Too Much Noise

Author: Rohini Nilekani

Illustrator: Angie & Upesh

One day, Sringeri Srinivas, the farmer, set out with his best cows to the cattle fair. He had to walk along the new national highway that had come up near his village.

That big road had many cars and trucks. Every driver seemed to be honking loudly.

Paoon! Ponn! Paaa! The cows did not like the noise. They decided to go back home.

He waved his hands at the drivers to stop the noise. This did not help. Seeing him, they just honked louder. The noise of the horns went straight into his head. And it stayed there. It was a bad day for him. He went back home with his cows. MOOO! The cows were happy to be in the cowshed again.

But the noise simply would not go away from his head.

Paoon! Ponn! Paaa!

It kept on playing like a band of untrained musicians.

Other noises around him soon joined in the chorus. Even the sounds that he heard daily suddenly became too loud for Sringeri Srinivas.

The ribbit ribbit of the frogs was noisy. The cicadas and their kirkk kirkk were too loud.

Sringeri Srinivas wanted the hooting owls to be sent away. He was angry at the koyals for screeching loudly at 4 am.

And at the cows that mooed at 5 am. And whoever asked the roosters to act as alarm clocks? And that stupid tiger! Enough of his roaring!

Poor Sringeri Srinivas. His ears had become raw, like a fresh wound.

He tried hard to keep things quiet. He shouted at the children if they talked loudly. He glared at his wife Parvatamma when the pressure cooker whistled and whistled.

Sringeri Srinivas only wanted silence. Everyone tried to help.

Parvatamma stopped scolding the children. The children played cricket quietly with a very soft ball.

The cows did not moo any more. The cicadas and owls moved to another village.

Even the tiger stopped growling.

Yet Sringeri Srinivas was not happy. He could hear the noise of everyone trying to be silent!

“I will go away from this place,” he declared one morning.

“Please don’t,” said Parvatamma. “Where will you find silence?”

Sringeri Srinivas simply frowned at her and started to walk away from his village.

Soon, he came close to a new town. He watched the noisy people in the noisy town. A young man passed by. He had some wires dangling from his ears. Sringeri Srinivas could also hear a ‘ting dang ting dang’ sound. The man looked very happy. He did not even notice that trucks were blaring horns nearby.

“What is this?” he asked the man.

“These are my headphones. Here, try them on,” the young man said. He put them on for Sringeri Srinivas. Music! Ting dang ting dang . No horns.

“Aha! This is just what I need,” he said.

Sringeri Srinivas went into the town. He bought a pair of the best headphones and put them on. At last... no more noise! He returned to his village, with his big new headphones.

His wife was happy to see him. Sringeri Srinivas gave her a big smile. His children helped him to connect the new headphones to some good, happy music.

Now, when Sringeri Srinivas gets very angry at the cars or even at the frogs, he puts on his headphones and listens to the silence. Or he listens to good music. In the village, the cows are mooing again. The koyals have come back. Ribbit ribbit , go the frogs. Kirkk kirkk , sing the cicadas.

But the cars on the highway are still making too much noise.

Paoon! Ponn! Paaa! It is not a good sound.

Sringeri Srinivas has to take his cows to the fair soon. Will they want headphones too?

This book was made possible by Pratham Books' StoryWeaver platform. Content under Creative Commons licenses can be downloaded, translated and can even be used to create new stories provided you give appropriate credit, and indicate if changes were made. To know more about this, and the full terms of use and attribution, please visit the following link .

Story Attribution:

This story: Too Much Noise is written by Rohini Nilekani . © Pratham Books , 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license.

Other Credits:

This book has been published on StoryWeaver by Pratham Books. Pratham Books is a not-for-profit organization that publishes books in multiple Indian languages to promote reading among children. www.prathambooks.org

Illustration Attributions:

Cover page: Man covering his ears , by Angie & Upesh © Pratham Books, 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 2: Man walking on the road through traffic , by Angie & Upesh © Pratham Books, 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 3: Man walking through traffic , by Angie & Upesh © Pratham Books, 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 4: Man startled by horns , by Angie & Upesh © Pratham Books, 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 5: Man startled by the noise from horns , by Angie & Upesh © Pratham Books, 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 6: Man in bed, surrounded by noisy animals , by Angie & Upesh © Pratham Books, 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 7: Man sitting on his bed and covering his ears , by Angie & Upesh © Pratham Books, 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 8: Man covering his ears in the kitchen , by Angie & Upesh © Pratham Books, 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 9: Man covering his ears in a playground , by Angie & Upesh © Pratham Books, 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 10: Man sitting under a tree and covering his ears , by Angie & Upesh © Pratham Books, 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 11: Man walking away from home , by Angie & Upesh © Pratham Books, 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Disclaimer: https://www.storyweaver.org.in/terms_and_conditions

Some rights reserved. This book is CC-BY-4.0 licensed. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. For full terms of use and attribution, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This book was made possible by Pratham Books' StoryWeaver platform. Content under Creative Commons licenses can be downloaded, translated and can even be used to create new stories provided you give appropriate credit, and indicate if changes were made. To know more about this, and the full terms of use and attribution, please visit the following link .

Illustration Attributions:

Page 12: Angry man, walking , by Angie & Upesh © Pratham Books, 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 13: Man watching another man walk by with his headphones on , by Angie & Upesh © Pratham Books, 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 14: Man walking through traffic with his headphones on , by Angie & Upesh © Pratham Books, 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 15: Man comes home wearing headphones , by Angie & Upesh © Pratham Books, 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 16: Woman cooking in the kitchen , by Angie & Upesh © Pratham Books, 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 17: Man walking through a farm with his headphones on , by Angie & Upesh © Pratham Books, 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Page 18: Man and cows with headphones on , by Angie & Upesh © Pratham Books, 2014. Some rights reserved. Released under CC BY 4.0 license. Disclaimer: https://www.storyweaver.org.in/terms_and_conditions

Some rights reserved. This book is CC-BY-4.0 licensed. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. For full terms of use and attribution, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Too Much Noise (English)

Sringeri Srinivas, the lovable farmer with very long hair, has to take his cows along the new highway, to the cattle fair. Our farmer finds the noise just too much!

This is a Level 2 book for children who recognize familiar words and can read new words with help.

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