‘Wheeeee…wheeeee…wheeee!’ At once, the screen cover snapped shut. Ranjit and Rani had been watching a cartoon on the Wimscreen, but when the siren sounded, it shut down.
‘Hey! It’s home work time,’said Rani.
Ranjit made a face, ‘Homi never forgets homework. It is like the police. Even its siren is like a police whistle.’
Homi, the homework machine rumbled in on its wheels. Homi was a robot. With a panel holding everything needed for children to study, from an eraser to a computer.
‘Come on, Ranjit! Come on, Rani!’ Its hollow machine voice called loudly. ‘There is a lot of homework, today. Take your seats, children.’
Ranjit and Rani slipped into the seats and looked at the panel. ‘Rani, start the abacus. You need to practise for the Math test tomorrow,’ instructed Homi. ‘And Ranjit, switch on the WorldQ. You have to answer the quiz on pyramids.’
Rani punched a button. On the abacus screen, sums started appearing with a ping! Rani started pushing the coloured beads and keying in the solutions.
Ranjit keyed in ‘pyramids’ on the WorldQ, muttering, ‘History is so boring! Why do I need to know how people lived so long ago?’
‘That’s enough!’ came Homi’s stern voice.
The WorldQ slid to a 3D film of a half-built, huge monument. Thousands of men were running around it, climbing up and down, all busy in building it. Ranjit was amazed at huge stones being raised high and higher only on manpower. There were no machines. Then the film moved to the inside of the pyramid. There were paintings on the walls of the rooms. The rooms were filled with treasures. Gold, silver, gems, rich clothes and even food like dates and honey were stored in the pyramid. In the centre was a carved box.
‘What is the box for?’ asked Ranjit.
‘The box is where the King will be laid when he dies,’ said Homi.
‘Why were dead kings kept in pyramids?’
Homi said, ‘Because the Egyptians believed that their kings will return to life after many years. So they left all the king’s belongings in the pyramid for him to use.’
‘What a wonderful idea!’ said Ranjit. By now, Rani had finished Math and was also looking at WorldQ.
‘Look Ranjit, can you see that boy behind the pyramid? What is he doing?’ asked Rani.
Homi took some time to answer. It zoomed on the boy and said, ‘He is getting a kite ready to fly.’
‘Kite? Did they have kites, then?’ Ranjit asked excitedly. He was an expert kite flyer. ‘What is he doing to the string?’
‘He is rubbing a gum mixed with sugar on the string. The dry sugar will make a sharp string. He can then cut other strings in the kite contest,’ said Homi.
‘Wow!’ Ranjit decided he will do the same with his kite strings, too.‘History teaches us so much, Rani.’
‘About pyramids or kite strings,’ asked Homi.
‘Both, Homi,’ said Ranjit and Rani.
‘Rani, all your sums are correct, Very good.’ Homi said. Rani beamed.
‘Now, Ranjit, finish pyramid quiz and both of you can go out to fly kites,’ Homi added.
Ranjit quickly keyed in his ticks into the quiz appearing on the screen. Soon his homework was done. Ranjit and Rani got up to run outdoors as Homi switched off.
All rights reserved. @Sutapa Basu 2015
