and shouted, “Welcome home dearest Dholu and Golu. Here is the surprise party in your honor.”

It really was a very pleasant surprise to Dholu and Golu. They just could not believe to start with. But soon they realized that their very good friends loved them so much and they were so considerate that realizing that Dholu’s parents had gone out, they had taken charge of feeding them the great food with so much decoration around.

All of them sang and danced and ate together. They had lots of fun. They gave company to Dholu and Golu till the time Dholu’s parents returned home.

Then they wished good night to each other and went to their respective homes.

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/

Dholu Ram Helps the Old Lady Recover Her Diamond Necklace

2010-02-02T22:08:00.000-08:00

In the month of December, every year, Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh gets a long holiday from his school. His mom and dad also get their holidays from their respective offices almost around the same time. What it means is that since the holidays of all the three of them coincide, they can enjoy a family holiday together.

So, he likes the month of December a lot. Well before the holidays start, Dholu Ram starts planning for the holidays. He starts day dreaming about what he will do then. He starts imagining that he will travel to variety of places with his mom and dad. He likes to go to different places, do different kind of activities and see many types of people. He also likes adventures in these new places like rock climbing, camping, fishing, bird watching, going on safari, playing in water parks etc.

This December Dholu Ram requested her mom and dad to go to a place where they could go by air. Dholu Ram likes to sit in the airplane and fly. But he does not get such many opportunities. That is the reason; he wanted his mom and dad to agree on travelling by air this time.

His mom and dad had no hesitation in accepting Dholu Ram’s request. They know that their son is quite a conscientious child and his very well thought out requests are never unreasonable. So, the three of them set out to enjoy their holidays at a nearby picturesque place where they could go by airplane.

They drove to the airport in their bigger of the two cars they have. Dad parked the car in the parking lot and then they entered the airport pushing their stroller bags all the way. Dholu Ram had his own separate luggage and he was capable of looking after it on his own. Dholu Ram noticed that the airport was bustling with people and activities. As per his nature, he was intently studying everything around him.

Suddenly, his eyes fell on two people who seemed to be somewhat fishy characters. Due to his earlier experiences and his interest in spotting and catching the thieves, he suspected that those two men were thieves. They were hanging around an elderly looking lady with a purse.

And before he knew what was happening, he heard the yell from the elderly looking lady but this time, without the purse. The purse had disappeared. She was shouting, “The thieves. They have snatched away my purse. It has lots of my money and my diamond necklace.”

Dholu Ram looked around and found that that those two fishy looking characters were running away towards the tarmac where a helicopter was parked. Without thinking twice, Dholu Ram, our rolypoly boy with lots of strength and intelligence ran fast behind them. The two thieves neared the helicopter and jumped into it. One of them started the engine and was about to take off and before he could do so, he realized that his helicopter wasn’t just taking off, as if there was some heavy weight pulling it down.

The heavy weight pulling the helicopter down was nothing but our Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh. Since Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh could not catch the thieves, he thought of next best thing and that was not allowing the thieves to start the helicopter. He hanged onto the bottom of the helicopter and secured it tightly so that the helicopter could not be lifted off the ground despite the forceful engine. All of us know for sure that our Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh can become that much strong when needed.

While the helicopter was thus being stalled by Dholu Ram, the airport police also got alert and ran towards the helicopter. They caught the two thieves red handed. They handcuffed them and sent them to the jail. The old lady’s purse was recovered from the thieves and handed over to her.

The old lady’s joys knew no bounds as she got back her precious purse containing lots of money and the diamond necklace. She was particularly very appreciative and thankful of Dholu Ram. She praised him in front of the huge crowd that had gathered around them at the airport. She wanted to give Dholu Ram a nice gift which Dholu Ram politely refused to accept. All the people at the airport were talking about the bravery of Dholu Ram. Listening to all of that, Dholu Ram’s mom and dad felt very proud of their son once again.

After this incident was over, Dholu Ram and his mom and dad resumed their journey by their airplane. As they entered the airplane, a surprise awaited them- they were ungraded to the executive class and that too at the cost of the airlines. The airlines people also recognized the intelligence and bravery of Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh.

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/

The Case of the Chocolate Thief

2009-11-29T22:44:00.000-08:00

Bhanu, the eldest of the two brothers and two sisters complained to the other three, “Someone seems to be stealing my chocolates. I keep them at a hiding place in my bed room. But the hiding place is no more the hiding place because someone has found it out. I save few chocolates from the ones mom gives us and I keep them there. But lately, those chocolates have disappeared in thin air.”

The others three, Shanu, Kaju and Biju said at the same time, teasing Bhanu, “If you don’t eat those chocolates, why don’t you share them with us? See, we never save any of our chocolates; we eat them all and still want more. Had you given those chocolates to us, this thief would not have got any. And don’t even suspect that we are stealing the chocolates. If we want, we will ask and never steal.”

Bhanu was already angry because his chocolates were stolen by someone and on top of it, his brother Kaju and his sisters Shanu and Biju were teasing him. He got annoyed still more but controlled his anger and said, “It’s not a matter of joke. Suppose, the same thing happens to you, won’t you feel like catching the thief and punish him? And remember, I will never suspect you of stealing since you are such nice kids.”

Shanu, Kaju and Biju realizing that their things also could be stolen, felt alarmed and asked Bhanu, “Then, what do you suggest we do? Catch the thief red handed? Won’t it be fun?”

