Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Bushaka Loves Mangoes!

You all know Bushaka, the little lion cub with adventure in his heart and a shine in his lovely big eyes! This is a story of how Bushaka met Sundari, the Bandari. Since it was a bright and sunny day, Bushaka thought it would be fun to go on a picnic with his beshtesht lion friends Shimbuka and Kashimbu.

They each got something to add to the picnic. Bushaka brought along his favourite juicy mangoes, Shimbuka's father made delicious dosa rolls, Kashimbu's aunt packed two jars full of Kokum juice. The three of them, with tiny little picnic baskets in hand headed off to a mountain with tall grass laid out like a really, really thick carpet. Being lions, they loved to hide themselves in the grass.

They had a big colourful bouncy ball which was red, blue and yellow! They played the "Jump over the right colour" and the "Bounce with the ball" games for hours together. After a while they were all thirsty so went to the spot under a Peepal tree where their two jars of juice and all other yummy goodies were kept in the shade. 

Bushaka gulped down two glasses of juice and suddenly realised that his basket with the juicy mangoes were nowhere to be seen. "Kashimbu, Shimbuka, where are the mangoes? It's not here!" he cried.

His friends came over to him and said that they can all look for it and asked Bushaka to "Please stop crying."

"But... they... are... my favourite..." he said between sobs and the tears left tyre like marks on his cheeks through all the dirt from all that playing they did.

Both Kashimbu and Shimbuka hugged him and Kashimbu said "Don't cry Bushaka, it will be here somewhere. You sit down here and we'll look for it."

Bushaka sat down and tried hard not to feel like his heart was heavy, tried hard to stop crying. His friends were jumping around all over the place looking for the missing picnic basket with juicy mangoes in it.

"Tee... heee... heee... heee..." a sound came from high up on the Peepal tree. Bushaka looked up and what did he see??

Why? A little monkey sat on a branch and was laughing at Bushaka's friends who were jumping around looking for the missing picnic basket with juicy mangoes in it.

What do monkeys do on trees? Let me see if you can show me...

"Hey you! Up there! Why are you laughing at my friends?" asked Bushaka.

"Tee.. heee... heee... heee... you cry baby!" replied the little monkey.

"I lost my mangoes a while ago and was feeling sad. That's why I was crying. My name is Bushaka, not cry baby. You can call me by my name if you want to talk to me. What's your name?" said Bushaka feeling all strong and ready to stand up for himself.

"Mangoes? Yummydelicious! They are my favourite too! Now I know how you felt and why you were crying. But your friends do look quite funny from up here, jumping around like that!" came the monkey's reply.

"Well, they are searching for the missing mangoes. You still didn't tell me what your name is." said Bushaka, getting up and dusting himself off and wiping the tears off his face!

The monkey came down to a lower branch and whispered, "I will tell you my name but promise me you won't make fun of it? A lot of others who are not in my family always laugh and make fun of my name..."

"I promise!"

"My name is Sundari, the Bandari." she replied.

"That is such a lovely rhyming name. Can we be friends, Sundari, the Bandari?" asked Bushaka.

"Why, thank you. I think so too. And off course we can be friends. To prove it, let me climb up to the highest branch on this tree and look for your mangoes." and off she went climbing up swiftly swinging from one branch to the other as she went higher and higher.

"It's a little picnic basket with juicy mangoes in it!" shouted Bushaka so she could hear him.

He heard Sundari, the Bandari's voice like it was coming from so far away, "I can see your missing picnic basket with juicy mangoes in it!!"

And then she yelled out some directions like, go left, move right, keep going straight, jump over the rock and some more confusing directions. Bushaka shouted out the directions to Shimbuka and Kashimbu till they found the missing picnic basket with juicy mangoes in it with some mangoes fallen out of it.

They brought it under the Peepal tree and all four of them attacked the mangoes and ate them all up in no time, because by now, Sundari, the Bandari had become their friend too, you see. By the end of it, all of them had mango pulp all around their mouth and Bushaka had some over his nose and ears too!!

And so, it was that Bushaka met Sundari, the Bandari who could climb the highest of the highest branch on any tree and had very sharp eyesight that could spot the missing picnic basket with juicy mangoes in it!

Sundari, the Bandari became such good friends with Bushaka and his friends that she even goes for an adventure to India with him... But that story is for another time!

P.S:
Bushaka was born in 2007 as a playful little lion cub with adventure in his eyes and an attitude to make new friends and create fun games all the time. He was born to make my daughter's (Vedha, then 5yrs old) life a little more exciting than it already was. :)
A couple of Bushaka's friends, besides the new friend Sundari, the bandari introduced in this story, are Moshu, the cat and Kakaraku, the frog.
Bushaka's early year stories are written as a read-aloud story for little kids.


