a winter tale

8/2/2019 A Winter Tale

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A WINTER TALE


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Dedicated to my Great Grand Mother

and my 6 year old Sister.

The Development and production of this book was by Institute of Experiential

Learning, Bangalore, India.

Printed at Bangalore

April 2012


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A WINTERS TALE

I lived in Christchurch in New Zealand. I lived in a small house on 6 th main. I lived

along with my mother, father, and my sister. It was the season of winter. It was a cold

morning and it was snowing, when I woke up at 8:00 clock. My mum said you are notgoing out anywhere today. But I wanted to go out and play with my friends

desperately. Of course I knew they would call me, but if my mum picked the phone up

she would definitely and obviously say NO. After I thought of this I stood beside the

telephone all day long.

I stood there and stood there till afternoon. Even after my mum forced me to sleep for

my afternoon nap at 2:30. I pretended to sleep for 2 minutes, so that mom didnt know,

and then quietly crept out of bed and stood near the telephone. Then the telephone rang,but sadly it was not my friend. It was my mums friend but she was in such deep sleep

that she never heard the call. I didnt want to pick it up too. My mum slept for 1 hour

and then woke up to find out that I was not in bed. She came out and saw me standing

near the telephone. She asked me why are you standing there all day long?. I said, I

want to go out and play with my friends, and I am waiting for them to call. My mum

got a little bit angry at me. She shouted at me saying, I just told you, that you cannot

to go out and play, it is so cold outside that you will catch a cold, and cant attend

school. But mom! There will be a huge fight between me and my friend if I dont goI replied. I told you it is too cold outside! she shouted at me.

Saying this she went to watch some television. After she said that I simply kept quiet,

and didnt say anything. Then finally after so long the phone rang. This time it was my

friend. He said come on your bicycle for cycling. He also said no one has come to

play. It is only you and me. Come and meet me at my house. I will be waiting outside.

I asked my mother and begged and pleaded her to let me go. Then after 5 minutes she

said OK. I wore my jacket and sweater and headed off.

It was quite cold outside and there were no clouds in the sky. The road was slippery and

it was difficult to keep my balance. I went down the alley and turned right onto 9th

crossroad. Then I arrived at my friends house. He was waiting for me outside. He came

out of the gate, down the ramp and onto the road.

I asked him where we were going today?. He said I dont know and I would go

anywhere with you.


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We discussed and decided to go up 9th

cross and then turn left onto 11th

main and head

straight to the dead end and then turn right onto 5th

avenue go straight then turn left onto

4th

cross and head straight down.

He did not know where 4th cross took us. But we decided to give it a try. We headed up

9th

cross and turned onto 11th

main. There was lots of traffic on the narrow road, and a

car nearly hit me.

We went down the mains and slippery crosses till we finally came down to 4th

cross.

The road ahead of us was unpaved and there was nobody around. There was an old and

abandoned house on the right and there were tall grasses growing all around. The road

went straight till the horizon.

We wondered who had built the road as nobody used it and it was miles long. I thought

that it was a waste of time and money. My friend on the other hand told me I think itwas a good idea to build this road even though it is unpaved, and because they built this

road we can take advantage of it and have a good adventure. We headed off and cycled

straight up the road.

After a little while, the landscape suddenly changed into thick forest. I told my friend I

dont think we must go for an adventure as we will miss our school tomorrow if

anything happens. He told me I dont mind if I miss school tomorrow as it is very

boring. And I am sure that nothing is going to happen. Even if nothing happens mumwill be waiting to scold us I said. Oh! My mum is always in the shopping mall. She

only comes back at night. She is very kind and doesnt mind me going out on

adventures replied my friend. But my mom is not like that. So what! If you dont

want to come, dont come. I didnt say anything nor did he after that. But still I

followed him. This was the biggest ever mistake I could make in my entire life. The

road also changed and it became muddy and full of stones.

I told my friend the man who built this road must have gotten scared and ran away.My friend said yeah it has to go that way.

