VI

READERS

SKYOF THE

English Main Course

What kind of a reader are you?

Copyright ©Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, 2015All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology.

Printed at KolorKode, 2015

Content byKatha Publishing House

Design byRohina Thapar

THIS BOOK BELONGS TO

FOR THE CURIOUS READER!

Machliby Rolliwrites14

C O N T E N T

FOR THE THINKING READER!

When Noses bloomby Linda A. Anderson8

FOR THE CARING READER!

FOR THE NONSENSE READER!

FOR THE IMAGINATIVE READER!

I speak for those with Orange Lunch Boxesby Arundhati Subramaniam

The Adventures of Professor Woody-Two-Shoesby Sukumar Ray

The Wishing Bone Cycle Poemsby Jacob Nibenegenesabe

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F O R T H E TH INK INGR E A D E R

Look into a mirror. Look into it for a

long time. What does your nose look like?

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I started life with a small nose,tiny hands, fingers and toes;I grew in spurts, then with a boom,my little nose burst into bloom.

My body parts all grew apace,except the middle of my face-in growth it never showed a lack,it was the leader of the pack.

It left the rest of me behind.At first I didn’t even mind;then when its bloom was almost done,my nose became a source of fun.

Then once my nose had reached its peak,proclaimed by some a handsome beak,I found its size to be a plus,and not a thing for animus.

WHEN NOSES BLOOMLinda A. Anderson

My friends tagged me with stupid names.This was one of their favorite games-pain comes with more than sticks and stones;I told them, “Leave my nose alone!”

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Place a photograph of yourself here.

Have you placed it, yet? Once you have placed the photograph, you may go ahead

and outline the features on your face thatyou love the most.

You may also peek in other’s books and see what they love the most about their faces.

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There are so many things to smell,not all the noses do it well;mine can suck in all the scents,from fragrant blooms to moldy tents.

It keeps my lips dry in the rain,locates a skunk and warns my brain;all races I win “by a nose”;in winter’s cold it starts to glow.

Those small nosed people now despair,they wish they had a nose so rare!This nose of mine has grown on me;I’m pleased with it as I can be!

Though it won’t ever be called cute-it’s too much like a yellow fruit-at least it’s left the blooming stage,unless it grows more in old age!

This nose of mine has grown on me;I’m pleased with it as I can be!

Compare the kinds of noses you see

around you. Draw the unique shapes of your friend’s noses.

Ask them if they like their noses.

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F O R T H E C U R I O U S R E A D E R

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ARE YOU CURIOUS ABOUT THE FUTURE? DO YOU THINK THERE WILL BE SPACE SHIPS WHIZZING BY TALL CITIES? PEOPLE IN

SILVER SUITS? I THINK SO.

WHAT ABOUT ANIMALS? WHAT KINDS OF ANIMALS WILL THERE BE IN FUTURE?

CAN YOU SEE MAJESTIC TIGERS IN YOUR FUTURE?

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MACHLIShe is royal, so brave! Her legendary fight with a 14-footlong crocodile is still spoken of, even though many years have passed and she is now old! And she is the Queen of Ranthambore!

Welcome to Ranthambore, one of the largest tiger reserves in India. Ranthambore Fort is one of the six forts included in the World Heritage Site inscription Hill Forts of Rajasthan, says Wikipedia. And as many people go there to see the first as they do to see the Queen!

The Queen? Yes! Please meet Machli, T-16, the royal tigress and the pride of Ranthambore National Park.

The palaces, forts and lakes of Ranthamboreare her playground. So many tiger and animal lovers have loved looking at her,photographing her that she is called the Lady of the Lake.

The Queen of Ranthambore!

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Many documentaries and short films have been shot for her and she has been the star of the wild tiger world. In addition to this many books have been written on her and her park. She has a stamp in her name. She’s even received a TOFT Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to conservation and the Rajasthan economy.

Why is she famous?

Is it only her majestic look, the way she held sway over the whole Ranthambore jungle? Or was it something else? She was photogenic and was not camera shy! So she became one of the most photographed tigers in Ranthambore. And she allowed people to take her pictures, she was soon raising money for Ranthambore — and hence was saving tigers, in her own way.

If you dare to get close enough to her — even if it is from the other side of a strong camera lens — you wil notice the fish shaped marking on the left part of her face.

It is easy to guess why she’s called Machli.

