Adventures of Raghu - Monsoon "wild"life!

Meera sat on the verandah of Raghu’s ground floor inspecting the garden in front. There was a light drizzle that she was enjoying as she watched a few earthworms curling around in the garden soil. They were little creepy crawly things and Meera picked up a small stick lying on the ground to gently lift one of them up. “Hey mister earthworm, enjoying the rains are we?” spoke Meera playfully to the earthworm. Raghu’s mother was working in the kitchen, watching the whole scene with some amusement. As she heard Meera speak she said, “Yes Meera they are enjoying the rains, but they are also a huge help to us in the garden here.

Earthworms are a sign of healthy soil and they help increase the nutritive value of the soil. So earthworms are some of our favourite rainy season guests in the garden!”

“Wow aunti, I didn’t know that” said Meera, as she put the earthworm back down and her eyes moved to a leaf on which a caterpillar was lazing around. “Aunti look a caterpillar on that leaf!” shouted Meera. Raghu’s mother and Meera tip toed to the leaf to look at the spectacular caterpillar that had come out on this beautiful rainy day.

As Meera ran back to the verandah, Raghu’s mother shouted – “Watch your step Meera! There is a small snail right next to the verandah stairs!” Meera looked to find a snail trudging its way around the staircase. “It’s back almost looks like a sea shell!” laughed Meera.

Busy in their excursions, Raghu’s mother and Meera didn’t notice as Raghu had walked into the garden to join them. “Come here you two, look at these tiny little things here that sort of look like caterpillars.” Meera and Raghu’s mother came over to see little pretty worm shaped creatures with many many legs. “These are millipedes Raghu!” said his mother.

As they were busy in their findings the rain grew stronger and all three ran back towards the verandah to get cover. They sat for some time watching the rain silently as Raghu’s mother went to the kitchen to do some work. Some time later she returned with hot pakoras and tea!

“Wow aunti! You’re the best!” shouted Meera happily. “Yes mother! What could be better than hot chai and pakoras on a rainy afternoon!” said Raghu. They laughed and talked until the rains stopped and the sky began to clear.

Evening had set in and sun had come up for a last glimpse before setting. “Mother can we go out and play for sometime?” said Raghu. “Sure, be home before its dark though” said Raghu's mother. As Raghu and Meera went outside towards the park, Meera looked up and shrieked. “Raghu look up!!! It’s a rainbow!” Raghu looked up and both of them gazed at the newly formed rainbow with awe. They then proceeded to the park merrily singing and jumping over puddles.

The rainy season had a charm of its own. Everything seemed brighter, people seemed friendlier, the weather happier and life more beautiful. There was so much to enjoy and love about the rains!

Adventures of Raghu - the gift of water!

“Mother!!!” shouted Raghu from the bathroom in the midst of his morning bath. “Yes dear! What is it?” replied his mother from downstairs. “The water in the tap has stopped and I’m in the middle of my bath mother! Can you please get me a spare bucket of water?” His mother frowned – “This water shortage is giving us such a hard time. It’s the peak of summer and there isn’t even enough water to take a bath in” said Raghu’s mother to herself as she gave Raghu a bucket of water that she had filled and kept the previous day.

“Here you go. Use it preciously Raghu, we’ve run out of water.”

The sun was scorching outside, summer was on it’s way out but the rains that everyone was eagerly looking forward to had just not arrived yet. Water scarcity had taken over the town and everyone was using each drop of water rather conservatively.

It was a Sunday and after spending the morning playing his favorite computer games, Raghu was sitting to study in his room after lunch. All of a sudden his eyes moved towards his window as he saw darkness setting in. He went near his window to see grey clouds covering the sky. “Oh my god!!” cried out Raghu happily, “I think it’s finally going to rain!!!!”

As Raghu opened his window and took his hand out to feel whether the drizzle had started, the first drop of rain hit Raghu’s rain parched skin.

Raghu smiled, it was here, the long awaited drought was finally over!!! Raghu quickly phoned Meera – “Meera come over, its going to rain real hard, let’s play outside on my terrace!!!”

