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The Other Side
Sandun enjoyed the first few days of the school holidays, immensely.
He read his favourite “Famous Five” books and “Madol Duwa” twice over.
He made tall buildings and wide bridges with his building blocks. But by
the sixth day he found he had had enough of reading and playing with the
plastic bricks which were not as exciting as making a real bridge with
real cement. He walked up to Father who was working at his computer in
the sitting room.
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Sunny Stories |
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There was a
picture of a car on the other side |
“Father, can you let me play a game on your computer?” he asked.
“I am doing some work, Sandun,” said his father. “I need the
computer. Besides it is a beautiful day outside, why don’t you run along
and play with Anushi.”
“Anushi is not at home. She and her parents left yesterday to visit
Anushi’s Uncle who lives in Chilaw.”
“I see,” said Father.”Well,in that case, why don’t you play with your
building blocks? When I was your age I didn’t have computer games to
keep me occupied.”
Sandun knew when his father began a sentence with “when I was your
age...” he meant NO in big capital letters. So he sat on a window sill
and stared at the white clouds in the blue sky. He thought one cloud
looked like a rabbit. Another looked a lot like Grandpa’s beard. Yet
another looked like the monitor of a computer. He decided to walk up to
Father again.
“Now can I play a game on your computer, Father?” he asked.
Father sighed. “Let me find you something better to do.” He searched
among the papers on his desk and found an old newspaper with a picture
of the world map on it. He cut the picture into several pieces.
“Come, Sandun,” he said. “Sit here and put these pieces together. Try
to make the world map as it was before I cut it. I am sure this is far
more interesting than playing a computer game.”
Sandun sat on the sitting room floor and picked up two pieces of the
newspaper. Is this Asia? Is this Australia? He didn’t know. When Grandpa
saw Sandun he chuckled.
“Do you want some help with that, son? He asked Sandun.
“No Grandpa,” said Sandun. “I will figure this out in a few minutes.”
“As you wish,” said Grandpa and went to water the chili plants,
growing in cement pots in the backyard. When he returned to the sitting
room, fifteen minutes later, Sandun was still frowning over the pieces
of paper. Sandun had put Asia together but the other four continents had
yet to be patched together.
“Yes, Grandpa,” said Sandun. “Perhaps I do need your help.”
Grandpa sat beside Sandun. He kept several pieces of the newspaper
together and said “Tsk, tsk, they do not seem to fit.” Then he did a
strange thing. One by one he turned the pieces so that what was facing
the floor was now facing them.
“There is a red car on the other side,” exclaimed Sandun. It was
easier to put the car together than the world map. Sandun laughed as he
completed the picture of the car and then turned it over. There it was.
The world map.
Grandpa smiled. “There is always another side,” he explained to
Sandun. “Whenever we come across a challenge or a puzzling situation,
look at the other side… You will be surprised to see an easy way to
tackle the problem.”
Sandun smiled. He saw a smile on his father’s face too.
“Ok. Ok.,” said Father. “You can play a game on the computer now.”
“Thank you, Father,” said Sandun and gave Grandpa a hug for coming to
his rescue.
Celebrating mountain life
Dear children,
 Have you ever spent an evening near a mountain range enjoying the
lovely sight and the cool breeze? I am sure you must have done so.
International Mountain Day was celebrated on December 11. The Theme of
2012 Mountain Day was ‘Celebrating Mountain Life.’ International
Mountain day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in
2003. The main intention of having such a day is to promote events at
all levels which are focused on sustainable development in mountain
ranges.
Mountains are home to 12% of the world’s population and they are
crucial to life. It is important to have a day dedicated for world’s
mountains to create awareness about the importance of mountains to all
forms of life, to focus on the opportunities and constraints in mountain
development and to build global cooperation in a way that will bring
positive change to the world’s mountains and highlands.
Mountains provide most of the world’s fresh water. They are also home
to a variety of herbal plants and animals. Mountain hiking is an
enjoyable hobby which also provides a great deal of knowledge and
experience to the hiker.
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