Activities

How Much Land Does a Man Need? I An elder sister came to visit her younger sister in the country. The elder was married to a tradesman in town, the younger to a peasant in the village. As the sisters sat over their tea talking, the elder began to boast of the advantages of town life: saying how comfortably they lived there, how well they dressed, what fine clothes her children wore, what good things they ate and drank, and how she went to the theatre, promenades, and entertainments. The younger sister was piqued, and in turn disparaged the life of a tradesman, and stood up for that of a peasant. "I would not change my way of life for yours," said she. "We may live roughly, but at least we are free from anxiety. You live in better style than we do, but though you often earn more than you need, you are very likely to lose all you have. You know the proverb, 'Loss and gain are brothers twain.' It often happens that pe...

The Gold Frame - R.K. Laxman About the Author and Text The legendary cartoonist R.K. Laxman (1921-2015) started off as a political cartoonist for the Free Press Journal before joining The Times of India, with which he was associated for over fifty years. His cartoon strip'You Said It, which features his best known creation The Common Man', has attained cult status. His elder brother, R.K. Narayan, was a famous Indian English novelist. Laxman was also a writer of repute with short stories, travelogues and a novel to his credit. He received a number of awards for his work-the B.D. Goenka Award by the Indian Express; the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts; the Padma Bhushan; and the Padma Vibhusan. This story, like most other works by Laxman, treats the themes of false Prestige and society with simplicity and humour. The author describes the plight of a frame-maker, Datta, who splashes paint on the picture of an old and ...

The Thief - Ruskin Bond About the Author and Text Ruskin Bond (born 1934) is a well-known Indian author of British descent. He was awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize for his first novel, The Room on the Roof. Bond has published more than thirty books for children and over three hundred short stories. His stories have been collected in popular titles such as The Night Train at Deoli, Funny Side Up, and Ghost Stories from the Raj. Some of his most well known novels are Vagrants in the Valley, A Flight of Pigeons, The Blue Umbrella and Susanna's Seven Husbands. (The last three have been made into films.) In 1992, he received the Sahitya Akademi Award for his short story collection Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra. In 1999, he was awarded the Padma Sri for his contribution to children's literature, and in 2014, the Padma Bhushan. In this story, the author portrays a thief's transformation into an honest man. The narrator of the story is the protagonist...