Adventures of Raghu - cooking pizza in a solar oven

It was a sunny summer afternoon. Raghu, Meera and Dev were chilling in Raghu’s room.

Meera was reading a book, Raghu was browsing the net for places to go camping, while Dev was busy gaming on playstation. Raghu had been back from his trip to the Himalayas with Uncle Seher two weeks back, after which Dev, Raghu’s cousin had come over to spend the summer vacation with him. Suddenly Dev jumped, “I got through! I got through Level 7, just one more level to go and I win the game!” shouted an ecstatic Dev. Raghu looked back at him from his computer with a rather uninterested expression and exclaimed - “Great going Dev! You’ve been at it for like 4 months now, it’s high time I say!” Meera laughed.

“Let’s eat something before I start again” said Dev “I’m starving!”. Dev was a chubby cute little fellow. He loved his playstation as much as he loved his food. “Okay guys, come on, let’s see what mother has made for lunch” said Raghu as all three of them went running downstairs to the kitchen. They were astonished to find an empty kitchen with veggies and food items lying on the kitchen counter. There was a note lying next to it which read – ‘Kids, I’ve had to rush to your dad’s office to help him some work, please make the pizzas in the oven. I’ve left all the items you need on the kitchen counter. Love, mom’

“Okay guys! Pizza time. Let’s get to work. “I’ll chop the veggies!” shouted Meera.

“I’ll put the pizza sauce on the pizzas" said Dev, “And I’ll start pre-heating the oven and get the pizza trays out” said Raghu. They all got to work. Raghu began to switch on the oven and pre-heat it, however the oven wasn't working. After 15 minutes of fiddling with it, Raghu called out - “The oven isn’t working guys, what should we do now?” Meera and Dev tried their own hands at getting it started, but it wouldn't work. “It’s like an oven outside” said a rather upset Dev who was feeling hot and sweaty, “ and yet the real oven isn’t working!!!”

“Come on Dev. Just relax, we’ll find a way” said Meera. For almost half an hour, they fiddled with the various switches, plugs, but the oven wouldn’t turn on. “Great, that’s it for our pizzas” said a dejected Raghu. “I don’t think so” smiled Meera. “What Dev said has just given me an idea. Raghu I know you have a pile of old pizza boxes, can you get me one of those. Also get me a ruler, aluminum foil, scissors, plastic wrap, black construction paper and a glue stick.”

“Sure Meera, but why?” said Raghu a little confused. “Just do what I say and bring everything to the terrace. We’re gonna make some pizza.” They took all the items and reached the terrace. It was afternoon and the sun was at its peak. “It’s burning!” said Raghu. “And that’s exactly what we need” said Meera. She got to work, creating a small solar oven from the pizza box, plastic, aluminum wrap and black construction paper.

Okay let’s leave it like this for about 15-20 minutes to heat up in the sun, then we’ll put our pizzas to get baked in it!”

"WOW! What a great idea!” shouted both Dev and Raghu in unison. The three waited for a while , then put in two small pizzas they had prepared with toppings into their solar oven. In the excitement, the three had forgotten about their hunger and were eager to see the final outcome. 20 minutes later, they opened the box to find melted cheese and a crispy pizzas. “Oh my god! This is awesome!” exclaimed Raghu. “Pizzas cooked in our very own solar oven! Now how cool is that!”