Bhanu retorted, “That’s what I had been hinting you guys and you started making fun of me. Yes, that’s exactly we all should do, catch the thief.”

Biju, the youngest of the four always liked solving such mysteries. She quipped excitedly, “Catching a thief could be such a thrill!” You must include me in this job. Shanu and Kaju suggested to Bhanu, “Why not make a plan?” Biju repeated, “Yes, why not make a plan. I will tell you what to do.”

Bhanu said, “Yes, let us put all of our heads together. Yes, Biju, you too. The thief seems to be a very cunning operator. He does it at night when we go to sleep. So, we will have to keep awake throughout the night to keep a watch on him.”

Biju said, “I have an idea. Let all of us not keep awake. We will take turns. Every one of us will keep awake just for two hours turn by turn. Others can go to sleep. We will all be sleeping in Bhanu’s bedroom tonight. Whosoever sees the thief will wake us the rest three and then, we will pounce at the thief together and catch him.”

All of them gave thumbs up to this plan.

After their dinner, all the four of them went to Bhanu’s bedroom. At sharp 10 PM, everyone went to sleep except Biju. Biju volunteered to be on the night guard first- she was so thrilled at the prospect of catching the thief. She was really curious to know who that thief was.

For the first two hours while Biju was awake and looking out for the thief, no one came into the room. So Biju was a bit disappointed. But as per the plan, now she was to sleep and Kaju was to be the guard. During Kaju’s two hours patrol also, the thief did not turn up. So he also went to sleep after his duty was over and now, Shanu took over.

It was now 2 o’clock in the night. The atmosphere was very quiet at the dead of the night. It was dark. It was also a bit frightening. Shanu was very alert and watchful. But she was not afraid at all. All along, she was absorbed in her thoughts about the thief and how to catch him. She guessed that the thief might choose the middle of the night as the opportune moment for stealing since this was the time when everyone got a sound sleep and would not wake up easily even if there were disturbances around.

And lo! There was someone who was entering the room. This someone was very cautious and moving around without making any noise. Now, the thief was crawling towards the hiding place where Bhanu had kept the chocolates. Shanu was not able to see the thief clearly since the room was all dark. She was trying to guess as to who that thief was. Was he the boy who stayed next door and was having a fight with them these days or was he someone else?

Shanu allowed the thief to move towards the hiding place. She wanted to catch the thief in the act of stealing, red handed. The thief had now almost reached the hiding place and was about to lift the chocolates. Just at that moment Shanu switch on all the lights of the room and woke up Bhanu, Kaju and Biju. Bhanu and Kaju, simultaneously, jumped on the thief and grabbed him. Biju closed the door of the room so that the thief would not run away.

And then, to their surprise, they found the thief was neither the boy next door nor any other human being but it was the black cat that used to loiter around their house for the past few days. They could never imagine that a cat could steal their chocolates. They locked the cat in a cage.

Next morning they told the entire episode of the night and how they caught the cat stealing the chocolates to their mom and dad. Mom and dad were very proud of Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju for their intelligence and bravery in solving the mystery of the thief. They also saw the thief, the black cat in the cage. They asked, Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju what were they going to do with the cat.

Bhanu said, “We have got a gentleman’s promise from the cat that he would never steal again. He is ashamed of his act of stealing and is begging us to release him. What should we do?”

Mom and dad said, “Give the cat a chance. Since he is repenting and has promised never to steal again, you can release him from the cage now.”

Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju agreed with their mom and dad’s suggestion and opened the door of the cage. The cat displayed his curtsy to all of them and thanked profusely for making him free. Then he said good bye and ran away.

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/

A Friend in Need Is a Friend Indeed

2009-11-20T07:40:00.000-08:00

One fine day, early in the morning, Blacky bear was whistling and humming while he was strolling in the forest around his home. He was fond of singing too. He was crooning his favorite tune, “Tra ra rala, tra ra rala, tra ra rala…..” He was always in his excellent mood on breezy sunny days and surely, the day was sunny and breezy. The birds were in good mood too and they were chirping. They were continuously chattering and were keeping themselves very busy doing this or that. Various types of flowers with different colors were in bloom and their fragrance was spread in the air.

Affected by the wonderful environment all around, Blacky was in an utterly playful mood. He started chasing the butterflies of yellow, red, orange, violet and many other colors. Some of them were the polka dot types and others were plain. They were all very friendly with Blacky bear since they all stayed in the same jungle where Blacky bear resided. One of the butterflies, who was more playful than the others by name of Bina challenged him, “Blacky, you just can’t catch me. Run. Run after me and catch me. Can you?”

Blacky bear is all sports when challenged like this. He said, “Why, I will catch you. Don’t you know that I run faster than you, Bina?” And he started chasing the butterfly Bina.

Bina butterfly went on flying, fluttering her yellow and black polka dot wings. As Blacky bear reached near her to catch her, she would go high up in the air and Blacky would miss her once more. This game went on for a long time. Bina and Blacky were running in all kinds of directions and could not keep track of where they were going.

While playing this game, they did not realize that they had already entered into a nearby village. This village was not the familiar village for them. They had never been there earlier. They did not know anyone there. They did not have any friend in the village.

