Agra Fort

You are made by thousands of people

Years and years back

And now you thank them

As people wander around you

To see you as a marvelous creation

People think

How much time and hands it has taken

To make you look like

What you are today

And now you are happy

For the surprised faces staring at you

With complete admiration

You are spread around the land

Overlooking The Taj Mahal across the Yamuna

The king walking on and around you

Always thinking of The Taj he built

For his beloved wife

You see millions of feet

Come and go to see you

You see the sky change colour everyday

But you see time flash in front of your eyes

For centuries and centuries

You thank the hands which made you look like this

You thank the king

As he has spent his life

In your protection

And you thank God

for his company all these years.

Mother

A mother is hard to define

She is sweet

She is nice

And very kind

She cares for her child

And never gets wild

She nurtures her youngster

And is always mild

She is empathetic

And ever so sympathetic

I love my mother

And you should as well.

Playing cards

I play with playing cards

With so many diamonds and hearts

I wonder how they were made

And also clubs and spades

I play bluff and rummy

And also donkey as well

I play the best game

And also twenty eight

I play, too, uno

Did you know?

I play the game

With greatness ever made

True Friendship

Friendship is a gift I treasure

Not in the least, but in the highest measure

Friendship is a gift I treasure

With all the greatest pleasure

Friendship always finds us further each day

A flowered path always crossing your way

To tell us which path lead’s the way

An angel appears to take you away

The angel gives genuine directions

And a map to find my destination

Over mountains and hills I travel

Only to find a shimmering jewel

Madison's Reverie

It was almost sundown when Madison walked across the asphalt road to her house. She got to the driveway and started walking when a movement in the nearby bushes caught her attention. She turned around only to find a squirrel running up the tree. Again she started without paying much attention to the bushes which made movements, thinking that it was some other creature. She reached the porch and opened the door. She stepped in and called, ‘Mom! Dad! I’m home!’ There was no response. Then she noticed a note on the coffee table saying that they had gone out to have dinner and that there was some broccoli casserole and a piece of apple pie in the refrigerator. Not feeling hungry, she went up to her room, changed into pajamas and went to bed.

She dreamt she was very tiny. She saw she was on her street and noticed small thought bubbles coming out of all the chimneys. She wanted to see what her friends were dreaming and so with great difficulty, she got into her friends’ houses. The first house was June’s. She got to her bedroom and popped into June’s thought bubble. She was dreaming about a horse, wearing casual clothes, galloping everywhere. Madison was apparently surprised to see this. Thinking that she saw enough, she popped out and got out of the house. The next house she went to was Rachel’s, another of her friends. She got to the couch, where Rachel usually slept and popped into her dream. She was dreaming that she was walking down the walkway of a fashion show wearing an original La femme dress. And the last house she went to was Kate’s. Her dream was of a clown doing somersaults all across a stadium apparently not aware of the people staring at him. She had checked all her friends’ dreams and was walking down the pavement to her house when someone called her name. ‘Madison!!! Stop daydreaming because we have reached school. Madison!!’. It sounded like June’s. And with strong realization, she understood that she and June were the only two people on the school bus. ‘What happened?’, she asked doubtfully. To this, June replied, ‘You were daydreaming………again.’ ‘Really?’ she asked and without waiting for an answer, thinking that the answer will most probably be yes, she got out of the bus and started for the school.

Conversion from Dollars to Rupees

A man of thirty years, named Sanjay Arun, did not know the difference between dollars and rupees!

