धाडसी रुची ( बाल कथा )

"रुची, चला जेवायला" आईची हाक कानी पडली आणि आजी नात टी.व्ही. बंद करुन जेवायला डायनिंग टेबलावरयेउन बसल्या.रात्रीचे नउ म्हणजे जेवायची रोजची वेळ.सगळ्यांनी बरोबर गप्पा मारत जेवायचेठरलेले.दिवसभराच्या गोष्टी रुची जेवताना सांगे.
रुची चे वय दहा अकरा वर्षांचे.ती खूप हुशार आणि ऑल राउंडर होती.शाळेला तिने खूप बक्षिसे मिळवून दिले होती. त्यामूळे ती शाळेत पण सगळ्यांची लाडकी होती. रविवारचा दिवस.आई बाबांनी खरेदीचा प्लान आखला आणिआजी मंदिरात भगवत गीतेवरचे प्रवचन ऐकायला जाणार . पण रुचीला आई बाबां बरोबर जायचे नव्हते.तिचीधुसफुस सूरु झाली.तिला मैत्रिणीं बरोबरखेळायचे होते.
"आम्हाला एकचतर रविवार मिळतो खेळायला.मला नाही यायचे तुमच्या बरोबर खरेदीला".रुची म्हणाली.
"बंर पण,आजी ये ईपर्यंत बाहेरच मैदानावरच खेळायचे.चालेल? घरात नाही खेळू देणार तुला..." बाबांनी बजावले. आनंदाने रुचीने मोठा होकार दिला.
दुपारचे चार वाजले ,ठरल्या प्रमाणे आई बाबा बाहेर पडले. आजीपण मंदिरात गेली.रुची समोरच्या मैदानावरखेळायला गेली. त्यांचा लगोरीचा खेळ रंगात आला होता.पण रुचीला तहान लागली म्हणून टाईम प्लिज घेऊन घरीपाणी प्यायला आली.आणि घरी बघते तर फाटक ऊघड,दाराचे कुलुप तोडलेले.ते तुटलेले कुलुप तसेच दारालालटकलेले होते. तिच्या पटकन लक्षात आले की चोर घरात शिरले आहेत.ती आधी खूप घाबरली. विचार आला कीपटकन जाऊन आजीला सांगावे,पण मग विचार केला की हे चोर पळून गेले तर.... तिने सगळी हिम्मंत गोळा करूनठरवले की ह्या चोरांना पकडायचेच् आणि चांगलाच धडा शिकवायचा.
बाहेरचे दार हळुच आत ढकलून ती घरात शिरली.हॉल मधे हलकेच वाकुन पाहिलेतर तिथे कोणीच दिसेना. तीपटकन सोफ्यामागे लपून बसली.कोणाचा तरी बोलायकचा आवाज ऐकू येत होता,पण काय बोलत होते ते नीट ऐकूयेत नव्हते. कदाचीत लवकर काम आटपा आसे एकमेकांना सांगत असावेत.
रुची पुढच्या खोलीत जावे का असा विचार करत असतानाच दोन माणसे आतून बाहेर आली. दोघेच होते ते चोर. त्यांच्या हातात चार - पाच पिशव्या होत्या.त्यात बहुदा चोरलेल माल असावा. ती चोर शांत पणे बाहेर पडली .
रुची पण त्यांच्या मगोमग बाहेर पडली. सायकल काढुन पठलाग करु लगली.ती मणसे पायी होती पण फारचभराभरा चालत होती.संध्याकाळची वेळ असल्यामूळे हळू हळू अंधारायाला लागले होते.रुची रस्त्यावरच्या खूणानिरखून त्या लक्षात घेत होती.एक-दिड किलोमिटरचा भाजी बाजार पुर्ण ओलांडून ती माणसे एक डाव्या बाजूच्यागल्लीत शिरले.पूढ आणख एक किलोमिटरचे अंतर चालल्यावर ते एक झोपडीत गेले. रस्ता,झोपडी सगळे नीटमनात टिपून रुची घराकडे निघाली.
रुची अजुन परत का आली नाही हे पाहायला तिच्या मैत्रिणी घरी गेल्या तर त्यांना कुलुप तोडलेले दिसले.पणतेवढ्यात आजीपण घरी आली.आजी पण घाबरली.रुचीला हाकामारू लागली. पण रुचीची ओ काही ऐकु येइना. आरडा ओरडा ऐकुन शेजार पाजारचे गोळ झाले. चोरीचे कळल्यावर पटापट पोलिसांकडे तक्रार नोंदावीली .आजीनेबाबांना फोनकरून सगळा प्रकार सांगितला.पोलिस पण लगेच आले.आई बाबा पण आले. रुची दिसेना म्ह्णूनसगळेच खूप घाबरुन गेले होते.
रुची घरी येइ पर्यंत घरापूढे खूप गर्दी जमली होती.गर्दी बघुन ती खूप घाबरुन गेली.आजीला मीठी मारून ती हमसूनरडायला लागली. थोडीशी सावरल्यावर तिने पोलिसांना सगळा घडलेला प्रकार सांगितला.पत्ता सांगितला.पोलिसानीतिथे जाऊन तपास केला आणि चोर सापडले,चोरीचा माल पण सापडला.
चोरांना पोलिसांनी अटक केली आणि रुचीला बक्षिसा दिले. दूसर्या दिवशी सगळ्या वर्तमान पत्रामधुन ही बातमीझळकली. शाळेत पण तिचे कौतुक केले. अशी ही धाडशी रुची.