So, they decided to return to their forest. But as they were about to run away from the village, the villagers saw Blacky. Though Blacky is still a child, being a bear, he looks huge and anyone can spot him even from a distance. The villagers saw him but not the butterfly Bina since Bina butterfly is pretty tiny and not easily visible. Not only that, the villagers are never afraid of butterflies but they are always afraid of big animals like bears and leopards and tigers.

So, when the villagers spotted Blacky bear in their village, all of them got panicky. They started shouting and shooing him away. Blacky is a very clever bear. He started running away from the villagers but he did not know the exact way to return to his house. He had lost track of the direction.

Suddenly he saw a river nearby and he got a brilliant idea. He said to Bina, the butterfly, “The villagers are chasing me. They may try to throw stones at me to scare me. I wish to save myself from them. Therefore, if I go into the river and stand in the middle of the river, none of them will dare to swim into the river and come near me. So I will go and stand in the river. In the mean time, I request you to fly fast and go to Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh’s house. Tell him about what has happened. Ask him to reach this river in this village. He will figure out some tricks to save me and get me out of here.”

Accordingly, Blacky swam into the river and went right in the middle of it and stood still there. Villagers stayed on the banks of the river but none of them was brave enough to swim and go near Blacky.

Butterfly Bina flew very fast and reached Dholu Ram’s house in no time. She told the whole story to Dholu Ram and requested him to save Backy.

Dholu Ram said to Bina butterfly, “You show me the path and I will run behind you.” So, Bina flew in the direction of the river and Dholu Ram ran behind her real fast.

Within a few minutes, Dholu Ram reached near the river. He saw the whole lot of villagers there and also Blacky bear right in the middle of the river. He waved at Blacky bear and Blacky waved back. He gave a sigh of relief seeing Dholu there. He was fully confident that Dholu would find out some way of rescuing him.

Dholu Ram found out the chief of the village among the villagers and spoke with him. He said, “All of you need not be scared of the bear. He is Blacky bear and I know him very well. He is a great friend of mine. Did you see me waving at him and him waving back a few minutes ago?”

To this, the chief of village nodded in affirmation. Then, Dholu Ram said to the chief, “You ask the villagers to move away from the bank of the river. Nobody should throw stones at Blacky bear and no one should shout or panic. As you will clear the bank of the river, I will ask Blacky to come out of water. No one needs to be scared of him at all.”

The village chief ordered all the villagers to clear the bank of the river and they quietly obeyed him. Dholu Ram whistled at Blacky to indicate that it was safe for him to come out of the water and reach the bank of the river. Blacky swam and reached the bank.

Dholu Ram introduced Blacky bear and also Bina, the butterfly to the chief of the village and all the other villagers. All of them exchanged pleasantries. The villagers apologized to Blacky for their misbehavior with him. All of them became friends with each other. The villagers invited Dholu, Blacky and Bina to visit their village often.

Then Dholu, Blacky and Bina started for their homes. On the way, Blacky thanked Dholu Ram as well Bina for helping him out of the tricky situation he had got into. Dholu Ram and Bina said almost at the same time, “Blacky, You need not have to be formal with us and thank us. After all, what for are the friends?”

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/

Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh Catches the Thief

2009-10-31T04:24:00.000-07:00

Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh, the roly poly-boy and his loving dog Rex went to a nearby lake on a Sunday morning. Dholu Ram's parents also accompanied them. Since the lake was nearby, all of them went walking.

On way to the lake, Dholu and Rex kept playing the ball. Dholu would throw the ball in the forward direction at a far away distance and Rex would go running and fetch it. This was fun as well as exercise for both of them. Dholu was practising throwing the ball and this would help him in playing the baseball game in his school. Rex was already getting fat because of the good food he was eating every day and he needed to burn the extra fat he had put on. Therefore, running was good for him too.

Thus, playing the ball, in no time, they reached the lake. They sat down on the green grass, a little far away from the bank of the lake. Dholu's mom took out egg sandwiches, cheese pizza and orange juice from the basket. It was a kind of little picnic for all of them. Since Dholu and Rex had exercised a lot by now, they felt the pangs of hunger. They gobbled up the orange juice, cheese pizza and egg sandwiches in no time. Then, they left the dad and mom behind in order to play a bit in the shallow side of the water. Though, Dholu and Rex, both of them knew swimming very well, they were always very cautious.

Since it was a Sunday morning, there was quite a crowd at the lake. Many families had gone to the lake picnicking. There was a small girl, who after finishing her eats, had gone nearer to the water and was watching the ducks and the fish of variety of colors. Ducks were saying "quack" "quack" and swimming in the waters of the lake like highly trained swimmers as if they were experts in all kinds of styles of swimming. The fish were very colorful and they too were swimming very gracefully. The little girl was intently enjoying looking at them. She was totally absorbed.

She was wearing a glittering diamond necklace of her mom. She had requested her mom to give the necklace to her, which she would wear for a while and then return. The diamond necklace was very expensive. A man wearing a black suit, seemingly a gentleman came near her and admired her and her necklace. Then, he touched the necklace so that he could observe it well. And before she knew anything, he snatched the necklace and pulled it out of her neck and started running away.

