Oh, no . . . The climb to the third floor was killing me! The lift was not working. Our security uncle said there had been a power cut. My legs hurt. We had had our inter-house football matches at school today. I was tired and famished. After much huffing and puffing, I reached home. My dad opened the door. “Pa, the lift is not working. I had to climb up the stairs!” I said, as I dropped my heavy bag with a "thud" on the floor. “

“Pom! Stop now, hfff . . . hfff . . . I can’t run anymore,” shouted Piu. “Hurray! I won the race,” said Pom. “Hfff . . . hfff! I don’t have the energy to run any more . . . I'm going to rest under the tree,” said Piu. It was getting dark. Soon there was a big moon over the sky. “Piu we have to go home,” said Pom...

There are some schools that have taken up energysaving initiatives to become energy-efficient. Electric bulbs, cars, fans, air conditioners, televisions, cooking ovens, chulhas, machines... the word ‘energy’ conjures up images of almost everything that makes up our everyday lives. Some forms of energy are renewable, including energy harnessed from the sun, wind and water. Energy produced from garbage, such as dead trees, branches, leftover crops and gobar, or dung, along with other forms of livestock manure—resources collectively called ‘biomass’—can also be used and then replenished. There …

Archana and her father came out of the Chennai airport into what looked like a scene from an action movie. It was raining, but she could sense when the plane touched down. Now, at the airport, the cars stood honking one behind the other. Sridhar uncle was waiting in the car. They all got in and joined the long queue of cars waiting to enter the dark brown stream that formed the road out of the airport.