The Cuffs arrive

ADVENTURES OF THE CUFS

This is the story of the adventures of four kids, two girls and two
boys. They are mischievous, curious, intelligent and smart - but are
bored most of the time. The called themselves curious four and incurred
the wrath of the parents and the neighbours - till their first great
adventure made them CUFS - the shorter form of "curious four" , by
getting the power of becoming tiny , and move through anything - and
thus starts their great adventures - and boy! What do they learn during
their adventures !!! - a lot of them not even known to some of the
elders -

Come join in the adventures of the CUFS and have great fun.

Chapter 1

The curious four

It was a nice Saturday morning. The weather in Chennai was unusually
pleasant. The sun has risen just above the small coconut tree, and the
green long leaves of the tree was projecting varying pictures on the
eastern wall of the house.

The breakfast of the "sevai", thin long rice noodles of south India was
just over. The four kids were full of energy and mischief. Now is the
time to know a little more about the four kids , Vaish, Pavi, Shas, and
Abhi. Like all kids, these four are curious, hyper active and the
darling of their parents with equal, if not more of mischief to make
their parents and neighbours tired, irritated but with a tinge of
pride.

Vaish is a 11 year old, 4 feet 6 inches, wheat complexioned girl. She
is thin but strong, not only in the body but also in determination. The
mischievous twinkle lights up her eye whenever she does something that
would irritate her mother, and this twinkle is in her eyes most of the
time. She is the de-facto leader of the gang of curious four, which is
constantly on challenge, from the others, who vie with one another to
invent a higher level of mischief than thought out by Vaish - whose
full name is Vaishnavi. Her strength is in planning a mischief to the
minutest detail.

Pavi is a year younger than Vaish, at 10, equal to Vaish, in all areas,
continually threatening the leadership of Vaish. She is little fairer,
a little shorter and little more mischievous than Vaish. She has
photographic memory, and can memorise a verse of 100 lines in a jiffy -
Her continual demand for attention gets her into trouble, and she talks
and talks and talks - She has great strength of perseverance, and is
patient enough to complete the task taken up, however difficult the
work is.

Shas is a 10 year old boy, surprisingly less mischievous than the girls
- though he would beat most of the boys in his age group, he was no
match for Vaish and Pavi. He is a sponge, absorbs everything told to
him as fast as it is told to him - so he gets bored when people repeat
statements and has the bored intellectual look - probably from his
professor parents. As already said, in absolute terms his
mischievousness is great, but a wee bit less than the girls - so he
ends up as the errand boy most of the time, to the macabre plans of the
girls. His strength is to absorb fast and to do any to the best of his
ability .

Abhi is 9 years old the baby of the team, but with the most mischievous
actions - he does thing faster than the girls can think, with a twist
that the girls never thought. It is said that "Vaish and Pavi proposes,
but Abhi disposes". The girls have to work over time to get out of the
mess created by Abhi, but they enjoy this more than their original
plans. His strength is to provide a twist which was not in the original
plan - the higher the twist more brighter his face would become - thus
preparing the girls, though only partially.

Chapter 2
Planning of the adventure

As described earlier, it was a pleasant Saturday morning, and the
curious four had assembled at Vaish's place. With more of their
mischief, more restriction were placed on their actions - every time,
they have to innovate the next action, if they don't want to blatantly
violate the restriction imposed on them.

They had all finished their home work, and their extra activities are
all only in the evening - Vaish goes for dance, Pavi for music, Shas
for Chess, and Abhi for "Karate", a Japanese martial art. The way they
wer huddled together, it was obvious that they are planning something
big.

Vaish said " why don't we look inside my father's tool-kit as earlier,
and then decide what we should do? "

Pavi interrupted " Vaish, that would be inviting your father's anger.
You know how strict your father is about his tool kit"

"But Pavi., if I use the tools properly and there is no damage, my
father would not be angry" .

One could almost feel the glow in Abhi's face, thinking of the variety
of uses he can put to, the tools from Vaish's father's kit.

Shas was apprehensive. "Let us not play with elders' tools ". He knows
that he would be asked to bring the kit , a job requiring all the
courage he can muster.

"Listen, let us first decide the what we are going to do, before we
start talking about the difficulties. " The special training Vaish is
undergoing on leadership was working.

"We must plan some thing grand - this should be better than what ever
we had done till now." This was Pavi looking for lot of
excitement.

"No - I don't want to get in to trouble with your plans - and even if
we do Abhi should not be allowed to do anything which will put us in
trouble" Shas's memory was still fresh from the scolding he got during
the last rearranging of the pots, when the girls got away very
lightly.

The girls knew what is the fear of Shas - Shas needs some more time
before he is asked to take big risks.

"What is that we can do, which does not require tool kit" Vaish started
thinking.

Shas just thought they should watch the TV and be quite to-day, and
Abhi was determined that he would go to the garden and play with the
mud if there is nothing else- The girls are responsible if Abhi plays
in mud and gets his skin infection again - Vaish was desperate.

"Pavi - come with some idea - we must do some thing."
" hey . What do you think am i an idea machine" . This was Pavi. Shas
was reconciled that there would be something today, and wanted to avoid
the garden - which would be the final destination, in spite of Abhi's
problem.

He ventured hesitantly " Look, why don't we play inside with colours -
let us do some painting with crayons and water colours. "

"No . That would be boring - we did painting last week and most of the
crayons are over "

Vaish got a flash " Wait wait - why don't we experiment with colours -
the other day, my father told me that all colours are made from three
basic colours of Blue , Green and Red, while explaining the colours in
TV. "

Shas was happy - " hey let's go and i would bring crayons " This was
Shas, who thought he would get away lightly.

Vaish would not have that - " listen - if the colours are the only
issue, why should we use all the colours from crayon . Lets get colours
from different sources. "

Abhi was enthusiastic . "Let us get lots of leaves for green". He
shouted with joy with the prospect of going to garden.

Pavi said " OK, that solves the green , now we have to get red and blue
"

Vaish chipped in " that is no problem , i have blue ink which i use for
school "

Shas wanted to play safe " that is it - we would use crayon for the red
". At least the trouble would not be very high. Only Vaish would have
to answer for the ink.

Abhi was rearing to go to the garden to pick the leaves. Shas wanted to
know how to get the green colour extracted from the leaves.

That was his trouble. He was given the job of bringing the
mixer-grinder from the kitchen. Pavi was to bring the crayons and Abhi
and Vaish were to go to the garden for the leaves.

Chapter 3
Experiment with colours

Vaish and Abhi reached the garden. What leaves would be good for
getting the colour? . The garden had lot of Shrub plants and trees. The
kids found that all leaves were not the same green. Which would grind
more easily? Which colour would be the right green.

The mango leaves were hard but dark green. The neem leaves were also
not thick, but softer than mango. The hibiscus leaves were soft but was
slightly lighter in shade. The lily leaves and plantain leaves were
still lighter but seem to be only fibres. There were other leaves like
the Indian Holy plant Thulasi and another called "karpura valli", both
having nice smell and looked easy to crush. Vaish was not sure which
leaves to pluck. Abhi had an idea, which would give him enough fun. He
suggested that they pick each kind of leaf and crush them with
stones.

Vaish knew she was inviting trouble - but then any fun is trouble with
elders. They decide to take on samples of mango, neem, plantain,
hibiscus, cacti shrubs, and thulasi. Abhi was told not to climb the
tree fro mango and neem leaves. The other leaves were plucked. The
plantain leaves required a knife, and Vaish had to go to the kitchen -
she also wanted to check the progress Shas was making on bringing the
mixer-grinder from the kitchen.

While Vaish was moving towards the kitchen, without letting her mother
or Shas know that she is going towards kitchen, she remembered the
lessons on the leaves.

