Not so long ago, something unimaginable had happened in the Universe. It was an argument between two children who lived in the Universe.

So one day, the Sun decided to show his supremacy over the rest of the planets, stars, asteroids, everything in the Universe, more importantly his power over Mother Earth. So he tried to instigate the Moon by saying, ” I am the supreme lord. Without me the living beings on Earth cannot live happily. Even our Mother cannot live without me.  After hours of self proclaimation, the Moon said, ” You may be huge, but the beings on Earth have always adored me more than you.

Poems are written on me. People out there go for moonlight dinners. The animals and birds get to rest peacefully when I show up in the sky. I am very important and Mother Earth loves me more than you.”

For some unknown reason, the Sun then decided he will not revolve around the Earth for a few days. He wanted to show he was more important. The Moon too decided not to show her face to the Earth. Since the time this decision was taken, the climate on the Earth turned chaotic.

There were huge windstorms everywhere. The sunlight was no where to be seen. It was pitch darkness. The seas were behaving violent. Lands started getting flooded. Birds and animals were frightened. People were constantly moving from one place to another to be more secure. The Earth turned cold, wet and windy.

Human beings, animals, trees, birds, none understood what went wrong suddenly.

The scientists couldn’t explain this un natural occurrence. Religious leaders just asked people to pray for goodness to come. They asked people to help each other.

Most people tried doing good for others. This went on for days, nights until everyone felt they were all going to die. One day, Mother Earth put her hands up in the air and called for her kids, the Sun and the Moon.

She told them she was quiet all these days. But they had behaved very wrong. It was too much for her to bear their deeds. Their ego had hurt lives. Mother was crying. She said that she was ready to give up Earth. But the act of not doing what you are supposed to do had ended in an unhealthy example. She had come to say goodbye to her children, The Sun and the Moon.

Both were ashamed of themselves. They promised her, never again despite any fight, argument or anything, they will not give up doing their primary role of being present for the Earth.

They rushed back to sort things out. Many lives had ended but after several days of bad climate, the Sun shone again. People rejoiced with their children, pets, farms. They also made a silent prayer to mother earth not to anger her.

They wanted children to learn to protect nature as much as possible. They promised to plant at least one tree on Earth. Mother Earth was glad to see people making children learn about loving nature.

By evening, it was time for the Sun to go. The Moon got ready for her daily evening performance. She looked beautiful in her white gown. She came to her brother Sun and said, ” Nothing is worth hurting others. I am never going to do this again.” The Sun too promised her that he will behave well.

Mother Earth went back to sleep peacefully as her children had learnt not to hurt others.

Life was normal again thankfully on Earth.

Short story for kids aged between 4 to 8 years.

Payal was a very quiet girl. She would attend her new school, do all her worksheets regularly,  but she hardly interacted with anyone in her school or in the neighbourhood.

When any child would try to befriend her, she would excuse herself to find solace in her world of aloneness.

The class teacher after two months of school asked her parents to come and see her. Payal’s parents came to the school and explained to the teacher that Payal has always been a quiet child. And she wants to be left alone. They assured to the teacher that she had a loving environment at home. Even in her old school in a different town she had been a quiet child.

One day as Payal was walking towards the school gate a bright black butterfly with amazing designs on its wings came and sat on her shoulder. Suddenly Payal froze. She wanted to remain still in that position.

She just didn’t wanted to disturb the butterfly who seemed to enjoy resting on the little girl’s shoulder.

The security guard outside  the school gate whistled loudly as the school bell rang giraffe morning assembly. He saw Payal at a distance and asked her to get inside the gate. Payal didn’t utter a word. The guard now raised his voice and asked her to rush inside as he was closing the gate, or else he would complain to the teacher.

Payal gestured towards the resting butterfly and asked him to be quiet. The guard went inside and got the class teacher in s few minutes. Once the teacher saw Payal, she asked her what was she doing there outside when it was time for her to be in the classroom.

Payal whispered that she didn’t want to shoo away the butterfly. The teacher was stunned st the response and she angrily asked the girl to walk inside. But Payal nodded her head in disagreement.

After a few minutes the teacher who had angrily told Payal that she will be complaining to the Principal, came back with the entire batch of students from the class. By now it was almost an hour since Payal was standing still.