A few drops slowly took on momentum, as within a few minutes it was heavily pouring. Initially the coolness of the rain could not be felt as each object emitted the fire it carried from the past summer. Slowly it however cooled down and everywhere one looked you could see kids, adults, animals enjoying the long- awaited monsoon showers. Even the plants and trees seemed to be laughing as the rain washed off their dusty, tired leaves. As Meera came over, she and Raghu went onto the terrace to dance in the rain and splash water in the puddles.

“Just put your head up and feel the droplets on your face Meera, it’s so much fun” shouted Raghu. It was a big celebration.

Just as they were playing, Raghu and Meera noticed Raghu’s mother had brought out a few big buckets and put them out on the terrace to fill with water. “This will serve us for at least two days. We can use it for bathing, washing and toiletries” said Raghu's mother. “Mother that’s a great idea!!!” shouted Raghu.

“Hey Raghu, let’s find out how to get a big water tanker to put outside your house to collect the water that leaks out of the drainage.

 We can collect and store the rain water there and you can use it for so many different purposes around the house. I’ve read it’s called rain water harvesting.” Raghu laughed. “Meera, you can find something interesting to make out of everything! I think it’s a great idea though!”Both the kids decided they would work on this project once the rain stopped so that they could store rain water to use for day to day activities for the rest of the rainy season.

For now they were however just enjoying the smell of wet earth, the rain falling on their bodies and the beginning of the beautiful, thunderous monsoon season!

Adventures of Raghu - nature "clicks"

School had just begun. Dev had gone back to his home in Calicut, while Meera and Raghu were back to their usual school routine. Raghu was back to biking to school through the village and forest. He had not met his cobra friend, Rasiya, during the summer and one day saw him lazing on the branch of a tree on his way back from school. “How have you been Rasiya?” said Raghu excited to see his friend after a long time. “I’m fine Raghu, just napping after my lunch. Are you back to school now?” said Rasiya lazily. “Yes Rasiya, and our Science teacher announced a photo contest today.

She told us to go to outdoor areas around our house and take photos from nature. The best ones win a prize! I’m so excited and want to take the coolest photo ever! Will you help me Rasiya?”

With half closed eyes, Rasiya looked up towards Raghu – “Sure, what do you want me to do?” “Rasiya, can I take your photo on the tree? It would blow my teachers and classmates minds to see a snap of a cobra lazing on the tree!! I would love to see their faces!” laughed Raghu.

The usually wise Rasiya replied thoughtfully – “Raghu, I feel you should go explore around and see if you find anything intriguing and truly inspiring around your house, rather than just take a photo to show off. Go look around your backyard, the nearby village, you’ll find so many things you’d never have noticed.” Raghu realized what Rasiya was saying was true and biked off home after saying goodbye.

Once home, Raghu went to his backyard. He had to look around more, really see what all there was in his backyard. He found bugs and insects he had never seen before, there was a ladybug perched on the leaf just sitting in the sun,

an ant moving around busily carrying a tiny load like it meant the world to it, leaves lay on the ground in different patterns, coloured in all shades of green and even hints of different colours, twigs with multiple textures, the long and beautiful branches of the banyan tree. He carefully took each photo, kept the ones he liked and deleted the rest. They were good, but he had to explore more.

“Mother, I’ll be back” said Raghu, as he head towards the nearby village and forest.  On his way he found a flock of birds sitting on the tree, a young mother bird was feeding her baby birds in the nest.

There in the little lake was a man giving a herd of buffaloes their bath,

there were the beautiful paddy fields with the farmers singing and working in them, and there were the monkeys jumping around from branch to branch. He had seen all this before, but he had never really taken the time to stand and observe how totally vibrant and alive each animal, insect, tree, plant was.

As evening started to approach, Raghu tiredly walked back home. There was a high boulder near the tiny village pond on which he sat watching the sky. The sun was setting and he still had a lot of work to do for tomorrow. He had taken many photos and now had the task of choosing the best ones among them. As he sat watching the sunset, he was overtaken by the beauty of the setting sun. The shades of reds, oranges and yellows had mapped the entire sky, while the tone had been set by the chirping birds. Had he never paid attention to a sunset before? So fully involved in that moment of watching the sunset he became that he later realized he had forgotten to take its photograph. As Raghu walked back home he smiled, he realized he was taking back much more than just photos with him.

