The Laddoo Code

Saksham Arora

One morning, in Class 2B...
“Psst, Anjali! Pass this note
to Ritvik,” whispers Rahul.

Anjali passes the
note to Madhu.
Madhu passes it
to Anwar.
Anwar passes it
to Sanya.

And Sanya passes it to Ritvik.

Ritvik reads the note – Nani made laddoos!
Meet me behind the canteen.

But Anjali, Madhu, Anwar and Sanya have read it too.

“Laddoos!”

“Oh no, I don’t think we’re getting any...”

Everyone jumps
on the laddoos.

Soon, there are
no laddoos left.

The next day…
“Anjali, pass this to Ritvik, na?”

Anjali tries to read the note again,
but can’t understand it.

Madhu can’t read it either.
Neither can Anwar.
Nor can Sanya.
But Ritvik knows
exactly how to read it.

Ritvik wraps the strip of paper around his pencil,
just the way Rahul did when he wrote it.
And the secret message is revealed!

Making and Breaking
the Code
Rahul converts his message into
a secret code so that no one else
can read it. This method of protecting
information is called encryption.
Ritvik wraps Rahul’s note around
his pencil to reveal the message.
This method of changing encrypted
information back into plain text
is called decryption.
Computers also use encryption and
decryption to keep information safe.
Want to send secret messages
like Rahul and Ritvik?
Wrap a strip of paper around a pencil
and write your message on the wrapped
paper. Then unwrap the paper and
give it to your friend. Your friend can
read the secret message by wrapping
the paper around another pencil.