Vaish's teacher that year was very good. All the students were asked to
bring at least one leaf, and the teacher formed teams which had more
than four types of leaves within the group. The students were then
asked to draw each type of leaf, and mark all the parts of the
leaves.

Describe leaves- types and parts

As Vaish reached the kitchen, she did not find Shas there, as she had
expected. She stealthily looked around to see if Shas had been caught
by her mother, and all their plans were busted. When she found no one
around, she quietly unplugged the mixie, wound the power card around
the mixie, without sharp bends, ( her father had taught her how to
handle power cards, and that sharp bends would cause the copper
conductor inside the card to break in the log run, and create
problems). She was lucky that her mother did not catch her with the
mixie. But, where is Shas?. Vaish went up the stairs to her room to see
if Shas is there. She didn't call out shas, as she didn't want her
mother to get wind of their plans yet.

When she reached her room, she was surprised to find Shas frantically
searching all their bags.

"Shas, what are you doing?. Why wer you not in the kitchen bringing the
mixie. See, i had to leave Abhi in the garden, and I don't know what
mischief he would be upto. Come down fast and bring down this mixie
with you. "

Vaish was about to turn when she noticed the panic in Shas's
face.

"What had happened? Did my mother catch you when you were trying to
take the mixie?"

Shas nodded his head from side to side to indicate no.

"Then what? Talk fast. I am in a hurry"

Shas face went redder. Hesitatingly he started " Vaish, Vaish"

"Come out with it. I don't have all the time in the world" . Vaish was
beginning to lose her patience.

Shas screwed up his courage. " Vaish, I seem to have left my crayons at
my house. We cant get the red colour as we had decided. We would have
to drop our experiment."

Vaish was upset, as her crayons have been thrown in the attic, as she
coloured the fridge last week, and she knew that Pavi didn't have
crayons with her.
"How can we stop this after having gone so far" Vaish started thinking
.

Shas was looking at Vaish with expectations. Vaish normally comes out
with solutions during crisis, though no one can predict hoe dangerous
they would be - but they are solutions, nevertheless.

Vaish's face brightened. "Shas, go to my mother's room. The dressing
table does not have lock. She has one of her old lipsticks, which she
does not use ( Vaish had turned the screw head at the bas, used for
ejecting the lipstick, as it gets used - with out removing the cap, and
spoilt the lipstick earlier.). We can use that for red.
Shas had to do it, as he was the one to have brought the crayons - it
would also give him the opportunity to turn the lipstick knob, which
his mother never allowed him to try.

In the meanwhile Pavi was busy collecting containers for mixing the
colours in the cellar cum play room of Vaish's home. She had collected
a lid of an old plastic jar, a handle-less 1 litre mug, couple of
chipped soup bowls and two regular paint brushes, few plastic spoons
served with packed ice cream, and was ready for Vaish and others.

Vaish returned to the garden to see what mischief Abhi was upto.
Fortunately, nothing untoward had happened and Abhi had just collected
a pile of leaves from Neem, Hibiscus, soft Tulasi and Karpooravalli,
and some mango leaves.

Vaish and Abhi found a flat shale stone, available in South India and
popularly known as Cuddappah ( pronounced Kadappa) stone. Shale is
formed by layers of sediments tightly packed over millions of years.
Due to the nature of formation, these layers can be easily separated
and very flat slabs can be obtained. The colourrs range between black
to grey and shades of brown or pale green. These stones are relatively
soft, compared to stones like granite, but strong and hard enough for
crushing leaves. This was used as the base. The round stones which are
found in the rapids, was used as pestle or hammer for crushing the
leaves. These round stones are formed when the rocks break down by
heating and cooling by the change of weather over centuries. This is
similar to glass articles breaking very hot water is suddenly pored
into them. ( metals which conduct heat very well do not break by sudden
heating or cooling or by cycles of heat - cool \heat - cool as in
weather change). These broken rocks are carried by the force of water
during the rainy seasons down the hill. While rolling down the hill,
these stones rub against the rocks of the mountain and against each
other. This smoothens the rough edges, and makes them rounded or
ellipsoidal and other such rounded shapes.

Abhi and Vaish started the trial crushing of each leaf. First they took
the mango leaf, which is long and hard with thick stem .
Vaish said "how are we ever going to get the colour extracted from this
leaf - let us try other leaves"
Abhi didn't even wait for Vaish to finish her sentence. He folded three
to four leaves of mango and kept them on the Cuddappah slab. He then
started crushing them with the makeshift pestle. Abhi expected the
leaves to become a paste - instead the mango leaves became fibres, with
very little juicy material to become paste.

"Abhi, these hard leaves have more fibre than wet cells - we may not
get enough chlorophyl and we would have hard time removing the fibres.
The coconut leaves would also be similar or even worse than this. Let
us take some juicy leaves. "

Abhi chose the thickest of the leaves which he had collected. The
happened to be the Karpooravalli leaves - they are called so s they
give out camphor smell when crushed. As he started crushing he
asked
"Vaish, the smell is so nice - is camphor extracted from these
leaves"
"No Abhi, the camphor was originally from a tree called *** which grows
in Himalayan mountains. My father said that in the recent days,
synthetic camphor is produced in chemical factories. They have a long
name which i don't remember. ( the synthetic camphor is
2-Camphanone)
The thick leaves of "Karpuravalli" were easy to crush. Lot f liquid
flowed from the leaves when they were crushed. Abhi had difficult time,
trying to keep the liquid in within the flat surface of the Cudappah
slab.

" Why wont the liquid keep still" Abhi asked in a frustrated
voice.

"Liquid always flows from higher level to lower level. That is why they
are different from solid. They always take the shape of the container.
Now that we dont have a container, but only a flat surface, the liquid
is trying to take flat shape and is flowing out from the centre." Vaish
was trying to exhibit her knowledge of liquids.

The liquid was clear. Since they wanted only the colour, vaish asked
Abhi not to bother about the liquid.

The crushed leaves were pale green. The handful of leaves left very
little crushed mass. Vaish understood that the thicker and softer
leaves have more water than thin leaves.

"Abhi, enough of Karpooravalli. Let us collect the paste crushed till
now in this bit of Banana leaf. ( for those who have not seen a banana
leaf - the banana leaf can grow upto two meters long and about 1 metre
wide - enough for an adult to sleep on . the average size of banana
leaf is about 1.5 M long and about 600 mm wide.

" We have very little paste. Let us crush some more." Abhi was enjoying
the mess he was making.

" Abhi, we are supposed to do only trail crushing. We have mixie for
final crushing. Now, get on with Tulasi leaves." said Vaish with
firmness.

Abhi reluctantly removed the crushed Karpooravalli leaves from the
Cuddappah stone to the banana leaf bit, Vaish had given.

Vaish was almost sure that Tulasi would also have much water like
Karpooravalli.

" Vaish, Tulasi also gives out nice smell when crushed. Do all leaves
have smell " asked abhi.

" Most leaves release some chemicals which activate the nerves in our
nose. More the chemical in the air, stronger the smell. I don't know
more about it, and let us get on with crushing. Pavi and Shas must be
waiting.". Vaish was in hurry, and wanted to get this over as fast as
possible.

Abhi started crushing the Tulsi leaves. As was expected, Tulsi paste
was also pale green, but the liquid was lesser than that of
Karpooravalli.

Vaish becoming concerned. She went through in her mind what she knew
about various leaves. She thought of "Mehendi", leaves, which are
crushed to dark green paste. Mehendi was used the hands and forearms of
the women in india. The crushed mehendi is applied on the skin in an
artistic pattern, and left for a few hours, normally overnight. When
the dried paste is removed, ap attern of varying shades between orange
and red would be left on the skin. These beatiful patterns would remain
on the skin for more than a fortnight.