We headed down what was now not a road and we came up to a river. There was a huge

stone bridge built across it. We went up the bridge that nearly collapsed under our

weight. A few minutes after that we got tired and we walked, pushing our bicycles

alongside. As we went along my friend said I am hungry let us take some rest and eat

something. I said, okay, come let us get some fruits. Alright, but what do we do

with our bicycles? asked my friend.


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We discussed and discussed and concluded that we had to take the most dangerous

option of all, we had to leave our bicycles and move on. We left our bicycles near a tree

and went to get some food. As we were going to get some food, my friend fell down

and hurt his leg. I ran back and told him you stay here and I will get you some fruits to

eat. I got us an apple and we both ate it. My friends leg was still paining. We could not

set up camp there as the grass was too tall. I helped my friend walk and a few meters

ahead where we found a clear

area and it was a good place to

camp. I told my friend you sit

neat this tree. I will go and get

the materials for building a

house. A house? asked my

friend. Of course we will need

a make-shift house if we are

going to stay here all night. It

was now becoming dark. I did

not know what time it was as I

did not have my watch with me.

I got the materials and tried to build a house. The first time I built a house it collapsed.

Then I put wall over wall over wall 4 times and then finally it stood. We built a make-

shift house out of logs, twigs and leaves. I put branches and twigs for the walls and

leaves for the roof. There were no bugs around. There were only a few mosquitoes.

Then I went to find a medicinal herb called herb for help. It looks like a ball, is green

in colour and is very useful. It is a herb from India. Just then I found the plant near a

steep cliff in front of me, I plucked the fruit and went back to camp. I squeezed it and

poured its juice onto my friends wound. It burnt a little but it went away. It became

night and we had to sleep.

The jungle was colder than most of the other places in the city. It had tall trees about 45

meters tall and the trees were so close together that the jungle had a canopy that looked

just like a green coloured roof. The trees were mainly pine as it was cold and suitable

for them to grow. The ground was covered with snow. We got fruits from the trees and

water from the river.

That night was very cold, as we could not light a fire. It had rained and had destroyed

our shelter. We had got bitten by many mosquitoes, and We could no longer camp

there.


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The next day the wound had heeled. My friend was able to limp and walk. Just as we

were going to get food my friend reminded me about our bicycles. I rushed back to the

tree where we left our bicycles. When I got back to the tree where we had kept our

bicycles, I saw that they were stolen. I did not know who stole it. But, as it rained

heavily last night we could see the ruts of the bicycles in the mud.

I went back to camp and told this to my friend. He was shocked. He said we should go

and investigate this otherwise we will fall into trouble. This was the first time my friend

was worried so much about something like this.

We ran back to the tree, and followed the ruts of our bicycles. This led us to a

completely, devastated house. As there was a thick canopy here the rain could not

penetrate through the canopy. Because of this, we could not see the tracks of the wheels

in the dirt.

We had to pitch a tent near the house using the tarpaulin sheets we found inside the

house in a wardrobe. We used blocks of wood from our other shelter to secure the sheet

in place. We also got a wooden stick and placed it in the center to hold the tent up.

There was a readymade hole or entrance cut by the person living in the house when he

went out and used it. Then my friend and I now went to look for food. We ate apples,

mangoes, bananas, oranges and a few other fruits and drank water from the river that

flowed nearby.

As we were going to get food my friend changed his mind. He said, I will go and find

our bicycles. I said okay. My friend was now on his own. As I was thinking of

getting bananas I stumbled upon an uninhabited village where there were some banana

plants. I only plucked the bananas and went away. I did not do any major investigation

of that area as it might belong to some tribe, and if they found that if someone had

changed something, they would be angry and we would fall in trouble if they found us.

But now there was suspicion that there was someone else in the jungle.

When I came back, my friend was not there!. He had gone far away to search for out

bicycles. As I was searching for him I found our bicycles near a tree. Our bicycles were

here but my friend wasnt. Fortunately as it had rained I could see his footprints in the

dirt where the canopy was not so thick. I put the fruits down inside the tent, and

followed the his footprints. I had to walk for 2 kilometers before I found him sitting on

a rock.

