The whole school was agog with excitement. The reason was that two foreign visitors were in the principal’s room and Charan was also in that meeting! Charan could be seen shaking hands with all of them. When he came out he was immediately surrounded. “Come on Charan, tell us quickly. What was that all about?” asked Manoj.
7
“You will never believe it!” exclaimed Charan, “Remember, that painting of a tiger chasing a deer that I sent to National Geographic?” Everyone nodded. “Well, they were here to tell me that I got the 1st prize for the Asia region!” “Wow! Congrats Charan. What is the prize?” Suman asked.
9
“A trip to Kenya!” Charan shouted. There was a whoop of celebration and everyone started to pat on his back, head or any part of his body they could reach. “But where is Kenya and what are you going to do there?” asked Manoj. “Kenya is a country in Africa. I will be spending a week there with the other winners. We will be staying in Nairobi, which is its capital and visit Maasai Mara Game Reserve which has many African animals!” explained Charan.
11
About a month after getting that exciting news, Charan was experiencing the thrill of Maasai Mara in a Safari Jeep with the group and Mr. Mwangi, their guide, who knew a lot about African animals.
13
“Look Children, you can see a herd of African Elephants over there.” he said, “Does anyone know what is different between these and Asian Elephants?” he asked. “Ears?” said someone. “Correct. As you can see African Elephants ears are bigger”, he explained. During that tour, they also saw Giraffes, a huge herd of Zebras and a pride of Lions.
15
It was Charan’s most exciting experience. But it was soon to be surpassed! In the evening, as they were driving back to Nairobi, they noticed a film crew in the middle of shooting an action scene. On request from the children, Mr. Mwangi stopped to let them watch. Charan found to his delight that they were from India and the hero was none other than Ramcharan, his favourite actor. Ramcharan was doing an action scene where he was chasing poachers on a horse.
17
As the children watched the film shooting, Charan noticed a strange person wearing a brown hat, standing next to them. For some reason Charan found him interesting so he kept staring at him a lot until he disappeared towards where the crew’s vans were parked. Suddenly, they heard a shout, “Help!”
19
A security guard came staggering towards them with blood on his head. He said that he was hit by a man who then robbed several costly camera lenses from the equipment van. The police after some investigation found that the suspect had long hair, wore a red shirt and brown hat. However, nobody knew who he was or where he went afterwards. Charan realized that the suspect was the same person he had been staring at. “Sir, I saw that man very well. I can paint a portrait of him if you want”, he offered. “Please do. It will help us catch him”, said the policeman.
21
The film crew surrounded Charan as he sat on a bench and started drawing. He finished the portrait in 30 minutes. The guard confirmed that it was the same person who had stolen the lenses. The group then left for Nairobi. Next day, the police came and explained what happened later. They had made copies of the painting and sent it to all police stations as well as broadcasted it on TV. The culprit was caught with the lenses at a railway station as he was trying to escape. They thanked Charan for his help.
23
Later, Ramcharan himself visited them. “Charan, without the lenses we could not have continued to shoot the film. To show my appreciation, I want to invite you to watch the first show of this film with me. That is, if you want to”, he asked with a smile. “Of course”, Charan almost yelled. A few months later, Charan was sitting next to Ramcharan at the première of the movie, thereby making this the best time of his life!
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Glossary Agog Excitement Foreign Principal Surrounded Exclaimed National geographic Nodded Asia Kenya Whoop Pat Nairobi Capital Maasai Mara Game Reserve Guide Experience
Filled with excitement Very happy and eager From outside India Head teacher of a school All around Cry out suddenly, in excitement A TV channel that talks about animals and nature, it is also a magazine Shake your head to say “yes” The biggest continent (collection of countries, India is a part of Asia) A large country of Africa A loud cry, in happiness and excitement To tap gently The largest city and capital of Kenya A city in a country, where the President (head of the country) lives A place in Kenya where a tribe of people known as “maasai” live, and protect the animals A person who shows the way to others To have been a part of something
Surpassed Request Poachers Peculiar Interesting Disappeared Staggering Robbed Equipment Investigation Suspect Portrait Confirmed Broadcasted Culprit Escape Appreciation Invite Premiere
To be better than Ask in a nice way Hunters Strange Something which catches you attention, which you would like to know more about Vanish About to fall while walking Take something that doesn’t belong to you, to steal Items which you need to do work To ask somebody about something, to help solve crimes A person who may be a part of a crime A painting of a person To agree with, or say “yes” To show on a TV or to listen on a radio A person who did a crime Run away To be thankful To ask someone nicely to come First show of a movie in a theatre
Nanda Ramesh Writer After 15 years working as an engineer, I decided to pursue hobbies closer to my heart. So, right now I am doing bird photography, writing and volunteering. As an author, my focus is on children’s stories but truly speaking, I just write on any topic that inspires me.
Manoj Nath Illustrator I’m a graphic designer by profession. I love to sing Kishore Kumar’s songs. When bored, I play my mouth organ to the tunes of R.D. Burman. Being a Bengali, sweets are my addiction, Roshogolla being an obvious favourite. I love pinch-hitting in gully cricket and prefer casuals as a dress code.