Ritu is excited about a new addition to her home … what is she going to name it?
“Meow!”
Ritu heard the sound from her room. She ran to the drawing room where her mother was sitting on the floor with the orange cat that came to eat at their house every day.
“Mother, can we keep him?”
Mother smiled. She got up to get fish and rice for the kitty. Ritu wanted an answer, so she asked again, “Mother, may we please keep him?”
Placing the food in front of the hungry cat, Ritu’s mother said, “Yes, we will take him to the vet tomorrow.”
Ritu was so happy that danced in joy. Just then the doorbell rang and Ritu ran to answer it. It was her father, finally back from work, and there was good news to share.
Check out the slider to see how the little creature is welcomed into the family.
The calendar we use today has a history of its own. Click here to learn of its origin.
A fun quiz to see how much you know about fitness and calorie burn.
Working out, getting a good round of exercise, and feeling the rush of endorphins is always great. But what makes it fun is when you know how much of that elusive fat you’ve got rid of and how many calories you have burnt.
Try your hand at this quiz to see if you can guess how many calories some of these activities can help you burn.
Did you know that not all countries ring in the New Year at the same time? Start the New Year with this interesting challenge!
As the sun rises, the world wakes up to the New Year. But when each country celebrates the New Year varies depending on its location on Earth.
The Pacific islands of Tonga, Samoa and Christmas /Kiribati are the first countries to celebrate New Year while it is still afternoon in India! Interestingly, the U.S. being a big country, New Year celebrations vary for each state too! For example, Los Angeles will usher in the New Year a good three hours after New York.
And American Samoa, a territory of the U.S. is one of the last places to celebrate.
With this fact in mind, here’s a challenge for you. Arrange the countries given below in the order in which they will ring in the New Year.
How many of these unusual punctuation marks and typographic symbols do you recognise? Read on to find out.
You know the question mark, the exclamation mark, the full stop, the semi-colon, and so on, but how many of these uncommon typographic symbols and punctuation marks do you recognise? While some of them are obsolete, others were proposed but not necessarily universally adopted. Scroll down to learn more and don’t forget to complete the interactive task at the end.
An asterism (⁂) is a nearly obsolete punctuation mark, as many publishers typically don’t use them anymore. The symbol can be used to draw attention to a passage of text that follows it. It could also be used to divide chapters, stories and so on.
The hedera (❧) is a curious little mark. While it was used in the early days to signify a break between paragraphs, it is rarely used these days. Nowadays, people opt for more simple markings to show paragraph breaks. Don’t you think it looks lovely and ornamental, though?
This unconventional punctuation mark, often represented by ?! is called the interrobang (‽). A combination of the question mark and the exclamatory mark, it is used to indicate a sentence that is both a question and an exclamation. It combines emotions such as doubt, confusion, surprise, amazement and wonder. For example: Did I really win the first prize‽
The reverse question mark or the irony mark(⸮) is used to indicate that a sentence is ironical — that it has a double meaning or that it means the opposite of what it says. For example, after losing a lot of money after investing in a company, Rhea could say: ⸮Investing in this company was such a great decision — it made me so rich.
You must be familiar with the exclamation mark (!) but what is the acclamation mark? This punctuation mark was proposed to indicate approval, goodwill or welcome. For example: I’m so glad to see you [acclamation mark]
You might have used this symbol while writing, but you may not know what it is called. The caret (^) is used to indicate that something is missing and should be inserted. You can find it in the keyboard as well, right above the number 6.
Most of the world may have gone into lockdowns but sports still had its shining moments. Take a look and see if you can guess who these sports personalities are…
How good are you at figuring out secret codes? Try your hand at this pigpen cipher to decode what these common sayings are. Get cracking!
Have you ever wanted to send a secret message to your friend? There are different codes and ciphers you could use to do this. Here is a type of code you could use. This is called a ‘Pigpen Cipher’. It exchanges letters for symbols which are parts of a grid.
See if you can solve the following.
They may be the biggest or the smallest, but what’s interesting is that they hold records for their size!
Size does not matter, especially if you gain the same fame. In the animal world too, there is an unstated competition for who is the biggest vs. who is the smallest! We give you some animals who have made it on record for gaining this prominence in their species.
Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti…. here’s a musical activity for you!
There’s so much about music that puts us at ease and comforts us when we’re down. It helps us celebrate when we are happy, and lulls us into a deep sleep when tired. But how much do you know about musical terms? Well, here’s a crossword that will help.
There are many chemicals that are essential in daily life. These are used either in combined form or as some reagents. Let’s find out what they are…
The commonly used nail polish remover is acetone, and cream of tartar is potassium bitartrate. These are chemical names of a couple of items that you probably see every day. Play this memory game to get familiar with some more.