Adventures of Raghu - watch your step!

“Raghu, Meera and Dev! You three come down here right this moment” called out Raghu’s mother from the garden outside. “What is it now mother? We just did so much washing a few days back, now please let us play!” called back Raghu annoyed at being disturbed in the middle of his computer game. “Come down here, I need to show you something.” All three kids got up from their activities to go to the garden downstairs, not too happy with the sudden interruption.

There stood Raghu’s mother, inspecting the grass in the garden. “Look what you three musketeers have done to my lawn with your water fight last week!” said Raghu’s mother as she pointed to big brown patches of grass that lay crushed in the lawn.

“Sorry aunt Megha, we were just playing and running in the grass.” said Dev rather innocently, “none of us realized that we were spoiling the grass.”

While the three of them were talking, Meera had gone off to perform her own inspection of the damage that had been done in the lawn. Suddenly she came back with her eyes twinkling. Raghu knew the look well. Meera always had that look when she had come up with one of her brilliant ideas. “Okay Meera, whats your plan?” said Raghu. “Megha aunti, to ensure that your lawn isn’t trampled upon like this next time we can put stepping stones in your garden!” said Meera. “We just need to figure out how we can make these stepping stones!”

Everyone smiled at the idea in agreement. “Okay so now how do we make these stepping stones miss genius?” said Raghu to Meera. “Let’s get some concrete and water to make a paste, some plastic pans to set the concrete paste into a mould and some items like stones, glass pieces etc that we can decorate the moulds with!” interrupted Raghu’s mother.

“Why, you had already thought of this idea Megha aunti!?” laughed out Meera. “Yes dear, I am always one step ahead of you guys, otherwise how would I be able to manage three intelligent kids like you!” They all laughed.

On the terrace, Raghu’s mother had brought all the material. The three kids went to find materials they would decorate their stepping stones with, after which they returned to the terrace. Raghu’s mother had made the concrete paste and the three kids sat facing a big round plastic tray that served as a mould. As the concrete paste was poured, they got busy decorating their moulds, Raghu used some old glass beads he had lying around from some time ago, Meera used pieces of mosaic that she had collected and Dev used his hands and fingers to make hand and finger prints in the mould.

Two hours later, they had made 9 stepping stones.

“Let these dry today, we’ll come pick them up tomorrow.” Said Raghu’s mother as dusk set in.  

The next morning, the three excited children came to check their stepping stones and carried them to the garden downstairs. After placing them on the path, the three children began hopping and playing on their newly built path. Raghu’s mother stood watching them from the window upstairs. She laughed and clapped her hands -  “My three brilliant musketeers! There’s always a solution to every problem when you three are around!”

Want to try making your own stepping stones? 

Click here - http://www.skiptomylou.org/2012/06/30/how-to-make-stepping-stones-lowes-giveaway/

Adventures of Raghu - the joys of water!!!

“Raghu, Meera and Dev, all of you come out here into the driveway and lawn to help me with some washing!” shouted Raghu’s mother from the lawn outside Raghu's window. It was 4:30 in the afternoon and the three kids were lazing around in Raghu’s room, busy on the computer and playstation. Raghu and Meera ran outside with Dev trotting along behind them slowly. “I don’t know why aunt Megha always has to call us to do chores around the house when we’re busy playing” complained Dev to himself grumpily.

The picture that lay outside was different from what they had expected though.

There were 3 buckets of water with a little bit of soap water in them, sponges, some cleaning brushes, water guns which were laying around from Holi  and the water pipe was placed on the side. “What are we supposed to do?” asked Raghu from his mother. “I want you all to clean the cars, driveway, water the lawn and clean the windows of the house. I know you guys will love this because it’s all water work, but be careful not to waste water” said his mother as she walked into the house. "This is gonna be fun!" called out Meera as she went to pick up a bucket of soap water and sponge.

The three of them were immediately down to work. They all loved getting wet in water in the summer and just needed a reason. Raghu’s mother knew that and had found just the right way to get these kids outside, do some work and have fun!

Sponge in hands, Raghu got to work cleaning up his bike and scrubbing the two cars in the driveway with the soap water.