Necesity of english language

Today English is used widely. It is an international language.It has
become the most popular language of communication between countries & in
many fields of human endeavor. So it is important that we learn to use
english.In school, the only time when english is spoken is during english
lesson.That certainly is not enough. So wherever possible I speak english
with friends, parents, teachers & who all will or can speak english.
Language is related to literature.Literature is a form of art which
can cross barriers & if one does not know the language in which a piece of
literature is written even if one is willing to read.English is rich in
literature.Learning language relates to reading & reading gives a great
contirbution to the growth of understanding & tolerance amongst people.
Reading also helps one to see the present in relation to the past & future
& thus develop a historical perspective.
To have a good command on english one should read good books,
magazines & newspapers.On the whole they are grammatically correct. We may
speak incorrect english & get away with it. Not so with printed words, they
have to be correct. Through reading learn how to use correct english in
writing and speaking. So that means language & reading goes hand in hand
together.
Watching television & listening to the radio are two more ways to
learn english. But according to me it is important to learn & know english
language.

An Hour On Railway Station

It was six fifteen of the evening at the Pune railway station when I dropped my heavy suitcase and baggage on the platform. I took a good look around me and I noticed the amazing detail of observation of my class seven teacher, who had dictated that 500 words essay on railway stations. Things were there, exactly in the same place as described in that essay. The clock, the platform number-boards, the overbridges, the AH Wheeler Bookstalls, the people with large and small handbags, the speakers for announcements and, among other trivial and incidental things, railway trains.

I don’t usually travel by railways. So it was with the excitement of a second-standard student who notices stuff he’s only heard of in the classroom that I said—“Ma, wow, that’s a coolie!”

So, feeling as stupid as an ape, jumping in joy quite involuntarily when I saw such basic things on the platform, I found myself standing at the platform, with half an hour to kill before the Pune-Ahmedabad Ahimsa express was scheduled to arrive.

Meanwhile, in front of me, I could see a train. (And yeah, you guessed right- I jumped up and down on the balls of my feet and kept pestering mom till she allowed me to go and touch it. Are you satisfied?). I remembered that there is always a board on the bogies of the train on which you can read where that train is going to. But I couldn’t see that board from where I was standing (and I guess it must really have depressed me, because that was the only detail from the essay which I didn’t get to observe). Taking pity on me, my mom asked me to wait till the announcement is made.

(And so like the eternally enthusiastic little brat of seven years age) I went down to the place where I could see the speaker, so that I’ll know what train it was. In five seconds the announcement was made.

