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Kids? Org Sublime Love By M.V. Kolhatkar Bhavanrao was a close friend of my father. They were friends right from their childhood. Bhavanrao?s house was situated not far away from our house. We had a beautiful white cow. She was lovely and had prominent black eyes. She knew our language. Only she could not reciprocate. This was apparent from her eyes. The name of our cow was Deepa. Her full name was Deepavali. She was born during early hours of the dawn of the first day of Deepavali. So she got the name Deepavali automatically. Bhavanrao too had a beautiful cow called Kapila. Kapila means black cow. This cow had an arc of a moon on her forehead. So she was named Chandrika. Bhavanrao and my father were closest friends. And so were their cows also. Early morning Gopala, the cowherd boy, would come to our house. He would untie Deepa standing in her shed. Then Deepa used to go out and mix herself in the flock gathered there. Next Bhavanrao?s house would arrive. Chandrika would join that group thereafter. The whole flock grazed at the foot of the mountain situated on the eastern side of our village. During the whole day both Deepa and Chandrika used to be together. They ate together. They drank the water of the fountain together. They returned together ringing the bells from their necks. In the evening while returning, even though Bhavanrao?s house arrived earlier Chandrika would accompany our Deepa till her home and then go back to her home. My grandmother used to say, ?Both Deepa and Chandrika must have been the real sisters in their last birth. Otherwise so much love between them would not have been possible.? Deepa did have a lovely calf. Its name was Shravani as it was born in the month of Shravan. Chandrika also did have a calf. The name of the calf was Vishakha. This calf was born on the Vishakha nakshatra. And so it assumed the name Vishakha. Once it was a rainy season. The climate was dull. The epidemic of diphtheria made its appearance. Unfortunately Chandrika fell prey to the epidemic. Her condition became serious. Her throat was swollen. She could not swallow anything. Saliva went on oozing from her mouth. All the efforts undertaken by Bhavanrao to save Chandrika proved of no avail. At noon this lovely mother of Vishakha passed away making her child orphan. Exactly at this moment our Deepa who was kept tied in her shed, started making a strange sound. We understood that she was weeping. It was surprising how Deepa could smell the parting away of her dearest friend, situated though she was at a distance. Next day Gopala freed Deepa as usual. Deepa then went running to Bhavanrao?s house. She stood at the entrance and started moving her neck and releasing a pitiable sound, which made the listeners restless. Soon the dead body of Chandrika was carried away. Deepa did not leave the place. Moaning she rushed into the shed meant for Chandrika. She started licking Vishakha incessantly with full love. Evening arose, still Deepa was reluctant to leave the orphan child Vishakha alone and come back to our house. Ultimately Bhavanrao with tears in his eyes untied Vishakha. Thereafter Deepa brought Vishakha to our house. Then she started feeding her milk both to her own child Shravani and to her sister?s child Vishakha with equal love. Play & Learn Pencil Faces ?By Manju Gupta Material required * Four used matchboxes. * Colourful bits of paper. * Paints. * Brushes. * Pencil. * Glue or Fevicol. * Wool. Method * Take out the drawers of the matchboxes and keep them aside. * Paste coloured papers all over the matchboxes to cover all the six sides of each of the boxes. * Paint the eyes, the mouth and nose on the coloured paper pasted on the broad side of the matchboxes. On two matchboxes paint moustache in black colour. * With glue or Fevicol stick the bits of coloured wool to make the hair on the faces. * On the two boxes on which you had painted moustaches, make hats?roll one 3cm x 3cm paper into a cylinder and fix it on a round base cut on the chart paper; on another make a circle of 6 cm diameter and cut out a triangle on it. * Paste the cylindrical hat and the circular hat on the two faces on which the moustache has been painted. * Pierce a hole with the unshaved end of the pencil into the side of each matchbox and fix it into the hole.

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