cartooning bug bitten once again...

leafy art...

try this with kids at home, a quick way to experience bygone childhood days once again...

A Trip to WhatIf Land ???

Please don't ask me how, why and when because these are the questions even I am trying to find the answers to. It felt like a magic, it felt like a mystery that all of a sudden I found myself transported to a totally alien land - a place I had never seen before. The people there were not close to what many people believe E.T.s would look like, nor were they giants or dwarfs as Gulliver found on some of his travels. The people here were almost like us, okay not exactly like us as clones but they were humans like you and me. Since I was standing at what looked like a market square, almost clueless about where I was and what I was supposed to do, I took this opportunity to stroll a little on the same street. At that instant I decided to christen this new world as 'WhatIf' land, before I ask people belonging to this place what is it actually called. Actually I could have asked somebody straightaway but I wanted to experience this WhatIf land on my own first without divulging my identity or asking for guidance or help.

It felt like morning time to me. No, not that I knew what was the time exactly, but I just inferred from what I saw - a few children in their school uniform heading towards what seemed like a school building and some people in business suits walking towards huge office buildings. My curiosity was rising when I confronted this decision point, should I follow the students and check which kind of schools do these people have, go behind the people who appeared like office goers or just continue walking on the same street sampling some more of this new place. I chose the last option and continued on my quest to discover this new land on my own. I saw some more school children merrily talking and walking along the opposite side of the street but surprisingly they were walking away from the school that I had seen earlier or were they heading towards some other school building? Perhaps. I noticed some shopkeepers lifting their shop shutters up to open them, which was nothing surprising but what caught my attention was that some people were closing the shutters of their shops and they were apparently looking pretty tired and jaded as if they had worked for long hours and now were winding things up for a good night's rest but it was bright sunny day, the night was definitely a long time away. While I was wondering about this strange thing, I happened to notice one more thing, no-one (without any exception) was in any kind of hurry. Every person was very calmly taking care of his/her business - the school students, the office-goers or the shopkeepers whether the ones opening the shop or the ones who were closing theirs. As I walked a little further, I watched this same thing on many places - some beginning to display their merchandise while some winding them up. Not just this, I saw some people coming out of the offices too looking quite fatigued and saying goodbyes to the ones who were entering the premises.

I was getting intrigued more and more by the strangeness of this world and then I wanted to satisfy my desire to know what was the secret behind this behaviour. I must find some reliable person who could help me solve this mystery, but who ? I was seriously contemplating about my next step when I crossed one bakery shop on the street while walking, my instinct told me that I would be able to find just the right person here. So I entered the bakery shop, the whole place was filled with the aroma of freshly baked breads, cookies, cakes, donuts, muffins, cupcakes and a wide array of assorted pastries. Perhaps the fragrance just stirred some senses inside me and I realized how hungry I was at that time. I was not even sure how long it had been since I last ate anything and then seeing so many goodies in front of my eyes, it was too much to resist. I took a mental note, I would not leave this place without eating anything today. But first things first, I must find answers to my queries starting from the very first one - where am I and what is the name of this place and would move on to my other observations. With great difficulty I tore my eyes away from the displayed eatables on the counter and scanned the dining area where there were almost 8-10 round tables laid out beautifully, but not all occupied. On one of these tables I saw an old fellow almost like my grandpa, sipping his coffee silently and looking outside through the glass pane. He had a newspaper sprawled in front of him but at that time, something outside was holding his attention more than the newspaper and he was completely engrossed in watching that. He appeared to be the perfect choice, for many reasons - firstly, he was sitting alone, secondly, he was an elderly person so I assumed that he must not be hard pressed on time and would have sufficient time to talk to me, thirdly, oh, let's just keep it at that and carry on with my next move. My decision was made.