She also thought of "Palak", a spinach like leaves, popular in northern
India , looking deep green when cooked - the palak dishes are mouth
watering, and one did not need POPEYE stories for making children eat
palak.

Then of course the curry leaves, which are ground to a dark green
paste, for adding along with spices.

Vaish became confident that green past from leaves are not a
problem.

She instructed " Abhi, collect the tulsi paste in this piece of banana
leaf, and start with hibiscus leaves."

Abhi was losing his interest in crushing. " even hibiscus leaves won't
give the right paste. I am not going to crush any more leaves."

"Abhi, Don't stop anything half way. We have tried three leaves, and
and we have found that thin hard leaves have more fibre, less fleshy
portion and less water. The thick leaves have less fibre, more fleshy
portion and more water. Hibiscus leaves are thicker and softer than
mango leaves, but thinner and harder than karpooravalli and tulsi. So,
the hibiscus should be about right. Once we find it is okay on trial
crushing, we can collect as much as required and use the mixie. By the
way, even harder leaves like curry leaves can give green paste. Don't
you remember patti's curry paste ( Patti means grand mother in many
South Indian languages, especially Tamil)

Abhi took some hibiscus leaves, folded them one over another, and
started crushing, using the stone pestle.

"Pchtuck ... Pchtuck ... . Abhi got carried over with the rhythm, now
that his enthusiasm having returned. The leaves were getting crushed,
and they were partially crushed. The leaves were moving away from the
point, where the stone pestle was meeting the centre of the cuddappah
stone.

"Clang ... Clang ... Clang ... " Both Abhi and Vaish realised that they
were making more noise than they should be making. If any of the elders
hear this, their experiment should stop. Abhi stopped crushing, and
looked at Vaish- with his face showing a mixture of sadness, guilt and
a hangover of just coming out of pleasurable trance.

" Vaish, what are you doing in the garden . What was that noise" That
was Vaish's mother, who heard the clang of stone against stone.

"Nothing ma. We were just collecting some leaves." Vaish replied with a
mixture of truth and half truth.

"Abhi, dont crush the leaves by hammering. Just move the pebble over
the leaves on the cuddappah stone." whispered Vaish, who didn't want
her mother to come to the garden and see what they were doing
there.

In the next few minutes, the hibiscus leaves were made into a paste,
though not as fine as Vaish wanted. She knew that the mixie would
finish the job more thoroughly than the makeshift pestle and
mortar.

"Abhi, I think the hibiscus leaves are the best choice. Collect the
leaves in this bag, and come to the cellar. And don't stay in the
garden too long and get caught.

-- x --- x ----

Vaish left Abhi in the garden and reached the cellar. Shas had
successfully brought her mothers lipstick. Pavi had collected wo
chipped soup bowls and a handle-less mug. The only thing left was to
collect the blue ink from Vaish's study.

." Pavi, let us plug in the mixie and check it out. Then, you can grind
the leaves while I am away , bringing the blue ink." remarked
Vaish.

They plugged in the mixie, without the jar. They have been told that
individual sections should be tested separately, before everything is
assembled together and tested again. Vaish asked pavi and Shas to stand
back, just in case. She knows that their freedom would be curtailed, if
anyone of them gets hurt.

The mixie was switched on. It purred smoothly. Vaish felt mild
vibration, as she was holding the mixie. She removed her grip on the
mixie.

"Vaish, the mixie is moving - it is moving towards the edge of the
table. Be careful " Shas shouted with panic. Vaish immediately switched
off the mixie.

"I can hold the mixie while we grind the leaves, but how was the mixie
still when it was used in the kitchen" This was Pavi, who was
responsible for grinding.

" Is it because of the table? In the kitchen the mixie was on the
granite surface", said Vaish.

"Pavi, granite is smoother" was the comment from Shas. Shas remembered
his teacher saying that things would move more easily over smooth
surfaces. Here, the granite surface was smoother than the table
surface.

Pavi suddenly remembered. In her house, when the micro wave oven on
paper, she was able to move it easily. But when it was kept on the
granite kitchen table, Pavi found it difficult to move.

Her mother had then explained that the small rubber feet at the base of
the oven. These were concave shaped ( a shallow dimple) at the bottom.
Her mother had said that when the oven was place on the smooth surface,
the air in the hollow of these rubber feet got expelled. The outer air
, trying to enter this space ( called vacuum effect) , keeps the oven
in place. She had also said that in the rough surface, air can enter
through the gaps between the rubber feet and the rough surface, while
there would be no gap between the smooth surface and the rubber
feet.

"Vaish, look if there are rubber feet at the bottom of the mixie" cried
Pavi.

The children knew that if any of them make a statement, confidently,
they knew about it. Because of this trust, instruction are just obeyed,
and questions are asked later.

Vaish turned the mixie and found four rubber feet, about 25 mm in
diameter ( about the size of an Indian rupee). Pavi explained what she
knew.

The mixie was then moved to the smoother portion of the work table,
used for writing. Vaish ensured that the mixie' was pressed from the
top, to expel the air from the rubber feet. The mixie was started again
- and it stayed where it was.

-- x --- x ----

Abhi had come into the cellar with a bagful of hibiscus leaves, when
the mixie's movement was being stopped. He saw the jar being fixed on
the already tested mixie.

The mixie comes with detachable jar to make it easier to wash the jar,
without water getting into the electrical portions of the mixie.

Pavi took the jar and placed it on the mixie and was about to start, by
turning the mixie knob.

"Stop - Don't start.. let me check if the jar is properly locked "
cried Vaish.

Shas and Abhi were curious. " Where is the lock. I don't see any lock
or key " this was Shas.

Vaish removed the jar and showed them the bottom of the jar, where
there was a black rubber or soft plastic part. This portion had dips
and projections. Vaish then showed them the hard plastic part of the
mixie, which also had similar projection and dips, but in a way that
the projections in the mixie would fit correctly into the dips in the
jar.

Vaish also showed the groove in the mixie, and the small projection in
the jar.

" Once my mother started the mixie without locking, and there was noise
and smoke, and the blades in the jar had stopped rotating. --- but the
mixie motor was still running. My mother panicked, switched off the
mixie, and called my father.

" What happened then " Pavi was very curious.

" If the soft rubber of the jar does not sit properly in the hard
plastic of the mixie, and if the mixie is started, hen the hard plastic
starts cutting the soft plastic of the jar " explained Vaish from what
her father had told her mother.

"But the plastic is not sharp" pointed out Shas.

Abhi asked " Is it like the rubber in the eraser wearing out, while
rubbing on paper"

"Exactly. Rubber wears out faster than paper, and when the eraser is
rubbed on ground or wood to remove the black stain, only the rubber
wears out" explained Vaish.

"What do we do to lock it ". Abhi was impatient and wanted to grind the
leaves he had brought.

Vaish integrated the jar with the mixie, properly locating the
projections of the jar into the grooves of the base, and gave slight
twist. The jar turned a little, while the base was stationary.

"Now the jar won't come out, unless twisted in the opposite direction.
This means that the jar is seated properly and locked " said Vaish with
an air of authority.

"But, where is the lock " Shas was not convinced.

"My father had explained that the twist we give to the jar to stop the
jar from coming out is called locking", Vaish said with some of the
authority in her voice having been eroded.

The kids were happy that the jar's rubber was not damaged, and they had
escaped from possible scolding.

Now, with the jar properly locked, the mixie was started. After
satisfying that the blades in the jar were rotating properly, the mixie
was stopped.

The jar was then filled with the hibiscus leaves.

"Should we press the leaves" Abhi, who was filling the jar, wanted to
know.

"Let us push the leaves slightly. My mother used to say that if the
mixie is overloaded, it would stop." said Pavi.

Abhi pushed some more leaves and closed the jar.

