Thank you, iro 2023 & Food4Thought Foundation

Greetings from Sandeep Dutt at The English Book Depot, the bookshop that won the Award for Best Book Store of the Year Category in IRO 2023. Getting the prestigious Award in our 100th year of service at the Hyderabad Literary Festival 2023 is a big honour for us. Thank you, F4TF, for conducting IRO 2023 and recognising individuals and organisations promoting reading habits. I also thank all Sponsors, Aurobindo Pharma Foundation, Amadeus Labs, Odessa Technologies, Signode India Limited and Greengold Animation Pvt Ltd, for supporting F4TF and helping in organising IRO and, most important, identifying people from PAN India and appreciate their work. india reading olympiad® is a platform which enables, encourages, and endorses an ecosystem which creates functional reading spaces & joy for Reading and appreciates the efforts towards igniting a reading revolution across 13 categories, i.e. Life Time Achievement, Reading 4 Pleasure-School, Reading 4 Pleasure- NGO, Reading 4 Pleasure-Institute, Innovative Library Format, Innovation 4 Reading, Best Reading Club, Best Book Store of the Year, iambond Under 18, iambond Above 18, Joy of Reflection(Students), Best Library (F4TF) and Caught Reading. The three broad objectives of the india reading olympiad® are Encourage Reading habits and enable Joy of Reading at large, Encourage and appreciate individuals, groups and institutions which promote Reading and Inspire citizens to become lifelong readers & book lovers.

Facts On Vegetables - Vani Pandey

 Don't like vegetables? Know the facts.

When your mother says there is something delicious to eat for dinner and then sits down to eat, you often find yourself eating a vegetable salad or curry with vegetables you don't like. You always think that junk food is so tastier than vegies that mom makes. But have you ever wondered why your mother tells you not to eat junk food? Instead, she tells you to eat fresh vegetables? 

Why is it important to eat vegetables?

Vegetables are a great source of many vitamins and minerals, including potassium, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C. Diets rich in potassium may help to maintain healthy blood pressure. They also contain a lot of fibres. They are low-calorie and low-fat.

We should eat vegetables regularly to lower our risk of type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease, high blood pressure, and cancer by adding them to our diet. Do you know that whether the vegetables are fresh, frozen, canned, or dried, they are nutritious? 

Apart from eating, here are fun facts about vegetables.

• You can temporarily dye your hair with beetroot.
• Mushrooms have their own immune system.
• Eating a massive amount of carrots can indeed make the yellowish body orange.
• The city Chicago is named after garlic as 'Chicagaoua' is an Indian word for wild garlic.
• Pumpkin first appeared in the 17th century when the Cinderella tale was written.

Vani Pandey
VIII C
Gyanshree School 

Lunch Time - Gaurangi Rastogi

In a boarding school, we have no lunchbox, but we have canteens there. That place was a place for showing affection, having fun, and interacting with teachers.

As the head chair of my table, I must make my juniors eat the food properly, ensuring discipline and no wastage of food. When I became the head chair for the first time, it was a tough job to make my juniors eat properly, Sometimes, they did not like the dish, or the taste was too bad.

Once I broke down, I was tired of the tantrums, but a senior made me realize that I was like them; when I was a junior. Today, I share and tell them that they eat little but everything! This lesson would be remembered all the time. 

Gaurangi Rastogi 

Grade-VII A 
The Doon Girls' School

Sea Food and Land Food - Rudransh Awasthi

This was the picture when the headmaster was asking Totto-chan about sea food and land food. She also learned that Denbu is a sea food.

Name: Rudransh Awasthi
Grade: 6A
Billabong High International School, Thane

What do cows think? - Rishona Chopra

Cows think about having lots of fun with their children.

While delivering milk, their children are taken away from them, so they can't drink it as we selfish humans need it! Cows think about having lots of fun with their children without restrictions. They wish to dance and play with them like any parent. 

Cows would love to have lots of food. Although they can eat little food for a longer time, they would like to have more if they don't get food to eat the other day! When people hit them to get milk, they obviously feel hurt and want to hit them back. They think about taking revenge on them and going out of the shed and being free, having freedom.

We humans talk about having freedom, but we don't realize how we take others (animals) liberty away.

Rishona Chopra
Grade V
Gyanshree School

Mother's Job is a Selfless Job - Naksh Parihar

My mother's name is Manju Parihar. She is 38 years old. She is a housewife. My mother cooks delicious food. My mother's hobbies are stitching clothes and watching TV. She likes to eat sweets. She always helps me with my homework and always takes care of me. I love my mother so much. She always wakes up at 5 o'clock to make all the things ready for us. She is the most beautiful woman in the world. She fulfils all her responsibility without making any complaints. She takes care of her three children very well. She never gets tired or bored of cooking for her children. She always does the things which make us happy. Mother is the person who changes a house into a home. Mother's love never changes for her sons or daughters, whether they are children or adults. She manages our home very well and looks after every member of my family. I love mom very much, and I know she loves me the most.

Naksh Parihar

Class IV

The Fabindia School

Take Responsibility of Your Actions - Raviraj Singh Sonigara

The pandemic period has forced everyone to stay in their house. Due to this, there is the storage of food materials. So, the price of food materials is also increasing. The poor people cannot buy this expensive food material, their condition is terrible. 

I would like to share an incident that took place with me on 10th March. When I felt bored during the daytime, I came and sat near the window and gazed outside. Suddenly I caught sight of a beggar sitting in the shade. Expressions on his face showed that he was hungry, so I decided to give a food packet and a water bottle to the beggar. After some, sometimes I went outside to give the packet of food and water to the beggar. When the beggar saw me, he tried to cover his face with his clothes and asked me to stand away from him. This thought left me overwhelmed. I put the packet of food and water and watched from my house to see what he was doing. The beggar got up, cleaned the place, washed his hands, took the packet and thanked me. He sat down under the tree and had his food.

I was happy that even he was also showing his responsibility towards his country and maintaining social distancing. I would like to end by quoting, 'The real freedom of any individual can always be measured by the amount of responsibility he must assume for his welfare and security.’

Raviraj Singh Sonigara

Class IX B

The Fabindia School