Meera began scrubbing the window panes outside the house, while Dev began watering the plants in the lawn with the water pipe. Every now and then Dev would sprinkle a little water on himself and laugh in the sheer joy of it!

Everyone was thoroughly busy and didn’t know how time flew by. “Hey Dev, I need the pipe now to wash off the soap from the cars!” called out Raghu.

“Coming!” said Dev as he turned the pipe towards the driveway, straight onto the car where Raghu was standing. Raghu was completely drenched and charging towards Dev. “I’m gonna get you guy!”  “Okay guys, Let’s first finish the work then we’ll play” called out Meera responsibly. Both boys laughing came back to the driveway and started cleaning the soap off the cars and bike with the water pipe, playing with the water as they did so!

“Now the window panes!” said Meera as she took the pipe and cleaned the soap off the window panes outside the house. As she was finishing, she didn’t notice, both Raghu and Dev steal up behind her with water guns in hands.

Shouting, running in the lawn, playing, screaming, laughing, all three of them took turns to get each other wet with the remaining soap water in the buckets and the water pipe.

A little later Raghu’s mother came outside with popsicles in bowls for the three kids.

“Okay kids you deserve this after all the work you’ve gotten done!” she said as she handed each of them a rainbow colored popsicle. “This was so much fun aunt Megha!” cried out Dev as he hugged his aunt. They all laughed and enjoyed their popsicles. What better way to spend a hot summer evening!

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!”

Solar Pizza Oven

Solar Pizza Oven

This is a great way to see how the sun's rays can be turned into thermal energy, useful in our daily lives to cook food among many other things. This activity should be done on a sunny day to ensure that the oven cooks at or above 200 degrees. Take caution! It functions like a real oven, so don't touch!

You will need:

a pizza box that has been cleaned out 

ruler

aluminum foil

scissors

plastic wrap

glue stick

black construction paper

1. Draw a one-inch border around the top of the pizza box. Cut along three sides, leaving the line along the back of the box uncut.

2. Form a flap by gently folding back the uncut line to form a crease.

3. Cut a piece of aluminum foil to fit on the inside of the flap. Smooth out any wrinkles and glue into place.

4. Measure a piece of plastic to fit over the opening you created by forming the flap. The plastic should be larger than the opening so that it can be taped to the underside of the box top. Be sure the plastic becomes a tightly sealed window so that the air cannot escape from the oven.

5. Cut another piece of aluminum foil to line the inside of the pizza box and carefully glue into place.

6. Cover the bottom with black construction paper and glue into place.

7. Close the pizza box top with the window, and prop open the flap with the ruler you used to measure before. (A wooden dowel or straw may be used as well.)

8. Adjust until the aluminum reflects the maximum sunlight through the window into the oven interior.

And enjoy your treats! Ovens will have to preheat about 30 minutes before cooking anything. You can heat up your pizza and ENJOY

Reference: http://solartownkids.com/index.php?p=activities

Adventures of Raghu - the trek with Uncle Seher (Part 2)

Uncle Seher put his sleeping bag next to Raghu and lay down to join him in gazing at the stars. Just as he lay down, Raghu jumped up pointing towards the sky – “Uncle look, a shooting star!! Did you see it??” Uncle Seher smiled – “Yes I did Raghu. It was absolutely fantastic! The wonders of nature!” Raghu lay back down. “We never get to see all these stars in the city uncle Seher. I guess we’re higher up in the mountains now, so maybe that’s why they’re more visible here” said Raghu thoughtfully. Uncle Seher laughed, “No Raghu that’s not the reason. It has to do with the Light pollution and smog in the city.

Here the air is clear and there are no street lights. That’s the reason we’re being able to view the fantastic spectrum of the night sky.” Raghu kept looking up.

“I had read about so many constellations before I came here uncle. But I find it hard to find them in the midst of these millions of stars” said Raghu. “Okay, let’s start with the big dipper,” started Uncle Seher. “Look for seven major stars: four in the bowl and three in the handle. The two stars on the outside of the bowl are called the pointer stars. They point to Polaris, a bright star that is also called the North Star because with it you can figure out which way is north.” Raghu looked hard, as his fingers started to outline the big dipper in the sky. “I found it Uncle! I found the big dipper and the north star” cried out Raghu in excitement. “Great, now you can use this to also find Ursa Minor or the little dipper.