Dholu Ram, apart from all of his other good qualities, also acts as a bit of a spy at times. Knowing that the girl who was looking at the ducks and fish was all alone and was very young, he was keeping an eye on her. Though he was playing with Rex, half of his attention was drawn towards the girl. He was almost ready to protect the girl in case she went near the water and slipped into it or if something else untoward happened to her. Then, he also followed the suited man going near her and inspecting her necklace. Dholu was smelling some rat. He grew suspicious of him. He thought that this man, though looking like a gentleman, was actually a thief.

So, Dholu Ram was all ready to meet any unpleasant situation that could be created by the man in the black suit. No sooner, he saw the man snatching away the necklace, he took out the whistle that he always kept in his pocket and blew it repeatedly. The shrill noise of the whistle was immediately heard by the coast guards and the security guards. They are always there on duty at the lake side to ensure the protection of the people from any mishaps and accidents. Simultaneously, Rex started barking a lots. He also knew that there was something wrong there.

Listening to the repeated whistles and continuous barking of the dog, the guards rushed towards Dholu. Dholu told them about what happened and what he saw. He pointed towards the man in the dark suit, who was running towards a boat in the lake. He had jumped into the boat and speeded it away. He was escaping from the scene with the stolen necklace.

The guards ran at fast speeds towards their four boats parked in the lake and jumped into them. They cornered the thief from all the four directions and after a long chase in the river waters, nabbed the thief. They handcuffed him and brought to the bank of the river. They took the diamond chain from him and handed it to the parents of the little girl. They told the parents, "You should not give such an expensive jewelery to your little daughter and leave her alone." The parents agreed and thanked the coast guards and the security guards of the lake.

The guards gave the thief in the custody of the police. Everyone at the lake including the guards and the police admired Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh and his dog Rex for being so attentive and smart and to help retrieve the necklace and catch the thief. A small function was arranged quickly then and there to felicitate Dholu and Rex and they were presented with trophies. Everyone clapped lots. The parents of Dholu were once again proud of their son Dholu and their dog Rex.

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/

Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh and Blacky Bear Like Honey Lots

2009-10-11T04:32:00.000-07:00

This story took place in the dense jungle of Koraput. Koraput is a town of Orissa state of India. The forest there is beautiful with lots of varieties of trees. Among them, there are fruit bearing trees too. They are cashew nut trees and jack fruit trees.

And the forest is a favorite place of honey bees. There are plenty of plants with hundreds of flowers of various types and colors all around. The honey bees extract the juices from these flowers and collect them in the honeycomb they construct. They construct the honeycomb at great heights on the trees to ensure protection from human being and animals. Human beings and animals cannot reach those heights easily. Honeycomb is the storage place for the honey. This honey is produced by the bees from the juices of flowers they collect.

In the midst of the jungle there exists a scenic township of a big factory where they produce the parts required to assemble an aircraft. The township is dotted with many houses systematically constructed and in them live the people who work in the aircraft factory.

Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh’s uncle and aunt live in one of these houses in the township. During this summer vacation, Dholu Ram visited them to spend his holidays with his uncle and aunt.

Near to this township, in the dense jungle of Koraput also lives a family of mom bear, daddy bear and their son Blacky bear. They go to the township in the nights and tap the doors of the houses. Since by now they have become quite friendly with the children and their parents in the township, people are not afraid of them. As they tap at the doors of their houses, they know that the bear family has come to request the food. People open the doors and very happily give them lots of food.

In this way, within a few days Dholu Ram also became their friend, particularly of the little Blacky bear. Dholu thought that Blacky was very cute and interestingly, Blacky thought that Dholu too was very cute. All of you know that our Dholu is definitely cute not just because he is a roly-poly kid but also because he is very clever, courageous, well behaved, disciplined and tidy.

One day when Dholu Ram offered food to them, Blacky and his parents said, “Dholu, you and your uncle and aunt are very good people and have been giving us the food almost daily. Now, we wish to invite three of you to our home in the jungle tomorrow for lunch with us. You need not be afraid of animals there. Since you are our guests, other animals will be quite friendly towards you”. Dholu Ram and his uncle and aunt accepted the invite. The bear family gave the address of their home in the jungle.

Next day, Dholu Ram along with his uncle and aunt reached Blacky’s home. It was surrounded by lots of trees. Blacky and his bear parents had decorated their house nicely and made it clean and tidy. As soon as they arrived, they were welcomed with greetings.

Blacky’s parents announced that the menu for lunch was: jack fruits and honey. Dholu got highly excited since he liked honey a lots. He mentioned that to Blacky’s parents. They said, “Our Blacky also loves honey just like you. It’s great that both of you like honey”.

But Dholu did not see anything in the house, neither honey nor jack fruits. Blacky’s parents understood that Dholu looked a bit puzzled. They said, “We will get for you fresh jack fruits and honey right from the nearby trees". They asked Blacky to go out and get them. Dholu also accompanied him.

They reached a jack fruit tree. Blacky had become expert in climbing the trees and in no time he was up the tree. He plucked six jack fruits and climbed down holding them in his hands. They then went to another tree on which the honey bees had prepared their honeycomb and it was full of honey. "If you disturb the honey bees and try to steal honey, they sting very severely. Their sting is very painful", Blacky told this to Dholu.

“Then, how are you going to get the honey?” Dholu asked.

Blacky said, “Don’t you worry, I have made friends with them. I show them new flowers every day from where they can get the flower juices to make their honey. Ordinarily no one can get honey from them easily but to me they are very sweet and give as much honey as I request them”.

