TALES FROM READERS

• A Parrot and A Crow NEW
• Speaking Garden and Speaking Well NEW
• The Mysterious Voice NEW
• Be Helpful
• When Trees stopped speaking
• Gujarati Dhokala
• Village Leader and the Fallen Berries
• Lucky Pandit Tida Joshi
• The Coconuts story
• A Dream Saved the King!
• Lazy Pigeon
• A Scary Cold Water Drop
• Intelligent Merchants
• A Clever Old Woman
• Father, Son and a Crow
• The Mystery of Twin Town
• Miracle
• Bhola Bear Gets Honey
• Fear of LIZARD
• Rinku Rabbit Teaches A Lesson
• Every Tiger Has It's Day
• Mrs. Squirrel's Beachy Holiday
• Bella, Billu And The Billi
• A Suitable Match
• Chimpu- The Jungle Detective
  The Case of The Hidden Treasure
• Daring Sia and The Theft of The Twisted Candles
• Chimpu-The Jungle Detective
  The Case of The Stolen Honey
• The Princess of the Blue lotus
• Inspiration
• A Better Place to Live
• Sid And The Pirates 1
• Sid And The Pirates 2
• Sid And The Pirates 3
• Rinku
• Tula Wants To Grow Up!
• Shining In The Dark
• The Guru
• O.D.D.
• The Girl With X-Ray Eyes
• An Eerie Experience
• Scared Speechless!
• The Haunted House
• The Lily Pad(dle) Boat
• Little Tom And His Pets
• Deepa And The King of The Ocean
• Magic Rose
• Charlie's Pet Lion
• The Three Princesses
• The Ring
• Traitors You Can't Sustain!
• Friends And Enemies
• Bruno, The Sheep Dog
• Roses And Cacti
• Hardwork Pays
• No Pain, No Gain!
• The Magical Pond
• Everything For Something
• The Eavesdropper
• The Crow That Boasted
• The Golden Bird
• Asha And Aadesh In Frogindom!
• Moon's Magic
• Baby Tree Wants Ice Cream!
• Jackal And Birds
• Roll Model
• When The Teacher Became The King
• The Blind Beggar
• A Night of fun in the Desert Village
• The Blind Woman
• The Pirate's Mistake
• Team Work Wins
• Bobby Turns Brave
• The Two Princess
• God Everywhere
• The Mongoose And The Snake
• The Missing Sweetmeat
• The Mule
• The Wishing Tree
• The Magic Potion
• King And The Three Sons
• An Old Lady And The Lamp
• The Kindhearted Villager
• Christopher's Encounter With The Aliens
• The Mysterious School
• The Coconut Tree
• Count The Blessing Not The Curses
• Wonderful X'mas Gift
• Tikku and the Rats
• The Magic Hole
• A Mysterious Memory
• The Lost Ball
• Gundu and Mithu
• Home Alone
• Holidays
• Sleepovers
• The Secret of Work
• Little Friend
• Mr. Twinkle Transforms
• April Fool
• The Call
• The Thief Caught Atlast
• The Monkey And The Dolphin
• Toko Castle
• Elephant, Croc And Toad
• Vice of Dice!
• Laughter Is The Best Medicine
• My Meet With God
• The Impossible Magic!
• Encounter with the Friday Ghost
• The Last Wish
• A Fearful Event
• A King's Costly Mistake
• The Clever Pussy Cat
• The Dangerous Silky Bed!
• The Magical Ink
• The Magic Of The Map
• The Stormy Night with my Cousins

