2 In this issue: Comics Open House Stories 12 Boomslayer: The Mist 29 The Math Tutor 6 The Blackmailer 28 Secret Agent Zero 34 Vijay and the 36 The Wise Carpenter Anniversary Melon Plant 50 Haddiraj 23 50th Earth Day First & Foremost 32 Fastest Mammal Quest 26 Living Underground Fact-o-Meter 46 Q & A 42 Exotic Foods India File Nature Watch Movie Watch 44 The Ancient City of Lakes 24 My Winter Friend 29 Pawfect Entertainment Hall of Fame 9 Champion of the Curiosities Downtrodden 41 Book Bandit Bhavan’s Turning Point Dimdima Bring out the Winner in You 43 The Star Stroker April 2020 Vol. 4 Issue 11 PUBLISHED BY DR. A VENUGOPALAN, ON BEHALF OF Brain Power BHARATIYA VIDYA BHAVAN, 18, 20, EAST MADA STREET, MYLAPORE, CHENNAI-600 004 AND PRINTED BY 10 Teasers & Puzzles SHRI B. RAJ KUMAR AT RASI GRAPHICS, (P) LTD., NO. 40, PETERS ROAD, ROYAPETTAH, CHENNAI–600 014. 49 Word Whiz EDITOR: MAHUA GUHA 33 Poetry Nook CONSULTING EDITOR: MEERA NAIR ASSISTANT EDITOR: SHWETA MITTAL 45 It Happened to Me COPYRIGHTS: BHARATIYA VIDYA BHAVAN. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. 47 Jokeshop

EDITORIAL, CIRCULATION & DIMDIMA SUBSCRIPTION NEW DELHI OFFICE ADVERTISEMENTS Rs. 375/- for 12 issues. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Rs. 725/- for 24 issues. Mehta Sadan, K. G. Marg, Gora Gandhi Compound, Rs. 1050/- for 36 issues. New Delhi 110001 505, Sane Guruji Marg, Postage Free. Payment by MO or DD in favour Phone: 011-23381847 Tardeo, Mumbai 400034 of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan payable at Mumbai. Phone: 022–23526025 & 23531991 Please include Rs.100/- extra if you want Email: [email protected] your copy to be sent by courier in Mumbai, CHENNAI OFFICE [email protected] Rs.200/- extra for outside Mumbai. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Website: www.dimdima.com 18/20/21 East Mada Street, HELPLINE : Mylapore, Dimdima reaches subscribers before the 15th of every 3 Chennai 600 004 month. For delay beyond the 15th, call us on— Phone: 044-24640811 Phone: 022-23531924 ◆ Cell: 08080808554 Cover: Prachi Killekar & Snehangshu Mazumder Many times the toilets in my school stink even though they are cleaned twice a day. When I complained to my granddad about this, he told me an anecdote of Gandhiji. Once Gandhiji was ◆ Once a newspaper reported that a staying at the Ripon College in Kolkata. He gold mine 10 times larger than the wanted to use the toilet but could not enter it Kolar mines had been discovered because of the stink. He asked one of the in Kochi, Kerala. Hundreds of volunteers why they hadn’t cleaned it. The man people gathered at the site replied that it was the scavenger’s job, mentioned, only to discover that it not theirs. Gandhiji quietly took a was an April Fools’ Day prank. broom and cleaned the toilet ◆ In another instance, a Jordanian himself, leaving the volunteers newspaper reported on its front stupefied. page that spaceships flown by My grandfather says we need 3-metre tall aliens, had landed in a not clean our school’s toilets but town in their country. Utter we should pour sufficient water mayhem prevailed in that town and after using them so that they just as its Mayor was planning to remain clean and don’t stink. sue the newspaper for creating —Nisha Shah, Std.7, panic, he was told that it was an Navrachana International School, April Fools’ Day prank. Vadodara.

CHUCKLES —Sonali Shah

GIVE ME YOU WILL HAVE BUT THE BAD ...TODAY IS SOME GOOD FAME, WEALTH NEWS IS.... APRIL FOOLS’ NEWS! & HAPPINESS! DAY!

Dimdima 4 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 A reporter asked a 104-year-old lady what she thought was the Rearrange the letters best thing about being in the grid to get a so old. word that means a The toothless joker or a trickster. centurion smiled and replied, “No peer pressure.” Send your answers to [email protected] as fast as you can before 30 April Knock… knock! if you want to be among the five lucky Who's there? winners whose names will be Ass… published on this page. Ass who? Keep asking! April Fool!!! Winners of February Word Puzzle —Nandu Bhave, Std. 8-A, Answer: AMBIGUITY Adarsh Gurukul Academy, ◆ K S Shreya, Std. 3-A, Bhavan's Vidya Vadgaon, Kolhapur. Mandir, Irinjalakuda. ◆ Anjadip Mahato, Std. 4-A, Bhavan's Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Vidyaniketan, Haldia. ◆ Kartik Mahajan, Std. 5-C, Bhavan’s B P Vidya Mandir, Trimurti Nagar, The boss of a small Nagpur. company had kept ◆ Kamal Tanvir, Std. 6-G, Bhavan’s Sri his birthday a secret. Ramakrishna Vidyalaya, Sainikpuri, On 1st May, he Hyderabad. overheard some of ◆ Shreyans Mishra, Std. 7-E, Bhavan's his employees Gangabux Kanoria Vidyamandir, Salt discussing the Lake City, Kolkata. probable month of his birthday. Their conversation went thus: George: I think his birthday was in March. I've The Australian numbat is an studied numerology and according to my anteater. It doesn’t chew calculations, his birthday must be in a food; yet, it has 50 month beginning with M or N, that is, to 52 teeth, the March, May or November. largest number Aarti: He is a warm person so his birthday should among marsupials. be in a warm month, from April to September. Meena: I remember him saying that his birthday month has only 30 days. Harish: I think it's in October. Happy Shekhar: It must either be in the last three or the first three months of the year. Easter! Anand: I have a feeling his birthday is not this month or the next, but either in July or August. The boss chuckled knowing that only one of them

was right. Can you guess who? one who is right is who one

is December and it is was indicated by Shekhar. So he is the only the is he So Shekhar. by indicated was is it and December is

mentioned or indicated a month that no one else did. This month This did. else one no that month a indicated or mentioned Since only one of them is right, it must be the person who person the be must it right, is them of one only Since Dimdima April 2020 Issue Vol 4 5 STORY

ANU and her cousins, “Tell us,” Vinu asked, maid? Or the driver who Vinu and Pihu, sat “have you seen something comes to the kitchen to pick Hwith Rafuchakkar, the that you should not have up our tiffins? Rafuchakkar’s cook. The poor chap was seen? room is next to the kitchen.” being blackmailed. “No...nothing,” “But, why would any of He held the threatening Rafuchakkar answered. them blackmail him? They messages between his “Okay, Rafuchakkar, you are all good friends,” Hanu masala-smeared fingers, get back to work. We promise said. sobbing. The three took the we will not let anything “THAT is what we have to notes from him and read happen to you,” said Vinu find out,” Vinu said firmly. them again. trying to comfort him. Theirs was a joint family. ‘GO...go...OR…’ and After he left, the trio The house was full of aunts, there was a picture of a began talking in earnest. uncles and children of all skinned chicken. “Look at these letters,” Hanu ages. It was great fun, ‘Run...away...AWAY...Or said, spreading them. “They especially during holidays else…’ There was a photo of are printed letters cut out and festivals. a noose. from a book and then glued. Next morning, as was the “Where did you find The notes were pushed routine, all the children sat these?” Vinu asked. under his door. Who could down to study. It was “In my room. They were it be?” vacation time and during pushed under my door,” “The gardener?” Pihu vacations, their Uncle always Rafuchakkar sniffed. wondered. “Pushpa, the became their tutor. DimdimaDimdima 6 AprilApril 2020 2020 Issue Issue Vol Vol 4 4 “Where is your Letter stared...not at the seeds, but throw into the garbage bin. Book?” Uncle asked four- at the paper. The letters were He lifted its cover and his year-old Palak. Palak just the same as the ones pasted eyes caught sight of shrugged her tiny shoulders. on the blackmailer’s letters! something. He bent down “Lost? Did you eat it for “Can’t be him,” said Vinu and pulled something out. breakfast?” he joked. who had learnt all about It was a plastic tube, the Others laughed, but the insects from Sukhi and had tube of glue. Twisted and three children pricked up got good marks because of empty. their ears! Almost like a dog that. Next morning, the would! “But, this paper is the children sat down to study Just then, their aunt proof,” Pihu said. “And if we as usual. As soon as Uncle came, holding her baby. find the glue tube in his hut, came, Varun proudly Varun smiled at his baby then surely...” showed him his copy and sister and gave her his copy. “We have to search said, “I have stuck the page.” The baby grabbed the Sukhi’s room. But,” said Hanu asked immediately, copy and ... rrriippp! She tore Hanu, scratching her head, “How did you stick the page, a page right out! “why would he want to Varun?” Varun let out a loud moan blackmail Rafuchakkar?” “Pushpa stuck it for me.” but Uncle said, “Okay, no No one had an answer. The three exchanged worries. Take the tube of So that afternoon when quick looks, knowing where glue from Palak and stick it Sukhi went out, the three they had to head next. back.” children went into his hut. In the afternoon, they Palak checked her bag They looked everywhere but entered Pushpa’s room and shrugged again. No did not find a glue bottle. while she was working in the glue—she had lost that too. That evening, as they sat kitchen and searched for Uncle wailed, “I am not thinking, Pihu said “Let us clues. A pile of folded saris sitting with students! I am have some nimbu-paani. It were kept on a table. Pihu sitting with a bunch of helps me think.” carefully looked into each losers, moaners and They marched into the fold. And there it was – a destroyers! Help me God!” kitchen. Vinu cut a lemon picture book with pictures Everyone laughed, but and squeezed the juice into cut out from it! There were not Hanu, Vinu and Pihu. three glasses of water. He also a few pages of the Letter After the study session, they then took the lemon peels to Book. And a blade. met in the garden and took “Now we need to make stock. Letter book lost, glue both Sukhi and lost—stolen and used to make notes to blackmail! Sukhi, their gardener, appeared. He was very fond of the children and his face brightened on seeing them. “Come, come. Here are seeds,” he said. “I will show you how to plant them.” Hanu took the seeds, which were wrapped in a crumpled paper. Then she

