Shruthi’s Pink Stripe
Nisha Daniel
“Higher!” Shruti yelled. She was on a swing and Vanitha was pushing. The bright pink swing was suspended from a large tree and Shruti could see the sunlit branches and the clouds as she felt the wind rush through her hair. It
felt heavenly.
Sharing her joy Vanitha pushed harder.
“Stop! Stop!” Shruthi shouted suddenly. Vanitha quickly slowed down the swing.
“What happened?” she asked, alarmed.
“The snail!”
“The snail?” Vanitha asked.
“What are you talking about?”
“I have two hours left to colour our snail. Hurry!” And Shruti jumped off the swing.
“Our Environment Club has pinned a big striped paper snail on the wall, with a stripe for each person,” she explained. “We can colour in the stripe when we have come up with a new environmentfriendly colour. My stripe is the only one that is still uncoloured!” Vanitha laughed. “I’ll help you. Come home, let’s browse the internet.”
They found a wide variety of colours on the Internet, but Shruthi was dissatisfied that they were mediocre. So they tried pulling out books from Vanitha’s collection. Again, they found colours that were common.
“I just have to find something,” Shruthi said, looking at her watch anxiously. There were just ten minutes to go. Vanitha sighed. They had discussed atleast 30 options, but nothing novel.
“Hey!” Shruthi almost jumped out of the chair. “The swing!”
She stood up. “Isn’t it environment-friendly? It is made of a plain wooden plank and jute rope, and tied to a tree. It keeps you close to nature, uses no plastic, and doesn’t drain natural resources. It’s the colour we are looking for!”
Vanitha agreed. “You’re right!” “Of course it’s not a new idea, but people will accept it as a substitute for toys and games that are environment unfriendly,” explained Shruthi.
Ten minutes later, Shruthi proudly walked up to the paper snail in the Environment Club, and coloured her stripe a bright pink. She had thought of a special idea! The other children loved her explanation, and they planned to install a swing for Environment Clubbers!
Teacher’s Corner
Set aside a day as Colour Day. On this day, each student in the class can choose his/her favourite colour and focus on it.
Each one can wear an outfit of her chosen colour to class with a snack box, bag and stationery to match. Each
student can give a one-minute talk on her favourite colour and facts, details and trivia relating to it. One could also
wear unusual colors like gold, silver or bronze too.
The teacher must be a part of the celebration. You can even bring sweets of your favourite colour for everyone!
