she was a student of class nine. In one of quite reputed schools. The school has strong reputation in field of results, most of the boys and girls were from cultured families.
She lived with her elder sister, only eight years older than her. Who married in a hurry and brought her to live with her as her husband toured too much.
The elder one was neither capable of taking care of herself nor was she capable of taking care of her sister she has brought over. So the little one used to prepare her own tiffin and bring it to school, which was mostly dry breads and some left over curry, smelling funny. She just nibbled it partially, the rest used to return home with her to be sneaked away with the garbage.
One day they were standing in the playground when she saw a dog, she was about to give the Tiffin to the dog when she heard a child’s voice, “Didi are you throwing away that food? She turned and saw a small child; a child of one of the labourer’s working for their new building.
“Can I take it? I am hungry.” She handed the Tiffin over to him. He ate it hungrily and returned the absolutely empty box to her.
“Thank you didi.” He was about to turn back when she called out to him, “Whenever you feel hungry you can come to me. I sit in that class. You know when our Tiffin hours are? Don’t you?”
“Yes didi.”
It became a daily routine. A food which was disgusting to one was nectar to other so the child became a daily visitor for those tasteless breads.
A few months passed by, one day she noted that some of the boys of her class were threatening the boy.
“They were saying that he steals things from their bags.” One of her friends said. “They are lying but who will argue with them.”
Kingmaker 14 on 16th Jan 2011
13 years ago
No comments:
Post a Comment