Kid’s story A Town Called Boring
Once upon a time in India , there was a town called Boring . It was by the side of Dull Lake . The residents of Boring never smiled . They did not know how to grownups , and even the children , never , ever smiled . All the children ever did was go to school and after school ended for the day , they do their homework and prepare for class tests . If ever the children met each other in the evenings , they did not play . They also lied to each other about which chapters were important and which were not for the coming test . All they wanted was marks , marks and more marks . They did not know how to smile , they did not know how to joke and they did not know how to giggle and laugh . Life was really dull and boring . One day , the town had a visitor : an old grandma with silvery hair and a smile . Her smile reached up to her eyes , She had come to visit her granddaughter , Ekta , for the first time . At the end of her first day in the town , she understood that something was wrong – terribly , terribly wrong . When she smiled and nodded , no one smiled back at her , not even Ekta , her own granddaughter ! When Grandma smiled and said she had made Ekta’s favorite ‘ gajar ka halwa ‘ for her , what did Ekta do ? She just said : ” The history teacher cut three marks in one answer . God knows how many marks she has cut over the years . By now she must have a treasure chest full of marks . I wonder what she will do with them . Maybe I should steal her trunk some day then the marks will be mine . ” She did not eat the ‘ gajar ka halwa ‘ . Grandma was amazed . How could anyone talk at such length about marks and tests and nothing else ? But she heard this day after day and not only from Ekta , but from all her friends as well . And – if that wasn’t bad enough – from all the parents too ! These parents were always pushing their children to get more marks . Just as people in other places go to temples to pray , the parents went religiously to a shop called The Marks Bazaar , which kept a range of pens with which one could write secret messages . The parents would buy these pens for their children , who would then scribble answers on their thighs . It was called preparation for exams . What the parents did not know was that the shopkeeper secretly stocked infra – red detectors that could make out any secret message on any surface . The children ended up getting caught , and their parents were that person get tickled and laugh , the tickle would travel by touch from person to person . Grandma decided to use the cream on Ekta . Next morning , as Ekta got ready for school , Grandma gave her a glass of milk . As she did so , she touched Ekta under her chin . Something happened . It was like an electric shock . Ekta giggled . She looked shocked at this strange sound that came out of her throat ! Then she went to the mirror and looked at her reflection . And she giggled . Grandma was satisfied ! By afternoon , all the children at the school were giggling .