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Publisher: Time Rays Authors: Shivani Koul, Anon Azad Language: English Format: eBook Year: 2012

The Bond of Friendship

Shivani Koul

Friends Forever Have you ever seen a tortoise? They are distinct as we all are. They are slow and have a tough surface outside but beneath this tough surface they have a soft base. There is a beautiful pond where our small, sweet tortoise lives. He is very nice and peaceful and never thinks bad for anybody but other creatures feel he is ugly. He likes to keep his surroundings clean because he believes clean surroundings help him keep his thoughts clean. He is happy living in his own world. He is so engrossed in his life that he forgets that the pond is a home to other beings also.

One day he meets a big tortoise Big-T. He is rough and rude and has a large ego. Our little tortoise is happy finding someone of his own community so that he can be friends with him. The Big-T also becomes friendly with our small hero but he has a feeling that he is doing some kind of social work and charity by being kind to this small, tiny, ugly being. Big-T thinks lowly of the tiny being. After some days of their association, Big-T develops hatred for the tiny one. He treats the little one badly and tells him to keep away as he is superior and wants to have friends of his stature. The little tortoise is heartbroken. Days pass, Big-T makes friends with other big tortoises and beings. They all roam around in the pond, bully little creatures and make fun of everybody who is weaker than them. Big-T enjoys this new life. On the other side of the pond, our little tortoise plays with other creatures, helps those who are needy and leads the kind of life that Big-T feels is boring. On one fateful day, the Big-T falls ill. All his so called friends are busy with their lives. There life goes on as it is and there is no difference. The Big-T is left alone and ailing. Nobody cares for him. The illness starts taking its toll on him but with each passing day he becomes enlightened. He starts understanding what life is and how unpredictable things are. Then something reminds him of his little friend. As they say, ties of love never die. Somehow our little one senses that his friend Big-T is in some problem. He goes to him and finds him in such a state. The little one takes the Big-T to the doctor and takes care of him for some days. The Big-T becomes well again

but now he realizes that outer beauty and strength is nothing in front of true love and friendship. He says sorry to his little friend and they play forever happy and healthy. ARENT WE ALL LIVING IN SUCH PONDS AND ARENT WE ALL LIKE THESE TORTOISES?

Believe your own Wit

Anon Azad

Colorful Bondage This is the story of a little young donkey who lived in a dense jungle. Although he had a name but nobody (of his age) knew him by his original name. They called him Dont Key (to make fun of him) which would imply never to prompt him as he would start and go on continuing with his stories. If anybody casually asks him what was bad with his mood, he would immediately tell all his woes and worries and his problems and what he thought like. This was fun for others. Everybody thought he was stupid to always tell
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his heart out and speak the truth. Actually, he himself never could understand what a lie was. He felt - telling a lie is as difficult as algebra; so in order to not stress his mind he used to speak the truth. Dont Key was an ignorant fellow in this peaceful jungle. But there were threats to this peaceful jungle. Some animals had heard reports of hunters striking other jungles and killing animals there. The elders were worried about this. Every now and then these elders would try to find out ways to keep their habitat safe. They used to hear news always and were well aware of things but one thing they were not aware of was that the hunters had already struck their jungle many times but had failed. Dont Key was innocent too, and all others of his age used to take advantage of this. There was a small water pool in the middle of the jungle and the river had a bridge like thing. It was actually a tree which had fallen over the pool. Everybody would fear the other side of the pool. There were confirmed stories about the lion, Big Cat, living the other side. These clever (liar) animals would take Dont Key to the pool on some pretext and then send him to the other side and run away. Dont Key would cry and cry and then would return fearing for his life. Except the Big Cat scare, the jungle was full of joy and fun for all. All animals were educated and clever unlike Dont Key, though he too was learned but they never thought he was clever. He used to think what it meant to be clever. Years passed, all these animals reached their teen ages. They were clever and learned than never before. There was change in the air. Some of them fell in love with young ladies, some of them got

engaged in training and skill development, Dont Key continued his education with his slow and lazy pace. He used to get surprised by knowledge and learning. One day some strangers came to the jungle. They were very intelligent animals well groomed and neat and tidy. They spoke foreign languages too. Some of them spoke the language of humans. All animals gathered around them and were impressed to the extent that they thought these intelligent animals were direct agents of heaven and god. The animals believed every word these foreigners told them. The foreigners told them about cities how was life like, food served in bowls, bathing with soaps, biscuits, icecreams, cakes and what not, also about taking a walk on the roadside or having fun inside a circus while getting appreciation from all over. The clever animals from the jungle told these foreigners to take them along to this world. Dont Key never understood a single word. All his clever companions followed the foreigners and left for cities and he was left behind. Time moved, Dont Key was getting news about how his fellow companions were enjoying life in cities. In this meantime, the trees in the jungle were being cut by humans because there were no animals left. The jungle was shrinking. Dont Key kept on shifting to the denser part. One nice day, he met a big animal. It was the Big Cat. The Big Cat was too
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left alone and he was old. He hadnt got a chance to talk to anybody for the past one year. Dont Key and Big Cat became friends. They used to share jokes, roam around together, cook their meals. They were enjoying life because they were sharing everything - views, news, food, games. One day, the Big Cat said to Dont Key that he was getting older now and he had a wish to travel to the city and enjoy life their for some time. One morning they left for city and reached in the evening. At the city, they saw lights everywhere. The Big Cat was astonished to see this, they went there. It was a circus, they saw a man with a fat stick in his hand making elephant and cheetahs dance on his whips movement. The animals had blood stains and wounds all over the bodies.