Pavi started the mixie. Vaish left the cellar to bring the blue ink
which is the only thing missing now.

Vaish brought the blue ink to complete the material inventory.
-- x --- x ----

After a few minutes, the leaves were partially crushed, and were
sticking to the sides of the jar.

The children had seen their mothers using a spoon to push the whatever
sticks to the sides to the centre of the jar, so that the blades are
covered.

"When we were using the stone for crushing, the leaves were getting
crushed differently. Here the leaves seem to get chopped. " Abhi was
looking for an explanation.

"We have to ask my father, when he is relaxed. - but we have to be
careful not to let him know what we were doing" said Vaish.

"I have seen the green leaves getting totally crushed when my patti
makes chutneys. (Chutneys are Indian preparation of grinding various
ingredients to a smooth paste - curry leaves, coriander leaves and mint
leaves arte commonly used to prepare chutneys) " Pavi was
subconsciously trying to reassure everyone.

By opening the mixie and pushing the half crushed leaves into the
centre of the mixie, and repeating this three four times, the leaves
were getting ground.

"Why can't we push the leaves without switching off the mixie. We can
save time. " the eternally impatient Abhi asked Vaish.

"Silly, the blades cut the spoon into pieces, and it may cause
everthing to be thrown into the open" this was Pavi, who had seen this
happening once, when her mother was impatient, once.

"My mother told our maid hundreds of times to keep the lid on, before
switching on the mixie" said Vaish. " Let us follow what elders do,
when we don't know" was the reply from always safe Shas.

By then, the leaves had been ground to a fine dark green paste.

Pavi brought the mug to collect the paste. The jar was removed after
unlocking, and the paste was transferred to the mug.

One of the soup bowls was taken for mixing the colours.

"What should we mix first" Vaish wanted consensus to avoid arguments
later.

"Let us mix blue and green " Abhi and Pavi shouted in chorus.

Vaish took the ink bottle and poured a small quantity into the soup
bowl. She then asked Pavi to take similar quantity of paste from the
mug, and put it into the soup bowl.

Everyone was expecting a miracle of changing colours. They
waited.

" Nothing happened.

Vaish mixed the ink and the leaf paste a little more. All they could
see was paste becoming darker, with the ink spreading into the
paste.

"Is it that blue and green alone would not give a new colour, and we
require the red also" Disappointed Shas asked equally disappointed
Vaish.

"Let us try green and red " this was from even more disappointed
Pavi.

" Some change should be there. I had seen the colours changing when our
house was painted" Vaish was almost talking to herself.

" Any way, let us now try green and red" Pavi and Shas were almost
simultaneous.

Another bowl was taken. A portion of of the lipstick was smeared on the
bowl. Unlike ink, they didn't have large quantities of red. They mixed
the smeared lipstick, and small quantity of leaf paste.

Nothing happened.

The lipstick would not mix with the paste, and stood separately.

"Should they allow more time? " Vaish was thinking.

"What do we do now " this was Shas

Abhi was for more action. "Let us get some other leaves" was his
suggestion.

"Should we start cleaning up", queried Shas, who knew he would be
dumped with all the work if he is not careful with the girls.

-- x --- x ----

Before the debate could come to an end, the children heard the main
door open. Vaish's mother sounded happy " Welcome Yogi Dada - It is a
long time since you had visited us"

the children could hear an old but confident voice " It is a pleasure
to visit your home. This is one of the few places where I can say what
I think" said yogi dada.

"Well, that is what you had taught. - that human mind is like a
parachute - works only when it is open. - and that otherwise it is only
ornamental."

" Where are the kids. I enjoy spending my time with them " Children
also enjoyed the company of Yogi dada. Vaish's mother was saying " Take
rest Yogi dada, I would make some fresh Bajji's ( the Bajji,s are
prepared by deep frying some select vegetables in a paste made from
rice flour and the powder made from a bean called "kadali paruppu" in
Tamil , and "bhasin" in Hindi) for you. The children would smell the
bajji's and would be here.

---- x ----- x ------

The children love Yogi dada. Yogi dada is a lean tall old man long hair
and long grey beard. His eyes twinkle all the time and his even white
teeth shows through his moustache and flowing beard. He always seems to
be happy. He had long since retired from Indian Railways as Chief
engineer. He reads various books all the time and is a store house of
knowledge.

Even at the age of 80, he can play with the children, and be one with
them. H knows lot of tricks with cards, and knows how to make objects
out of paper - he can also fix almost all of children's toys.

No parent dares to scold their children in front of Yogi dada -
"Children are like young plants - you can not sit on them and expect
then to grow well " is one of his favourite statements.

"Children are always responsible. We have to give them
responsibilities. Children are curious - we have to satisfy their
curiosity. It is our ignorance and our inability to answer children's
questions, which makes us angry", he tells the parents all the
time.

He believed that children's discipline should be self motivated and not
forced. So he patiently answered all the questions of children, however
silly it may seen to other adults. He told then stories of adventure,
he told them stories from mythology, taught then tricks with cards - in
short did every thing to make children love him - and the children
loved him.

x ________ x ___________ x ____________ x

" Vaish, where are you? Where is the mixie, what are you children upto
", Vaish's mother is voice boomed from the kitchen bringing the
children back to reality from thinking of all the good time they would
be having with yogi dada
.
The fact that Yogi dada was there in the house, was a big moral support
to Vaish..

" Yogi dada, can you come to the cellar" Vaish shouted from the cellar.
She knew has mother would also hear her, but would have to hold back
her scolding in front of Yogi dada"

Yogi dada understood that the children were deep into some mischief and
with his usual smile started walking towards the cellar.

" Vaish's mother Vini, who also heard Vaish calling from the cellar,
was also moving towards the cellar, trying to control her temper, as
Yogi dada was present.

"Well children what are you doing in the cellar - you know that mixie
has to be in the kitchen and not in the cellar" Yogi dada was talking
to the children as he was descending the cellar steps.

" Vaish, what ever you do, why did you take the mixie from the kitchen
" Vaish's mother's voice showed that her anger has barely
controlled.

" Yogi dada, Yogi dada, how did you find out we are having the mixie in
cellar' Vaish asked with all innocence -

Acting to escape from parents anger is one of the talents most children
have and these four have more then fair share of this talent.

Yogi dada saw through the game, but decided to play along.

" You have the mixie in cellar is it, I was only guessing from Vini's
shouting and you calling me - you children call me only when you want
to get out of trouble with your parents - at other times you ignore
this old man. Isn't it". Yogi dada could also put on a front and
act.

" No dada, we were trying to understand colours. My father told the
other day that all colours can be got from three primary colours - that
is Blue, Green and Red. So we collected Green, Blue and Red, and were
trying to mix them - But you see, we are not getting new colours"

Vini, who had reached that cellar by then was shocked to see both her
mixie and her lipstick in a mess.

Yogi dada, sensing Vini's anger rising up, patted Vini's shoulders "
Okay Vini I understand - Be happy that they are only trying a
scientific experiment - can you clear the mixie yourself, or should we
ask the kids to do it.

Vini's anger was abated by the calm tone of Yogi dada.

" I would take the mixie and clean it up myself - but tell me Vaish,
what is this muck inside the mixie Jar " Vimi said in a tone with the
small residual anger still showing

"It is hibiscus paste" Pavi found her voice to intervene, before Vaish
could reply,

"Vini, the children have made the best preparation for your hair-care.
Hibiscus paste, applied on your hair before bath is better than any
shampoo - it is not poisonous - so you don't have to worry". Yogi dada
wanted to make the best of the situation and get Vini to cool
down.

" Vaish, now remove all the muck from the Jar and hand over the mixie
and jar to Vini - Pavi, Shas when Vaish is cleaning up the jar, tell me
what you had done, what is the observation and what are you children
planning".