They Blacky whistled his code whistle. The queen of honey bees came out. Blacky introduced Dholu as his friend to the honey bee queen and she smiled. “OK, you want honey, don’t you? You have guests today and I will give you more honey today”. And she gave them lots of honey. Blacky thanked the queen bee.

Now, Blacky and Dholu Ram returned with honey and jack fruits. They all sat down on the dinner table. The dining table was very well arranged with plates and bowls and fork and knife for each one of them, placed over the table mats. The honey and jack fruits were kept in the middle of the table in proper serving vessels.

Everyone served the honey in their own bowl and jack fruit in their plate. After everyone finished serving, they all started their lunch together.

They ate stomach full and felt very happy. After lunch, Blacky and Dholu played for some time. During that time, Dholu’s uncle and aunt chatted with Blacky’s mom and dad.

It was time now for Dholu and his uncle and aunt to return to their home in the township. They all said “bye” to each other before their departure.

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/

How Did Evil Fox’s Tail Get Cut?

2009-09-30T03:34:00.000-07:00

Once Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju went to their favorite forest. In the forest lived their animal friends in a small hut. All kinds of animals lived there together. They always looked forward to the arrival of Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju. On some weekends, after finishing their home work, Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju would go to the jungle to meet their friends.

When they went to the forest hut of their animal friends this weekend, they carried with them their fishing rods. They knew that their friends liked to eat the fish lots. So, they decided to catch fish for their friends and to have a grand party. There was a river nearby and it contained lots of fish.

So, they reached the forest and knocked at the door of the hut. One of the animals living there opened the door and was very happy to see Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju. He announced to the other animals their arrival. All of them came out running and greeted Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju with big smiles on their faces. All of them hugged each other and also, shook hands with each other. They all got excited and started chitchatting with each other. That made quite a big noise.

An evil fox stayed alone next to the hut. He too owned small little hut for himself. But this fox was not friendly with other animals. He was selfish and cunning. And he was evil too. Also, he was very lazy. He would not work at all and used to steal all the food from the other animals’ hut. The animals always used to wonder as to how the stock of their food went down? Was there someone who stole away their food- the food they used to collect by putting in lots of work and efforts?

Listening to the big noise in the neighboring hut, the fox got curious and came out and peeped into the hut of his neighbors. He also heard them saying, “So, Bhanu, you and your brother and sisters are going to catch fish today for us and give us a grand fish party. Wow! Thanks lots.”

Listening to this, the cunning evil fox thought in his own mind, “That will be great. They will have lots of fish today for dinner and I will sneak into their house and grab a great number of fish for myself. Then, I will come home and have a fish party without doing any work.” So, he kept making plans.

As decided, Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju went to the nearby river with their animal friends. The animals went on chattering with excitement all the way to the river. When they reached near the river, they shut up all of a sudden since they knew that if they went on making noise, the fish will go away from them. They would not be able to catch any fish.

Now, Bhanu had his own fishing rod, Shanu had his own. Also Kaju and Biju had their own small fishing rods. In just one hour’s time, Bhanu caught 40 fish, Shanu caught 30 fish, Kaju caught 20 fish and Biju caught 10 fish. So, in all, they caught 100 fish. That was sufficient for all of them. The animals helped them by collecting all the 100 fish in a big basket with a lid on it so that the fish would not jump outside.

Then, all of them went home. They cooked the fish in a barbecue. All of them ate till their stomachs were full. Still lot many fish remained in the basket. The animals were very scared of their neighbor, the cunning fox. They told Bhanu and his brother and sisters, “This fox will definitely come today to steal our fish. But he is so cunning, we will never know as to when and how he stole them.” Biju always was the first to look forward to such detective work. She said, “All of us will keep a watch all the night turn by turn. While all of us sleep, one of us will be awake and catch the fox red-handed.” Everyone agreed.

So, everyone took turns to guard the hut. When it was mid night and it was Biju’s turn, she heard some sound of someone’s footsteps and then a dark figure appeared. She pinched the hand of Shanu who was sleeping next to her. Shanu woke up with a jolt and he understood what was happening. He went on pinching others and all of them woke up and caught the fox just at the point of time when he was picking up the fish from the basket. He was thus caught red-handed.

The fox had no alternative but to accept his crime of stealing. He asked them to pardon him this time and he promised never to repeat the act. But he begged for some fish. He said, “I am very hungry. I don’t do any work and steal others’ food. Just give me some fish. Now onwards I will do the work and earn my food by putting my efforts. Please teach me how to catch fish.”

Bhanu knew that the fox was very cunning and he was telling lies. He will not leave his habit of stealing unless he is taught a lesson. So he said, “You will not get a single fish right now. You will have to catch them yourself. You should go to the river and dip your tail in the river water. The fish will be attracted to your tail and as they stick to your tail, pull them all out and grab them.”

Fox was miserable now. He did not get any fish by begging and he was very hungry. So he went to the river. He dipped his tail in the river water and waited for the fish to stick to his tail. By this way, he caught some 5 fish. But he was very greedy. He wanted more and more. So he kept his tail dipped in the water.

