Adventures of puntu

CREDITS
Writer: Rosko Onta Rajbhandhary
Illustrations/Layout : Raju Dangol
Production house:
Dristibutor:

Adventures of Puntu
The magical Garden
ROSKO ONTA
RAJBHANDHARY

Puntu had travelled for days and had migrated with her
owner and her family to a new land. Everything looked
different here. The sun shone brighter, it rained more
and the grass looked greener.

All day Puntu looked out of the window and wondered
what it was like outside. The lush green garden dotted
with flowers was inviting her with open arms. It was a
sunny day and Puntu was tired of peeping through the
little window. The warm sun and the cool breeze were
tempting enough to resist. “I think a little stroll will not
harm anyone” thought Puntu aloud.
Slowly stretching her limbs and stealing glances on her
either side, she smiled to herself. “I will return before
anyone is home” Puntu reasoned with herself.
Without giving a second thought, she sprang out of the
window and swiftly landed on the soft grass. Inhaling
the fresh air, she let out a deep sigh. “Purrrrr… this
feels wonderful” she yelled at the top of her voice.

Just then, she saw a frightened grasshopper hopping
from a leaf to another. Puntu was frightened to death
too, as she had never seen a grasshopper before. With a
huge leap, she jumped behind a bush.
“Why are you shouting so loud?” yelled back the
grasshopper rudely, holding his keenes close to his
abdomen with both the hands. “You are
hurting my ears.” He said pointing at his tummy.
“Ha….ha…ha…”laughed Puntu, rolling on her
back.”Why are you holding your knees then? Close
your ears.” She replied trying to hold her
laughter.
Furiously, the grasshopper replied back, “Can’t you see
I am closing my ears?”

Haaa..ha…ha…ha…!!
Once more, Puntu laughed aloud and rolled over on
the soft grass, unable to hold her balance due to her
laughter.
“Are you crazy?” The grasshopper looked astonished
and hopped down from the leaves. By now, Puntu had
come out from the bushes too.
“No you are!!” replied Puntu, still unable to control
her laughter. “Why are you holding your knees to your
tummy then? Do you have ears on your tummy?”
“Of course NOT, you are funny!” replied the
grasshopper rolling his eyes, seriously wondering if the
cat is crazy.

“WHAT!!!” exclaimed the cat and stopped
laughing.”What are you?”questioned the cat moving a
little closer to the grasshopper.” I mean who are you?”
“I am Grubby, the grasshopper” He introduced himself
proudly, stretching to his full size.
“Hello, I am Puntu, the cat,” replied back Puntu, giving
her best smile.“Do you seriously have ears on your
tummy? Mine are on my head,” she replied
holding her ears.
“Really!” Now it was Grubby’s turn to be surprised.
He hopped a few times and came close enough to get
a better look. “Mine are here, on my tummy”, He said
pulling his knees closer to his abdomen as if scared that
the cat would scream again.

Enjoying the astonished look on the cat’s face, the
grasshopper started hopping around panting and
screaming his lungs lungs out.” I can even make music
with my legs.” Giving a wide grin, the grasshopper
started hopping around, “I can even make music with
my legs” He started to produce a sharp chirping sound
by rubbing the inside of his hind legs on the wings. A
sharp, penetrating…chirp..chirp..chirp sound filled the
air.

Puntu was mesmerized by the sound and Grubby
couldn’t have been happier as he was getting the full
attention of an audience. Puntu and Grubby were so
busy admiring each other that they had failed to notice
an angry cricket marching towards them.It had been
sleeping on a leaf of a nearby hibiscus plant, quietly
tolerating the two of them for some time. The chirping
sound had disturbed her and she was annoyed as ever.
Hopping down from the leaf, she marched towards
Puntu and Grubby in a rage.
“Will you stop that, I need some sleep,”She requested
politely, trying to control her anger.