The tone of yogi dada told the children that they are out of trouble,
at least temporarily - and that they are due for an exciting session
with yogi dada.

Vini left the cellar, glad that yogi dada was there to prevent further
mischief, though she was not sure if there would be more mess to clean
up at the end of the day.

x ________ x ___________ x ____________ x

The children explained all they had done. Yogi dada was proud that
children had been so analytical and logical.

"Now, children let me see if we can learn a little from your experience
bring some water first" said Yogi dada.

Shas was elected to go and bring water, being Vini's favourite.- with
Vaish still not confident to face her mother.

Yogi dada then asked "Have you ever seen a rainbow ".

Vaish said "I had seen once but, I know how it would be - I have seen
many pictures"

Other children had not seen a rainbow and they said so.

"This is sad - mothers must allow their children out when raining. Only
then children would have an opportunity to observe rainbow in real
life" said Yogi dada and continued.

"Vaish, can you describe how the real life rainbow is different form
picture rainbow".

Vaish hesitated "I had seen it only once ----"

Yogi dada always insisted on facts while discussing observation and
Vaish did not want to make a mistake.

"Come on Vaish. Tell us what you remember", prompted Yogi dada.

"In picture rainbow, the colours are clear. Each colour has definite
width. In actual rainbow it was mixture of colours, or one colour seems
to be over the other colour".

"Good, do any of you know how the rainbow is formed".

Abhi was impatient, "Dada, what is the connection between rainbow and
what we are doing ".

"Why, we are taking about colours - rainbow is colours - and has a lot
to do with mixing of colours".

"Dada, rainbow is formed where there is both sun and rain" said
Pavi.

"Is that all" , tell me more.". This was yogi dada.

"The sun has to be either getting or rising - it should not be noon".
Said Vaish.

"That is good - but you have not told me how the rainbow is
formed"

" Tell us dada" All the four children shouted in chorus.

"The sun light is mixture of rays, some of the seen, and most of them
not seen. For example, heat comes as 'infra-red' rays, which is not
visible. The visible light is seen as different colours, depending on
the wave length. - You will learn about wave length of light rays later
- Presently, it is enough if you know that red has longest wave length
in visible spectrum and violet the shortest wave length in visible
spectrum.

Micro waves and x- ray also belong to the samegroup of rays. As micro
wave is shorter, light waves, it can go throw ceramics and paper, which
are opaque to light rays - (opaque means light can not pass through).
Now micro wave cannot pass through metal while X-Rays can go even
through metal.

That is enough about other rays, and let us get back to Rainbow" Yogi
Dada paused.

"The Sun's ray look white dada. Where are colours" Pavi wanted to
know.

"Be patient. The blue sky and red horizon during sunrise and sunset are
from the same sun light. Let me try and make it very simple. You would
learn about it in your schools later in more detail ". yogi dada waited
to be sure that every one is listening.

" Have you observed that the bottom of the swimming pool looks nearer
than its actual depth", asked yogi dada. All the children nodded.

"This is due to the property known and refraction of light. That is,
light rays bend on certain conditions. The interesting part is, that
the longer waves bend more than shorter waves." The children were all
in attention.

Yogi dada continued. "The water particles create conditions for bending
the light from sun and separate them. This is what is seen as rainbow.
This rainbow is not "projected" in the sky but only seen by the eye....
more about this on another day, when we would talk only about light.
Let us get back to colours"

"Rainbow has only seven colours, we are told that there are only three
primary colours. But in real life, we see so many colours". Vaish
wanted all her doubts clarified immediately.

"That is exactly what I am coming to. In reality, the colour is as we
perceive the different wave lengths of light. A coloured articles
reflect the same colour wave length and absorb all other wave lengths"
said Yogi dada.

"You mean to say that we shine blue light on red object, or red light
on blue object, we cannot see them?" This was Shas who was absorbing
every bit of yogi dada's talk.

"Yes - if you can get a pure blue light or red light, it would be so.
Since most of the light sources have some other colours also, but at
very low intensity, you see the objects of other colours as
shadows."

" Is that the reason they have red light in darkrooms for developing
X-rays, - I had seen that whey my grandpa's X-ray was taken a few
months ago " sad Pavi, who is a keen observer.

" Yes. Red waves have lesser energy than blue or green - during your
school dramas, have you observed that when red light is projected on
stage other colours look darker and almost like a shadow ?" asked yogi
dada.

As all the children had been to their school functions, which always
had a drama or dance by children, they understood what yogi dada was
saying.

" But dada, in that case, we should either see all objects in only one
colour or as black,if the other colours are absorbed. But we see the
colours changing, when these lights are changed in the stage " Vaish
who had taken part in may programs had seen the colours changing.

"That is it - when an yellow light is projected on the stage, it is not
only yellow wavelength's light , but that the yellow is much higher.
Further, there number of other objects in stage which reflect yellow
also, along with other colours. So, what your eye sees is more of
yellow, and less of the other colours. If, say Blue colour is seen
through yellow, it creates in illusion that you are seeing greenish
colour" Yogi dada's explanation made Abhi correlate the mixing o
colours, and what they were attempting.

Correlate the mixing of colours and what they were attempting.

Abhi asked "That means, when we mixed colours, we should also seen
different colours"

Yogi dada paused for a moment.

"Vaish, what is your mother preparing now"

"Why, she told you see is making bajji's"

"What is the colour of Bujji"

"It is Orange, actually between Red and Yellow"

" That is your answer children. The Bajjis are made of Rice , which is
white, , Bhasin Dhall, which is Yellow and chillies, which is Red - if
you mix them as such, you see the colours as the same with the white
rice, the yellow dhall, and red chillies being separate. But when they
are made as powders and mixed, we stop seeing individual colours but
see the net result". Yogi Dada was trying to explain the basics of
mixing the colours.

"If that is the case, we should have been able to get different colours
when we mixed the red lipstick and green leaf paste". Asked Pavi who
was puzzled with one example showing results while mixing of colours
and other not giving any result.

"You have given the answer yourself. The key word is "mixing". When
different coloured powders are mixed, they are distributed uniformly.
When lipstick is mixed with leaf paste, it did not mix - The reason is
that lipstick is based on petroleum jelly and leaf is plant protein.
Both of them do not mix with water based ink". Clarified Yogi
dada.

" If we find colours which can mix well, can we then have different
colours?" asked Vaish, echoing the thoughts of every one.

"Yes, now you can see all paints companies have marketing instant mixed
shades. The computer mixes different coloured points to give the shade
you want - The proportion of mixing the primary colours determines the
final colour". Continued yogi dada " I would take all of you to the
nearest hardware shop, which has a computerised colour mixing
facility."

"How is the computer involved" asked Abhi who was slowly losing
interest.

Sensing the mood of children yogi dada said " Let us discuss that
later, I am going to go to tell you a story- but before that, you must
tell me why you four are so mischievous."

The children were silent - Even yogi dada is talking about us being
mischievous-

Suddenly Vaish noticed the twinkle in yogi dada's eyes - she
answered.

"Why, we are only following what you have always said - experiment your
selves, if you want to learn. How else can we have our curiosity
satisfied."

"I am sure that you children know the story of the monkey and the
wedge ... " dragged Yogi Dada.

"Dada, we don't know the story. Tell us please" Abhi was now getting
more interested in the proceedings.

"Is it the storey of the monkey and crocodile? But I don't know if
there is any wedge in it " Vaish was wondering.

"Dada - What is wedge" Shas preferred things to be precise.

"Patience, children , patience. If you don't know the storey of the
monkey and the wedge, then it is time you hear the storey from me . Are
you people ready to hear the story" asked Yogi Dada.

The children settled around Yogi dada with expectations of an
interesting story from Yogi dada, who is an expert story teller.

