Stories For Kids

Aarushi Wants Blond Hair

It was Aarushi’s  first day in India. Amma and Appa were tired and sleeping peacfully. But Aarushi Paapai who did not have any jet lag was playing happily with Pradyu Anna and Jyotir Anna.

Aarushi’s fascination  with Pradyu Anna never seemed to end . There are many reasons for that . One Pradyu Anna is so tall! Only uncles are that tall not Annas. Two, he has a thin mustache which only uncles have. And lastly immediately on arriving in India , he took her to each of his friends to show off his little sister(Amma says in India ,  Chelli= little sister) And he did not seem to lose his way either . And ofcourse  Pradyu Anna reads such heavy books  which she is unable to lift even!

Naanamma came from the kitchen and anounced.

“Pradyu! My work in the kitchen is over. Now it is my turn to play with her. If you want, you can click the camara whenever you want”

Aarushi refused to come to Nanamma for two three minutes , but seeing so many toys in front of Nanamma she came to her and became friends with her very soon.After a few minutes when Aarushi is kissing her Nanamma on her cheek , Pradyu quickly clicked the camara. Looking at the camara screen he exclaimed.

“What a beautiful contrast. Jet black hair and pure white hair!”

Aarushi cast a quick glance at Nanamma’s hair. Indeed most of her hair was pure white.

“I want blond hair like Nanamma”  she said  her big eyes twinkling  like stars .

“No Paapai mine is not blond hair. It is white hair”, explained Nanamma.

“But blond hair is always white!” said Paapai making her eyes very big.

“Paapai ! You are cho cute” said Pradyu .

“Why are you saying  cho for so ?” demanded Paapai.

“I am talking a baby talk Paapai” said Pradyu smiling.

Aarushi with Pradyu Anna Taatu and Nanamma

“But you are not a baby. You are so tall” said Paapai smiling and stretching her tiny arm above herself .

“ God ! She is not only cute she is very intelligent too” muttered  Pradyu to him self.

“What are you saying Pradyu anna?”

“I am saying that why don’t you and Nanamma exchange your hair”

“Thank you Pradyu anna for the idea ! I will wake up Amma and ask her to exchange our hair”

“Paapai you are a good girl don’t wake your Amma or Appa. They are very tired” Said Nanamma.

But before Nanamma could finish her sentence Paapai was in the bed room.

“Amma wake up ! You have to exchange my hair with Nanamma’s”  she said thumping Amma’s cheeks with her little hands .

“Paapai why don’t you play with both the Anna’s for some more time?” said Amma half sleepily.

“No Amma it is very urgent you have to exchange my hair with Nanamma’s” insisted Paapai.

Amma came to the hall where everybody was sitting .

Pradyu told Vidya Atta what all happened .

“See Paapai ! Anna is just joking. You cannot exchange any of your body parts with other’s. You cannot exchange your fingers with mine. You cannot exchange nails with Pradyu Anna’s. You cannot exchange your nose with jyotir Anna’s. Understand?”

Paapai looked at Amma and then at Pradyu Anna. Pradyu Anna was much taller than Amma. So she decided to believe Pradyu Anna.

“ But Anna says you can exchange.”

“Pradyu now it is your responsibility to convince her.” Said Vidya atta.

“Paapai come here” he called her.

She came to him jumping all the while.

“See papai if some body pulls your hair you you will have pain. Is’nt it?”

“yes?”

“So if somebody plucks your hair the pain will be much more. Ok?”

“Ok”

“So for exchanging your hair, Amma has to pluck each and every hair of yours. And you will end up crying with pain.”

“But I want blond hair” Paapai was adamant.

Pradyu Anna thought for a moment and then finally came to a decision

“By tomorrow morning I will get you blond hair. And for this Amma need not pluck your hair. After planting it on your head it will grow within weeks on your head”

“Thank you anna ! Thank you” said Paapai jumping with joy.

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Next day morning Pradyu came with a packet in his hand.

“Pradyu anna ! Is it my blond hair?” asked Paapai.

“Yes Paapai” said Pradyu opening the packet.

