DIWALI WITH THE PENGUINS

This Diwali, Karan, and Rajat were super thrilled. They were about to go on a special trip.

- Ashima Kaushik

Their Uncle, Peter was a senior research scientist at the Maitri Research Center at the South Pole, Antarctica. When he last visited them, he told them all about the station and his penguin friends - Tippi and Koya.

Karan and Rajat were curious and asked, "Please can we visit? We want to see the penguins!" Uncle Peter had promised them a trip to the research station if they both did well in their school.

Both the boys worked hard and got good marks. Karan even won an art competition while Rajat won a medal in table tennis.

So, Uncle Peter kept his promise. He arranged for them to visit the research station. Now they were busy packing for their trip during Diwali.

"How cool is that!" they were showing off to their friends.

"Pretty cool and freezing cold, I am sure," joked Bhumi.

"You will become ice-creams there!" laughed Tina.

"She is jealous," laughed Ayush.

"I am jealous, too," said Johnny, "Who wouldn't be?" "We will live chat from there!" said Karan excitedly.

"But would you have wi-fi there? Isn't that a highly remote area?" asked Bhumi.

"Yes, it is. We will click pictures and show you all when we get back!" agreed Rajat.

They packed thick fur jackets with thick hoodies, snow goggles, snow boots, gloves, mufflers, and woollen caps.

Their mother gave them some Diwali sweet boxes and grandma gave knitted mufflers and caps for the penguins.

Karan and Rajat flew from Delhi to Cape Town, South Africa and then boarded a private jet plane called the White Wolf to reach the South Pole. Uncle Peter had asked the flight crew to keep the boys busy by telling them a little bit about Antarctica. Both were excited and thrilled.

"We did not forget the Diwali sweets, right?" asked Karan.