On reaching the table where grandpa was sitting, I actually had to him two three times to draw his attention towards me. But what a huge relief! he understood my language, that means language wise also these people were similar to us. My major worry was over because I was wondering what if the people of WhatIf land have their own language totally different from the one we speak and understand? It was indeed a great respite.

After greeting him respectfully and asking his permission if I could sit at the same table and if he would spare some time to satisfy my queries, I began to tell him minute to minute details of that day. Also how this WhatIf place looked similar to the place where I came from yet it was quite dissimilar in many ways. After patiently hearing all that, grandpa just asked me to ask the things that I had in my mind. I started with my first question - "What is the name of this place?" and he very casually replied - this is called the 'WhatIf heaven'. I just could not believe my ears - did he just say - WhatIf? WhatIf as the name that I had given to this place ? It was too much to believe. I guess a mixture of shock, surprise and disbelief were writ large on my face at that time and he would have easily read that strange expressions so he just repeated that this place is named 'WhatIf Heaven'. I was still recovering from this shocker but did not want to disclose this disturbance which was creating havoc inside me, so to just divert my mind and his attention, I asked him if he could tell me what time was it? He asked me to repeat my question. I assumed, in my confusion I might not have spoken it loud enough so I repeated - what time was it? He told me, he did not understand what I want to know. I pointed towards my wrist and not just that, I think I must have spent the next one hour or so explaining what I was referring to and while doing that we inadvertently involved more people in the conversation. Perhaps my animated gestures in the whole excitement of making him understand what time was and what a watch was, were enough for the people around us to join us. And surprisingly none of them had heard about time, watch, clock or anything even remotely concerned to the concept of time.

After a while when it finally sunk in that perhaps this was the major difference between this and my world - the concept of time, I started asking them about how they lead their lives without having any notion of time component. Initially it was getting really difficult to even understand what they were saying, mainly because it was hard for me to comprehend any life or event possible without time being there but I tried to keep my mental block aside and hold their hands in understanding their world.

For them, the life was 'Event-Driven'. But what exactly did they mean by event-driven. They all tried adding their bit in order to make me understand what it was like living without any time, any time-tables, any schedule and such. They started giving me practical examples - when they wake up, that is when the day starts for each one of them, it does not matter whether it is actually the time when sun rises or sets or is at its peak. Each one follows his/her own routine. When they get ready, they head to their places of work or to the school whatever the case may be. When they are hungry, they eat the meals, there is no concept of having a certain time for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It carries on incessantly, so some people work, eat or go to school even when it is pitch dark, but there are always many people doing different things at every moment.

This was turning out to be an amazing experience to even listen to a totally different concept to base the lives on. They sleep when they feel tired, they wake up when their bodies are fully relaxed, they eat when they feel hungry, they do not do things just because it is the time to do that particular thing.

This same concept applies to bigger things too, for instance when a person finishes an assignment, that is the moment he/she submits it for approval or correction. When a student understands and passes the examinations of a certain class, that is the time that particular student moves on to the next level. No one gets late or is early. They have their own routines and moves to the next task only if the previous one is done perfectly.

There is no fear or pressure of getting late, nobody compromises on the quality to meet the deadlines, no time based competition, every one has an internal check and sort of an inner clock, which is in fact much more effective than perhaps the one we have. And yes, this meant they do not even have the age or years of life. They live life with the events. Their different stages are named differently. The students belong to a different category. When they finish basic level of studying, they move on to the next level or they can select to remain a student for long. It was actually a self-driven land, hence the calmness in the action of each and every person and I must say it was indeed very impressive.

Oh how I wish I were in this WhatIf heaven and precisely at that moment, I heard someone calling my name and I just realized, I had not gone anywhere, nor was I dreaming at night, it was one of my day-dreams where I often drift into while doing some uninteresting job and before wandering away to the WhatIf heaven, I was precisely doing one of such activities - I was copying 15 pages from a book as a punishment for not writing neatly in my classwork notebook and not keeping the notebook tidy. And my teacher was asking if I was done with the task given to me because the period is going to get over soon. I again wished to be transported to WhatIf Heaven for just a little while so that there is no concept of time getting over and where the period will get over only when I finish my 15 pages. Sigh!!

