7

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.

9

“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.

11

“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.

13

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.

15

“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.

17

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.

19

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!”

21

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.

23

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.

25

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!

AgogExcitement

ForeignPrincipal

SurroundedExclaimed

National geographic

NoddedAsia

KenyaWhoop

PatNairobiCapital

Maasai Mara Game Reserve

GuideExperience

Filled with excitementVery happy and eagerFrom outside IndiaHead teacher of a schoolAll aroundCry out suddenly, in excitementA TV channel that talks about animals and nature, it is also a magazineShake your head to say “yes”The biggest continent (collection of countries, India is a part of Asia)A large country of AfricaA loud cry, in happiness and excitementTo tap gentlyThe largest city and capital of KenyaA city in a country, where the President (head of the country) livesA place in Kenya where a tribe of people known as “maasai” live, and protect the animalsA person who shows the way to othersTo have been a part of something

Glossary

SurpassedRequest

PoachersPeculiar

Interesting

DisappearedStaggering

Robbed

EquipmentInvestigation

SuspectPortrait

ConfirmedBroadcasted

CulpritEscape

AppreciationInvite

Premiere

To be better thanAsk in a nice wayHuntersStrangeSomething which catches you attention, which you would like to know more aboutVanishAbout to fall while walkingTake something that doesn’t belong to you, to stealItems which you need to do workTo ask somebody about something, to help solve crimesA person who may be a part of a crimeA painting of a personTo agree with, or say “yes”To show on a TV or to listen on a radioA person who did a crimeRun awayTo be thankfulTo ask someone nicely to comeFirst 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.