One day, he was on his way to the bank to get rupees for dollars. He had gone to Jamaica and had with him now hundred dollars. He wanted to exchange them for rupees. So, as he entered the busy bustling bank, he sniffed the smell of fresh notes. He was eager to get those. He stood in line and there were six people in front of him, obviously impatient as the line was moving slowly. He waited............and waited..........and waited. After one hour, he was second in line. The man in front was also there to exchange bucks for rupees. He had sixty dollars and wanted it in Indian currency. So that would have been two thousand eight hundred and twenty rupees. Of course the man knew that but Sanjay was clueless. He thought that sixty dollars was sixty rupees! He thought the man was stealing money but he did not stop him. He knew that the security man will find out. After the man in the front left, Sanjay asked the counter clerk hundred rupees for hundred dollars. The counter clerk was obviously confused. What was wrong with this man? He thought he had heard him wrong so he asked, ‘Pardon?’ Sanjay replied,’ I want hundred rupees for hundred dollars.’ The clerk was puzzled. But he did as he was told. He gave Sanjay hundred rupees and called,’ Next!’, trying to suppress a giggle. After Sanjay left, he could hear murmurs and chuckles going up in the bank but he could not understand why they were laughing. So without looking back, he walked on home.

He still does not know how to convert dollars to rupees!

Mr.Figg'S Toy Wonderland

It was a beautiful sunny day in the happy land of Magoria. Mr.Figg, as usual, wearing his cowboy fedora which changed colour every five minutes, his rainbow coloured jacket, his pink and grey pants and his dark blue shirt hidden under the jacket, came out of his house, which was painted orange and green for the crown [that is what Mr.Figg called it] , black and white stripes for the base , the darkest red for the door and the lightest crimson for the smokestack, got in his super duper speedy car and in seconds reached his shop which was called ‘Mr. Figg’s toy wonderland ’.

He was just about to unlock the door when Mrs. Fibbers, his neighbour, came up to him and said, ‘Oh, hello Mr.Figg. Good morning. How are you?’.

To this, he replied, ‘Good morning to you too. I am fine, really, and you?’

Mrs.Fibbers said, ‘I am good. Anyway, I have to go. I think that wacky servant, Kroch, must have done something to flame the place to shreds again. I hope it’s easier to put out than last time. Well, bye.’

With this, she walked off with her fat body. Mr. Figg, thinking about Kroch, opened the door and went in. There were four dials on the wall next to the door. The first dial to light the room, the second to off the lights, the third to activate the toys and the fourth to start the robot workers. He named the first dial illuminator, the second disilluminator, the third activator and the fourth starter. He spinned the illuminator, the activator and the starter in turn and within seconds the shop was up and running with children here and there playing with the magical toy horses which neighed and galloped all over the place, the big marigold round with seats as toy zebras which occasionally changed colour from black and white stripes to silver and gold stripes, and a lot of amusing action figures and cute dolls which spoke to the children who were absolutely delighted.

Mr. Figg was playing with the children entertaining them with the funniest jokes and riddles ever told. In the afternoon, when Mr. Figg was locking up to go home for lunch, he saw a petite girl staring up at him longingly. ‘Well, hi there. I am sorry but I am going home for lunch. But I will open again. So you can come then.’ he said.

With that, he was off in his super duper speedy car and reached just in time to have lunch and watch his favourite show ‘What we call the real world’. He was very much fascinated by everything in that show from normal boring toys to no speedy cars. He wanted to go there for nearly as long as he lived which was one hundred and fifty eight years. Then, he stopped abruptly and started thinking hard. If he could build a time portal, he could go to other realms including the real world as well. So, from that day onwards, he worked hard on the time portal and after six months, he successfully finished building it. So, on that very day, he had decided to go to the real world. He went through the portal, told his destination and instantly reached what he thought the real world. But to his bewilderment, he was standing facing his shop. He was wondering why he did not reach his desired realm. Then he wondered if there were any screws or bolts which did not fit in the time machine. Then, with strong realization, he had remembered that he promised his ancestors he would protect and look after the shop and that he would not leave the place.