Dimdima April 2020 Issue Vol 4 7 STORY The children exclaimed, “PUSHPA! The radishes are at the back of the garden. The rose bushes are in the front. How could he have seen you?” “I got scared,” Pushpa whimpered. “I thought if he saw me, he would complain.” “And so you sent him those horrible messages?” Vinu said. “Poor Rafuchakkar was being terrorised for Pushpa talk,” Vinu said. in front of her. nothing.” The children went to Pushpa’s face crumpled. “Sorry. Don’t tell Saheb Sukhi’s hut. He was lying on Large tears flowed down her that I chewed tobacco.” his bed, listening to music. cheeks and she wrung her “Arrey Pushpa, he will “Sukhi, do you want to hands desperately. not dismiss you for chewing learn reading?” Pihu asked. Vinu asked gently, “Why tobacco, but he surely will “Why?” did you threaten for blackmailing,” Hanu said. We know you keep the Rafuchakkar?” Pushpa howled like a pages of Palak’s Letter Book Pushpa wailed, “He saw large walrus.The children with you. We can help you,” me eating. I thought he will tried to calm her down but she said and showed him the complain to Saheb. Saheb her howls brought the aunts page. warned me never to eat.” and the moms into the Sukhi looked at it “Eating WHAT? Lunch, kitchen. dismissively. “Pushpa gave me dinner…” The children “What’s the matter?” the pages to keep seeds. asked in unison. they asked. These are thick sheets. They “Not eating. Chewing After hearing the entire don’t tear,” he said.”Hmph! tobacco. Saheb said if I chew story, they sat Pushpa down Read? At this age? Hehe!” tobacco, he will dismiss me,” and assured her that her job “So it’s Pushpa,” Vinu she bawled. was safe as long as she did not said, grimly. “But why did you act foolishly. Pushpa swore by “Looks like it,”said the threaten Rafuchkkar?” Pihu all the gods of the heaven that girls, sounding sad. Pushpa asked. she would never chew was sweet and nice. “Rafuchakkar saw me tobacco or do anything stupid The children went to the chewing tobacco.” again. kitchen where Pushpa was “Did he threaten you?” Then the ladies said, “We washing dishes. “No, he said nothing.” will leave the matter here. “Pushpa, do you like “When did he see you?” Well done, children!” pictures?” Hanu asked. “He was plucking The three hoped for a Pushpa looked at him, radishes in the garden. I was reward, but nope, there was perplexed. Vinu waved standing by the rose bushes. no word about that. That is, the picture book and the He must have seen me until they were treated to ice pages of the Letter Book then,”he said. cream in the evening. —Sniggdha Jauhari Dimdima 8 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 HALL OF FAME

Champion of the Downtrodden Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956), better known as Babasaheb Ambedkar, was a redoubtable champion of the Dalits.

BORN on 14 April 1891, Babasaheb, was a boys spend the summer vacation with him. bright, intelligent child, who often got into The boys were excited. They were going to trouble for being naughty. He would gather ride on a train for the first time. They bought the neighbouring children to play cricket, new English-made clothes and shoes for the football or hockey and raise quite a ruckus, journey. Their father promised to send a peon too! to receive them at the station. Babasaheb’s father was an officer in the The boys went by train to Masur, the British army; yet, it did not shield him from station closest to Koregaon. They waited for the humiliating treatment meted out to the an hour but there was no sign of their father lower castes in society. He got his first taste or his peon. Seeing their smart clothes, the of untouchability when he enrolled in a stationmaster initially treated them kindly. government school. He and his brothers had But as soon as he learnt of their low caste, to sit in a different room, avoid contact with his behaviour changed. other children of the higher castes and never After a long wait, the boys decided to hire touch the water tap. They were given water a bullock cart driver. But none was willing by the peon — and, no peon meant no to take them though they offered to pay water. He was only six then. Babsaheb faced double the fare. One agreed on the this kind of injustice even as an adult despite condition they drove the cart themselves and being a brilliant student and a capable the driver walked alongside. That way he lawyer. could avoid the risk of getting ‘polluted’. After his mother died, Babasaheb lived Day turned into night. The boys began with his siblings under his aunt’s care while to suspect treachery. Around ten o'clock, his father worked at Koregaon in Satara. they halted at a toll booth to rest for the Once in 1901, his father suggested that the night. The toll collector refused to let them drink water at his booth. Distressed, the boys barely slept. Hungry, thirsty and tired, the boys finally reached their father's house around noon the next day. The experience left a deep impact on young Babasaheb's mind. It sowed the seeds of a stellar career dedicated to the upliftment of the depressed classes.

❊❊❊ For 26 years, until 1961, child actors were awarded the Juvenile Oscar. Dimdima The trophy was about half the size of the standard Oscar statuette. April 2020 Issue Vol 4 9 Teasers & Puzzles BRAIN POWER

A Quick Think 1. That more you use me, the thinner I become. What am I? 2. What is it that has a neck but no head, two arms but no hands? 3. When do maps become annoying? 4. Who shaves 25 times a day and still has a beard? 5. A lady places a book before the man at the counter. The man tells her to pay 150. The lady pays the money and goes away without taking the book. The man notices this, but does not call her back. Why?

Odd One Out B There is an error in one of the rows below. Which one?

A. KNQ T W Z B. BF J N RV C. AFK P VZ D. 369121518 E. 71115192327 F. 13 18 23 28 33 38 C Spot the Mistake Observe the picture carefully and spot the mistake.

Dimdima 10 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 D Teaser E Fit the Pattern Farmer Faltu ties his bull Kaloo with a Which two pieces will produce pattern no. 5? rope that is 2 metres long so that Kaloo can graze comfortably in the pasture. Yet, in the evening, Faltu’s neighbour complains that Kaloo had entered his field 6 metres away and trampled upon his cabbage patch. How is this possible?

F Keeping Count Tito’s uncle buys ten dozen apples from the market and asks him to count them. While doing so, Tito realises that • when counted in twos, there is one extra apple; • when counted in threes, there are two extra; • when counted in fours, there are three extra; • when counted in fives, there are four extra; • when counted in sixes, there are five extra; • but when counted in sevens, there are no extras. How many apples are there in all?

— Beena Menon Answers on page 45

❊❊❊ Grasshopper mice are unaffected by scorpion venom as their Dimdima April 2020 Issue Vol 4 11 bodies have evolved to make the venom painless. COMICS COMICS

Story: Luis Fernandes Boomslayer The Mist Illustrations: Marina Pereira

Another day, but the How? How? same problem. What to How?!!! Hello, eat and how to get it. there!

Param The same! The last time we met, you tried Boka! to help me overthrow Sheru and take his place as king of Ritarati Forest but things went wrong. now I’ve another plan! You do?