Monday, August 12, 2013

The Streets of Venice and Crete

This is a poem written by Vedha on 9th August 2013, as I was busy making Biryani to celebrate Eid. She wanted it posted on my Blog so she can be "world-famous" according to her! :)

There's someone I want to tell you about,
I might as well shout it all aloud.

Since there's no one around me,
I might as well let it all out,
So here goes:

We walked up the streets -
Of Venice and Crete.
We went to a place,
To get something to eat.

We talked and laughed,
And we hugged and loved.
As huge as a heart,
We sat by the hearth.

- So that's what happened
In Venice and Crete.


Monday, July 29, 2013

The Wonder 'O' Machine

This is a story written by my daughter, Vedha in 2012, when she was 10 years old (she is 11 now). I found it very interesting and full of adventure so with her permission, I am posting it here on Vedha's behalf. Please note that this is typed exactly as it was written except for a couple of corrections in the main character's name to maintain consistency! :)

"No!" said a person in the village. He was surfing at the beach when he noticed that the water at the beach was flooding! Soon, in a few weeks that village was submerged into the sea. A few million years later a new gadget was made. The new gadget was called The Wonder 'O' Machine. Now, the Wonder 'O' Machine was built in different types, one for land, one for water and the last one was for the air transport. But it could go to outer space and meet their friends from Mars.

Now, this story is about the Wonder 'O' Machine which was the one for water. Now after a few years people had to use the Wonder 'O' Machine (of any type). There was a marine biologist and her name was Suzanne Markman. She had the gadget for water since she was a marine biologist. Soon she had read the headlines of the 'Daily News'. It said, "WORLD'S AQUA ENDANGERED SPECIES, THE BETTA, WAS KILLED AND ONLY ABOUT 30 BETTAS LEFT IN THE ENTIRE WORLD." Suzanne was shocked by this and the Betta was her favourite aqua animal!! She grabbed her vehicle which could fold into a small miniature car when it wasn't in use. Once she reached the beach, she pressed a button on the miniature car and soon it transformed into the vehicle. She got inside the vehicle and clicked another button and it moved forward into the water and then she pulled a gear and a voice from the speaker said, "YOU HAVE NOW ACTIVATED THE SUBMARINE." and the vehicle which was short for the Wonder 'O' Machine sank into the water. An hour went by and it was time for supper. Suzanne pressed a button and said, "dinner" and a small tray popped up with delicious Tacos!

She had put the vehicle under auto driving and started eating when something caught her eye. She saw a very shiny thing so she went close to it, but she still couldn't understand what it was so she went even closer. Soon she noticed a lot of skeletons. She got very scared, but she wanted to explore so she looked around. A few hours later she noticed that this thing she saw was a village! She could see remains of the houses and all other buildings.

She used her phone and called her best friend Lilly. "Lilly I want you to come to East Coast Beach with your water vehicle and get into the water at the shallows. I need to show you something really awesome and don't forget to bring your movie camera" she said to Lilly. So after that call Suzanne went to the shallows to pick up Lilly. Soon both of them were back to the sunken village. "Wow! What is all this Suzanne?" Lilly asked. "This is the Island which sank because of a great flood in 2012" said Suzanne. Lilly had taken some pictures to put on the news and on the computer. But Suzanne had a different idea. She took out a book with blank pages and started writing this story, but no one has ever solved the mystery of how old age people lived.

Author: Vedha
Year: 2012

Sunday, July 28, 2013

To Listen Was to Hear

She stood in the rain, at crossroads with herself.
'Should I move straight ahead or follow the fallen leaves?'
She closed her eyes and continued to walk.
The path was chosen, she felt it with her bare feet.
She smelt the air and followed the mixture of scents calling to her.

A week passed by as she continued walking,
Seeing nothing, for her eyes were shut.
She heard every sound, 
From the distant rustle of birds on a tree,
To the blade of grass stepped on by beasts.

Something, somewhere caught her attention.
Was it a sound, a smell or a feel on her bare arms?
She couldn't say.

She knew she had to stop, for this was her calling.
This was where she had to wait till she grew a new tree.
She dug the earth deep and sowed the little seed.

Bushaka Learns the Kakaraku Hop Game

One day Bushaka, the lion wanted to play something different, a new game, may be even make a new friend. He went to his lion friends Shimbuka and Kashimbu and told them, "Let's go for a walk in the jungle. We'll make some new friends and play some new games."