Gundu and Mithu

CLANG!! CRASH!!
"Aiy-Aiyyo!!Venkatramana!!" Ajji cursed vehemently"These boys will be the death of me!!"
She ran into the kitchen to find the dabba filled with rava laddoos all scattered on the floor. Only yesterday Ajji along with the help of Sakubai, the house-maid, had prepared a dabba full of delicious rava laddoos made with pure homemade ghee. Little Gundu and Mithu had been hovering around the kitchen constantly ever since the house was engulfed with the smell of the laddoos.
"Gundu!!Mithu!!" Ajji had lost her cool after seeing her hard work lying in heaps on the floor "Come here at once and clean up this mess!! Where are you two rascals!!"
"We have gone out to play Ajji!"piped up Mithu from underneath the dining table.
"Gone outside to play indeed!!You little imps!!"saying so Ajji extracted the two boys by their ears from underneath the table.
"Ouch!Ouch My earrrr.."squeaked Gundu"Sorry Ajji let us go..."
"Ajji!!!!"Mithu was greatly agitated "You say your eyesight has become weak and make us write your postcards and now you have found us from our hiding location. You are a liar! You can see everything! Leave us at once!!"
"Oh-ho!! Am I liar?? Wait till your mother calls up!!" threatened Ajji "I will tell her about all your doings!"
"We are not scared..."Gundu put up bravely.
"Oh is that so!" Ajji spanked their respective bottoms with her hands but in that process she had to let go of their ears and that was a good opportunity for the two devils to escape.
Zoooom they both ran out of the kitchen and soon out of the house as well. They knew Ajji didnt have the strength to follow them outside the house.
They ran with their tiny legs. In his mind, Mithu was imagining how he would run when the next time Mrs Jain's Pomenarian came after him, he just wouldnt let that ogre bite him again!
Gundu was imagining he was running in his school's sports day. Ah! today he was running even faster then Krishna Patel, the 1st prize winner.
"Hey Wait!" the boys stopped their marathon race and stopped to see who had called them. Sonu, Jai and Das were sitting on their buildings compound wall. They were Gundu's classmates and playmates. "Hey Gundu!" called out Jai "Where are you off too? Arent you coming to play cricket?" "Oh you guys are planning to play cricket here?" asked Gundu.
"Not here! we are planning to join those guys from that Jolly Jeevan Apartments. Are you coming?"
"Yeah! Of course! " Gundu seemed happy at the thought of a day full of Cricket.
"I am also coming." Mithu put in.
He was met with Sonu, Jai and Das' stony gaze.
"Little boys are not allowed in our game." said Jai.
"I also want to play!" spoke Mithu.
"Go home and play with your Grandma!" mocked Sonu.
"I dont want to play with Grandma! Her games are so boring!"
"Sorry! we cant take you! Ask your granny to tell you a story."
"No Ajji keeps telling the same stories about Gods and Demons again & again. I want to play with you people!"
"We dont play with Kaccha Limbus! You'll have to grow up first before playing with us"
"Gundu! please tell them to take me also!!" Mithu was almost in tears.
"No Mithu" Gundu pacified him " These games are for grown up boys like me. You will get hurt then Ajji will beat me. You go home now,ok? Don't be a pest..."
"Hey Gundu! We dont have time to waste. We are going, you wanna come you come and leave this tadpole behind!" saying so the trio jumped down the wall and ran to the next building. Gundu took off after them.
Mithu tried to follow but the older boys were too fast for him.
Humpty-dumpty tears started pouring down his chubby cheeks. Why didnt Gundu and the boys take him along with them?? He was a grown up boy too!! he would be joining the Senior Kindergarten in a month's time. He would also be donning the new uniform with the checked collar. Wow! Mithu couldnt wait until the schools re-opened.
"Ajji!!" Mithu called out to his grandma from the front door "Open the door!"
"Why should I?" asked Ajji from inside "Open it the same way you did when you both had run out!"
"But Gundu had opened it that time!" Mithu's voice was choked with the tears, he still hadn't gotten over the fact that Gundu had left him and run away with the older boys "Open the door Ajji!!"
Ajji opened the door, to find the tiny tot with his cheeks tear-stained, her heart melted and she swooped down and took Mithu in her arms "What happened my little angel! why have you been crying?"
"That wicked Gundu left me and ran away with his friends!!"wailed Mithu.
"Aiyyo!!That Gundu!!" Ajji wiped Mithu's face with the pallu of her saree" I will scold him when he comes! Don't cry my baby...come we both will play Doll-house, we don't need Gundu".
"But Gundu says that only girls play with dolls!" protested Mithu.
"Bah! what does that Gundu know?" said Ajji " You don't bother about him..."
So Mithu settled down with Ajji to play Doll house. He cooked rice and curry for the doll's lunch and Ajji and her doll dropped by for lunch. They all ate, cracked jokes, sang devotional songs (Mithu wondered why didnt they sing Film songs but Ajji insisted they sing only devotional songs) and slept for few minutes. They had a lot of fun.
"Khana tayyaar hai Mithu baba!(The food is ready master Mithu)"poked in Sakubai. So granny and Mithu sat down to feast on the real lunch prepared by Sakubai.
Gundu came in after a while, dirty and dishevelled, with a cycle tyre in his hand. "See what I got!!" he danced the tyre in front of Mithu's eyes. "Ta-ta-da! I am going to make this my car and play with it!!"
"Oh you rascal! Let the boy eat!" scolded Ajji "Which gutter have you scourged that tyre from?? Go throw it out at once!! I will tell your father in the evening!".
"Wow!" Mithu's eyes were filled with the wonderment of playing with the cycle tyre. "Show me!"
But Gundu had run inside their room by then.
Mithu jumped off the dining chair leaving his lunch half-eaten and followed his elder brother inside.
"Arre Mithu baby! First finish off your lunch atleast!" called out Ajji.
After getting fascinated by the cycle tyre, Mithu had forgotten that he had vowed never to run after Gundu again.

Gayatri Shenoy