But I’m not Look, if I Which means food of interested. I become king, your choice for Food of my cannot betray you can become breakfast, lunch and Sheru again and choice served deputy king! dinner served to you to me! again. He’s my king, on a platter! you know.

Dimdima 12 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 On a platter…or According to my banana leaves if you spy in the sky, prefer. Snacks, any there’s a mist time of the day…or Food! Snacks! headed this way… night! Anytime of the day!!! What do I have to do! What do I have to do! What do I Mist? have to do!!!

…a thick, red mist! So You’ll locate Sheru, thick you won’t be knock him out and able to see beyond hand him over to your nose! We’ll take my trusted advantage of the lieutenants… mist to kidnap Sheru. And how do we do that?

All brawn no brain! All they know is that they have Boole and to pick up Sheru, take him Foole! to the cliff and heave him into the sea!

What brutes!!!

❊❊❊ For deaf people, the Japanese created a smoke Dimdima alarm that pumps spicy wasabi mist into the air. April 2020 Issue Vol 4 13 COMICS

That’s all very well, This bag but what makes you contains a think I could knock dozen knock- out Sheru? He’s big out fruits! and strong! I’ve come well prepared!

They’re soft and squishy but deadly! Throw one or two at him and the fumes they give out when they burst I’m coming to that. will put him to sleep in a jiffy! When Sheru is And then? knocked out…

…take this glowing We’ll take good stone and keep it near care of him. The him. And then you just glowing stone will walk away. Go home. lead Boole and Your role is over. Foole to the spot. They will pick him up, And what will I must tell take him to the cliff you that happen to and throw him over Sheru? Sheru is a into the sea. very good swimmer.

Dimdima 14 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 By the time he makes his way back to the palace, the mist will have lifted and I will have installed myself on the throne. Ah, here it comes!

Gog-Magog! That mist looks wicked! All sorts of things could happen in it!

Now get to work! …leaving me to do We’ll meet after the dirty work... the mist has lifted. He’s Under the running watchful eyes away… of these two dumbbells!

Something tells me I might have They’re following me made a mistake in agreeing to help like bloodhounds! Boka, but can I back out now? How Let’s see if I can shake I wish Boomslayer was with me! He them off. never knows what to do but he always knows what NOT to do!

❊❊❊ Ravens in captivity can learn to talk better than Dimdima some parrots. April 2020 Issue Vol 4 15 COMICS

Aha! Can’t see them anywhere! I’ve outrun them I’ve outsmarted them! I’ve…

J-Just admiring the bush…heh-heh…nice leaves…nice smell…nice…

(Gasp)…!

Dimdima 16 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 Mist! Can’t see them! Can’t see myself! But got to get away from here!

Some dark shape coming my way… Gog-Magog! Can’t see a thing! I’m It…It’s… lost…completely lost.

...Sheru! Can’t mistake that swagger…it’s him Maybe he all right! You! Who are O-One of has not had you? Speak! your breakfast subjects, and is Y-Your looking Majesty! for a meal!

❊❊❊ Play-Doh, a clay-like children’s toy, was initially sold Dimdima as wallpaper cleaner. April 2020 Issue Vol 4 17 COMICS

A JACKAL WOULD BE JUST RIGHT FOR HIM…I’D BETTER ACT FAST!

WHAM!

WHAMM!!

WHAMMM!!!

HE’S KNOCKED OUT!

DHOP!

I’LL KEEP THIS GLOWING RED …AND MAKE STONE ON MYSELF SCARCE! THIS ROCK HERE…

Dimdima 18 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 THE GLOWING STONE ATTRACTS THE ATTENTION OF YET ANOTHER DENIZEN OF RITARATI FOREST, LOST IN THE MIST - A GLOWING STONE! WHAT’S THAT? IT LOOKS READY TO EXPLODE!

BETTER THROW IT FAR AWAY.

THOD!!!

THE STONE HITS AN UNINTENDED TARGET!

THE BRIGHT GLOW OF THE STONE, NOW LYING ON UNHESITATINGLY, THEY PICK UP THE ANIMAL THE GROUND DRAWS THE ATTENTION OF TWO LYING NEAR THE STONE… SINISTER FIGURES - THERE!

❊ Sweden is so good at recycling that only 1% of its garbage Dimdima ends up in landfill. April 2020 Issue Vol 4 19 COMICS …RUSH TO THE CLIFF… …AND-

THROW!

EH?

THAT SOUNDED LIKE… …THE BOSS! YES, IT’S HIM!

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

MEANWHILE, BOOMSLAYER, WANDERING AROUND, SEARCHING FOR HIS FRIEND, COMES UPON ….

BOSSSS! WE’RE GROWWLLL! COMING!

SHERU!

Dimdima 20 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 WHO’S THERE! AH, SO YOU’RE FRIEND OR MY COUSIN ONE OF US! I FOE? MEGATOOTH HAVE TO BE F-F-FRIEND, SERVES AT YOUR CAREFUL YOU YOUR COURT! KNOW… MIGHTINESS!

MY ENEMIES ARE YES, SOME SMELLY STALKING ME IN FELLOW…THERE HE THIS DARNED FOG! IS! HE’S STILL ONE OF THEM EVEN STALKING ME!!! THREW ROTTEN FRUITS AT ME!

ROTTEN FRUITS! BIGGIE! I…I…I…

OF COURSE I CAN! I’M HE’S A FRIEND TOO, LORD OF THE SKIES! YES, YOUR MIGHTINESS! I CAN COMMAND THIS HE’S SEARCHING MIST TO DISAPPEAR FOR YOU TO TELL AND I WILL DO IT!!! YOU THAT ONLY YOU CAN GET RID OF THIS MIST! I!

❊ At the summit of Mt. Everest , water boils at 68°C instead of Dimdima 100°C. April 2020 Issue Vol 4 21 COMICS

GRANDPA SAID THIS MIST WILL LAST ABOUT TWO HOURS. GO, MIST, GO! ITS TIME IS UP GOOD I COMMAND AND IT’S THINNING THINKING, YOU TO GO!!! ALREADY! BOOM!

IT’S COME TO THE PALACE BOTH GONE!!! OF YOU AND LET’S IT WORKED, CELEBRATE MY ROYAL POWER YOUR OVER MIST AND FOG!!! MAJESTY! THE MIST IS THINNING!

IT’S GOING…GOING…

AH! FOOD SERVED ON BANANA LEAVES! HIS PROMISE CAME TRUE IN A WAY! WHOSE HURRRAH!!! PROMISE?

THE KING’S! LONG LIVE SHERU!

Dimdima 22 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 ANNIVERSARY

SEVEN Class 3 students illustrations. They also jotted Rafael, Mikhail, Aryan, down the things to follow: Ruhaan, Issabel, Ahana ◆ Walk to school if you and Aarna from Bombay live close to it. Scottish School in ◆ Don’t burst Mahim, Mumbai, have firecrackers. started a group called ◆ Don’t smoke, and the Eco Savers Inc. to request people protect our Earth. around you also not The idea to start the to smoke. group was conceived by ◆ Recycle things. For Rafael Lobo, who dreamt example, convert a used one night that glaciers were plastic can or container melting and causing Earth into a craft item. to become very hot. “When Earth Day is observed to ◆ Switch off lights/gadgets I woke up, I told Mummy draw attention to the after use. ◆ about the dream and asked damage that human Don’t waste water. her if it was true. And, she ◆ activities are causing our Put trash only inside the said, ‘Yes’.” planet. The first wakeup trash bin. Her reply deeply Miss Shah, their class call was given fifty years disturbed Rafael, who told teacher, was so impressed ago on 22 April. Since his twin, Mikhail, about it. with the Eco Savers’ charts then, countries around the The two of them discussed and agenda that she told the matter with their world have been trying to them to stage a play which classmate Aryan, and create awareness to she said she would record decided that it was their protect the planet. and show the entire school duty to save Earth. They on Earth Day. were joined by four other So they prepared charts “Through the play, we classmates. The first thing depicting the grave situation will show how our on their agenda was to Earth was facing. Each one thoughtless actions are make all their classmates came out with ideas, which polluting Earth,” said aware of how Earth was Mikhail, the group’s artist, Mikhail, who will be getting damaged. brought to life through directing the play.

(from left to right) Aarna, Mikhail, Issabel, Rafael, Aryan, Ruhaan and Ahana (at the back).

