the magic of the lost temple

chapter 1 the family

Nooni was a 12 yr old tomboy coolest all forms of physical activities-whether it was walkin, climbing, jumping or hiking. She was a foodie, but wasn't interested in cooking. Sometimes,she watched Chota Bheem, but only when her parents told her to do so. She didn't like surfing the internet or playing computer games.
If should couldn't be outdoor, she preferred to unlike most other, she didn't care about the clothes she wore or the way she looked. her father Dr Shekhar, brought her dresses, skirts, hairband and girly accessories, but Nooni usually preferred wearing a t-shirt and leggings.
when she was younger, she had long, curly hair that her mother, Usha, used to insist on plaiting everyday. But as she grew older she opted to cut it so that it fell to her shoulders, much to the disappointment of her mother who was proud of her daughter's thick long hair. Nooni love breeding her hair and time brightly coloured boats at the ends of the two plaits. there was nothing to Usha could do to change her mind. Once noni decided to do something, nothing could stop her.
Now, Nooni's real name was Anoushka, but everyone called her Nooni. It was easy to spell and nooni liked it.
Today was a big day for her. She was a seventh grade student of a CBSE English medium school called Kendriya vidyalaya in Bangalore and was about to get her yearly report! As soon as the teacher handed her the report card, Nooni closed her eyes and prayed to God in a last minute attempt to bribe him into giving her a good rank. While she didn't care much for how how she was placed in the class she knew that her father was very sensitive about it and she wanted to make him happy. With hesitation, she finally opened her eyes and turn to the face first page of her report card. her eyes searched impatiently to see her rank in class. Finally she is a two digit number- 10.
She had ranked 10th in her class. "Oh, Dad is going to be
disappointed today, she thought.
Absent-mindedly, Nooni looked up and saw
her friend Ramya jumping with joy. Immediately,
she knew that Ramya had come first. Nooni
smiled. She was happy for her friend and got up
to congratulate her
Soon, she was surrounded by her friends.
Everybody was either talking about the rankings
or their plans for the ten-week summer holiday.
Some were going to attend swimming classes,
while others were taking courses in art, music or
dance. But Nooni's parents had other plans.
lt was time to board the school bus. Nooni said

goodbye to everyone and began thinking about her
summer plans as the bus began the journey home.
After a few days, she and her parents were going
to leave Bangalore and head to a hoiday resort
in Coorg. This was their ritual every summer.
Noonis mother took a ten-day vacation from her
job as a bank ofhcer and her father, a doctor ance
a physician, adjusted his schedule so that he coule
get away too. It was a hard task for him to take oll
from the hospital because of the increase in patien
load durng the summer season.

The three of them always went to a resort, which
they booked at least six months in advance. O
their prior trips, they had visited Kodaikanal, Ooty
Yercaud, Nainital and Manali, among others.
The places may have been diflerent but the
routine was exacty the same, They would check
into the resort and buy a few things trom a market
nearby so that Usha could make them some
breakfast, or if she didn't feel like cooking, they
would eat in a restaurant. After a sunmptuous meal,
the three of them would go out for a nature walk
and her father, who loved photography, would take
pictures of everything they saw.
If the resort had a swimminE pool, Nooni and her
father would swim and laze on the pool chairs for the
entire day. Occasionally, other family friends also
accompanied them on the trip. Betore returning to
Bangalore, Usha and Nooni would buy souvenirs
for their friends. Nooni had mixed feelings towards
such a routine vacation-she didn't really love it but she didn't want to miss it either.
After they came back from Coorg, Nooni was going to join a summer camp where she would
learn yoga, painting swimming and pottery for few weeks. By the time the camp was over, school
would reopen.
Nooni would have liked to do something different and new. But she couldn't think of anything. Her mind wandered to her mother's parents, who lived in Indore. The city was a furnace in the summer
and her family did not like to go there at that time
of the year. However, her maternal grandparents
usually came to Bangalore in the winter and spent
at least ten days with them. Sometimes, Usha took
Nooni for a week to Indore during the Diwali
holidays. But Nooni never felt comfortable there.
Though her family spoke Kannada at home, the
main language spoken by the people in Indore was
Hindi. Moreover, it was a little different from the
Hindi she studied in school. Maybe that's why she didn't have any friends there.
Dr Shekhar practised in a nursing home. He was the son of a farmer and belonged to a small village
called Somanahalli, which was located on the banks of the Varada river in North Karnataka. Dr Shekhar's parents still lived in the village. Every year
during the Ganesha festival, Nooni and her parents
would make the four-hour trip to Somanahalli by.
Car and stay there for a few days. dr Shekhar felt uncomfortable in the village and always wanted
to come back to Bangalore as quickIy as possible
Usha, on the other hand, didn't mind spending time there. Nooni liked Somanahalli. lt had huge
fields, a sparse forest and big hills. She loved going
with her grandfather to the fields every morning
there were plenty of vegetables and fruits for her to see, like rice, paddy and banana. At home in her
grandparents house, she was fascinated by the
Cows in the cowshed.
Still busy with her thoughts, Nooni realized
Just in time that the bus had reached her stop. She
hurriedly got off and walked home. Her family lived
on the fourth floor of a nice apartment complex in
Jayanagar. When she reached home and rang the
bell, Usha opened the door.
Nooni was surprised and Happy to see her mother. Mom, what are you doing back from
office so early?
Without waiting for a response, she handed over
her schoolbag to her mother and went inside the
bedroom to change her clothes. On her way, she
passed by the kitchen and saw the maid, Kaveri,cutting vegetables.