The teacher, Ms. Dixit said ” I was very upset this morning. When I told about you to the Principal Ma’m, she asked me to take a session here outside under the tree. So all students will be having an open classroom today. And you can join us when you are ready”.

Payal nodded her head now in complete agreement. After a class on mother nature and a drawing session, finally Payal was able to relax herself. The butterfly had flown away from her shoulder.

Payal walked up to her teacher and said that she felt like standing still as she identified with  the butterfly who wanted to just be there as it wanted. Not disturbed. The butterfly though just wanted to rest somewhere felt as though it seemed to love aloneness and that need not be loneliness.

Her teacher told her it was fine to be like her but it is nice to return smiles and build friendships in the world.

From that day Payal tried to converse little more with her classmates but she was often again seen happy being alone. And everyone too was fine with it.

It seemed as though Payal, (the meaning in India refers to anklet that makes subtle noise when the wearer  moves) found her voice.

She was the silent Payal. One finds anklets that don’t make any noise without the little bells and those are adored too by those who wear them.

She was like one of them, doing just fine and required acceptance.

In a small village near Kolar, Karnataka in India there lived Shravan with his parents. Shravan was enthusiastic every morning as soon as the bells in the main temple in the village rung as part of routine prayers.

For the little lad, it was time for him to leave home to go to school. Shravan’s school was on a hilltop in the village and the only way to reach the school was to climb uneven broken steps, a steep climb for the little boy of 7 years. He had counted the steps multiple times in the past one year since he had started going to school. It was 104 steps.

Many years ago, a wealthy merchant abandoned his house on the hilltop and since then a retired teacher who was living in the city had come to the village and thought of converting it into a school. All the villagers were very happy that a school was ready for their children. So right from young children to older ones, all were taught by the teacher in one classroom. So right from young students to older children everyone learnt one subject and individually they were given class work according to their caliber and age.

“It’s school time again, time for me to learn a new concept today by the teacher thought Shravan as he was climbing the 73^rd step.” There were others of course tagging behind him.  The student who reached early had the responsibility to organize a mini assembly like a prayer time. Shravan was hoping no one else had reached before him. Children between 6 and 14 were coming to the school to learn whatever the single teacher taught. Math, Geography, History, English, Kannada and one of the favorites of children Moral Science were taught to the children.

He once overheard a city boy who had come to the village for his summer holidays say how children in cities would be ferried in vans, buses and many times by their parent’s morning and evenings in jazzy cars and scooters. Shravan had laughed loudly on hearing the idea, his parents or any child’s parents hardly bothered if the child had reached the school. They were all too busy working in the fields. Farming was the livelihood. The only thing that the parents in the village collectively agreed was to send the children to the school and not make them work in the fields until they are at least 16 years.

That morning huffing and puffing, finally Shravan reached the last step. The teacher had arrived and the only security guard who was also the helper, assistant, and the cleaner named  Siddhu.

Children were scared of Siddhu as much as they were scared of the teacher Mr. Muniyappa. But both were quite protective of the children and took all the care they could for them. Due to heavy rains, dusty winds and scorching temperatures in the region even on the hilltop, the house where the school was situated had started to look weathered out over the years.

“Aha, Shravan, you have come first today to the school. Ok, you get to be the leader today for the morning prayer and  get the attendance register”, said Mr. Muniyappa. As the children gathered, the beautiful morning sun shone like a bright star on the hilltop. About 30 children had come to the school.

After the morning prayers everyone tagged behind the teacher and as they were seated there was a huge creek sound as the tallest child opened the window. Amidst giggles and discussions by the children Shravan seemed to be staring constantly at the classroom ceiling.

Something looked different that morning. It appeared to him as though the fan had come down a bit from the ceiling. Just then the teacher said “Not feeling too good here. Feeling stuffy, let’s do one thing children, today we will be having our class outside in the courtyard as we will be learning about nature.” Everyone stepped out and managed to settle down in the courtyard. The teacher was about to leave the classroom right under the fan, when Shravan pushed him. Startled, Muniyappa screamed and then realized Shravan had actually saved him from getting injured from the falling fan.

After he composed himself, Muniyappa gave a sad expression and said aloud, “I can only teach, but for the school to be in reasonable good condition I need funds to get many things repaired. Hearing the scream, Siddhu and a few older children came running to the class.