You know Raghu, these star patterns called constellations helped people navigate on land and by sea as well as tell time, since they appear in different parts of the sky depending on the day and year.  You see this is because the stars don't move only the earth moves.”

Uncle quickly got up. “Raghu let’s have our meal now, it’s getting late.”  Raghu sat near the campfire chopping vegetables, while Uncle Seher took out the pots he had brought along with him and started boiling some rice. Within a little over half an hour, rice and vegetable dal soup was ready.

Uncle poured some in a bowl for Leela to eat and sat down with Raghu to enjoy the meal they all so well deserved.

After the meal, once all the food items had been cleaned away, Uncle, Raghu and Leela sat near the campfire as Uncle Seher started narrating a story. “Raghu do you know the legend of the Sarolsar lake?” “No uncle” said Raghu, his eyes lighting up with both fear and excitement. “So Raghu, this lake is many thousands of years old. It was actually much bigger then, and had many types of fish and plant life in it at that time. It was a thriving place back then…” Uncle Seher started narrating the story of how a being from deep in the forests had found its way here and had slowly taken over the entire lake.

He had shrunk the size of the lake, killed most of the animals and plants in the lake and had buried itself deep in the waters where it could not be seen. “That is why no one dare ventures into the lake.”

“And even today he comes out some nights and his wild call can be heard.” Raghu looked around rather cautiously, fear lurking in his eyes. He loved spooky stories, but this was a little too close to home to laugh about. He moved closer to Leela, at which point he didn’t realize Uncle Seher jump on him from the back. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” screamed Raghu as he ran as far as he could without looking back, Leela running and barking right behind him. Uncle Seher started laughing and screamed out -  “Boy you’re so gullible! Come back here! It’s time we get to bed….a long day of rock climbing awaits us tomorrow. I hope you’ve done your homework for it!”

Adventures of Raghu - the trek with Uncle Seher (Part 1)

“Wow!” shrieked Raghu as the low lying hills of the Himalayan range started giving way to the upper snow covered ranges. Raghu sat staring outside the window of the car as though lightening had struck him.

It was his first time ever in the Himalayas. His mouth wide open, Uncle Seher looked at the astounded Raghu and smiled. “So boy, welcome to the mighty Himalayas. Nowhere in the world would you have seen such majestic ranges. We’re now moving towards the Kullu district in Himachal where we’ll trek to Jalori pass and Sarolsar lake.” Leela barked in approval while Raghu’s eyes remained glued to the view outside.

It was the second week of May and Raghu was on his way to Jalori pass and Sarolsar Lake with Uncle Seher and his dog Leela, in the Himalayas as had been planned. (9th April 2014, Adventures of Raghu - Camping with Uncle Seher)

Raghu didn’t speak much until Uncle Seher stopped the car and prompted everyone to pick up their bags and move out of the car. “We’ll begin our trek on foot from here. There’s a small guest house just up the hill there Raghu. You have two hours to take a short rest, get ready, eat something and then we’re off.” Raghu stepped out of the car with his bag, took a deep breath as though trying to take in as much oxygen as his lungs would allow and began running, calling Leela to follow him. Leela was jumping in excitement as Raghu was dodging her. “You both need some rest now, you can play later!” called out Uncle Seher as he went to check into the guest house.

Two hours later Raghu was standing at the steps of the guest house with his rucksack. Uncle Seher had a much bigger rucksack as he was also carrying the tent. Leela had a small waist pack tied around her waist with dog biscuits. “Water bottle, food supplies, sweater, extra pair of socks and unders, sleeping bag, ropes? All set?” asked Uncle Seher. Raghu responded as he put his feet together in attention position and hand to his forehead “Yes Sir!” “Lovely, then let’s begin!!!” called back Uncle Seher.

So they set off for trekking towards Jalori pass.

Sarolsar lake was further about a 2 hour walk from there where they would spend the night camping. They passed steep mountains with narrow snow covered paths. Leela trudged along carefully as Raghu followed. There were snow covered peaks, cattle grazing on the sides, all varieties of flowers growing on the ground. They took their time to view the beauty around, had fun sliding down snow covered mountains as they walked along.