Time Problems

1. Fill in the blanks
1. 1 year = ? Days
2. 1 leap year = ? Days
3. 1 week = ? Days
4. 8 weeks = ? Days
5. 4 months = ? Days
6. 6 months = ? Days
7. 8 months = ? Days
8. 12 months = ? Days
9. 7 weeks = ? Days
10. 3 weeks = ? Days
11. 4 weeks = ? Days
12. 52 weeks = ? Days

2. If 1 month has 30 days. How many days are there in 6 months?
3. How many weeks are in 1 year?
4. How many weeks are there in 3 years?
5. How many minutes are there in 3 hrs?
6. Converts into hours -
1. 5 days -
2. 15 days -
3. 14 days -

7. Show the time 20 minutes to 8:00 on the clock. How do you represent this time in numbers?
8. Ram started from his home at 8:30 am and reached his school at 9:10 am. For how long did he walk?
9. The bus left at 7:20 am and reached back after 1 hr 45 min. When did it reach?
10. Fill in the blanks :
1. Time 5 minutes before 3:00 -
2. Time 15 minutes before 3:00 -
3. Time half an hour before 3:00 -Time 22 min before 3:00 -
4. Time 1 hr before 3:00 -
5. Time one and a half hour after 3:00 -
6. Time 1 hr 45 min after 3:00 -

11. Its 7:15 pm and we will have dinner at 9:00 pm. How much time is left for the dinner?
12. I have started watching a cartoon show. It is 7:15 pm now and the show is 30 minutes long. When will the show end?
13. Meera watches TV from 4:30 pm to 7:10 pm. How long does she watch TV?
14. Draw the clock showing time 8:42. How many minutes are past 8:00 ? How many minutes are left to be 9:00?
15. Add : 28 minutes and 12 mintues
16. Add : 47 min and 26 min
17. Draw the clock and show the time 1:35. How many minutes are left to be the next 'oclock?
18. Fill in the blanks:
1. When the minute hand moves from 12 to 3, we know it has covered ___________.
2. At 8:45 the hour hand is going to reach _________'o clock
3. When the hour hand and the minute hand are both at 12, then the time is ________'o clock
4. The time taken between midnight and noon is called _______________
5. February has 29 days in a _______________year

19. Calculate the number of hours between 8 am and 2 am
20. Calculate the number of hours between 6 am and 11 am
21. Calculate the time between 8:15 am and 5:20 pm
22. Add : 14 hrs and 35 min
23. Add : 10 months and 9 months 4 days
24. Subtract : 9 weeks 21 days from 15 weeks 25 days
25. Subtract : 7 hrs 15 min from 10 hrs 30 min
26. You sleep at 10:00 pm and wake up at 5:30 am. How long do you sleep?
27. I start for school at 7:35 am and reach home at 3:10 pm. How long do I stay out?
28. I wake up at 5:30 am and the bus comes at 7:40 am. How much time do I get in the morning before the bus comes?
29. The bus comes at 7:40 am and we reach home at 8:15 am. How long is the bus ride?
30. My school starts at 8:30 am and ends at 2:40 pm. What are the school hours?
31. After waking up at 5:30 am, I take 15 minutes to brush and get ready to jog. What time do I go for a jog?
32. I wake up at 6:00 am and go to bed at 10:20 pm. How much time do I stay awake?
33. Show time 8:47 on the clock. How many minutes are left to be 9:00? How many minutes are past 8:30 ?
34. Fill in the blanks :
1. 1 hour = ? Min
2. 1 min = ? Sec
3. 1 day = ? Hours
4. 1 week = ? Days
5. 1 year = ? Months
6. 1 year = ? Days
7. ____________ month has different number of days in leap year and non-leap year
8. 1 year = __________ weeks
9. 1 month = __________ weeks
10. A day has ________, ______________, and ______________ (morning, noon and evening)
11. 12 o'clock in the night is called ________ and we write it as ___________
12. 12 o'clock in the day is called ____________ and we write it as ___________
13. A.M. stands for _____________
14. P.M. stands for ______________