“Pradyu I don’t want papai to wear it on her head. She may get infecions. “ said Sai mama seing the blond wig in Pradyu’s hand.

“No Sai mama you need not put it directly on her head. Yesterday she showed me her shower cap.First put on  that shower cap and put the wig on it”

“No ! I want to grow blond hair directly on my head. Not on the shower cap” insisted Papai who is following every thing which is going on.

“Paapai ! come here” called Pradyu.

Paapai came jumping to Pradyu anna.

“See Paapai! This shower cap will act as manure “

“Manure?” asked Paapai making her eyes very big.

“You don’t know about manure? It is something which quickens the growth of plants, blond hair etc”

“So after Amma plants that blond hair on your shower cap it starts piercing the hair roots deep into your head. After that blond hair starts to grow. While your  blond hair is growing, your shower cap and your black hair will gradually melt away. “

Paapai listened to every thing very carefully .

“How many days it will take Pradyu anna?”

“Not more than seven days”

“In seven days I will have blond hair” jumped Papai with joy. She smiled brightly at Pradyu Anna with a dimple on her pink cheek.

It took nearly half an hour for Amma and Appa to put the blond hair on her shower cap so that the wig would  not touch her skin even by  a millimeter.

“Come on papai now I will tell you  some precautions!” said Pradyu Anna after planting of blond hair business is over.

“Precautions?”

“Yes what you should do and what not for the blond hair to grow”

“Ok tell me Pradyu Anna”

“You should not throw your head back  if the hair falls on your face, instead you should put it back with your hands”

“Ok Anna”

“You should not run or jump while you are moving around”

“Ok Anna”

“If you follow these precautions your blond hair get planted within a week otherwise it will take long long time or it might even not get planted”

“I will do as you said Anna”

“Ok now go and play”

“Amma can I play “Kitchen” ?” asked Papai very politely . Somehow Ppai feels she has to be very sober after having  blond hair  .

“Ok play”

“Nanamma gave me the kitchen set but from where do I get rice, dal  and all those things?”

“Go and ask Nanamma”

Papai  slowly walked into the kitchen remembering Pradyu Anna’s instructions. She is so happy that she actually wanted to go there jumping on one leg. She terribly missed that jumping on one leg.

Papai returned from the kitchen with rice, dal,cut vegetables,sugar, salt and many more in small cute containers.

“Amma shall I cook rice, sambar and potato fry today?” again she asked very politely.

“Ok go on”

She started arranging lakka pidatalu on tiny kichen rack. She first started samabar.

After taking instructions from Amma ,she put some dal, tamarind water and cut onions in small dish and put it on toy gas stove.

“You should stir it continuously Papai “said Amma.

While she is stirring the samabar with little ladle, the blond hair fell on her fore head. She put the ladle on the ground and brushed the hair backward. This happenned many times. Keeping the ladle on the ground and pushing the hair away from her face she ran to Amma to taste the samabar. Amma told her the sambar is burnt!

Appa very politely told her the rice is burnt !

And Munni Attai told her that half of her  potatoes were burnt and the other half uncooked!

Paapai is frustrated.

“I cannot cook properly with this blond hair falling always on my forehead”, she thought.

She looked at Jyotir Anna longingly. He is leaping from sofa to the ground and from ground to the sofa.

She wanted to jump like Jyotir Anna. But with the blond hair, she could not ! She felt sad

Meanwhile some of Jyotir Anna’s friends arrived. They started playing hide and seek. Papai wanted to join them. But then there was her blond hair !

How frustrating was her blond hair !

She could not cook!

She could not jump !

Finally , she went to Amma and said

“Amma remove this blond hair and plant it on my head when I become older “

Ok Kutti Paapa” , said Amma immediately removing the blond hair.

Now Papai could happily jump,run and play hide and seek.

She felt very happy. She ran after Jyotir Anna shrieking .

Moral of the story: Jumping is happier than having blond hair.

Note: Lakka Pidatalu are kitchen set made up of wood. Natural colours mixed with lac are applied on the toys to give bright shiny look. Etikoppaka in Andhra Pradesh is famous for these toys.

These are Lakka Pidatalu