Ranthambore

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She gave birth to three cubs in 1997 - Sundari, Broken Tail and Slant Ear. She looked after them, a fierce and protective mother till the cubs were on their own. Machali went on to have more babies - Jhumru and Jhumri. Sharmelee and Bahadur. And each one of them she saved from othe ranimals. Male tigers were so afraid of her and would run away from her and her cubs!

Today, she moves gracefully through the oldruined fortresses and forests. Though 17 years old — really old for a tiger — and quite toothless, her muscles ripple as they did before and she is impressive and brave as ever before.

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The tiger is an endangered species in need of caring people! For when tigers go, the world changes that much for the worse!

In 2015, India figures showed that we have the largest tiger population in the world! 2,226 tigers - that’s 70% of all the tigers in the world.

Without the tiger, India wouldn’t just lose its spirit but also its hope of survival in an era of climate change. Bittu Sahgal

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F O R T H E C A R I N GR E A D E R

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HAVE YOU TALKED TO EVERYONE IN YOUR CLASS? IS THERE ANYONE THAT YOU HAVE NOT TALKED TO?

IS THERE SOMEONE INCLASS THAT YOU WISH YOU COULD TALK TO?

I speak for thosewith orange lunch boxeswho play third treein an orchard of eightin the annual school playwho aren’t headgirlsgames captains, class monitors

who watch other girls fight for the seesawfrom the far wall across the sand-pitwho remember everyone’s linesbut their ownwho pelt after the school bustheir mother’s breakfasts heavingin their gutwho still believethere’ll be exams one daythey’ll be ready for.

Those with orange lunch boxes.I speak for them.

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F O R T H EN O N S E N S ER E A D E R

S U L L E N L Y Z O A !

H U L L A B A LO O T U S !

F I S T Y C U F F I U S !

M U C H O S - O U C H O S !

DO YOU KNOW ALL THE WORDS IN THE DICTIONARY? ME NEITHER.IF ONLY WE COULD MAKE UP OUR OWN WORDS...THE AUTHOR OF THE

NEXT STORY HAS! WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY MEAN?

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Could you scream louder than a Hullabalootus? Would you dare tell a joke to a Sullenlyzoa? How about doing the boogie-woogie with a Fistycuffius? Or sticking a band-aid on a Muchos-Ouchos’ foot? Would you like to share your poppadum with a Chomp-A-Chompitos? Would you? Louder, please!Ah! In that case, there’s onlyone thing to do. You must start by reading the adventures of Professor Woody-Two-Shoesin the jungle of Whereeezthees!

Not too long ago, Prof. Woody-Two-Shoes began exploring the jungle of Whereeezthees. All by himself? No, no! Then, who went with him?Loonymoon, his nephew,Organic Singh and Natural Singh, his assistants,And Tit-Bit, the dog.And what went with him?One large tent,One large map,One large trunk of important tools and a lot of food.

The Adventures of Professor Woody Two ShoesSukumar Rai

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Adventure # 1: Burrrrppp!Location: Jungle of Whereeezthees, not too far from Mt. Pointy

One day, after pitching their tents along the banks of the river Verydeep, Professor Woody-Two-Shoes and his team went exploring, dragging the large trunk and carrying the large map along with them. ‘Oh! What a peculiar place this is!’ exclaimed Prof. Woody-Two-Shoes.And indeed it was. It was nothing like any of them had ever seen

before. There were gigantic trees all around, but nobody could name even one of them. Not even the Professor! One of the trees had bright red fruit, each as big and round as the moon. And from another tree, grew yellow and white flowers as long as walking sticks! All of a sudden, Loonymoon scrunched up his nose and asked, ‘Who farted?’ ‘Not I, not I’, said everyone, shaking their heads furiously. But something really smelly was around.

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Welcome to the Jungle of Whereeezthees!

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mouths wide open, staring at all the strange things around them, they heard a loud, annoying sound: Gobble-Guppa-Slobber-Suppa!It seemed to be coming from behind the trees. At once, the assistants sprang into action, opening the large trunk and taking out the big Go-Away whistle.

Black Mamba on Samosa!It was coming from another tree with bottle-shaped fruits hanging from its branches. Was it a farting tree or a tree with farting fruits - this nobody was in the mood to find out.As Professor Woody-Two-Shoes, Loonymoon, Organic Singh and Natural Singh stood with their

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After about two minutes, the loud, annoying sound turned into something like this:Heen-heeh-heen-heeh-heen!Heen-heeh-heen-heeh-heen!‘Who laughs?’ asked Organic Singh, holding on to the Go-Away whistle tightly. At that very moment, he spotted an animal bigger than even

an elephant sitting on a tree. It would look at Organic Singh and then burst out laughing. Now you must be wondering what could an animal that was bigger than even an elephant, that sat on top of a tree and laughed just like you and me, possibly look like? Ah! This is where it all gets very confusing.