❊ Humans are the only animals that blush. Dimdima April 2020 Issue Vol 4 23 NATURE WATCH

ne cool and misty winter morning, Birds by Sálim Ali, and identified it as a male when I was walking along my Grey Wagtail. Ofavourite path around a pond in my The next morning, I rushed to the same neighbourhood, I saw what looked like spot. To my delight, the wagtail was there, small white specks bobbing up and down not sitting on the log this time but busily at the water’s edge. I went closer and found darting about at the water’s edge, picking it was a little bird with a long tail, which it at the soggy ground with its pointed beak. was wagging up and down vigorously! It was It would make short, low flights to the perched on a log that had fallen into the bushes around with a high-pitched chi- pond. The blurred specks I had seen through chip..chi-chip..chi-chip call, but would the mist were the white feathers on either invariably return soon to its special place on side of its tail. the log. It didn’t seem to mind my presence Not wanting to disturb it, I stood very still and would often spring up in the air to snap to get a better look. Just a little bigger than up a tiny flying insect. a sparrow, the bird was sleek and slim with This became a daily routine for a smart coat of grey feathers on its back and me—to stop by the pond and look for the over its head, while the belly was a wagtail and he was always there throughout contrasting yellow. The tail, which was as the winter. Sometime in March, as soon as long as its body, was also grey, edged with the weather turned warm, I couldn’t find him white on either side. This was the first time I anywhere! I even sat by the pond and waited had noticed this little bird. I watched it for a in the hope that he would suddenly emerge, while and keeping a mental picture till I but in vain. The bird had disappeared as returned home, looked up my Book of Indian mysteriously as it had come! I couldn’t help feeling a sense of loss—as though a friend had gone away. Where had he come from? Where had he gone? These questions filled my mind as the months went by and the seasons changed from summer to monsoons and to the dryer, cooler climate at the end of the year. By then, I had stopped looking for the little bird. While walking past the pond one chilly morning, I heard a familiar chi- chip..chi-chip..chi-chip! My joy knew

Dimdima 24 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 no bounds when I saw the little Grey Wagtail sitting on the path just ahead of me. As I went nearer, he took off, but flew close to the ground for a couple of metres and again sat on the ground wagging his tail. Once more as I walked ahead, he repeated the low flight and landed on the path ahead, and repeated this a few times, almost as if he was playing a game with me, till he decided to fly away into the bushes with a graceful undulating flight. Winter was just setting in and for the next few months I enjoyed the company of my playful feathered friend till again when the weather changed, and he left without any as Sri Lanka and the Maldives. This journey, warning like he had in the previous year. covering hundreds of kilometres, over hills, Grey Wagtails are migratory birds that forests, fields and even towns and villages, come all the way from the Himalayan is an amazing achievement, which these tiny mountain regions of Ladakh, Kashmir and birds undertake twice in a year — once in Kulu in India, or our neighbouring countries autumn to escape the freezing winter season Nepal and Pakistan, to spend the winter and again in spring to go back to their home months on the plains. In summertime, the in the Himalayas. They are known to return weather is cool in the mountains and perfect to the same winter spot every year, but no for these birds to breed and bring up their one knows why they choose a particular chicks. They build a simple nest with grass place or how they find their way! and fibres like wool or hair on the ground My little wagtail friend visited me for or hidden between rocks and the females three winters in a row and I was delighted lay small, grey-coloured eggs. that my neighbourhood pond was his Both the parents look after the chicks, favourite spot. I was filled with wonder that feeding them high-protein insect food till they though he had travelled such a long distance are strong enough to fly. he was not exhausted, but looked bright Once the harsh Himalayan winter sets in and cheery. How I wish I could have with snow, frost and cold winds, the adult followed him to his summer home in the Grey Wagtails, along with the young ones, mountains! fly down to lower altitudes, even to the — Tara Gandhi coasts where it is warmer, some going as far (Author and wildlife conservationist)

Dimdima April 2020 Issue Vol 4 25 QUEST

Climate change, air pollution, shrinking spaces and overcrowding may one day force humans to burrow underground like moles!

From the time of the Neanderthals around 1,00,000 years ago, human beings have lived in caves. A cave is a hollow area in the earth that has formed naturally. It may consist of a single chamber that is not very far from the surface, or a network of passages and chambers that may descend deep under the ground and run for many miles.

Troglodyte Tales A human cave-dweller is called a troglodyte. Are there any modern-day troglodytes? Yes, and they are found in a number of countries, ranging from Tunisia, Iran and China to Italy and Turkey! In Tunisia’s Matmata, located in the arid Djebel Dahar region, the Berbers have lived in underground homes for centuries. The houses protect them from the extreme desert cold and heat, remaining cool in summer and cosy in winter. They are built by digging a deep circular pit in the soft sandstone. Then cave-like rooms are excavated around the edges of the pit. The main pit is a courtyard open to the sky. In the 1960s, unexpectedly heavy downpours flooded the area, destroying or damaging the underground dwellings. The Tunisian

government encouraged the Berbers to settle in towns and cities. The houses became a tourist attraction after one of them featured as Luke Skywalker’s home in a Star Wars film. Today, only a handful of families who are reluctant to move away from their land and homes, remain in Matmata.

Dimdima 26 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 Wherever people have constructed cave dwellings, whether it is Matmata, Iran’s Kandovan, Turkey’s Cappadocia, or Italy’s Matera, the landscape has lent itself to easy digging and excavation. Kandovan and Cappadocia both have caves hollowed out of volcanic ash and debris, while in Matera, it is pliable limestone. In China’s Shanxi province, the cave houses are built from loess, fine Would humans adapt so well if they had particles of soil. to live entirely under the earth 24/7? The biggest lack underground is sunlight. Opal City Sunlight is necessary for growing food crops In Coober Pedy, an Australian and stimulating the production of Vitamin opal mining town, the residents D in the human body. Vitamin D is essential went underground to escape the to maintain bone health. dust storms and searing summer Another danger is Seasonal Affective heat (47°C). They cut into the Disorder or SAD which affects people in sandstone mounds to make their winter when the days are long and dark. ‘dugouts’. After tunnelling out When isolated in caves without light, the rooms, lacquer was applied humans have been observed to sleep for to the walls and concrete floors 48 hours at a stretch! Artificial lights to laid. All modern dugouts have regulate Circadian rhythms would be wall-to-wall carpeting, needed. furnishings, running water and Most humans have a natural fear of electricity. being buried alive in confined underground Underground, the spaces. So, going underground is physically temperature remains constant all possible and an ecologically sound idea, but year round at 24°C (controlled by it may cause psychological stress. air ventilation shafts). Except for the dim light, the faint echoes Did You Know? and the mild smell of salt from ◆ the earth, life is not much An earth shelter or berm home is a house with different from that above earth (soil) packed against the walls or on the ground. The only drawback is the roof or entirely buried underground. The packed dust! earth maintains a steady indoor air temperature and reduces energy costs. Earth sheltering Mole People became popular in the 1970s, especially among Of course, in all these places, environmentalists. ◆ living underground is tolerable In several metro cities, such as Beijing, Las Vegas not only because electricity and and New York, homeless people live out their water are available, but also lives in abandoned air-raid shelters, basements, because the inhabitants know sewer pipes and subway tunnels. they can come to the surface if they crave sunshine and fresh air! —Jayanthi Mahalingam Dimdima April 2020 Issue Vol 4 27 COMICS

HE RUNS NO RISK... A WAITER’S LIFE GETS LOTS TO EAT... IS SO EASY AND AND PROBABLY MAKES SECURE. MORE MONEY THAN I DO, IN TIPS.

Story: Luis Fernandes Illustrations: Marina Pereira

PARVATI ONCE TOLD ME SHE KNOWS A YOU REMEMBER I TOLD WOMAN WHOSE HUSBAND YOU I KNEW A WOMAN WAS A WAITER. I WONDER WHOSE HUSBAND WAS A IF HE COULD GET ME A WAITER? JOB IN A RESTAURANT LIKE THIS. YES!

I WOULD LIKE TO YOU WOULD? SHE IS HOPING YOU MEET HER! WELL, SHE IS COULD HELP HER IN THE HALL. HUSBAND GET A JOB IN THE SECRET SERVICE.

