Ek Titli.Org for heroes of the environment
Fangchu was pleasantly surprised by what he saw. The inner wall of the polythene bag was covered with tiny droplets of water. He double checked his experiment to see if there were any leaks in the poly-bag. To his astonishment there were none. The number of droplets only seemed to have increased with time.
He made a quick note of these observations in his diary.
“Ma, Ma look what I have found.”
Ma, walked in from the kitchen towards Fangchu and was pleased with what she saw.
“Bhaiya. Bhaiya.” Kia called out from across the room while she played with her toys. Curious Tweego walked towards Fangchu only to realize that Fangchu has discovered it. He wagged his tail to respect his achievement.
Raising her hands, Kia called out to Fangchu and nodded to him. Fangchu rushed to pick her up in his arms.
Kissing his check, she asked “Bhaiya, did you find my orange Tortoise?” She had misplaced her soft toy the other day and every search attempt by Fangchu only went futile.
“No Kia, but I promise to find it soon.” Pointing at the plants he asked Kia, “Do you know where all the water from the plant goes?”
“No Bhaiya.”
“The water is exhaled along with oxygen by the leaves. That is why you see these tiny droplets in the poly-bag.”
Excitedly she added, “And the planted with more leaves has more droplets!”
Ma swelled with pride. “Very well said Fangchu and an equally keen observation Kia. Now would you two be interested in another experiment?”
Tweego barked. He reflected the excitement and thrills the two siblings felt.
“Have you seen how a plant grows from a seed?” Ma asked her kids. Her doubts were answered instantaneously.
“I thought as much. Fangchu get a few seeds of peas, channa and a few slices of tomatoes and cucumber. You will find the slices next to the stove in the kitchen.”
“Kia, will you get some water and a few empty boxes and cans from the store room.”
In a short while Ma had all that she needed. She neatly laid them on the table and asked the kids to gather around. As instructed by her, Fangchu removed seeds from the tomato and cucumber slices and handed it to her.
“Kia”, Ma called. “Put these tomato seeds in any of the containers and gently pour some water in them.”
As Kia happily did what she was asked to, Ma encouraged her to soak the other seeds in the remaining containers too. Kia completed the task in a jiffy. She noticed that each container only had a particular kind of seed. They weren’t mixed.
The experiment was all prepared and Fangchu was curious. After he had marked and named all the ‘seed containers’ he inquisitively asked Ma what they were hoping to discover this time.
Ma smiled and assuringly said, “You will notice in a few days Fangchu and you will be thrilled with what you see.”