The Big Cat and Dont Key could not bear this site and they move on. They saw a fine restaurant there and besides the kitchen, there was a cage having many birds from the jungle. There were to be killed and cooked for the guests. There were cages too on the roadside carrying birds; they were to be sold as show pieces.

The Big Cat and Dont Key moved on, they saw dogs from their jungle moving with some people. The people were holding big chains kept around the necks of these dogs. The two reached a big market and what they found was the skin and nails and horns of their companions. They saw langoors and monkeys chained to cycles and pillars. There were bulls sleeping on the roads with nobody caring for them. There were dead bodies of snakes crushed by vehicles lying on roads. Finally, the two reach a place which resembled their jungle a bit. They overheard somebody saying Is this Zoo or National Park?. They met a fox, the cleverest of all. He was old. He told them that it is not that things happened by chance, it was a planned effort. The foreigners were the agents of hunters. Believe your own wit before believing others. WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR? HAVE WE EVER THOUGHT OVER IT? WE HAVEN'T BECAUSE WE NEVER HAD TIME FOR THAT NON-SENSE. WE WERE ALWAYS BUSY PLANNING FUTURE.

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Laziness is Death
Shivani Koul

Lazy Lion and Active Monkey Once in a big Jungle, there lived a Lion. He just wanted to enjoy life being a king & wanted everything for him & his kingdom to be done by someone else. A cunning fox was his minister who used to carry on his every work. He used to bring food for him & also govern the kingdom. The Lion hardly knew anything except eating & sleeping. He had no idea of what was happening around his kingdom. He just blindly believed whatever his minister told him. The jungle was quite big enough but separated into 2 parts by a pool. The bridge over it needed a repair. It could fall anytime. The animals complained about this to the minister. The minister being very cunning & greedy told them that he needs funds to get
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it repaired. So all the animals collected large amount of money & gave it to him. But as soon as he got the money he turned deaf ears towards them. It was nothing new for the innocent animals. It had happened so many times. The cunning Minister always took advantage of them. Whenever they requested him for any kind of required development in the Jungle he cleverly looted them for the sake of fund & then simply ignored all their demands. Poor animals could hardly do anything as they were scared of the Lion. The cunning Minister had made a wrong impression of the Lion over all the animals that if anyone directly goes to him he will kill them all. He is not going to listen to anyone except me. Even if you try to complain about me; he wont spare you since what I do is his order. All the animals were really disturbed with this never ending trouble. They called a meeting & decided not to ask the Minister for help ever again instead solve all the issues by themselves. There was a fearless Little Monkey among them. He was not much happy with the decision. He said; If we have to do everything ourselves why do we have to pay taxes. Is it not the responsibility of the King to take care of us & our issues? Why do we need a King then & why should we bow before him. The Little Monkey`s father came to
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him & told him to be silent else if the Lion comes to know about his opinion he will kill him. But the Little Monkey was never convinced. He had made up his mind to raise the voice someday. Days passed & the Jungle was attacked by Hunters. They killed many innocent animals. There was a total chaos in the Jungle. Everyone was running here & there & crying. The sleeping Lion suddenly woke up & came out of the cave. He started shivering to see everyone running in fear. In no time he understood that hunters are somewhere near. He called his Minister for help but he had already escaped to some safer place. The Lion had become so lazy & dependent that in spite of being the most dangerous & fearless animal; he didnt know how to escape & save himself. He was merely able to run. Somehow he thought of moving to the other part of the Jungle & hide there But as soon as he reached there; the bridge which was already in a bad condition was totally broken due to the complete chaos of animals running over it here & there. Now the Lion was stuck near the pool, not knowing where to go & to his bad luck a hunter had already reached there after him. The Lion was shivering in fear. As soon as the hunter was about to shoot, the Little Monkey suddenly jumped on him & his gun fell down. The Lion somehow gathered courage & jumped over the hunter & tore him to pieces. Rest of the hunters ran away as soon as they saw the Lion roaring fearlessly & their companion lying down into pieces. Gradually, all the animals gathered there. The Little Monkey told everything to the Lion. He felt ashamed. He thanked the Little Monkey for saving his life & also for telling him
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the truth fearlessly. The clever fox also reached there & started giving lame excuses to the Lion. The Lion roared angrily at him for keeping him in dark throughout. The Lion told him to return all money to the animals & leave the Jungle for ever else he would kill him. The Little Monkey was now the new minister to take care of the Jungle & the Lion himself was no longer lazy. He started hunting for his food himself & used to be involved in all matters related to Jungle. BEING LAZY IS ALMOST BEING DEAD. WAKE UP, BE ACTIVE; ACTION IS LIFE.

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