" Once, there was a village near a thick forest. The villagers
understand and love the trees, which are their lively hood. - no, they
don't use the trees for firewood. They are very good carpenters. "
Paused Yogi Dada . The children are conscious of environment, and have
been told of the harms of felling trees indiscriminately for
firewood.

"The carpenters have formed an expert group within themselves, who
would identify the mature trees to be cut, and also supervise the
re-plantation of felled trees. Since the trees take 30 to 40 years to
mature before being useful for furniture, the expert group is impartial
and very knowledgeable. Only those trees marked by them could be cut by
the others. If the re-plantation in one season is not very successful,
then the number of trees cut in the next season would be reduced. This
ensured proper balancing of the trees being cut and re-planted. "

"Being a forest area, there were number of animals. Since the village
ensured sufficient number of large trees, the animals living off the
trees, like monkeys, birds, and the animals living in the tree holes
like rabbits flourished. The rains were good due to good forest cover,
and other animals such as deer etc., were also plenty."

"Those were the days when the machines like chain saws were unknown for
cutting the trees, and saw mills were not popular for cutting the logs
into timbers. Have any of you seen the saw being used for cutting the
wood. "

All of them have seen Vaish's father's toolkit, and chorussed a loud
"yes."

"Have you noticed that the saw tooth are bent slightly outwards on both
sides of the saw", asked Yogi Dada.

The children were trying to recall what they had seen, while Vaish
answered " Yes, My father had told that these projections ensure that
the cut is wider than the thickness of the saw blade. If that is not
so, the saw would be gripped by the wood, and further cutting would be
impossible. "

"Very good" Said Yogi Dada, and continued. " in the olden days, they
used the saw only for cutting across the logs, when the logs are big.
They are made into smaller sections, by using long chisels, which are
hammered. The would first mark the line in the log along the length.
And have number of long chisels . The first chisel would be driven into
the wooden log, and the log would start to split. Then the second
chisel would be driven into the log along the same line. The previous
chisel would not be removed as it would be very tight. Thus, they would
drive three of four chisels along the log, an the edge would slowly
open out. Now the carpenters would like to use the first chisel by
removing it from the log,. What would they do"

"Pull it out " shouted the children" .

" It would still be very tight to pull out. So, they would drive a
triangular shaped piece at the edge of the split, which would open the
log a little more, and as long as the wedge is there, it would not
close. The carpenters would have two or three wedges, and would keep
driving the wedges, as the wood keeps getting split. If the wedge is
removed, then the wood would close, with lot of force. Now i have told
you that there were lot of monkeys in the forest. The monkeys are least
afraid of the human beings, and would roam in the village. As you all
know, the monkey also try and do what the men do. "
"Yes, we all know the monkey and the cap story" , said abhi, who is
always fond of the monkey pranks.
So, one day, the carpenters were breaking a big log. They were working
from the morning, an by lunch time, they had split half the log, and
had kept the wedges in the split portion of the log. There were three
monkeys, which were observing the carpenters from the morning. One of
them said, that it would like to remove the wedge and drive it again
like the carpenters. The other two were afraid, but they were also
curious. So, when the carpenters were away eating their lunch, these
three monkeys came down from the tree they were sitting. The first
monkey tried to pull the wedge, but it would not come off easily. The
second monkey, then picked a hammer, and hit the wedge on the side, as
it had seen the carpenter do. Now, tell me, what do monkeys have extra,
compared to human beings? " asked Yogi Dada, with his usual mischievous
twinkle.

Shas answered with all the seriousness " They have curved foot, which
help them grip the tree branches, unlike human foot"

Pavi and Vaish knew that this was not the answer Yogi dada was looking
for, as his twinkle would not be for such seriuos answer.

Pavi intervened " The tail of monkeys" said she.

"Yes, Pavi, you are absolutely right - it would have been right if you
children also had one , but then I guess you are probably keeping it
hidden when elders are present' said Yogi dada, and continued.

"The long tail of monkeys, trail behind them, and the tail of all the
monkeys were in the gap between the wood, when they were trying to
remove the wedge. In their concentration to remove the wedge, they
didn't notice this. The decided that two monkeys would try and pull the
wedge together, while the third one would hit the wedge on the sides
with a hammer. In a few minutes, the wedge became loose. The two
monkeys put all their strength together and pulled the wedge -
Immediately, there was aloud noise like a giant clapping hands, which
was followed by the even louder wailing of the monkeys - do you know
why? Paused Yogi Dada.

Vaish, who half guessed the answer was trifle earlier than the others,
who all said " the tail of the monkeys were caught in the gap of split
wood"

Abhi could not wait to know the end. "What happened afterwards, did the
monkeys lose their tails. Did the carpenters had to cut the tails to
free the monkeys" he was shooting questions as fast as they came to his
mind.

Yogi Dada paused. "Well, let us say the t the carpenters replaced the
wedge, and the tails healed. But the point is, that when the monkeys
are curious, they did not have the intelligence to take care of
themselves. Do you children want to be like those monkeys or do you
want to be smart "

" We are smart, we have not hurt ourselves at all " Vaish and Abhi were
almost shouting.

" Are you sure. I don't see your tails" said Yogi Dada.

"Dada, it is not fair . We are not monkeys " whined Shas, who takes
these things a little seriously.

" If you don't want to lose any other part, then you must decide on how
to take care, while you are trying to learn about various things " Yogi
dada said with all seriousness.

The children understood. "Dada, tell us what we should do" Vaish said
on behalf of all the children.

"Well, before that , you should tell me all your adventures, and what
you had learnt from them. If I am happy with the care you have been
taking, i will give you children a magic formula, which will make you
go through any material. - do want that power " . Yogi Dada was sure
that no child would ever pass up that offer, and he was right.

The bajji's arrived by then. Yogi Dada told Vini, not to disturb them
till late in the evening, except to bring food to the children.

The children started recounting their adventures one by one.

Adventure -I

Checking the tool Kit

One day, the four children were bored as usual. That was the winter
holiday, just after the new year. The weather was pleasant and even the
tropical Chennai sun decided not to be harsh.

The rule o one cinema per week had already been broken, having seen two
movies in the TV that week. They were not allowed to go out in the sun,
as they were told that the winter sun would do more harm to the skin,
especially in Chennai. In spite of this they had spent the whole of new
years day in the sun, and one more day is not going to be allowed. The
school would be reopening next week.

They had enough of the indoor games of Chess, ludo, and Word
building.

"Vaish, what do we do. It is so boring". Pavi was expressing what
everyone felt.

"Why don't we do the experiments in the 'Science for Fun' " asked
Shas.

"Where do we go for all the ingredients. Without my father to help, we
would not be allowed to touch most of the materials." said Vaish

"Why don't you call your father and ask his permission" was the
suggestion from Abhi. Vaish's mother had gone out for a short while,
for an important work. She was very reluctant to leave the four of them
alone, and had specifically warned them to keep out of any
mischief.

Vaish decided to call her father. She called his office, and found that
her father was out of the office on a business visit.

"Vaish, why don't we go to the cellar and see if we can find some thing
to do physics experiments from the book" Shas wanted to do something,
which could be explained to the elders with least trouble.

Vaish's father had a well equipped cellar, for his hobby. He was an
engineer, and liked to tinker with various equipment. None of the
equipment in Vaish's house was ever given out for repair. If he were
present, there would be no problem at all in going to the cellar and
finding out any information. While he was very patient in explaining
and answered all the questions, he was also strict and would take to
task anyone meddling with his tools, especially without
permission.

"Vaish, let us go to the cellar. We would explain to your father later.
If we are careful and don't break any of his tools, he would not mind.
Even if he gets angry, if we ask him some questions on science, his
anger can be diverted." Pavi is very persuasive, when she wants to goad
others.