They helped Muniyappa get up and praised Shravan for his presence of mind. Later after the class Shravan went to the teacher and said “Sir I have come to know of a noble person who is educated and generous with his money for schools. Apparently, he stays approximately 50 kms from here and I heard my father talk about him a week ago. My father got to know about him from radio. If we can get his address, why don’t we approach him to help our school and the children for better facilities?

After six months, Shravan was again climbing happily the 85^th step on a Tuesday morning. The broken steps have been renovated and yes do you know, Shravan and his teacher found out where the noble soul lived. The generous person visited the village and the school and agreed to fund all the expenses regarding the school for better infrastructure. Now Shravan’s school has a board too saying “Sharada Vidhyalaya” and it is repainted, mended and the children have also got uniforms and some textbooks as ordered by the teacher.

And you know something…..

Sharada Vidhyalaya was featured in the Kannada daily too with Shravan’s picture in the article alongside the building’s picture in the article. Shravan had all the reasons to be happy going to school again day after day.

For children 6- 9 years. BY RESHMA KRISHNAMURTHY SHARMA

Harsh is a young boy studying in class I, in a city in India.  There have been many changes that Harsh has seen when it comes to choosing his toys. Whenever he goes to the jazzy lit malls in his city with his Mama or Papa he is generally directed to the toys section by the shop assistants. And there are good number of toys almost clearly demarcated for young boys and little girls.

One such evening, Harsh’s mom wanted to pick a toy for his classmate’s birthday which was scheduled for the coming Saturday evening at her residence. Harsh was quite excited to look at the toys and wondered if he would be ridiculed for holding a Barbie doll.  As soon as he picked one toy on kitchen utilities, the shop assistant rushed to harsh and showed him to look for the cars and puzzles. ” I have those already, I just wanted to see if I can take home a Barbie doll or a kitchen toy tonight.”

The assistant’s smile was not encouraging, yet Harsh took the toy to his mom who was going through some labelled ‘girlie’ toys. ” Mama, Purvi likes to play with cars and bikes. Maybe you should pick that for her if possible ” said Harsh to his mom.  When his  mom looked at Harsh with a kitchen toy, she smiled and said  ” We are here to buy for Purvi. I can get you what you want next month.” Is that fine with you?”.

Harsh wanted an optimistic answer, ” Even a barbie doll or kitchen toy is fine with you?” asked Harsh.  ” Yes of course, cooking is a life-skill dear not just to be learnt by girls. Big boys ought to know cooking if they want to be independent in life. And you can take this toy next month.”

“But Barbie” said Harsh.

” It is not a problem.” But can I ask you why do you want a  Barbie doll asked his mom.

” I just like her just as I like Ben 10.”

“Yes of course, dear,” said his mom making harsh feel it was perfect for him to choose toys that he wanted than what was labelled around.

Finally his mom picked a small car for Purvi and Harsh went back to the shop assistant with his mom to say that they are coming back to pick the kitchen toy and the Barbie doll for him next month.

Story for 5-7 years old.

BY RESHMA KRISHNAMURTHY SHARMA

A beautiful yellow  butterfly came to the most popular garden in the city. The butterfly came and seated herself on a huge red rose.

Lots of visitors everyday thronged the garden and clicked pictures of the flowers and of the neatly laid out lawns. Today it was time for people clicking pictures of the butterfly.

A crow was sitting on a tall tree top and he saw this butterfly and thought to himself ‘ How I wish I was good looking too. People would admire me too.”

The butterfly happened to glance at the crow and murmured ” I wish, God had made me look  little more sober. At least I would have got little bit of privacy. I hate when these humans rover around me when I eat my food, when I sleep or even when I want to be alone.”

A wise pigeon who was present on another branch of the tree, looked at the crow and at the butterfly. Soon she called out to both of them to come near her saying ” I have something very important to tell you both.” When both came to her to listen to her, the pigeon further continued, ” We are all made differently and it is wise not to compare with others. ”

“Come to think of it, you really from the bottom of your heart wouldn’t want to be a disliked butterfly just because of your looks and you wouldn’t want to be a handsome crow, or else you would have been captive somewhere. ”

Both the butterfly and the crow realized that it is better to work around our limitations and plus points rather than cribbing about it.

By Reshma Krishnamurthy Sharma