Tultuli's Birthday

by Jhimli


It was the third of December, and we had a good move towards the gift shop because it our friend's birthday, Tultuli's birthday. We bought some gifts for her, wrapped them up, and went to her house, well dressed. After a few moments, everybody else arrived, all the children -- Sroyona, Srijata, me, my sister Pujarinee, Tatai, Nini, Rudrani, Makhon, Malini, Bapu and everybody -- we sat playing the singing game known as Antakshari, quizzes, and a bit of dancing!

After that, Tultuli led us to the dining table where a cake stood. It was shaped like a book. She cut it and gave a piece to every one of us. Then we enjoyed playing Paper Dance and then sat on the table to have our dinner. Sheela Auntie served our food and we ate with a heavy heart and did not stop until we were full. Then we took our return gifts from Tultuli (nice soup bowls and chocolates), and headed back home.

*Paper Dance is a game you play by folding a piece of paper over and over again, dancing on it until you cannot stay on it anymore!

The Picnic

by Puja


On 31st December, we packed for a picnic at Nalban, a boating park which neighbours Nicco Park in Salt Lake. We packed our things and boarded an Ambassador for going there. We had no idea who would come for the picnic because it was our first ever with the "Vidyasagers!" We met one of the girls of Vidyasagar whose name is Rinky. She introduced herself to me, my sister, and my friend Piu. We enjoyed playing bandminton with her. After that, we were called for our breakfast which consisted of a light meal of 'luchi' and 'alur dom.' We enjoyed eating this together with our friends. Feeding the Goat was a funny game we played too: you had to find goats and feed them. The one who could feed the maximum number of goats was the winner. Then we had our lunch with fried rice, a chicken curry, vegetable curries, and chutney. We played Ghost in the Graveyard after that. It was real excitement and enjoyment until we finally returned home in the evening, happy and tired.

*Puja wrote this piece one year ago when she and her sister were still quite new to Mustard Seeds Library. Now they are both very regular members!!
* Wondering what alur dom is? A tomatoey potato curry with coriander leaves served with little round fried breads called luchi.