I told him the story of the village and our bicycles. He was very happy to hear the story


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of our bicycles, more than of the village. Both of us ran back along the tracks and came

back to the house. My friend was not so interested in the village.

I showed my friend where the cycles were. We were about to take our bicycles just

when a man jumped down from the tree above. The man was black in colour, plump,

had tattoos painted all around his body in white, he wore a cloth from his waist till his

feet. Near his waist he had a knife.

There were 2 things this tribal man could have done with our bicycles. Either he could

have kept it safe for us or he could have stolen it.

We asked him can we have our bicycles back please?. Then the man with an

American accent said Oh! These are your bikes!. You can take them. I was only trying

to keep them safe for you. We were relieved that he never had stolen our bicycles. We

said thank you to the man and headed off with our bicycles.

The man was happy as he had done a good thing for us.

As we were going we heard a strange rumbling noise. It was as if an animal was

sucking the air through its teeth. The noise grew louder and louder. We didnt know

what it was till my friend spotted a tornado.

We never expected a tornado. It was a strong F4 class tornado. It was 2 miles wide at

the top, and 1 mile wide at the bottom. It had winds of upto 300 miles per hour. It wasapproaching fast at a speed of 35 miles per hour. Then suddenly it started to rain, and

stopped snowing. Debre was flying all around us. We saw cows, houses, ships, cars, and

even elephants flying around the tornado. Then lightening started to strike. The tornado

was closing in and was 100 yards away. We began to cycle back, following the cycle

tracks.

After 5 minutes we got back to the bridge, which collapsed after we crossed it. The

tornado was heading in the same direction and had swallowed the bridge already. Wekept cycling down till we came to the abandoned house. Then I asked my friend to stop.

He stopped.

We went into the house and found a few pipes. I told my friend these pipes run at-least

30 feet into the ground. If we tie our bikes to this and hold on tight, we will be safe.

We quickly tied our cycles to the pipe and we held on tight. The force of the tornado

sucked the old and weak house into it. Before the tornado could swallow us, it

disappeared.


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That was a very close encounter with a tornado that nearly killed us said my friend.

yup, that is true I replied. We then cut the ropes and took our cycles and rode away.

After 10 minutes I reached home at 4:45 in the evening. I was not yet safe now because

my mum was there. When I reached home my mum asked me where had you been?. I

had been to 4th

cross I replied. That is a very dangerous place to be, but it is okay as you

are safe. My father had gone out. I asked my mum what about school?. School can

keep said my mum. I was happy that my mum did not scold me.

I called my friend up. I asked him what did your mum say?. He replied she is in the

mall. Oh! the mall I replied. As usual replied my friend as usual.

THE END


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APPENDIX: MEANINGS1) Alley - a narrow street.2) Make-shift - temporary. 3) Unpaved - not tarred. 4) Steep - nearly at a vertical angle.5) Abandoned - left behind.6) Canopy - the top of the trees that join to form a roof like structure.7) Horizon - the line where the sky meets the land.8) Destroyed - broken.9) Collapsed - fell down.

10) Ruts - the mark left by a vehicle in the mud.11) Concluded - to come up with a solution.12) Investigate - to do research.13) Devastated - completely destroyed.14) Tarpaulin - a plastic, bendable sheet that is used to cover gaps.15) Uninhabited- not occupied.16) Tribe - people who live in the jungle.17) Suspicion - sense.18) Tattoos - small paintings done on the body.19) Tornado - a violent spinning object that sucks everything in its path.20) Encounter - to meet someone face to face.


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RahulRaowrotethisbookaspartoftheCreative

WritingandPublishingLearningLabfacilitatedby

InstituteofExperientialLearning

RahulRaois10yearsoldandlivesinBangalore

withhisFatherSameerRao,MotherAnithaRaoandsister-TrishaRao.Rahulispassionateabout

aviationandhishobbyismakingmodelsof

Aeroplanes.


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Price: INR 35/-

9 +

This is a story of 2 kids who go out on an

adventure and face many challenges.

Will they be able to survive?

a winter tale

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