With a sad look on his face, he unlocked the door to the shop, went in and spinned the illuminator, the activator and the starter. The shop was bustling with children after just three seconds. Then, he felt like crying. When did he have the mind to leave his shop and go to the real world? How could he have left the children heartbroken? Without the shop, he could not have had this wonderful life. He never realized that the real world was spurious until then. And from that day onwards, he kept telling all the children that they should stick to something special to them and said that all their fingertips contained small bits of magic. He understood that if there was no magic in the real world, it wouldn’t be what it is today. And so, he lived with his shop, telling children his story about the real world. The shop is still there in the small town of Magoria. 

The Secret Portal

Once, a long, long time ago, there lived a girl named Laura Larose. She was eight and was loved by everyone. Everyday, she will go and buy vegetables from the market and buy fruits from the fruit stall. Her mother, Mrs. Larose, was a housewife and her father, Mr. Larose, was the town’s butcher.

She had every comfort and delight but she did not have one thing- any friends.

One day, she was feeding the goats her family raised when her parents called her for breakfast. They were having some carrots which Laura had bought from the market and some peas. After having breakfast, Mr.Larose went to sell red meat and Mrs. Larose went to her friend’s house because her friend was coming down with influenza. Laura was left alone in the house. She thought she will keep all the ironed clothes in the rightful cupboards. She first kept all her mother’s clothes in the cupboard and then her father’s clothes. When she kept all her father’s clothes, she thought of cleaning all the rooms. She wanted to go and see her grandfather’s room because it was locked for thirteen years. She had often heard her mother say to her father, ‘The key is safe in my cupboard.’ She thought of trying that key with the door. So she went to her mother’s cupboard and tried hard to find the key. At last she found it in the corner of the cupboard. It was rusted and was shaped like a crescent. She took it and tried it with her grandfather’s room’s door. As the key was rusted, it took some time to unlock the door but she did it. The room was full of dust and spider’s webs. She found another key on the floor next to a chair’s leg. She thought of using it for the cupboard in that room. So she took it and tried to open the cupboard. At last, she did it and when she did, she saw a bright glow inside it. She opened the cupboard fully and then everything was circling around her. She stopped and reached a beautiful meadow. She was confused and scared at the same time. Where was she? How did she get to the meadow? Then she had a faint memory that she had been in her grandfather’s room. As she thought this, a bunny with light blue eyes came and welcomed her to Funland where all children from different cupboards came and enjoyed with the other bunnies. Laura was afraid that she was somewhere far, far away from her house talking with a blue-eyed bunny! The bunny understood the expression on her face and told her, ‘Oh! You are a newcomer to Funland! I get it! This the first time you are coming here?’ Laura, finally finding her voice, said, ‘Y- Yes. This is the first time I am here. Where am I? I remember that I opened the cupboard and everything went circling around me. Who are you? How do you know that I am a newcomer?’ The bunny replied in a kind voice, ‘You are in Funland, a place where children of different ages came from special cupboards to enjoy and play with the other bunnies. By the way, I am Whitetoes, the person who makes sure that everyone is having fun. I know that you are a newcomer by looking at the expression on your face.’ Laura asked a question that was bugging her all the time, ‘How did I reach F-Funland? Whitetoes said, ‘You don’t remember how you came here? You opened the special cupboard in your house and you came here! Come and have fun with the bunnies and children! They will love to play with you!’ And with that, he took her hand and pulled her down the new-mown mead. She could see, to her surprise, lot of kids playing with the bunnies. She saw the fun in it and went running to the playmates. She played and played until she had realized that she had been there for hours. So she asked Whitetoes how to go back to her home. He said, ‘Just use your key, open a portal in air and say ‘My home’ clearly and loudly. She did just that and she was back in her grandfather’s room. She saw the clock and only a few minutes had passed. At that moment, she heard the door handle being turned and realized that her mother had come back. So she opened her grandfather’s room’s door and hid the key in a special hiding place. Then she went to the living room and sat in the sofa. The door opened and in came Mrs. Larose.

Everything was back to normal but Laura still went to Funland where she found the most number of friends from different cupboards to play with.