Two children from Mumbai spend a year in a small army township in the middle of the Rajasthan desert. Missing the urban sights and sounds, it takes them a while to get used to living in a place where the only excitement is a roll in the dunes. But adventure is just a sandstorm away and all too soon their …

Shashank and Mayank were twins and 10 years old. Every year, their parents would celebrate their birthday with much fanfare. They made it a point to get them new clothes for the party. One evening, on his return from office, their father informed them that he had been transferred to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. So all of them would …

One night Nasruddin was sitting on the street outside his house. He suddenly saw a burglar entering his house from a side window. The burglar did not see Nasruddin in the dark. The Mulla was scared to go and fight the thief. He watched as the thief loaded almost all his possessions onto a donkey and set off. Nasruddin ran …

If only Rohit had been able to come, Nitin thought, as Richa stopped to take a breath for the umpteenth time. To think that he had looked forward to this holiday in Manali so much. His friend Rohit and he had planned so many treks and climbs together. But Rohit’s father had not been able to get away. So here …

There was a young boy named Bakri who lived in a lonely village far in the mountains. It was lonely village, yes, but also very quite and peaceful. A swift-flowing stream tumbled down from the mountains and ran through the village. The villagers could hear the rush of its crystal-clear waters as they lay in their beds at night. And …

On April 24, 1895 Captain Joshua Slocum set to sailing. He was the first man to sail alone in a small boat, ‘spray’ around the world. He repaired the old boat and started on his historical mission. This is the story of Captain Joshua who braved the torrents of sea all alone. Barbarous Red Indians had surrounded the ‘spray’. They …

Rrrr…ing. The shrill sound of the call bell filled the house. Nita looked at the front door and frowned. ‘Who could it be so early in the morning? We hardly know anyone here.’ The summer vacation had just started and Nita and her family had recently shifted to this multi-storey building and were still in thee process of settling down. …

One morning Saurabh was eating pudding for his breakfast in the hostel mess. At that time, there were about 20-25 boys present. Saurabh was reading a magazine along with relishing his pudding. All of a sudden, a fly came and squatted on his pudding plate. Seeing this, Saurabh was enraged. Without losing a single minute, he attacked it with his …

Jamadagni was a rishi. He lived a pious life with his wife Renuka. One day Renuka and the rishi were making a shivalinga from clay. Just as they were giving in the finishing touches, Renuka’s concentration was distracted by the sound of hooves. The shadow of the Kshatriya king who rode that way fell on the shivalinga. Rishi Jamadagni who …

I sat with my friend in a well-known coffee shop in a neighboring town of Venice (Italy), the city of lights and water. As we enjoyed our coffee, a man entered and sat at an empty table beside us. He called the waiter and placed his order saying, ‘Two cups of coffee, one of them there on the wall.’ We …