Dimdima 28 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 MOVIE WATCH

Pawfect Entertainment the book contains a series of clues that reveal the location of a secret treasure. Watch the film to find out how Paddington and his family ultimately win the day. Directed by Paul King, Paddington 2 is a feel-good film with a message. It features sterling performances, good music and adorable characters, particularly the bear Paddington. The film is an animation hybrid i.e. it weaves the CGI bear into live-action settings. It was nominated for three BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards, including Outstanding Film of the Year. BASED on the stories of the character —Shweta Mittal Paddington Bear, created by Michael Bond, Paddington 2 (2017) is the super successful sequel to the 2014 film Paddington. It narrates the story of a bear called Paddington who is happily settled with the Brown family in Windsor Gardens. He spreads happiness and marmalade wherever he goes and is much loved by the local community. While looking for a suitable gift for his Aunt Lucy's 100th birthday, he comes across an interesting pop-up book featuring London in Samuel Gruber's antique shop. He picks up a series of odd jobs and saves money to buy the book but unfortunately, it gets stolen. He gives chase but the thief escapes. Worse, as there is no evidence that the thief even existed, Paddington is blamed for the theft and imprisoned. The Browns, who try to clear Paddington's —Sadbhawana Tiwari, Std-8, name, discover who stole the book and why: Bhavan’s Prism School, Mankahari, Satna.

❊❊❊ Viking men wore make-up. Dimdima April 2020 Issue Vol 4 29 OPEN HOUSE A new tutor? My heart beat fast. I hoped he wouldn’t be too hard on me. In the The Math TTThe utorutorutor evening, when my tutor arrived, instead of n my childhood, I was very poor at math! being depressed, I felt somewhat relieved. Whenever I was asked to solve a sum, I For, the man stooped, looked nervous and Ifelt dizzy. The math class was almost like was thin and pale. He had a thick unkempt a concentration camp for me. Up to class 6, beard and wore soiled clothes and spectacles my marks never exceeded the single digit, with thick lenses. He carried a long umbrella five. in one hand and a torn bag stuffed with That’s when my parents arranged for a papers on his shoulder. tutor who was famous for his extraordinary He patted me affectionately on my method of dealing with donkey-brained kids shoulder. “Are you very poor at math?” he and transforming them into exceptionally asked. I nodded. good students. The tutor had a bushy “Very frightened of that subject, aren’t moustache and fiery eyes. An unbreakable you?” he spoke again after a moment, and cane adorned his brawny hands. When he added softly, “I too am but don’t tell anyone, used to reprimand, his rumbling voice please.” sounded like thunder. For two hours, four I was dumbfounded. days a week, he would mash me up in his “I need this job. If I lose it, I won’t be able pounder with his cudgel of sums without to have even one square meal a day,” he caring to explain or find out whether I had said. “I don’t have a good knowledge of understood them. math. In fact, I’m even afraid of hard and tricky sums. You are my only hope.” “I…I…how…ho-hope...?” I stammered, panic-stricken. He held one of my hands tightly and said, “I may get confused while solving the sums. Please help me then. You are young and innovative and can surely come up with unique ideas. Please don’t tell anyone else about this… or I will be in great trouble.” His face looked shrunk and his voice, sad. My heart filled with compassion for the man and then all of a sudden, I felt courage and self-confidence surge through me. I wanted to help him even if I had to work hard and try to solve the sums on my own. I told myself that I would think hard, understand the logic behind the sums and master the examples. When I secured zero marks in the half- I had to score good marks in the exam, as yearly examination, my grandfather only then would his job be safe. dismissed my ruthless tutor and arranged for Suddenly my fear of math vanished. I another tutor. began to work hard, day and night. Chapter “He is good at mathematics, but is by chapter, I read all the examples, extremely poor. Hopefully, this man can put comprehended them and solved the sums. some sense into him,” he said to my father, Whenever I found the sums complicated, I pointing at me. would persist for hours together until I was

Dimdima 30 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 when you see my marks in the annual exam, sir!” I replied, tongue in cheek. When I returned home and told my tutor about it, he said disapprovingly, “You must not exaggerate like that. Suppose you forget all the things like before?” I looked at him and said calmly, “How can I forget? I have the picture of all the sums in my mind. I have to succeed for you, if not for anyone else!” For the first time, I saw his timid eyes shine. Whether it was with tears of melancholy or excitement, I couldn’t say then. The day the results came out, my able to solve them. I had only one aim in my schoolteachers were speechless. The boy mind and that was to save my tutor. who had never scored marks with two digits, Within three weeks, I realised that I had was promoted from Class 6 to Class 7 with mastered all the chapters. Just by reading a marks that had three digits. Hundred out of difficult sum, I could understand its solution. hundred! I was finally able to experience the happiness I now realize that all this was possible and the excitement of solving a tough sum. only because of my math tutor. He had Gradually, the student-tutor role got ignited my talent through his extraordinary interchanged. ways, and changed my life forever. “You have solved it already?” he would say, smiling. “Can you explain how?” Then, —Neel Datta as if I was the teacher, I would explain the sum to him. “Oh, so this is it!” he would remark, and then to brush aside his embarrassment at not being able to solve it, he would point to a difficult sum, and say, “This won’t be that easy!” However, I would then tighten my chin, strain my eyebrows and exercise my brain until I found out the answer. My tutor’s face would brighten up with a smile at my success. “You do have a wonderful brain! Looks like my tuition will continue,” he would say. By then I had developed immense self- confidence. “I won’t fail you, sir,” I promised. My school teachers were also astonished. I was now the first to solve a sum. One day, my Math teacher, Abhinash Sir, said to me, “With what magic did your blockhead brain become such a genius? I can’t believe it!!” “You will find it even more unbelievable

❊❊❊ The 100 folds in a chef’s hat represent 100 ways to Dimdima cook an egg. April 2020 Issue Vol 4 31 FIRST & FOREMOST

THE cheetah is the swiftest mammal in the world, capable of bursts of speed of around 110 kilometres an hour, for a few hundred metres. The animal gets its name from the Sanskrit word citrika, ‘spotted one’. Once found all over India, Pakistan, Central and West Asia, the Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus), now survives in only a few areas in Iran. Hunting cheetahs was began shooting them down from howdahs perched on a royal sport in India, with the backs of elephants, the cheetah was pushed to the maharajas going on brink of extinction. The finishing touch was given in 1947 periodic hunts to display by Maharaja Ramanuj Pratap Singh Deo of Koriya, now in their valour and prowess in Chhattisgarh, when he shot what was thought to be the shooting. Cheetahs are last three Asiatic cheetahs left in the country. Though a easily tamed and that lone female cheetah was spotted in the forests of proved their downfall Chattisgarh in 1951 and sporadic sightings continued during the heyday of the right up to 1975, the cheetah was declared extinct in India Mughals. The Mughal in 1951–52. emperors used trained The African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), slightly larger cheetahs to chase and and darker than its Asiatic cousin is found in around bring down fleet-footed 25 countries in Africa. animals like gazelles There are only slight genetic differences between the (chinkara) and antelopes Asiatic and the African cheetahs, so now there is a (blackbuck), so cheetahs proposal to bring a few cheetahs from Africa and release were trapped in large them into carefully selected environments in India. numbers for Some say we should try to bring Asiatic cheetahs from domestication. Emperor Iran instead of African cheetahs which would be a foreign Akbar described the species but Iran is loath to part with any of its cheetahs — cheetah as ‘one of God’s experts say there are less than 50 left in that country. wonders’. Later, during the The Iranian national football team players proudly British Raj when Europeans flaunt a cheetah design on their jerseys.

Dimdima 32 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 POETRY NOOK By the Riverside NaturNaturNature WWe alkalkalk By the riverside, sitting on the shore, Oh how pleasant it is! With birds chirping and the river gurgling, the wind swaying. Tell me there is more!

By the riverside, I feel like a flying bird, when the wind passes by and slaps my lifted arms. My heart feels light, just like a feather. Beautiful is the weather!

By the riverside, Let's go out for a nature walk as Dad and Mom, To admire the world of woods lifted me up, And make animals talk I felt I touched the sky! To me and you and everyone. To see the river every morn how I wished there was, I hear an echo, a strange echo A little house beside! I start turning yellow Rishonah Terese Jose, Std. 4-A, Oh! It’s just peacocks dancing Bhavan’s Vidya Mandir, Girinagar, Kochi. And lions pouncing.

I love the birds' chirping And songbirds' singing BooksBooksBooks I forget all my pain Books tell us stories Wherever we are In the freshness of rain. Fiction and non-fiction We can take them with us Keeping our minds free For they engage us every hour The yellow hot sun blazing from worries Without any fuss. And the sky hazing They can be an addiction. The green smell of grass From sports to science Forget my Maths class. They are our reliance Giving us knowledge Walking through the woods, Even after we finish college. What do you feel? It's happiness, bliss and joy, It's happiness, bliss and joy! —Ananya Shyam, Std. 8-A, —Ayush Kumar, Std. 8-A, Bhavan’s Vidya Mandir, Bhavan's N.S.C.B. Vidyaniketan, Wayanad. Haldia.

