Kajal And The Puzzle
(Children story)
By Vaman Acharya
Kajal, a little pretty girl, had a peculiar habit of spending time in the evening on the balcony and watching varieties of birds feeding from the flowers daily. The birds were delightful. She tries to understand the bird's language and imitate their melodious voice. She kept one bird feeder at the top of her house. Kajal had developed a rare quality of love with birds.
She was living in Chanduru, a small village. There were plenty of jasmine and rose trees grown in the backyard of her house. Her school was very near just a few steps ahead. She was a brilliant student in the third standard class.
Chanduru village is famous for a good number of sandalwood trees and a Shri Rama temple at the hilltop. Every Sunday, she visits the temple along with her parents and friends by climbing fifty steps.
Kajal gets up early in the morning before sunrise to enjoy the beautiful nature. She knows that it was the time when all birds flew in search of food. They return to their nests only in the evening. Often her mother Sumati scolds her for not eating breakfast due to hurrying to go to school. Sometimes, in the afternoon, she didn't open the tiffin box for lunch in the school. Whenever her class teacher planned any activity, Kajal used to raise her hand and participate in all the activities. Kajal was first to suggest useful activities for students.
One weekend her teacher had planned to go out with all the students of the class to visit a nearby small forest to enjoy the natural scenes.
Kajal stood up and said,
"Mam, visit only during day time due to fear of wild animals. The day time would be suitable to teach on trees, birds, insects, animals, ponds etc. Hire a good condition vehicle with an experienced driver for a safe journey.”
The teacher was astonished to hear her suggestions.
On the occasion of the annual school gathering Kajal's classmates were busy participating in various competitions. Kajal suggested enacting a drama on bala kanda Ramayana and she was prepared to take up a leading character Seeta. It was finally decided to enact bala kanda Ramayana A fortnight was available for rehearsal. Kajal's role as little Seeta was applauded by all the audience.
Kajal's father Avinash thought many of her questions to be irrelevant and got annoyed by them, especially when he was working on his laptop. He is a highly educated progressive farmer. He calls Kajal to his side and gives her puzzles to solve. Sometimes, she asks dad to permit her to operate the system.
One evening when her father returned home from the field and opened the laptop. Kajal had a new set of questions which had been bothering her all afternoon and to which she did not have satisfactory answers.
“Daddy,” said Kajal as he entered.
It was six in the evening. He was looking forward to having a sumptuous dinner after he shut down the system.
Avinash tried to smile as his daughter welcomed him with her joy, despite a hard long day in the field giving directions to the labourers.
“Daddy, I want to know something very important," she said.
“Not now, Kajal, let your daddy freshen up and finish his work."
He knew it would not stop at one question. He was proud of his daughter for being so curious.
“No, daddy. Tell me answer first and then your work,” Kajal cajoled him.
"Now, Kajal, I am too busy. If I don't work how will I be able to buy you ice-creams?”
He tried to convince her.
“I won't eat ice-cream this week; I want you to answer my questions.”
“Ok. Ok. But only one question,” he relented.
“Only one question?” a delighted Kajal was laughing and asked,
“If camels live in the desert and they have humps to store food, why don't other animals of the desert have humps like camels?”
He was unable to answer.
“I will tell you afterwards,” he said.
“No, daddy, I want to know right now.”
He tried to stall her, but she would not listen. Then an idea struck his mind.
“Ok, I will tell you. But, before that you have to solve a puzzle. If you solve it correctly, your question will be answered and you will get an ice-cream and vanilla too,” he said.
He knew her fondness for ice-creams. The puzzle he had on his mind was not an easy one. He thought it was not possible for her to answer. He could finish his work and spend time with her.
Kajal accepted the challenge. She sat by his side waiting to know the puzzle.
Her father was a regular reader of magazines. His reading room was full of back issues of various magazines. Sumati was in the kitchen preparing food.
He asked the following puzzle.
"I look at you, you look at me, I raise my left hand, you raise your right hand.
What is this object?"
Avinash continued to work on the system. Just after three minutes, Kajal got up and said loudly,
“Daddy, I have solved it,” said with full excitement.
For a moment there was silence.
She was smiling. Then her father broke the silence.
“Did Mummy help you?”
“No, mummy is in my aunty's house."
He was feeling guilty. He asked her how she solved it.
“Dad, I can reveal this only when I get ice cream."
“ You have grown smarter than your papa."
Just then the door opened and Sumati came in.
“Get ready,” he said to his wife, still smiling.
“Where are we going,” Sumati asked, smiling, as she watched a happy father-daughter duo.
“It is ice cream time,” he replied.
“And question & answer time too,” added Kajal.
“Sure, sweetie,” her father said laughing, "Maybe if you had a hump you would have stored ice cream in it."
The cloak was showing seven pm.
She went out with her parents to celebrate the ice cream time. Her father was driving the car to Raghavpur town. Kajal was seated in the front beside her papa. Her mother was in the back seat.
On the way her father asked,
“Kajal, how did you solve the puzzle in a record time of three minutes?"
She replied,
“In the beginning, I was upset and unable to get the solution and I wanted to weep. With frustration, I just stood up and saw an object before me.
I saw a replica of myself. I just raised my right hand, in that object it was my left hand. I was happy to know the answer to the puzzle is a mirror."
Her dad and mother were happy to know the wonderful knowledge of their lovely daughter and dumb for the moment.
They came back home late at night.
