Who Will Bell the Cat?

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 joine
















d 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.



















































































































































































































































































B
























































y 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."



































Novels and Stories

Novel "Good People" http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/
Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/
Stories Children Will Love http://stories-children.blogspot.com/

The novel "Good People", "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" and "Stories Children Will Love" are available in the form of eBook and printed book from Amazon online. Hurry up, get your copies.

Dholu Ram Gadbad Singh Saves Biggy Elephant

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."

Novels and Stories

Novel "Good People" http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/
Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/
Stories Children Will Love http://stories-children.blogspot.com/

The novel "Good People", "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" and "Stories Children Will Love" are available in the form of eBook and printed book from Amazon online. Hurry up, get your copies.

Surprise Party

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.

Novels and Stories

Novel "Good People" http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/
Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/
Stories Children Will Love http://stories-children.blogspot.com/

The novel "Good People", "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" and "Stories Children Will Love" are available in the form of eBook and printed book from Amazon online. Hurry up, get your copies.

Dholu Ram Helps the Old Lady Recover Her Diamond Necklace

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.

Novels and Stories

Novel "Good People" http://good-people-novel.blogspot.com/
Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories http://funny-shortstories.blogspot.com/
Stories Children Will Love http://stories-children.blogspot.com/

The novel "Good People", "Funny (and Not So Funny) Short Stories" and "Stories Children Will Love" are available in the form of eBook and printed book from Amazon online. Hurry up, get your copies.