Vaish carefully weighed the pros and cons. The possibility of getting
scolded was very high, but Pavi's suggestion was a good one.
Alternately, not going to the cellar would mean that she has to find an
alternate. She decided to take a chance.

"Well, let us go to the cellar, but we should not operate any machine
which we do not understand. Especially Abhi has to keep his hands off
any switch. Is it okay? " Vaish wanted be as clear as possible. Before
taking her fellow brats to her fathers fiefdom.

The four of them started moving towards the cellar. Even though they
know that there is no one at home, they were moving stealthily, as if
the house was full of people. Vaish organised the movements, with Pavi
rushing to the cellar first. Shas followed, and only after a gap Abhi
and Vaish reached the cellar. the cellar.

The cellar had a well stocked tool kit for wood working, metal working,
a small oven for pottery firing, a miniature lathe and a small electric
test bench. The different tools were stacked neatly in cupboards, with
all of them neatly labeled. There was a separate cupboard for electric
hand tools. Vaish's father liked to do a lot of things with his own
hands. He also had a junk bin, where there was separate place for
metal, plastic and electrical items, all retrieved from broken or
discarded items. There was more than one occasion, these old parts had
come handy in fixing something or the other. This junk bin was always a
bone of contention between Vaish's father and mother. Vini always
wanted to throw all the junk away ( She would have even thrown the
whole cellar away if she had the choice), but Vaish's father would have
none of it. So, when some appliance at home gets fixed with a part
retrieved from junk, he would make the point so many times, till it
either becomes a joke, or ends up in a fight.

The children were always allowed to be in the cellar when Vaish's
father worked, and were even allowed to help by handing over various
tools. But, they were never allowed to handle the electric tools.
Vaish's father would always say

"Electricity can be compared to fire. It is one of the most useful
energy to human being when under control, but one of the vicious
demons, when allowed out of control."

While working, he would also explain the function of each of the tools,
and on rare occasions, had even allowed the children to use the hand
tools.

Being in the same house, Vaish had more occasion to be in the cellar.
Being from outside, Shas had more fascination about the tools, and used
to listen to Vaish's father more than Vaish would.

Abhi, being youngest, said, "Can any one fix my skates? With all these
tools around, it should be simple for you"

Shas was tempted to attempt it, but wanted support from others. Vaish
thought that it would be more interesting if they could do something
useful, while they were exploring the tools in the cellar. She also
knew that they could get into double trouble, one for spoiling a good
and expensive skates, and the other for using the tools.

But the temptation proved to be too much for the children.

"Abhi, bring your skates, and tell us what is the problem" said Vaish,
hiding her fears to herself.

"While Abhi is bringing the skates, let us start looking at the tools
and select the tools required" said Pavi, who is a little afraid of
handling the tools, but wanting to know as much.

"Till we know what is wrong, how can we select the tools " was the ever
correct Shas.

"We can look at all the tools and see what tools we can recognise. This
will help us to find out where the tools are, and would be easy to
locate then when we want " said Vaish.

Pavi had opened the nearest cupboard, which contained all the
mechanical tools.

This cupboard contained all the spanners, screw drivers, pliers, hand
saws, hand vice among others. The spanners were stacked in three
different places, according their types. The double end spanners, named
so because both ends are "U" shaped to hold correct sized nut or bolt
head.

Then there were ring spanners, because the ends were shaped like
rings. The shape inside the ring was like hexagon, bur the so\ides were
not flat.

Vaish, who had been told all about spanners and other tools explained
the various types to Pavi and Shas. Both double end spanners and the
ring spanners had both ends of different sizes, with a number.

"What do these numbers indicate" asked Shas.

"My father had said that they indicate the size of the bolt or nut in
inches, (American or old British system) , if they are in fraction, and
they indicate the series number if they are metric. " said Vaish.

" why should we have different shapes? The double ends should do most
of the jobs. See, I am able to turn a nut with this. " asked
Shas.

"Well, how can you reach nut or a bolt head, if it is only partially
reachable" Vaish asked and showed them the hand drilling machine, where
the nuts seemed to inside a hole. " It is for these kinds of
applications, we use ring spanner, or box spanner." My father had said
that there are applications like spark plugs, where only a spanner
shaped like a tube could be used. "

Abhi had just then returned with his roller skates, and didnot follow
the conversation.

"What are you people talking about - what is nut - I only know peanuts
" said Abhi.

Vaish had to choose between explaining the "nuts and Bolts" Abhi, or
start looking into the skates. A conflict between her curiosity and and
not letting Pavi and Shas get bored. She chose the third alternative,
and asked Pavi and Shas to look at the skates, and observe what is the
exact problem, and started explaining about the nuts, screw, and bolts
to Abhi. ( ref **** details)

By the time Vaish and explained the hexagonal nuts and bolts, the
cheese head screw, the countersunk screw, the slot type screw and the
"Plus" type screw ( also known as Phillips screw", Pavi and Shas had
examined the Skates.

"In one of the skates, the wheel does not turn, and in the other, we
can't turn the key" said Shas.

What do we do now" asked Vaish.

The others were surprised. They had somehow thought that Vaish knew
what to do, and was not expecting that questing from her.

"If you don't know, then we should not do anything" was the safe answer
from Shas.

"Well, we can try and remove the wheel" said Pavi, with lot of
hesitation in her voice.

Vaish was very apprehensive. She knew that any wrong usage of tools
could spoil the skate, but her curiosity didn't allow her to leave the
skates without doing anything. She also knew that if she shows her
fear, the others would be afraid to proceed further, killing all the
fun.

She hid the fear within herself, and said, "Okay, let us remove the
wheel. Before that, let study, how the wheel is fixed, so that we know
how to remove the wheel." Her voice was louder than usual, and she knew
that she was not able to control all her fears.

At first, the children could not find how the wheels were fixed. They
saw that the wheel centre was covered. The children knew that the shaft
has to be fixed, and the wheel has to rotate, This also meant that the
centre shaft must be visible. Vaish's father has told her that all the
wheel, where human safety is involved, are fixed firmly with nuts or
holding pins, and does not depend on fitting them tightly over the
shaft. Vaish explained this to the others, and all agreed that they
should not try to hammer the wheel out.

Suddenly Shas remarked "Would there be a cover as in the cat
wheels."

"You mean Hub-cap" asked Pavi, who had just last week had observed her
father while he changed the wheel due to an unexpected puncture.

Vaish was inspired. She looked closely at the wheel, and almost shouted
"Eureka". She had found fine lines, where a small plate like cover was
fitted on to the wheel. The fitting was so fine, she had to point it to
others, before they recognised the line for what it is.

The children started looking for a fine edged tool for inserting into
the line and remove the wheel cover. They found a small black case,
about 10 cm by 15 cm, ( 4 inches by 4 inches), containing set of small
screw drivers. Vaish identified them as those which her father uses
when repairing very delicate instruments.

"Why can't we use these" asked Abhi, who wanted to get his skates
repaired at the earliest. Vaish knew how very carefully her father
keeps these tools.

" Let us find something else. These may be too delicate" said
Vaish.

Shas. Who was looking in the electrical cupboard, took a small knife,
with a curved blade and asked " Vaish, can we use this.?"

Pavi, saw the knife and immediately identified that as similar to the
one used by electricians in South India. She had asked the the reason
for the special shape. The electrician had told her that the sharp edge
is used for cutting the insulation, and the curve ensures that only the
insulation is stripped off, and the metal remains intact. Her father
had then explained that Indians, are very skilled in using such hand
made tools, but there are special tools for removing the insulation
from the wires, called wire stripper.

"That is an electrician's knife" shouted Pavi.