As the night grew, it started getting very cold. Because of the cold, the river water froze into ice. Fox’s tail was still in the water. He was greedy. He wanted more fish. But now, as the water froze into ice, fox’s tail got jammed into the ice. Ice became very hard around his tail. He started feeling cold and sneezed lots. Now he wanted to leave that place and go home. So, he pulled his tail out. But since the tail was tightly fixed into the ice, it would not come out. So he applied lots and lots of force. Because of the enormous force, his tail got cut inside the ice. He felt a lot of pain and felt humiliated about his tail being cut. He thought that he would be booed by all other animals when they would see him without a tail.

In any case he had learnt his lesson. He decided that in future he would work and earn his food. He would not remain lazy and would become active. He would not be greedy any more. He also decided to shift to another jungle where no one would know his past evil habits and thus he will get a chance to improve himself.

With the fox now gone, the animal friends of Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju had no fear of someone stealing their hard earned food any more.

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/

Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju Teach the Big Bad Wicked Wolf a Lesson

2009-09-16T02:36:00.000-07:00

Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju are brothers and sisters and they also are very good friends of each other. Yet, they are more like a strong baseball or soccer team. They support and help each other a lot all the time.

Bhanu being the oldest of all is physically stronger. So, he is kind of protector of his two younger sisters Shanu and Biju and his brother Kaju. Bhanu is 10 years old; sister Shanu is 8 years, brother Kaju is 6 and the youngest sister Biju is 4.

Once, on their holiday, they went to a nearby park. They informed their parents that they were going to the park. The parents said, “OK, take care and return before evening.” Their mom packed for them some cheese sandwiches, boiled eggs, fruits and water for lunch.

They reached the park on their tiny bikes. Park was full of trees, bushes, flowers, small lakes, jogging tracks, lawns and small hills. There were birds of different colors in the park everywhere. They also saw lots of butterflies and they were colorful too.

And then, all of a sudden, Biju shouted, “Hey, look that rabbit there.” Bhanu, Shanu and Kaju could not see the rabbit. They said, “Biju, you are always imagining things. We cannot see any rabbit.” Biju said, “It’s there. It is behind the bush. It’s color is white. And I am not imagining.”

She held her index finger and pointed towards the direction of the bush. Bhanu, Shanu and Kaju saw in that direction and yes, there was a white rabbit. They could all see him. Bhanu suggested, “Why not make friends with the rabbit. We can also tell him to call his other rabbit friends. We will then play together. It will be lots of fun. But let us not scare him. I will speak with him.”

He spoke very politely with rabbit, “Hey Mr Rabbit, we have come to the park and want to make friendship with you. Will you like to become our friend? We have some nice fruits, eggs and sandwiches with us. Our mom gave us. We will share with you.”

Rabbit looked at them and said, “I will be happy to become your friend but on one condition. A wicked big bad wolf that also stays in this park bullies my rabbit friends and me a lot every now and then. If you and your friends can teach him a lesson, we will be very happy and will like to be your friends for ever. And you need not address me Mr Rabbit, simply call me Bunny.”

Bhanu said, “Bunny, thanks a lot for agreeing to become our friend. We will do something for the big bad wicked wolf so that he does not give you trouble any more. Done, OK?. Let us shake hands now.”

Then Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju shook hands with Bunny. Bunny took them near his burrow, his home. He whistled and nine more rabbits came out of the burrow. He told that they were his brothers, sisters, mom, dad and friends. He introduced them to Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju. All of them said “hi” and shook hands with each other.

All the eight rabbits played lots of games with Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju while Bunny's mom and dad were watching them play. Then came the lunch time. Since rabbits like and eat carrots, they gave lots of carrots to Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju who in turn shared their sandwiches and fruits with the rabbits. In all, they had lots of fun.

Now Bunny, the rabbit, reminded Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju to teach the big bad wicked wolf a lesson as per the promise. Bunny told that the wolf would come to their burrow any time now. He would come and hide behind the bush. If any rabbit came out of the burrow, he would jump on him and kill and eat him.

Bhanu asked Bunny and the other rabbits to go inside the burrow. He told them that he would take care of the wolf with the help of Shanu, Kaju and Biju. After a while, the wolf came in search of the rabbits as Bunny had told. He hid himself behind a bush and waited for any rabbit to come out of the burrow. While he was hiding behind the bush, Kaju and Biju played a trick on him. They threw some small stones at the wolf and the stones hit him hard. He got hurt and he got very angry. He looked around to find out as to who had thrown the stones at him. Then, he saw Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju. He ran behind them to catch them.

As you know, Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju had their bikes. So, they rode their bikes and rushed towards a cave that was built in a small hill in the park. They went inside the cave and wolf chased them. Cave was dark inside. Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju went behind a rock that was there inside the cave, got down from their bikes and sat silently behind the rock without making any movement. Wolf came searching for them. But since it was dark inside and they were hiding behind the rock, he could not see them.

He went ahead inside the cave thinking that Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju might have gone ahead. So, as he moved ahead in the cave, Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju rode their bikes and came out of the cave from the entrance to the cave. Wolf saw them going out and he took an about turn and started chasing them again. But before he could reach the entrance to the cave and come out of the cave, Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju closed the entrance of the cave by pushing a big rock in front of the entrance to the cave. Together they were very strong and were capable of pushing a big rock.