Puntu looked behind his back to see a similar looking
insect. “Oh Hi!” Puntu grinned from ear to ear hoping
to see two grasshoppers dance together.
“Hello..” replied the cricket drowsily.
“Can you make music too?” Puntu asked shifting his
focus from Grubby to the cricket.
“No he can’t” replied Grubby angrily.
“Of course I can,” snapped the cricket annoyed.
She started rubbing her wings together to produce a
similar chirping sound.
Puntu was delighted. “But why are you rubbing
your wings to produce the sound? Aren’t you a
grasshopper?”

“No, I am Ketty and I am a cricket,” replied the cricket
sleepily.
“But you look alike…,” insisted Puntu.
“No, his antennae are shorter and mine are longer…,”
snapped Ketty bending down to show her antennae.
“..But you two look....” broke in Puntu, still
unconvinced.
“..and I sleep in the daytime and I am awake when you
all are asleep,” replied Ketty humbly sounding more
convincing. “So let me sleep, it’s about to get dark.”
She started hopping back to the leaf so that she
could go off to sleep again.

Still furious that the cricket was beginning to take all
the attention away, Grubby boasted aloud “I am the
only one who has ears on my tummy. And I can create
music by rubbing my wings and legs,” A loud chirping
sound filled the air once more.
Ketty gave back an astonished look, shrugged her
shoulders, rolled her eyes and hopped away as the
grasshopper began dancing around in circles rubbing
his wings and legs. After returning to the leaf, she lay
down comfortably on a long leaf blade of a glossy green
grass and watched the proud grasshopper dance away to
his own tune.
As soon as Grubby stopped, to his disbelief, Ketty
hopped down from the leaf and started rubbing her
wings and hopping around mimicking the grasshopper
and producing a similar sound.

“I think he got angry..anyway.. I need to go too. You
two woke me up. Others, I am active only at night,
unlike the grasshoppers.” She smiled at the cat sweetly.
“Show me your ears,” Puntu asked, ignoring the
cricket’s drowsy look. She moved a little closer to
Ketty, trying to peep into her abdomen. She was still
curious and wanted to find out if crickets had ears on
their tummy too.
“Stop! You are tickling me,” Giggled Ketty. “I don’t
have ears on my tummy, stop poking me.”
“Oh! So you are like me,” said the cat softly, sounding
disappointed and pushing the cricket away. “Are they
on your head?” asked Puntu anxiously.

“No, No…No!!” Stop it giggled Ketty.
“They are on my forelegs!”
“WHAT!!!” exclaimed Puntu even more shocked than
before. But you look like a grasshopper. How come they
are on your forelegs?”
“Yes we are related but different from each other,”
replied Ketty, yawning loudly. “Now I need to go to
sleep.” She hopped on the leaves lazily and disappeared
without looking back. Surprised, Puntu looked around
and cried aloud,” This is strange place.”
Surely, there was something magical about the garden.
The soft cool grass and the warm sun added to the
magic. She had never been out so far by all by herself,
so she decided to enjoy the moment and rolled over for
a quick nap.

“I will enjoy the garden for some time and go inside.” She
thought to herself drowsily. Just as she was about to dodge
off, she was awakened by an irritating humming sound.
“What is…” Puntu stopped without completing her
sentence. To her disbelief and horror, she saw a
mosquito circling her head. Frightened, he started to
run as fast as her legs could carry her.
“Help, a mosquito!!” She yelled at the top of her voice
and ran for her life.
“Wait! Wait!!” Cried the mosquito aloud, flying after
him and buzzing in his ears.
“Why are you running? I won’t bite you.”
“Of course you will.”
“No I only feed on nectar juice and plant juice.”

Once more, Puntu was in for some more surprises.” But
I have heard, you feed on blood and transfer diseases.”
Puntu replied slowing down a little.
“Not all mosquitoes do that,”the mosquito replied
sadly. “Only female mosquitoes suck blood. Males
feed on nectar and plant juice.” Puntu was still scared
but stopped moving away from the mosquito. To her
amusement, the tiny mosquito started flying backwards,
sideways and upside down.
“How did you do that” gasped Puntu in astonishment.
Without replying, the mosquito flew in circles and
started singing….