❊❊❊ The longest wedding veil, worn by a Cyprus Dimdima woman, was longer than 63 football fields. April 2020 Issue Vol 4 33 STORY

something small and bright grew into a verdant plant fall from the sky. He reached with many vines and leaves out with his right hand and that hung down from the caught it. When he opened pot’s sides. Vijay had to hang his palm, he found a shiny the pot on his largest golden seed. “A gift from window. Surya!” he thought. “I must One morning, Vijay was go home and plant it in the delighted to discover a best soil.” bright yellow blossom on his IJAY was a cobbler. He So Vijay hurried home, beloved plant. In a few days, lived a simple life, found a large pot, filled it the flower turned into a Vmaking sandals and with soil, and planted his golden oblong fruit, almost selling them for a living. precious golden seed. Soon the size of a cobblestone. Vijay was a sun worshipper. the seed sprouted and Vijay was excited. But after Every morning at sunrise, started to grow. As Vijay several more days of after a dip in a nearby carefully tended his watching and waiting, the stream, he would stand in seedling, watering it every fruit didn’t get any bigger. the middle of the stream and day, making sure it got Vijay was worried. “I gaze at the sun, offering his plenty of sunshine and must get some fertilizer from worship. plucking out the weeds that the farmer in exchange for One morning he stood in popped up, he grew to love my sandals,” he thought. the middle of the stream with it very much. The seedling Just then he heard a knock hands outstretched to receive the sun god’s blessings. Vijay saw

Dimdima 34 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 on his door. When he the surplus to satisfy the Surya, forgive me for being opened it, he saw a bearded hunger and thirst of those overprotective and sadhu standing at the door. who pass by. For you see, possessive of your gift, which “Good afternoon,” said Vijay, the melon plant is not I now realize I must let go of the sadhu. “I understand you Surya’s gift to you; it is his gift and share with others. I trust are the local cobbler. I have to everyone.” you will take care of it.” travelled all the way from “But what if birds eat the As Vijay finished praying, Allahabad, wearing out my fruit? It’s so small and the sun seemed to brighten sandals in the process. Now, vulnerable. What if some in response. Then it went I must return to attend the hungry person steals it? behind some dark clouds. Kumbh Mela. Could you What if...” Before long, a gentle rain please sell me a pair of “Who can know the fell, quenching the dry sandals?” future?” interrupted the ground with water and Vijay said, “I have only sadhu. “One thing is for helping the melon plant to one pair of sandals left and I certain, though. If you don’t recover from the shock of need to exchange them for give the melon plant room transplanting. fertilizer.” to grow in the open air and Just as the sadhu had “May I ask why you need sunshine, in the great predicted, the melon plant the fertilizer?” inquired the bosom of Mother Earth, it flourished and covered sadhu. will become stunted and Vijay’s entire lawn, bearing Vijay pointed to the wither away.” dozens of large melons, hanging plant and said, “My The sadhu put his hands whose reputation for precious plant, a gift from on Vijay’s shoulders, and sweetness spread so far and Surya himself, has produced looking deeply into his eyes, wide that many people came a fruit, but it isn’t growing he said, “Have trust in Surya. to buy them. And every any more. So it must need He will protect the melon morning, Vijay gazed at the fertilizer.” plant and give it all that it sun, and thanked Surya for The sadhu walked over needs to grow and bear fruit.” his bounty and protection. to the plant and examined With a deep sigh, Vijay — Wayne H. Purdin it. Then he said, “Your melon handed the sandals to the plant does not need sadhu, folded his hands fertilizer; it needs to be set and bowed. The sadhu free from the narrow confines bowed in return and left. of the pot. Plant it in your Vijay took the melon yard and it will spread out in plant outside without all directions hesitating, lest he changed and bear his mind. Digging a hole in many golden the middle of his lawn, he fruits, more carefully lowered his than you beloved melon plant into it. could eat, and As he did so, he gazed up at you could sell the sun and prayed, “O

Dimdima April Dimdima2020 Issue Vol 4 3535 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 COMICS DA JANG, A CARPENTER AND PELZANG, A PAINTER, WORKED IN THE ROYAL PALACE. THE TWO WERE BITTER ENEMIES.– The WiseWiseThe LIFE WOULD BE SO WONDERFUL IF I COULD GET CarpenterCarpenterCarpenter RID OF DA JANG ONCE AND – Adapted from a FOR ALL!. Tibetan folk tale Script: Meera Nair Illustration: Sonali Shah

ONE DAY-– YOUR MAJESTY, LAST NIGHT I HAD A STRANGE YOUR MAJESTY, YOUR FATHER LIVES DREAM….EXPERIENCE, RATHER. YOUR LIKE A KING UP THERE. HE has ASKED FATHER SENT AN ANGEL DOWN TO EARTH ME TO GIVE YOU THIS LETTER. TO TAKE ME TO HEAVEN TO MEET HIM!

A LETTER?

MY SON, THIS SOUNDS I’M IN HEAVEN AND very LIKE FATHER! HAPPY. I HAVE EVERYTHING I HE WAS ALWAYS NEED. I WANT TO BUILD A BUILDING GRAND TEMPLE HERE FOR THE TEMPLES WHEN GODS BUT THERE ARE NO GOOD HE WAS ALIVE. CARPENTERS UP HERE. SO I WANT YOU TO SEND ME YOUR BEST CARPENTER. YOUR FATHER, KING GENCHOG

THE KING SENT FOR DA JANG. DA JANG FOUND THE REQUEST RATHER STRANGE.– MY FATHER IN HEAVEN WANTS IN HEAVEN? BUT YOU TO GO UP THERE AND YOUR MAJESTY, BUILD HIM A TEMPLE. HOW CAN I GO TO HEAVEN?

Dimdima 36 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 YOUR MAJESTY, YOUR THEN WOOD SHOULD BE SO BE IT. BUT can FATHER wants THE CARPENTER kept AROUND HIM AND I TAKE OFF FROM to PILE HIS TOOLS here on so PELZANG’S SET ON FIRE so that THE THE FIELD OUTSIDE the ground AND SIT ON SMOKE’ll take him to MY HOUSE? BEHIND THIS! TOP OF them. i should have heaven. guessed!

okay. GET READY Later- TO LEAVE IN YES, YOUR PELZANG’S SCHEMING SEVEN DAYS. MAJESTY. TO KILL ME. I HAVE ONLY SEVEN DAYS LEFT. I HAVE TO THINK FAST!

YES! I KNOW WHAT TO DO! and- TOGETHER WE’LL BUILD A TUNNEL FROM OUR HOUSE TO THE FIELD OUTSIDE..

THE FOLLOWING DAY —

now i’ll fill the opening with sticks and pile my tools over them so that no one will see it!

❊❊❊ The speed of a computer mouse is measured in Dimdima April 2020 Issue Vol 4 37 ‘mickeys’. COMICS DA JANG sat ON THE PILE OF TOOLS — DA JANG WAITED UNTIL THE FLAMES BEGAN TO LEAP AND THEN —

STACK THE WOOD AROUND HIM AND SET IT ON FIRE!

PLAN ONE, SUCCESSFUL! NOT A SOUL KNOWS OR WILL KNOW THAT I’M HERE!

LOOK! THERE HE GOES RIDING ON THE SMOKE! MEANWHILE HIS WIFE THE NEXT MORNING — STITCHED HIM A ROBE LIKE SHE HAD SEEN THE GODS WEAR IN paintings. – THREE MONTHS without SUNSHINE HAS MADE YOUR WHERE? THERE! THANKS. NOW FACE SO PALE… ALMOST THERE, I THINK IT’S WHITE! EVERYONE WILL IT’S READY! TIME BELIEVE THAT TRY IT ON, FOR ME TO YOU HAVE RETURNED DEAR. EXECUTE PLAN FROM HEAVEN. TWO.

WHEN HE REACHED THE PALACE —– DA JANG DESCRIBED HIS STAY IN HEAVEN–— YOU’VE RETURNED! HOW’S MY FATHER AND, YOUR KEEPING? DID YOU MAJESTY, HERE’S BUILD THE TEMPLE? TELL A LETTER FROM ME EVERYTHING! YOUR FATHER.