Now, the wolf got locked inside the dark cave and he was very hungry. He started banging at the rock that had shut the cave. But he just could not come out. After some time he started sobbing and weeping. He started requesting Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju to open the door of the cave. Then, Bhanu and Shanu said, “Big bad wolf, you are a wicked wolf and you bully the rabbits and also eat them. Therefore, we are punishing you now by locking you inside the cave. We will free you from the cave only if you promise not to give any trouble to the rabbits and become their friend.”

The wolf sobbed and promised not to give any trouble to the rabbits, not to bully them, not to eat them and become their friends. Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju made him to repeat his promise and then opened the door of the cave. As soon as wolf came out, he said, “I am very sorry for my bad behavior with the rabbits. I learnt my lesson today. I will become a good wolf now by making you and the rabbits my friends.”

They, then, went to the burrow of the rabbits. Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju called the rabbits out. The wolf was quite ashamed and begged rabbits to pardon him. He promised that he would never bother them again and would like to become their friend. He was really very sorry.

Rabbits had a conference among themselves. They agreed to excuse the wolf for all the wrong things he did in the past and extended their hand of friendship with the wolf. They also thanked Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju a lots. Before they bade the farewell, they invited Bhanu, Shanu, Kaju and Biju to come to park often and play with them.

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/

Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh Pulls Out The Giant Carrot

2009-08-26T03:45:00.000-07:00

Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh is a roly-poly boy of eight years of age. He is not only chubby but quite strong too. Also, he is very intelligent. He is good in studies and in sports. Therefore, everyone likes him in his school, at home and in the neighborhood.

Being intelligent, he uses his brain very well and comes out with great ideas when there is any problem. While others keep thinking, he comes out with brilliant solutions to the problems quickly.

This summer when the schools closed for the vacation, his friend Golu invited him to his house. Golu said, "Dholu, you are a great friend of mine. Come to my house for a day and also sleep at my home in the night. Next day, you can return to your house. We will spend time together and play. We will have some fun."

Golu told his mom and dad that he was inviting Dholu Ram home for a day. Dholu told this to his mom and dad. They gave him the permission. Dholu packed his bag with a change of clothes and took his tooth brush and tooth paste. He also carried a ball in his bag. He did not forget to keep with him a chocolate that he wanted to give Golu as his gift.

Dholu's mom and dad dropped Dholu at Golu's house. They did not need to tell Dholu to behave properly at Golu's place because Dholu always behaved nicely without being told. So, they waved Dholu 'bye' and went away. Golu and his mom and dad were very happy to receive Dholu.

Golu and Dholu played the ball on the lawns. They also chased the squirrels and the colorful birds. After they finished their game, they washed their hands with soap and went to the dining room. Golu's mummy had made very nice dinner for them and they ate it all. They saw some cartoons on the television and then went to sleep in Golu's bedroom.

They both woke up fresh early in the morning. After brushing the teeth, finishing their morning program and taking shower, they went in their kitchen garden. Golu showed the plants of tomatoes and beans. In the kitchen garden they were growing the potatoes and carrots also. The potatoes and carrots were below the earth and outside they could see their green leaves. And then they saw that Golu's mom and dad were busy pulling out a carrot from beneath earth. They wanted to make carrot pudding for Dholu for the breakfast.

First, Golu's dad alone was pulling the carrot out with lots of force. But the carrot did not come out. So, he requested Golu's mom to hold him from behind and pull him and he pulled the carrot. But the carrot was big, a giant size carrot and quite deep inside the earth. It did not come out. Their dog Rex was watching all this with keen interest. He is a very helpful dog with lots of golden fur. He ran to them and held the mom and now Rex was pulling mom, mom was pulling dad and dad was pulling the carrot. Yet, carrot did not come out. Golu thought that if he also joined his mom and dad in pulling, the carrot would come out. So he went behind Rex, the dog and pulled him. Now, Golu was pulling Rex, Rex was pulling mom, mom was pulling dad and dad was pulling the carrot. Sigh!! The carrot still could not be pulled out. They were all sweating and got tired. But they had to take the carrot out for making carrot pudding for Dholu.

As you know Dholu is a very strong boy. He told, "May I join you in pulling out the carrot? But, I will be in the front and will use all my strength. All of you get behind me and pull me. I am sure that we will be able to pull out the carrot this way."

Golu's mom and dad were hesitating to ask Dholu to do the work as he was their guest. But Golu knew about Dholu's strength and he persuaded his mom and dad to allow Dholu in pulling the carrot out.

So, now, Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh was right in the front pulling the carrot. In turn dad was pulling him and mom was pulling dad and Rex was pulling mom and Golu was pulling Rex. And together all of them applied great force. And lo!! The carrot came out of the earth. Every one cheered merrily. They understood that the job that could not be done by a single person could be done when many people did it as a team together and it required a strong leader like Dholu.

Dholu and Golu washed the carrot thoroughly with water and gave it to Golu's mom. She prepared carrot pudding and all of them had a hearty breakfast.

After the breakfast, Golu, his mom and dad and Rex dropped Dholu Ram at his house in their car. They bade each other good bye.

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/

Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh Stops The Train

2009-08-24T01:29:00.000-07:00

There was a "knock knock", "knock knock" at the door of the bed room of Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh. Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh was sleeping like a log. He did not wake up.

Again, "knock knock", "knock knock". This time it was quite loud.