“I am a talented little mosquito
I can follow you, wherever you go
Come closer and let me show
you my flying skills
or else, I will chase you over the hills
I am a beautiful little mosquito
come closer and let me show
my six beautiful legs
which are strong
and veeery long
I am talented little mosquito
I can follow you
wherever you go..”
Puntu was mesmerized by the little insect.
“What is your name? And where do you live?”
Puntu inquired curiously.
“I am a talented little mosquito
Come with me and I will show
the little pond where I live
even if the pond dries someday.
I will still be happy and gay…
because a little water is all I need…
to breed… to grow…. to live..
toooo liiiveeeeeeee…..!!”

“Thank you for listening,”the mosquito concluded with
a polite bow. It stopped flying in random directions and
landed softly on Puntu’s nose. I am Happy, the talented
mosquito, he introduced himself dramatically.
“You are a sweet heart and I always thought you were
harmful.” The cat said bluntly.
“I know..!” replied Happy looking sad and lonely.
“Everyone thinks the same too.”
Just then a huge spider crawled towards them lazily.
“Hello, I am Spike, the spider.” Frightened, the
mosquito flew off as he thought the spider would eat
him. Puntu was very scared too. The creepy looking,
hairy thing was slowly moving towards her. But by now,
Puntu was too curious to leave without an introduction
as she was beginning to feel very comfortable
with all the insects.

“Hello, I am Puntu, the cat. Are you an insect too?”
“No I am not,” replied the creepy spider hoarsely.
“But you do look like an insect!” insisted Puntu
stubbornly.
“Look at my legs.” The spider replied huskily, “How
many legs do you see?”
“8 legs!” replied Puntu counting the spider’s legs.
“Well, insects have ONLY 6 legs. We, spiders have 8
legs. And we don’t have an antenna too.” He replied
proudly stretching his legs.
“Ok! But where are your ears?” He interupted,
ignoring the spider’s lecture, as he was still curious
about the ears.
“Now I know why they say, curiosity kills a cat,” replied
Spiky letting out a loud laugh.

“Have you seen my cousin, scorpion, I am searching for
him,” asked Spiky, ignoring Puntu’s question.
“No, but I met a grasshopper, cricket and a mosquito.
Are you related to them too?”
“Yes and No! We belong to the same group but
different families. They are insects and have 6 legs and
I am not an insect so I have 8 legs. Now stop bothering
me.” The old, hairy and creepy looking spider
replied lazily. I have to go and search for my cousins.”
“Excuse me! Wait! Wait!!,” cried the cat, running after
the spider.
“Stop bothering an old spider. My knees are hurting.
I need some rest.” snapped the old grumpy spider,
holding his 8 knees and limping away.
“Grubby..Gruuubbbyyyy” Puntu cried. “WHAT??”
snapped the spider turning around sharply.

“I ..I just wanted to know about your ..” Puntu
stammered nervously.
“No I don’t have ears. But I CAN hear you and sense
you with the hairs on my body”..replied the spider
looking bored and tired. “Anything else?” He asked
straightening himself and looking straight into the
frightened cat’s eyes.
“No..No..sorry.” But before she could complete the
sentence, the spider had already disappeared.
It was beginning to get dark. The sun was sinking
slowly, taking away the daylight with it. Puntu could
hear the faint chirping sounds.
“Puntu, isn’t it time you went indoors,” She heard a
soft yet sharp sound breaking the silence. To her utter
delight, Puntu saw Ketty, the cricket, peeping through
the leaves.”
“Did you have enough sleep? Are you awake now?”
asked Puntu moving closer to the cricket lying on the
leaves.

“Yes I am, now you go indoors to sleep,Its getting dark
out here,”ordered Ketty.
“Goodnight,Ketty.” Puntu crawled towards the door,
hoping to come out someday soon. It had been a long
adventurous day and Puntu fell off to sleep as soon as
she curled up on her mat.