"Vaish, who heard Pavi, saw the knife, and said with relief " Yes, we
can use this knife for removing the wheel cover." She knew that the
knife is made from broken Hacksaw blade ( used for cutting metal" and
is less valuable than the screw drivers.

Vaish took the electrician's knife, and carefully inserted the sharp
blade in the wheel cap. The knife went into the gap more easily than
was expected. Vaish then slowly pressed the knife outwards, like
opening a box lid, using the edge as a lever. The cap slowly started
coming out. Every wan was watching as if some magic was going on. The
cap suddenly popped off, taking everyone by surprise, and rolled down
under the cup board. Abhi dived and reached for the cap, and his face
had the looks of Olympics winner.

Under the lid, the children could see a small shaft and a nut. They
could also see a bearing, an object with inner and outer rings, with
steel balls in between. The balls were kept in place by a metal object.
Vaish's father had explained the working of the bearing once. The inner
or outer bearing is fixed, and the other ring is free. The outer ring
is called outer race, and the inner ring is called the inner race. The
spherical balls, are kept in place by the metal piece known as cage.
The balls rotate, and this makes the rotation of outer race about the
inner race almost friction less.

Vaish could see that there was some coloration in the balls, and had
correctly assumed that that was the cause for improper rotation of the
wheel. She pointed this to the others, and cleaned the dirt, using
kerosene and the brush, as she had seen her father doing.

Once cleaned, the wheel was rotating freely, and the children were
happy. They were about to close the wheel cap, when they heard the
steps of someone coming to the cellar.

The excitement of the children abated, and suddenly there was silence.
Within seconds, they saw Vaish's father walking down the cellar steps.
The children knew that Vaish's father does not like his tools to be
handled by others without his knowledge. But, they also knew that her
father understands children's curiosity.

Vaish's father was surprised by the presence of children in his
domain.

"What are you children doing here", he asked in a slightly irritated
voice.
The first to recover was Abhi, who was not afraid of elders yet.
"Uncle, we were trying to get my skates repaired. One of the wheels
does not rotate properly" said Abhi .

Vaish's father was glad that the children were trying to do something
useful. But he was apprehensive about the children having used the
tools improperly.
"Okay, show me the skate. "

Vaish got her confidence back, seeing that her father was not angry.
She explained what had been done and showed him the cleaned
bearing.

"Very good. But, the bearings have to be lubricated before closing. We
should also see how the dirt got into the bearing in the first place.
Vaish, bring me the grease container. " said Vaish's father.

Pavi, who was closer to the general cupboard, brought both grease
containers, as she was not sure which was wanted. One was yellow, and
the other was reddish pink. Vaish's father explained that the red one
is a general purpose grease, and the yellow one is special grease,
meant for special applications, such as in some automobile
applications.

Before applying the grease, he asked Abhi, when the skates were used,
before he noticed the defect in wheel movement.

Abhi thought hard, and said" Uncle, do you remember the day when it
rained suddenly. I had just put on my skates, when the rains came. We
rushed to the shelter, and one of the skates fell off, as I had not
tied it properly. The rain was so heavy, i left the skates, and picked
it up after the rain had stopped. "

Vaish's father understood that the water had entered the bearing, and
had corroded it. Fortunately, the damage was not severe, and after
inspecting the bearing, he showed the children how to grease the
bearing, and closed the cap.

"Well, children, now that the skate is repaired, would you all move
away. I have work to do"

Pavi, who had been relatively silent, ventured " Uncle, can you explain
all the tools here"

Vaish's father paused. "I can't tell you about all the tools, but i
would show you the basic tools" And, no mischief after that . Do you
all agree" said he.

"Yes Uncle" All except Vaish shouted in chorus.

Vaish had had a tour of cellar, but knew that she would also learn.
Before her father asked, she also said " Yes Appa".

Vaish's father first took the children to the general cup board. He
showed them all types of nails and screws. The general cupboard had
lubricating oil, cleaning materials such as kerosene, solvents,
cleaning brushes, wiping cloth. It also contained abrasive paper and
cloth ( commonly known as emery paper - made by bonding the hard
minerals on to thick paper), abrasive wheels and shapes. The hard
minerals used in the abrasives such as emery paper and wheels, are used
to prepare the surface of the metal or wood, before they are painted.
They remove minute quantities of material, when used. The size of the
abrasive material particle used, ( called grains) determine the
fineness of the surface finish. Some very fine grade, having very small
grains of the abrasive, can even provide mirror finish.

The electrical cupboard had switches, some meters. Wires of different
sizes, pliers and small boxes which contained electronic
components,according to Vaish's father and a soldering Iron.

The plumbing cupboard contained different pipe fittings, washer and
components of the taps, water heater etc.,. The pipe fittings were
called elbows. Tees, and similar names, from the shapes.

The mechanical cupboard had all the spanners, screw drivers, hand vices
and metal cutting saws of different sizes.

Vaish's father explained how the cutting teeth projects on both sides o
the blade. He explained that because of the projection, the cut is
actually slightly wider than the thickness of the blade. This ensures
that the bade does not get struck in the metal while cutting.

The carpentry cup board had wood saws, various types of chisels, jack
plane etc., In the wood saw, the the projection of cutting teeth was
more easily seen due to their larger size.

The children also had ago at cutting s,mall pieces of wood, and they
realised that cutting straight requires some practice. They were firmly
told that they should not handle any tools without the permission of
Vaish's father.

The electrical tools such as hand drilling machine, angular grinder,
screw / nut drivers etc., were in a separate cupboard.

Vaish's father was happy that there was no damage to his tools, and the
children had spent lot of time and also been able to fix Abhi's
skates.

Adventure II

Finding the truth

All the children have been taught to speak the truth always. However,
the parents start telling small lies, to get away from embarrassing
situations. For example, many elders ask some one else to inform the
caller that they are not available. Sometimes, when a friend or
relative approaches for a loan or favour, they exaggerate their own
problems.

These acts of parents tends to confuse the children about what is wrong
and what is right. Fortunately, the parents of Cuffs, act consistently,
and the Cuffs are bold enough to tell the truth always (except to their
parents occasionally and for a short while). This does lands them into
trouble once in while. Some of the trouble is due to fact that the
other children tell small lies to get away. When the other children
have one version of convincing lies, and the Cuff talk the truth, it
becomes difficult for the Cuffs to prove that they were telling the
truth. In one such occasion, the Cuffs drew an elaborate plan to trap
and correct one of their friends, who lied to get away from a possible
punishment, and shifted the blame on others.

Vaish and Pavi were into a leadership training program, where number of
other children are also involved. The children come from different
backgrounds, but all of them were smart kids. The are taught on
thinking, decision making, analysis and other important aspects in
life.

The trainer is strict person, who believed that self motivation is the
only permanent solution for leadership. He also believed that the
children coming from different backgrounds, having influence from their
immediate family surroundings, require lot of coercion and persuasion,
till the self motivation sets in.

The methodology he uses is the make the course so interesting and
create a sense of prestige to the training. Thus, once the child is in
, he or she would not want to be sent out of the course. Once this
addiction to the course is established, the master trainer uses the
threat of suspending or even expelling the children as a stick to keep
the discipline of the children. His theory is that if the children want
stay, they would follow the discipline. Thus, they would learn an
important fact that if one really wants something, one must have the
determination and discipline to get that.

One of the golden rules of the training program is never to tell lies.
The children are allowed to question some of the actions, but only on
allocated times. The basic rules are not for discussions. The
punishment for getting caught for telling a lie is suspension or
expulsion.

Another important rule which attracts sever punishment is creating a
rift between the children, knowingly or unknowingly.

This did not deter the children from telling small lies to get away
from some of the unwanted chores. As children they also played pranks
on others, though always with good intentions.

However, as it sometimes happen, on one of the occasion, the prank
turned serious, and to escape from the punishment, the concerned
children