The loud noise at the door woke up Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh and he jumped down from his bed. As he jumped down on the floor, the floor vibrated for a few seconds. You may be knowing that Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh is a real roly-poly of a boy. The kid is just about eight years of age but he is real chubby. So, whenever he jumps from even a small height, the earth below him starts shaking. He is not just plump but he is pretty strong too.

"Who is banging my door", he roared.

Someone chattered from outside with lots of excitement, "Dholu, open the door. Quick. There is a big problem. Real big problem. Open the door."

Dholu lazily walked up to the door and opened it. He saw that four of his friends were standing and were almost in tears.

He asked, "Why are you getting so jittery? And why are you crying?"

They said, "Dholu, we want to go to the circus. Circus show will start soon, we are already late. We don't want to miss it. There are jokers in the circus and we must not miss their fun. Please help us to reach to the circus fast and in time. We will have to go there by the train and the train will leave the station in next fifteen minutes. Please help us. We know that you always get great ideas."

Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh is a wonderful friend. He is always willing to help his friends. He said, "Don't worry. We will do something and reach the train station in time. But tell me, why are you so late?"

One of the four friends said, " We slept very late yesterday. We were watching Tom and Jerry cartoons on the television. Mom and dad told us to sleep but we did not obey them. Because we slept late, we could not wake up in time though mom and dad kept on waking us up."

Dholu said, "This is what happens to the kids like you who keep seeing the TV late nights and on top of that, also do not obey the parents. So, promise me that you will not do such things in future."

The four of them agreed in chorus and once again requested Dholu to help them out to reach the circus in time.

Dholu told them to follow him and all of them charged outside the house with him. The road from his house to the bus stop was steep inclined and very smooth. He told them to copy his actions. He lied down on the road and started rolling down the road. Others followed him. Then the five of them rolled and rolled and rolled. And in few minutes they reached the bus stop.

A bus was just leaving the bus stop to go to the train station. It had already started. Dholu's four friends got highly disappointed because the next bus to the train station would go after one hour.

Dholu told them to be patient. He ran behind the moving bus. He ran and ran and ran still faster. He is a very fast runner. He caught hold of the handles of the door of the bus and shouted, "Stop the bus". Already because of his roly-poly body weight, the bus had slowed down. Now, the driver stopped the bus completely.

Dholu asked his friends to hurry up and thus, all of them got into the bus. Had they not boarded this bus they had no chance of reaching the train station in time. Even now they were not very sure if they would be able to catch the train in time.

Dholu told his friends not to lose hopes. He said, "We should always try to achieve what we want to achieve. So we must try."

The bus started once again. Dholu went up to the driver and requested him to drive the bus faster so that his friends can reach the train station in time and see the circus. The driver was a nice person. He has his own daughter and he knew that how she would be disappointed if she wanted to go to circus and could not reach the circus in time. So he drove the bus faster but very carefully so that he should not meet any accident.

Finally, they reached the train station. They got down from the bus but before leaving the bus thanked the driver lots. From distance they could see that the train had not left and it was still there at the platform. Dholu told his friends to run since the train just blew the whistle giving indication that it was leaving the platform.

You know that Dholu is a real fast runner. He knew that his friends could not run as fast as he could. So, he ran ahead of them. The train started moving. It was picking up speed. And behind the train, Dholu was running too. He put in all of his strength and ran after the train as fast as he could. It was a matter of touch and go. The train was speeding up and so was Dholu.

And what a fantastic act of Dholu! He ultimately reached the last bogie of the train and caught the hooks hanging behind the bogie and then he started applying great pressure. He was dragging the train and pulling it in the opposite direction of train's movement. He gathered all of his strength and all of his will power and started stopping the train. Boy, finally he was successful and the train stopped.

The conductor of the train got down from the train. He was furious that his train was stopped. He wanted to find out why the train stopped. He looked around. He could not see anyone. Then he went to the last bogie and behind it. He was wonder struck to see that a small roly-poly of a boy was hanging on the hooks of the bogie. But he could not believe that the boy could ever stop the moving train.

He asked, "Hey, you get down from there. you will get hurt if the train starts moving."

Dholu said, "I will keep hanging on to the train. If I don't do it, the train will not remain stationary and will start moving once again. I want it stopped for a few minutes so that four of my friends can board the train and go to the circus in time. See, they have already come up to the train."

The conductor was a kind person. He allowed Dholu's friends to board the train and promised that he would drop them at the circus. Dholu and his friends thanked the conductor. But the conductor just could not believe that it was Dholu who stopped the train.

Dholu's friends requested Dholu to accompany them to the circus. But Dholu said, "I have not taken my mom and dad's permission and without telling them I will not go to the circus." His friends accepted what Dholu told them.

The train once again started moving and Dholu's friends and Dholu waved each other. Dholu told them to enjoy the circus and tell him after they return all about the circus and its jokers.

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/

Stories for Children

2008-09-10T03:57:00.000-07:00

Here in this space, I will be sharing with you stories for the young ones. When my children were small, I used to invent these stories from time to time and used to narrate to them and to other children. The children were always fascinated by these stories and would ask me for more. Their eyes would be fixed at me all the time I was telling the stories and they remained spell-bound. Now, I wish to share them with all the children of the world. Parents and grand parents will find these stories very handy. They can read them here in this space and narrate those to their own children and other children. It will be a rewarding experience for them. Keep checking this space for more to come.

You may like to read "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" at http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/