After a trek of 5 hours, around 4pm they reached the magical Sarolsar lake.

The water was crystal clear and the bright blue sky above was reflecting itself in the lake later. Raghu and Leela started running around to investigate the place and touch the lake water. Uncle Seher in the mean time started looking for an appropriate place to put up the tent. “Raghu get the pins to tie the tent ropes to.  Let’s also start collecting wooden sticks to make a campfire.” They got down to work and had a fire rolling by about 6pm. As darkness started setting in, Raghu put out his sleeping bag and lay down on it with Leela at his feet to view the night sky. Slowly millions of stars became visible in the sky above. “Could heaven really be anywhere else but here Leela?” said Raghu softly.

Adventures of Raghu - a glass of lemonade?

“Hey Meera, are you okay?” called out Raghu to Meera from the branch of the banyan tree. Raghu and Meera had decided to put a swing up on the banyan tree and had been working on it for about an hour outside.

Raghu was climbing the tree with the rope in his hand when he saw Meera sitting on the ground beside the tree looking tired and holding her head. “I don’t know Raghu. I feel dizzy and sort of sick in the stomach. I was fine just a while ago, not sure what happened.” Raghu jumped down from the branch to move closer to Meera. He touched Meera’s forehead – “I think you’re dehydrated. Come on let’s go inside and get you something cold to drink.” Both went inside the house where Raghu’s mother made both the children two glasses of cold lemonade. “It’s so hot outside and both of you decide to go out and put up a swing at this time! Really what should I do with both of you I wonder sometimes” cried out Raghu’s mother, worried at seeing Meera sick.

After they drank the lemonade and had rested for sometime, Meera got up and went running to Raghu – “I’m much better now Raghu. We can start putting up the swing again!” “If you both are planning to go outside again I want you both to take a big jar of lemonade with you and keep drinking it regularly to keep yourselves from dehydrating” called out Raghu’s mother.

Meera looked at Raghu - “I got dehydrated within just an hour of being outside Raghu, sometimes I wonder about those people that work outside and have to be outdoors the whole day. There’s not even clean hygienic water for them to drink sometimes.” “Yeah Meera. That’s true. Maybe we can give them our jug of lemonade!” joked Raghu to Meera.

Meera looked at Raghu seriously for a while and then answered back – “That’s a great idea Raghu!” “What idea?” said Raghu a little confused at missing his own discovery. “The idea of making lemonade for people who are outdoors. Why don’t we set up a lemonade stand near the colony park. There are many people that work outside and come there to rest. They can get a nice cool drink when they sit. They would feel refreshed and it would also ensure they’re adequately hydrated in this heat.” Raghu thought for a moment. “That is a good idea Meera, but how should we do it?”

“Let’s first go to the market and buy the items we need to make lemonade” said Meera as she rushed out the door. They bought 60 lemons, a big container of mineral water, ice cubes,sugar and 5 packets of paper cups “Mother has a water cooler at home that we can use to keep the lemonade cool. We also have pens and cardboard at home to make the sign for our stand. Let’s go!” said Raghu. Back home they prepared the lemonade, made the cardboard sign so that people would know they are selling lemonade. Within an hour, the table was set up in the shade just outside the park and they both sat waiting for their first customer.

People passing by started looking at this new arrangement, until a man that had been digging a tank in the colony nearby came upto Meera – “Can I please have one glass of lemonade?” Meera sprang up from her chair, absolutely excited to serve their first customer. “Yes sure” she said as she poured the cool lemonade into a paper cup. The man gulped it down thanked them and walked off. Two men were watching the scene on a nearby bench and also asked came to the stand to ask for the same. They smiled after the drink and thanked the kids. Slowly children, women, men were all coming over for the refreshing drink. It was so fulfilling to see each face light up after a glass of lemonade. Meera turned to Raghu at the end of the day – “This was the best thing I’ve ever done Raghu. Let’s do it regularly this summer.” “I’m in Meera, I’m totally in” called out Raghu happily.

Keep cool this summer!