Salma

                    There was a girl  named Salma. She lived with her parents in a small house. Her brother’s name was Saleem. Salma used to call her brother Sallu.

          Salma used to get up early each morning. After getting ready she would go to her school. After returning from school and having lunch she used to take rest. In the evening all her friends would come to her home.

     Raju,deenu,sheela,Paro and Maku. And then they would play games. All  children enjoyed this a lot.

        In summer their schools closed for vaccation. Now these children started getting bored. They did’nt know how to spend their long vacation. To them,their homes felt like jails. Their parents were not allowing them to go out during the day time because of the warm winds. They were allowed to play only in evenings.

        One day Salma’s maternal aunt came to live with her for a few days. She was a teacher in a school. Children again started enjoying their vacation because of her. They always gathered around Salma’s aunt. Some children wanted to hear fairy tails. Others choice was to hear ghost stories. Some wanted to play outdoor games with her. Children enjoyed a lot for ten days. Their most demanding activity was to hear ghost stories from aunt.

         On Sunday Salma’s aunt took them to an exhibition. They enjoyed the exhibition a lot. Some boys and girls purchased clay toys, some purchased musical toys, and some brought only sweets and ice-creams. But salma’s nature was different from other friends. She was not interested in toys or candy. She wanted to spend her money on some thing different and useful. Suddenly her eyes got fixed on a book shop. And she went there. She selected some picture story books and purchased four of them.

       When Salma returned to her aunt she laughed and asked her, “What will you do with these books?”

                “ O, these books…..I will read these stories after you go back to your village.” Aunty laughed again.

                 After some days Salma’s aunty went back to her village. Salma and her friends again started getting bored. They wondered how they would spend their vacations, kill their time.

       Raju said, “come on we will play…”

“Hm…..that we do daily.” Paro wade a face. Maiku suggested to revise their school work.

“No..no…summer vacations are meant for enjoying not for studying.” Sheela cried.

   “Then what else can we do now?” someone asked restlessly.

   Suddenly Salma remembered the story books which she had purchased from that exhibition.

“listen, I have an idea. I have some story books.” Salma rejoiced.

   “hm…so what are we going to do with those books.” Maiku asked.

     To this Salma said, “Someone will read the stories and all of us will listen. This will be a great time pass and we will gain knowledge too.”

 Everybody agreed to this suggation.

          Next day onwards, all friends would gather at Salma’s place in the afternoon. There they would enjoy the stories and snacks, thereby having a great time.

                                 ----------

Hemant Kumar

       

       

Jungle shop

                                Little monkey and fatty bear were close friends .Both always lived together, always played. Sometimes monkey climbed on the bear’s back and went for rides, at other times bear would catch monkey’s tail.

                              Little monkey brought daily new fruits for the bear .And the bear gave him sweet honey .Whenever any enemy disturbed them both would fighting and would punish them.

                              All the animals of the jungle liked their friendship .Only a dirty minded jackal was jealous of their friendship. He always thought of ways of spoiling their friendship.

               One day the little monkey and fatty bear were playing near a tall tree .Suddenly the monkey told to the bear---“friend ,I was thinking of opening a shop.”

          “Shop---? But why?” bear asked.

         “ For others---because only we both enjoy the taste of sweet honey and delicious fruits .But our other friends don’t know about the taste of honey and fruits .We could do this by opening a fruit honey shop.” Monkey told him.

             “wow---good idea .If our shop does good Business, we can earn some money also.” Bear cried.“OK ,then we can start it from tomorrow.” said the monkey.And both ran to make arrangements.

              Next day they started their shop. Fatty bear brought the honey and monkey brought many fruits .Monkey collected some big banyan leaves to make pots .A small rabbit came and painted the name of their shop.  Some sweet squirrel started making leave’s pots.Many birds also came and decorated their shop with colorful flowers .cuckoo started singing sweet songs.

                                             All animals of the jungle came to their Shop, to congratulate them .They also appreciated their planning .All friends were happy. Fatty bear and little monkey were enjoying their success.

                              But that dirty mind was very upset with all these happenings---the jackal .His dirty brain started conspiring against their shop .He thought, “if I destroy the long Bee hive then they will not get honey and their shop will not do well.” But his dirty mind could not think other results.

                                One morning when monkey and bear were enjoying on Their shop,the jackal went to bee hive with a long stick. He started poking the stick in the hive. Honey bees got angry. Because they were being disturbed in their home unnecessarily So all honey bees attacked the jackal. They started biting him.

  The jackal ,shocked and frightened with  this sudden attack, started crying for help and mercy. But his bad time was on. So neither anyone came for help and nor bees showed mercy.

            Ultimately the jackal had to run for his life. He kept on running without looking back. The monkey and bear continued with their shop, happily ever after.

                           000

Hemant Kumar