Dimdima 38 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 MY DEAR SON, MY FATHER SAYS I’M HAPPY TO HEAR THAT YOU ARE A GOOD KING AND YOU HAVE BUILT A FINE THAT YOUR SUBJECTS LOVE AND RESPECT YOU. THREE TEMPLE FOR HIM! MONTHS AGO, YOU’D SENT A CARPENTER UP HERE. HE HAS BUILT A MARVELLOUS TEMPLE AND I WANT YOU TO YES! ALL IT GIVE HIM A HANDSOME REWARD WHEN YOU MEET HIM. NEEDS NOW IS AND NOW, I WANT YOU TO SEND THE BEST PAINTER UP A COAT OF HERE TO PAINT THE TEMPLE. SEND HIM UP THE SAME PAINT! WAY YOU’D SENT THE CARPENTER. YOUR FATHER, KING GENCHOG

GIVE DA JANG A SACK OF GOLD COINS ! DA JANG HAS RETURNED FROM HEAVEN AFTER BUILDING THE YOUR MAJESTY, TEMPLE. NOW MY FATHER WANTS YOU ARE VERY YOU TO GO THERE AND PAINT KIND! IT FOR HIM.

I THOUGHT HE had HIS SKIN LOOKS SO PALE…. AND perished in the fire! HE’S WEARING SOME STRANGE ROBE! IS IT POSSIBLE THAT HE’S RETURNED FROM HEAVEN, THEN?.

LEAVE IN YES, YOUR ON THE SEVENTH DAY–— SEVEN DAYS! MAJESTY!

❊❊❊ Pumpkins, squash and gourds belong to the same family. Dimdima April 2020 Issue Vol 4 39 COMICS YOUR MAJESTY, LET’S THERE WAS A DEAFENING SEND HIM OFF WITH SOUND FROM DRUMS, SOME MUSIC! CYMBALS and HORNS AS THE FIRE WAS LIT.–

as the flames increased — – BUT THE MUSIC WAS SO LOUD THAT NO ONE HEARD PELZANG SCREAM - HELP! HELP!

SOMEHOW PELZANG MANAGED ...and TO GET OUT OF THE FIRE – SO YOU THOUGHT YOU YES, THE SAME WAY COULD FOOL ME! YOU TRIED TO TRICK ME!

THE KING WAS ANGRY WHEN HE HEARD ABOUT THE FARCE — LEAVE THE KINGDOM AND DON’T EVER LET ME SEE YOUR FACE AGAIN!

as for da jang, He and his wife lived the rest of their lives in comfort with the gold the king had given him.

Dimdima 40 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 CURIOSITY

One of the craftiest thieves in American history targeted an unlikely place — the library!

IN December 1981, Diana Melnychuk, a College, Ohio, but had jumped bail. librarian in Muhlenber College, Now in Pennsylvania, FBI agents and Pennsylvania, noticed a middle-aged grey- police discovered 26 stolen books in Shinn’s haired man pottering about near the motel room. There were jars of shoe polish shelves. He was over six feet tall, big-built he used to mask the library markings on the and carelessly dressed. He looked like a book spines. They also found a folder professor. Melnychuk suddenly recalled containing fake title pages, stolen licence that she had seen his picture. The plates, false IDs, and guides on how to crack nondescript man was James Shinn, a safes and disable alarms. master book thief who targeted world-class Shinn had a long record of robberies of libraries. Libraries were on the alert because antiques, jewellery, rare stamps and books. Shinn had been arrested eight months He had built contacts with legitimate book earlier for stealing 63 books from Oberlin dealers under various false names. His modus operandi was to make a wish list of valuable books and find out the libraries that stocked them. He studied library security techniques and developed tools and tricks to override them. Over the years, Shinn had stolen hundreds of books from universities all over the US, including UCLA, Princeton, Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon and Johns Hopkins. Their total value was estimated at over a million dollars. Shinn was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1982. He inspired the Oberlin College library director to launch a 25-year-long intensive campaign for library security. There is even a bathroom called The Shinn Room in Oberlin where Shinn had locked himself and tried to flush away a device he had used to scan books.

❊❊❊ For years, the Ford Model T car was available only in black, Dimdima as this paint dried the fastest. April 2020 Issue Vol 4 41 FACT-O-METER

If you get to bite into the costliest, oldest, smelliest, most dangerous or most unusual food, the dining experience becomes all the more thrilling!

The world’s most expensive spice is saffron. It takes at least 1,00,000 saffron flowers to produce 1 kg of the spice as only the stigmata of the flower is used. Iran produces Century eggs, a Chinese dish, 94% of the world’s is made by preserving raw duck saffron. eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime and rice husk for months till the yolk turns green and the white, a transparent brown jelly. The eggs are then peeled and relished!

The durian, a Southeast Asian fruit, is the world’s stinkiest The flesh of the puffer fruit — it has the stench fish, the second-most poisonous of dirty socks that can be smelled vertebrate on Earth, is a delicacy in from yards away. Little wonder it is Japan! Though it is prepared only banned from public transportation, by the most thoroughly trained hotels and planes in some chefs, approximately five people Asian countries. a year die while eating it.

One of the oldest The white food items is bog butter i.e. truffle is the most butter that was buried expensive mushroom, fetching in the peat bogs up to US$3,000 per kilo. It of Ireland long ago. grows only in the wild, about a Bog butter as old as foot underground, in northern 3,500 years is still Italy. Dogs are specially trained edible! to sniff out white truffles.

Dimdima 42 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 TURNING POINT TheThe StarStar StrokerStroker INDIA’S star opener, Smriti Mandhana was named the best female cricketer of the year in December 2018 by the International Cricket Conference (ICC). Smriti, who bats left-handed, was born in Mumbai on 18 July 1996. When still a toddler, she moved to Sangli with her family where her father was a distributor of textile chemicals. Her father was a good club level cricketer and her elder brother, Shravan she had an important decision to make: whether to take played for Maharashtra’s up science as a discipline in college or to concentrate on Under-16 side in the national cricket as a career. Her mother convinced her to take up championships. commerce, which would allow her more time to devote Smriti, when she was just to her game. That decision, the attractive young player nine, would accompany her believes, was the turning point in her life. Later that season, brother to his practice in the Under-19 inter-state one-day competition, Smriti sessions. There, her father scored three hundreds and a double century. A few more would lob balls at her to hit big scores in the Challenger Trophy and she was soon in order to keep her being talked about as the next big thing in women’s cricket. occupied. He was amazed at Smriti made her one-day international (ODI) and T20 her skill and the power in her debuts in 2013, when she was only 17. She has now shots, and therefore took her amassed more than 2,000 runs in ODIs and is also closing to a junior state coach for in on that mark in T20 internationals. She also led India in training. Two years later, she a T20 series. Smriti has represented Brisbane Heat and was picked for the Hobart Hurricanes in the Women’s Big Bash League in Maharashtra Under-19 Australia and has played for Western Storm in the English squad but had to spend a T20 league. couple of years on the A fluent stroke player and astute cricketer, she is said to reserves bench. be a mischief-maker and prankster off the field. When Smriti turned 15, —Austin Coutinho

Dimdima ❊❊❊ Fear of the number 13 is called triskaidekaphobia. April 2020 Issue Vol 4 43 INDIA FILE

perhaps be the oldest signboard in the world. More information on the city of lakes, as it must have been in its heyday, is available at the AT the northwest corner of quadrangular middle town, well-maintained museum Khadir, an isolated island and at the ground level is the at the entrance of in the Great Rann of Kutch lower town which housed the Dholavira. in Gujarat, is the village of markets and the workers’ Displayed inside the Dholavira. It rose to houses. museum are terracotta importance in the 1960s The city had an amazing pottery, beads, gold and when archaeologists water management and copper ornaments, fish excavated the ruins of the conservation system. Nine hooks, animal figurines, second largest Harappan reservoirs at various places tools, urns and vessels, all of site in India, inhabited once stored fresh water which go to show that the over a period of 1,200 diverted from two seasonal city was a busy trading port. years, from 3000 BCE streams, Manhar and The most fascinating through 1800 BCE. Mansar. There are also the artefacts, however, are the Locally known as Kotada ruins of a 5000-year-old seals that were fastened on or the ‘large fort’, the hilly stepwell that was built to cargo to identify their site spans an area of 100 harvest rainwater—73.4m source and to prevent hectares. It contains the long, 29.3m wide and 10m tampering and the remnants of a well-planned deep, it is three times the remarkably uniform and Harappan city, constructed size of the Great Bath at accurate weights that the in the shape of a Mohenjo Daro. Harappans developed in parallelogram, with houses In 2014, archaeologists three series — one to mostly made of stone and dug out a signboard at the weigh light articles, sun-dried mud bricks. Right northern gateway of the second to weigh heavy at the top, is the citadel, city that contains ten large objects and the third to where the rulers and high size signs inscribed in the weigh precious metals and officials lived. Below it is the Harappan script. This could gems.