35. Calculate the number of hours between 6 am and 10 am
36. Calculate the number of hours between 1pm and 9 pm
37. Calculate the number of hours between 11 am and 7 pm
38. Calculate the number of hours between 6 am and 11 pm
39. Find if these years are leap years or not : 2010, 2004, 1953, 1968
40. A cartoon on TV starts at 5:15 pm and it lasts for 2 hrs 3 min. When does the cartoon end?
41. Vishal studies for 1 hr and 25 in in the morning and 3 hrs 10 min in the evening. What is the total time he studies everyday?
42. Ram studies for 1 hr 30 min and finished at 5:45 pm. What time did he start studying?
43. How many weeks are there in 2 months
44. How many hours are there in 1 week?
45. How many minutes are there in 10 days?
46. FIB:
1. If the year is exactly divisible by 4, we call it a _________ year
2. The hour hand takes ______ hours to complete 2 rounds
3. A minute hand takes _____ min to move from 10 to 4
4. At 10:30 the minute hand is at _ and the hour hand is between _ and _
5. We read 11:45 as ________________
6. When it is quarter to an hour, the minute hand has covered _______ min

47. School started at 9:00 am. After 1 period lasting 50 min, the children had a break. At what time was the break
48. We started our car drive at 8:40 am. We reached our destination at 6:10 pm. How long was the drive?

Money Problems

1. Write in numeric form
1. Rupees fifteen and fifty paise
2. Rupees ninety six
3. Rupees one hundred
4. Rupees three hundred and fifty six and fifty paise
5. Rupees nine and five paise
2. Write in words
1. Rs. 50.50
2. Rs. 40
3. Rs. 14.05
4. Rs. 97.25
3. How many paise make Re 1
4. Conversion of rupees into paise
1. Rupees 5 and 50 paise = ? Paise
2. Rs. 20.05 = ? Paise
3. Rs. 85.50 = ? Paise
5. Conversion of paise to rupees
1. 9650 paise = ? Rs
2. 5850 paise = ? Rs
3. 2900 paise = ? Rs
4. 2000 paise = ? Rs
6. Add : Rs. 26.50 and Rs. 45.50
7. Subtract : Rs. 34.00 - Rs. 29.50
8. Find the sum : Rs. 14.50 + Rs 5.50 + Rs 2:00
9. Add : Rs 200 + Rs 300 + Rs 100.50
10. Add 50 p + 50 p + 50 p
11. Subtract Rs 18.50 from Rs 20
12. Subtract : Rs 100 - Rs 65.75
13. Subtract : Rs 85 - Rs 46
14. Subtract Rs 27.50 - Rs 12
15. Subtract Rs 42 - Rs 8.50
16. Mummy gave me Rs 50. Daddy gave me Rs 25.50. My elder brother gave me Rs 15.50. How much money do I have now?
17. I bought a birthday gift for my friend for Rs 25.50. I had Rs 50 in my purse. How much money is left now?
18. I bought a bread for Rs 8.50, eggs for Rs 12.50 and biscuits for Rs 12.75. Mummt gave me Rs 100. How much money is left with me now?
19. A book costs Rs 22.50, a copy costs Rs 8.50 and a pen costs Rs 10. What is the total cost of all the items?
20. My father gave me Rs 30 to buy a pencil box. Its price is Rs 27.50. How much money should I return back to my father?
21. Anuj bought a mango ice-cream for Rs 12 and Anil bought a chocolate ice-cream for Rs 15.50. How much money did they spend altogether?
22. Sita had Rs 75 in her piggy bank. On her birthday, she got Rs 50 from her parents and Rs 30 from her uncle. How much money is there in her piggy bank now?
23. A boy paid Rs 10 for a penknife and got back Rs 2.50. How much money did the penknife cost?
24. Tina buys an eraser for Rs 1.50. She gave the shopkeeper Rs 2.00. How much money does she get back?
25. Raju bought a book for Rs 65.50. His sister bought a set of coloured pencils for Rs 38.50. How much oney did they spend altogether? If Mummy gave them Rs 150.00, how much money she gets back?
26. There are 150 families in the apartment complex, each family donated Rs 100 for charity. How much total money did they collect?
27. I gave 100 rupee note for a toy and got back Rs 15. What was the cost of the toy?
28. You got Rs 50 as your birthday present. A chocolate costs Rs 12, an ice-cream costs Rs 14, a burger Rs 32. What will you buy to come as close as spending all of your Rs50?