“May I have your attention please? The Garbled to Garbled, Damned Garbled Express will leave at its scheduled time of Garbled Hours and Even More Garbled Minutes from platform number Inexorably Garbled ”

(Crestfallen like a little child who realizes that his role model, the engine driver, doesn’t get to own a railway engine) I scurried back to mom, to tell her about the story of the garbled express. I was asked to check on it once more.

No point.

So I decided to screw the essay and junk the schoolish ‘observe what your textbooks have been trying to choke your nose with’ adventure, and took to a more mature and grown-up activity of observing the human life on the platform.

I faced an overload of samples.

A man with a towel wrapped around his waist and nothing else, with his perfectly spherical belly open to the public. Then this woman sitting by the window a little off, throwing banana peels on the platform and, I don’t know how it happened, eating banana chips (you have all sorts of nuts in the world, don’t you?). Then there were these two brats juggling two balls, which seemed to have a strange attraction towards the pot bellied chap (one of those balls did enter his towel… fun, eh?).

Suddenly…

“May I have your attention please? The Garbled to Garbled , Damned Garbled Express will leave at its scheduled time of Garbled Hours and Even More Garbled Minutes from platform number Inexorably Garbled .”

There was a very reluctant hiss punctuated by a comfortable horn and the Garbled-to-Garbled Garbled express in front of us started moving from Platform Number Irrevocably Garbled. (Once again, the surge of childish excitement in me, so that mommy had to hold me by the collar to prevent me from chasing the train to touch it one last time).

Amidst such utter confusion, came the realization that the train we were going to board was half an hour late. This information ‘accrued to us’ from a fellow passenger who seemed to understand the railway announcement.

(The phrase ‘accrued to us’ made the previous sentence grammatically incorrect.)

Meanwhile, a cause to celebrate. It was Diwali season, and therefore a large bunch of the people on the train were students. The College Student is a different breed of the human being. The female College Student being a very interesting species. I had the ample opportunity to observe a few of those from close quarters.

To our right, there was a group of MIT Engineering students. (And yeah, that’s another ‘variety’ of the college student breed. And damn it, I hate them…)

They were all asking everyone (read as ‘me’) where the train was going to leave. Being a college student myself, I reckon only I was equipped to speak in their language.

(Adults face a genuine problem. Like, I mean, like, oh man, like, you know, like, if college students, I mean, like, you know, like, speak like this, like, I mean, like, then, like, it’s, I mean, you know, like, oh man (insert giggle here), it is difficult to, oh man, like, understand, like, isn’t it?)

( Tired of brackets? )

And it was amidst such utter chaos and confusion that the train I had been waiting for arrived, at around seven thirty. Of course, we got this information from a guy (who had a rather sumptuous belly and his face radiated an odd sense of contentment about it) who suddenly began chasing the AS-2 bogie with a vengeance.

(Once again the childish urge to give the guy a nice and sharp poke in his belly, just to see how he would heave and let out a mammoth sigh, similar to the sound of an out-of-commission steam engine being revived, quite against its mechanical desire, after seventy five years for the railway minister’s entertainment.)

And that is where chapter two of this madness begins…

(And such other statements that serve as ineffective and irritating advertisements of a possible review which may appear sometime shortly, urging you desperately to keep your eyes open for it and read it when I publish it, but actually ensuring that neither of it happens, thereby resulting in the misfortune that my first-time reader would never really read me frequently, unless he/she wishes to give his/her child a lesson in bad, boring, non-stylish, meaningless, dragging and stupid writing, in a bid to improve on the child’s high school essays, or if you want me to be more optimistic, in a bid to try and ensure those essays don’t rot to hell as a result of reading my reviews without parental guidance, and such other statements that will generally look stupid at the end of an already pretty stupid review, of course, not forgetting to mention that this is an extremely long sentence and since I don’t take in a new breath till my current sentence gets over and I start a new one, it becomes pretty obvious that I’ve gone a violent shade of blue, not forgetting to mention the retching sounds of a suffocating man that are engulfing the internet café here, so I guess I’ll just insert a full stop somewhere random---.)

(Ah… I love abrupt ends)!