On a roll

Up, up and away!

All of us love to go on a roller coaster ride once in a while, but how about having one in your own backyard? Well, a German boy did just that. He built a huge 300-foot long roller coaster in his backyard! But that was before the authorities caught up with him. When local town planning officials in the boy’s hometown in Offenberg, Germany found out about it, they were left out of their breath ? just the way you feel after a roller coaster ride. But, sadly, they have ordered the boy to pull the whole structure down since he had not taken permission from the authorities to build it. Pity, since he had also designed carriages that could travel at 30 miles per hour on the tracks. The ride which was about 16-foot high was also not in keeping with prevalent safety standards for such structures. What’s even worse is that there is no way we can find out the name of this boy genius ? German privacy laws prevent such names from being disclosed. But maybe some day he will build his own amusement park and people all over the world will talk about the boy from Offenberg.

bookwatch

Festive hour

It’s the time of eId, and Abdul is making merry. But there’s something else ? Abdul wants a red velvet jacket he has seen at the shop window. But he doesn’t have the money to buy it. So does he finally get the jacket he has been yearning for? To find out, read Abdul’s Eid by Juhi Sinha. Priced at Rs 25, it’s a Scholastic publication.