Shimbuka and Kashimbu said "roar... roar... that's a good idea, let's go!" They knew that Bushaka was always great at finding new things to do and they were so very excited.

So off they went, for a walk in the jungle. They ran a little, walked a little and looked around for other animals to play with. Finally they saw a frog.

Can you show me how frogs move?

This little frog went... Hop! Hop! Hop!

Bushaka said "Hellloooo! We want to play with you... can we play with you please?"

"Croaak" said the frog.

"I am Bushaka and these are my friends Shimbuka and Kashimbu. What's your name?" Bushaka asked the little frog.

"Croaak" replied the frog.

Kashimbu and Shimbuka burst out laughing "roar... roar... ha ha ha... his name is croaak."

What sound do frogs make?

The frog looked at Bushaka and said "My name is Kakaraku. I'll play with you if you ask your friends to stop laughing at me just because they don't understand the Croaking language."

"OK. I'm sorry." said Bushaka and told both Shimbuka and Kashimbu to stop laughing at Kakaraku.

"So, what game are we playing?" asked Kashimbu all excited.

Kakaraku replied "Here goes... I will hop thrice and the three of you try to catch me."
"But... if I land on a leaf or a branch by the third hop then whoever is trying to catch me is out."

Bushaka jumped up and down saying "That's an interesting game!"

"There's one more thing..." said Kakaraku, "you have to catch me in three hops and if I don't reach a leaf or a branch in three hops then I am out."

So they started playing. Kakaraku counted "1...2...3..." and off they ran behind Kakaraku as he leaped into the air... Hop!!

Shimbuka almost caught him and Kakaraku went HOP for the second time away from Shimbuka even before he knew what was happening. As Shimbuka tried to pounce on Kakaraku for the second time, Kakaraku went HOP and landed on a big leaf.

"Yay!" shouted Kakaraku, "Shimbuka is out! Shimbuka is out!"

Then there was only Bushaka and Kashimbu. So once again Kakaraku said "1...2...3..." and off they ran to catch Kakaraku. HOP! and Kakaraku escaped from right under Kashimbu's nose as he tried to catch him. The second time Kakaraku went Hop! Kashimbu pounced and lost balance falling down with his face landing in the mud and dust... Kashimbu's face was all brown and all you could see were his big eyes trying to search for the fast little Kakaraku. The moment he realised that he was close to Kakaraku, HOP! went Kakaraku the third time high up in the air and landed on a branch.

"Yay! Yay!" shouted Kakaraku once again, "Kashimbu is out! Kashimbu is out!"

Kashimbu stood there looking all confused and dusty. Shimbuka was rolling and laughing "roar... roar... ha ha ha" looking at Kashimbu.

Both of them stood under a tree and watched with full interest as Kakaraku and Bushaka continued the game.

"1...2...3..." and off ran Bushaka to catch Kakaraku. Kakaraku jumped high Hop! and Bushaka missed catching him. Then Hop! went Kakaraku for the second time, this time to the left of Bushaka. Bushaka almost caught his own tail!

Finally, for the third time Kakaraku took a deep breath "CROAK!" and jumped Hop! just as Bushaka pounced on him but Bushaka missed him once again. And Kakaraku was high in the air... and landed plop! On the ground and not a leaf or a branch.

So, Bushaka ended up winning the game and luckily Kakaraku hadn't got hurt too. Because, you do know that lions are so much bigger than Kakraku that he could have gotten hurt if any of them had pounced right on to him?

"Phew!" said Kakaraku, "nice to meet all three of you. I have taught you a new game but I have to go home now. Next time may be I will teach you the croaking language so you can understand my language."

They all said bye... bye... and Kakaraku went back home.

Bushaka made a new friend and also went back home with Kashimbu and Shimbuka. The three of them taught all their friends the new game and had lots of fun. Off course none of them could really go HOP! like little Kakaraku but they somehow managed to play the new 'Kakaraku Hop Game."

Can you show me how high you can jump?

Bushaka, Kashimbu and Shimbuka became experts at it because after all they learnt it from the expert hopper, Kakaraku himself!

P.S:
Bushaka was born in 2007 as a playful little lion cub with adventure in his eyes and an attitude to make new friends and create fun games all the time. He was born to make my daughter's (Vedha, then 5yrs old) life a little more exciting than it already was. :)
A couple of Bushaka's friends, besides the new friend Kakaraku, the frog introduced in this story, are Moshu, the cat and Sundari, the bandari (monkey).
Bushaka's early year stories are written as a read-aloud story for little kids.