Batik Creations...

While looking for a new activity to do with the kids at home, I got the inspiration for the Batik activity from one of my dear blogger friends - Sheela, who is an extremely creative person.

We just followed the step by step procedure that she has very meticulously posted here:

'The Joy Of My Life'

Go ahead and try some at home with vibrant acrylic shades to bring in the spring mood...

We will be doing this many times during the summer vacation. Thanks Sheela !

A special moment...

Age : 8+ years

This has always been the case with Meena, she never wants to bend her rigid ways for anybody and today was no exception. But then why am I getting so perturbed this time, I know her disposition, she wants it her way or no other way. Perhaps I am in one of those sulking moods today. Atleast one good thing is I am aware that I am just going downhill with this thinking. I am getting more and more agitated thinking about her and her idiosyncrasies. But I resolved silently within my heart, I need to modify my behaviour with her, she does not deserve the same me as I am with other good friends of mine. She should also feel the difference.

While deeply consumed in my own thoughts I did not even realize that I had already covered half the distance towards home and forgot to hire an auto. And now there was no point hiring one for the remaining distance and anyway the weather was really pleasant today, a big respite from the scorching heat of past week. The sky was overcast with thick grey clouds and a cool breeze was blowing, imparting the much needed relaxation to my agitated nerves. But after a short hiatus, the mind again went back to the same thoughts - why it happened, how could Meena expect this, how could she behave in this irrational manner. The same thoughts engulfed me once again, and this time the chain got broken only when little droplets of water fell on my face from the heavens above. I still had some distance to cover to reach home but the drizzling was a welcome development. I was enjoying the intermittent drops of rain reaching me. I love rain, I admire rain, I adore rain, I relish rain, I cherish rain. There is something in this natural process which always fills my heart with warmth and gratitude for this one of the most loveliest gifts to all of us. And at that moment I was glad that it started drizzling, taking my mind off the disturbing thoughts for sometime. I watched the rain drops falling one after another in rhythmic manner - some landing on my feet, one on a tiny ant which was just ahead of me, one on a little new leaf which was perhaps not more than a day old, one on a wilted yellow fallen leaf, some on the bags of excited schoolchildren who were walking ahead of me and some on the road - making all kinds of sounds.

The raindrops were falling unconditionally - on anything and everything. I just wondered, does it ever occur to the raindrops where to fall and where not to fall. Do the raindrops ever bother about losing their own identities, rather they seem to rejoice in sacrificing their selves the moment they land on anything. They do not select the recipients of their blessings. They do not try to judge whether anyone deserves their kindness or not. They are there for everyone to enjoy. How kind, how selfless, how unbiased. That was the moment, I knew my heart melted. Why was I being judgmental, why should my behavior be dependent on who is on the receiving end, why should I deteriorate my own self. Meena or anybody else, I should be the same person, no matter what. In that life transforming moment, I knew, I was a changed me - a much more peaceful one, a much more happier one.