The Kite-Maker

Fri, 27 Apr 2001 11:57:02 +0000

The night was pitch dark. A street lamp shone dimly, creating pools of shadows along a tiny lane in Bareilly city. Sitting beneath the light was Imran. His nimble fingers were busy pasting thin sheets of coloured paper. He was making a kite.

Even though he could barely see, he didn’t fumble in his work. He could make these kites blindfolded now. At 10, he was an old hand at the craft, having started making kites when he was just six years old – the kites that Bareilly, in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh, is so well known for.

Prabhu and the Prawns

Sun, 25 May 2003 08:54:13 +0000

The still, muddy water glistened with oil. There were no signs of any
life as Prabhu stood by the side of the narrow canal and squinted hard,
anxiously searching the depths of the murky pool. But the slick surface
made it hard for him to see anything beneath the surface.

Fear crossed the eight-year-old’s face. If he couldn’t find what he was
looking for, there would be no meal tonight.

Prabhu and the Prawns [Illustration by Anup Singh]

Prabhu is a shrimp seed collector. Every morning, he trudges nearly three kilometres to reach a shrimp farm in Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh. There he picks out tiny, baby shrimps called seeds from small, saline pools where they are grown, and transfers them to huge reservoirs.

Mohuya Chaudhuri on Pitara Kids Network

The Kite-Maker

Prabhu and the Prawns