Dimdima 44 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 Share your experiences with us. IT HAPPENED TO ME Send it to [email protected]. If it is published, you can A Strange Experience win a surprise gift! ONCE I was on holiday in Ireland with my mum and dad. We were driving through a small village. It was time for lunch, so we stopped at a restaurant. It was a large, old building. When we looked through the window, we saw many people, eating, drinking and chatting. A musician was playing the violin. But there was something strange about them. They weren't wearing normal, modern clothes. They were wearing hats, jackets and dresses from another century. We couldn't understand it. But we were musician — the music was on CD. It was a hungry, so we opened the door and went in. very strange experience! When we went into the restaurant, —Abhik Samanta, Std. 10-A, everything was different. The people were Bhavan's Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose wearing regular clothes. There was no Vidyaniketan, Haldia.

Answers to Teasers & Puzzles A. 1. A soap. 2. A shirt. 3. When they become spam. 4. A barber. 5. The lady is at the library, paying a fine for returning a book late. B. Row C. All the rows follow a pattern. Example: In A, two letters are skipped, in B three, and in C, four — the error Trouble in Friend Land is in the letter V, which should be U. C. It is a rooster laying an egg! Roosters ONCE, my best friends and I had a small do not lay eggs, hens do. misunderstanding. We had been inseparable till D. Farmer Faltu forgot to tie the other then. It broke my heart and I became miserable. end of the rope to something! Desperate to solve the problem, I tried to talk E. 7 and 8 to them, but they ignored me. Yet, I still F. There are 119 apples. The first clue considered them as my best friends. When indicates that the number is an odd anyone spoke ill about them, I would always number. When divided by 5, the take their side. remainder is 4 — this means that the Then one day, I mustered up the courage to number either ends with 4 or 9. As 4 talk to them. The problem was solved and we is an even number, only 9 may be considered. The last clue indicates were all best friends again. From that incident, that the number is a multiple of 7. I learnt that any problem with friends can be That narrows down the choices to 49 solved by talking it out. and 119 of which only 119, satisfies —Ananya Shyam, Std. 8-A, all the conditions.

❊ There are around 1,00,000 kilometres of blood vessels Dimdima in the human body. April 2020 Issue Vol 4 45 Q & A QUEST

Why is Saturn called the ‘Ringed Planet’ when other planets too have rings around them?

While it is true that Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune also have rings around them, the rings of Saturn are the most spectacular and most extensive, extending for hundreds of thousands of kilometres from the planet. Also, the rings of Saturn were the first to be discovered (as early as 1610 by Galileo Galilei). The rings of Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune were discovered only in the second half of the 20th century—the rings of Uranus in 1977, the rings of Jupiter in 1979 and those of Neptune in 1989.

The God particle is the nickname for the Higgs boson, a sub-atomic particle long What is the thought to be a fundamental building block of the universe. God particle? The nickname was derived from the title of a book The God Particle written in 1993 by American physicist Leon Lederman and science writer Dick Teresi. The original title of the book was ‘The Goddamn Particle’, the swear word being used to convey the frustration of physicists who were hunting for the particle for over two decades. The publishers, however, changed the title to ‘The God Particle’ and when the Higgs boson was finally discovered, the nickname ‘God Particle’ was bestowed on it by the popular media, much to the horror of the scientists involved in its discovery.

Dimdima 46 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 Jokeshop

Teacher: Anil, recite the numbers from 1 – 10. Anil: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Teacher: Why did you leave out 4? Anil: I heard on the news that 4 died in an accident yesterday.

Manjula: My husband underwent a major surgery a year ago. The doctor promised that he would have him on his feet in two weeks. “Happy Birthday!” exclaimed Rohan Lata: And did he? and Mohan, wishing their mother in Manjula: Yes. He had to sell his car the morning. They insisted that she to pay the hospital bill! stay in bed and wait for her surprise. Soon, the aroma of warm toast and Roy bought a pastry decorated with icing eggs filled the air. After waiting for a in the form of a chessboard. long time, the mother went to the He took one bite and told the baker, kitchen to investigate. Her sons were “Hey, the cake is stale, mate.” at the dining table, eating scrambled The baker insisted, “No, mate.” eggs on toast. “Surprise!” said Rohan. “W Roy handed him the pastry, looked him e have in the eye and said, “Check, mate.” made our own breakfast!”

❊ Oxford University is older than the Aztec Empire Dimdima April 2020 Issue Vol 4 47 by over 200 years. Dimdima 48 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 BRAIN POWER Word Whiz Alluring Alliteration ◆ Twelve twins twirled twelve twigs. ◆ Crisp crusts crackle crunchily. ◆ Two toads, totally tired. What do these three sentences have in common? If you guessed that they are tongue twisters, you are right. Apart from being tongue twisters, they are also alliterations. Alliteration is repetition of the starting sound in several words of a sentence. more the merrier’, ‘sink or swim’ and ‘watch Usually, these are used to attract attention and wait’ are commonly used. And in the and are considered catchy. It is used in the election season, you hear campaigning names of comic characters such as Mickey parties use alliteration for slogans! Mouse, Donald Duck, Woody Woodpecker So, next time your friend challenges you and our own Chacha Chaudhary. with a tongue twister, you can challenge Expressions like ‘pay the price’, ‘the back with an alliteration! Guess the Proverb Ranjit: Dad, there was a robbery at Dad: He is shutting the stable door after Himanshu’s place last week. His dad has the horse has bolted. now fixed a door alarm. Ranjit: Why did you say that, Dad, when you know that Himanshu doesn’t have a horse?”

What did Ranjit’s dad mean?

after it has happened’. has it after

is an idiom meaning ‘to stop an untoward incident untoward an stop ‘to meaning idiom an is ‘Shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted’ has horse the after door stable the ‘Shutting

Did you know? A group of crows is called a murder of crows. It’s not clear how the word murder came to be associated with crows but it could be because many ancient cultures view the crow as an omen of death. The phrase also dates back to a time when all groups of animals had colourful and poetic names like ostentation of peacocks, a parliament of owls and a knot of frogs.

❊ The glass-winged butterfly has transparent wings, Dimdima helping it avoid predators. April 2020 Issue Vol 4 49 COMICS

Haddiraj Ashwin & Abhijeet

COME QUICK, HIS FRIEND HAS GOT A BHAIYA! SEE HOW FACE AGEING APP AND DADDY LOOKS! HE HAS SENT DAD…

…A PICTURE OF HOW HE WILL LOOK WHEN HE’S 70 YEARS HOW DADDY OLD! HOW LOOKS? EXCITING!

HE ALREADY DAD, I DON’T LOOKS A THINK YOU DON’T BE HUNDRED NOW! SHOULD… MEAN!

I SHOULD NOT WHAT?

SEE ACROSS THE TIME BARRIER? IT’S A REVERSE AGE APP… THIS THERE! YOU LOOK IS HOW I LIKE A LOOKED AT 29! HERO, DAD!

WOW! DID YOU REALLY LOOK LIKE THIS? I CAN’T REMEMBER!

Dimdima 50 April 2020 Issue Vol 4 CONTEST A small step goes a long way to make the world a better place to live in. Can you tell us of one change that you will adopt in your life on this Earth Day to help Planet Earth? Tell us about it in your own EAREARTHTH words and send it along with your name, class EAREARTHTH and school address to [email protected] or post it to Dimdima, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Gora Gandhi Compound, 505 Sane Guruji DDAAYY Marg, Tardeo, Mumbai-400034. You can WhatsApp it to 9326817483. Hurry! There are Three Prizes to be Won! Your entry should reach us by 30 April, 2020. Winners of the February Cricket Crazy Contest

Udita Bhattacharyya, Taksht K Jain, Std. 4-B, Std. 2-B, Bhavan's Netaji Fathima Zahra, Std. 5-A, Pragnya Bodhini High Subhash Chandra Bhavan’s Vidya Mandir, School, Goregaon Bose Vidyaniketan,Haldia. Kodungallor. Mumbai.

TALENT SCOUT

Dear Principals and Teachers, Is there a child in your school who is exceptionally gifted in some way…in sports, music, chess, craft, dance, cookery, maths or anything else? Tell us about him or her! We will introduce the child through TALENT SCOUT, our new page in Dimdima. If a child from your school makes it to our Talent Scout page, the profile of your school will feature in the adjoining (facing) page along with whatever information you want to give about your school. Send us the information at [email protected] or post it to Dimdima, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Gora Gandhi Compound, 505, Sane Guruji Marg, Tardeo, Mumbai–400034.

51 Registered with Registrar of Newspapers of India under RNI. No TNENG/2016/67791 Registration No: TN/CH (C)31/2018 -2020 and WPP TN/PMG/(CCR)/WPP/549/2018 -2020 Date of Publication: 24th of previous month

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