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At first it looked like a gigantic man. Then – no - not a gigantic man, but a gigantic monkey. Nope! Not a man or a monkey either, it was actually something completely different.It leapt on to the tree with the bright red fruits and began peeling and gobbling them down them one by one. Nom-nom-nom-nom! Heeen-heen-heeen-heen! Nom-nom-nom-

nom! Heeen-heen-heeen-heen! On and on he went, gobbling and laughing and laughing and gobbling. He might have eaten twenty-seven or thirty-four of those fruits - no one knew for sure.As the animal seemed to be in a jolly mood, Professor Woody-Two-Shoes fished out his camera and quickly took its picture. Luckily, there was

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Now I must ask again if you’d like to share your poppadum with a Chomp-A-Chompitos? Although, something tells me that there won’t be any sharing, just some snatching and gobbling!

no need to say ‘Smile’!Meanwhile, Loonymoon decided to offer it some food from the large trunk. Seeing the food, it jumped up in glee and in one big gulp polished off an entire loaf of bread and a bottle of jam. It then crunched through eight boiled eggs - yes, with their shells! For dessert, it was given a bit of pudding in a tin. Big mistake!

No! Not the pudding. The tin! The glutton that this animal was, it put the whole thing straight into its mouth and began chewing: Cutter-Clang-Cutter-Clang. But it soon made a terrible face and, howling in pain, disappeared into the jungle forever. Professor Woody-Two-Shoes decided to name it Chomp-A-Chompitos.

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F O R T H E I M A G I N A T I V E

R E A D E R

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SUPPOSE YOU HAD A GREAT POWER. YOU COULD IMAGINE ANYTHING AND IT WILL APPEAR BEFORE YOU. WHAT

WOULD YOU IMAGINE?

DO YOU THINK YOU WILL GET INTO TROUBLE FOR IT?

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The Wishing Bone Cycle PoemsJacob Nibenegenesabe

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There was an old woman I wished up.She was the wifeof an old pond.You could watch her swim in her husbandif you werein the hiding bushes.She spoke to him by the way she swamgently.One time in their lives there was no rainand the sun began making the pond smaller.

Soon the sun took the whole pond!

For many nights the old woman sleptnear the hole where her husband once lived.

THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN

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Then, one night, a storm camebut in the morning there still was no waterin her husband’s old house.

So she set out on a journey to find her husbandand followed the puddles on the groundwhich were the storm’s footprints.She followed them for many miles.Finally she came upon her husbandsitting in a hole.

But he was in the wrong hole!

So the old woman brought her husband homelittle by little in her hands.You could have seen him come homeif you werein the hiding bushes.

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One timeall the noises met.

All the noises in the worldmet in one placeand I was therebecause they met in my house.

My wife said, “Who sent them?”I said, “Fox or Rabbit,yes one of those two.They’re both out for tricking me back today.Both of themare mad at me.Rabbit is mad because I pulledhis brother’s earand held him up that way.then I ate him.And Fox is mad because he wantedto do those things first.”

ONE TIME ALL THE NOISES MET

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“Yes, it had to be one of them,”my wife said.So, all the noiseswere there.These things happen.Falling-tree noise was there.Falling-rock noise was there.Otter-mud-sliding noise was there.All those noises, and more,in my house.

“How long do you expect to stay?”my wife asked them. “We need some sleep!”

They all answered at once!

That’s how my wife and Isometimes can’t hear well!I should have wished them all awayfirst thing.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This book was designed as part of the ‘Untextbook’ project. I would like to thank Katha Publishing Team for providing me with the content for the books and feedback on my work.

I would like to thank Ashoka Public School and ACES Magnolia Maaruti School for allowing me to interview their students and faculty for primary research.

I would like to acknowledge my mentors, Kumkum Nadig, Jayesh Sivan, Arul Devan and Sadhwi Jawa, for creating a conducive environment of learning in the project. They have provided me with countless feedback and review to help shape the project to its current state.

Lastly, I would like to thank my peers, Anuja Bhandari, Uma Sharma and Puja Khurana and my parents for their support and courage in times of need.

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VI

READERS

SKYOF THE

English Main Course

This book is a part of project ‘Untextbook’ for

the Undergraduate Diploma Program at Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology.