This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 42; the forty-second edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for the month is "COLOR"
A class of 42 students were chatting laughing
their hearts out. Why wouldn’t they? After all their half yearly results had
come out and all of them had passed with flying colors.
"Arnab...Arnab"
His friends called out his name in repetition as they encircled around his bench while Arnab ducked himself beneath his bench trying hard to avoid himself from the heartfelt mocking of his friends. As he couldn’t bear any more, he dashed out of his class before his teacher entered, jumped the boundary of his school walls and he was out in the open field. This was his yearly routine at school and it started when he was in 5th class.
His friends called out his name in repetition as they encircled around his bench while Arnab ducked himself beneath his bench trying hard to avoid himself from the heartfelt mocking of his friends. As he couldn’t bear any more, he dashed out of his class before his teacher entered, jumped the boundary of his school walls and he was out in the open field. This was his yearly routine at school and it started when he was in 5th class.
He didn’t run out because he
scored less than his friends, he didn’t run out because he came last in the
class. He just ran out because his views of education were different from his
classmates and he was tired of getting mocked.
Every time he ran away; he took
the same path. The road, the shops, the show owners and even the name of the
streets were inscribed in his mind. Today again he came to the same t point but
he stopped. He didn’t want to go to the same road, meet the same people and
spend time in the playground like he always did. But today he was amazed as he
saw a new path in the left side of the T-point. It was a grassy path which
meant lesser people had ventured on it. He could see the trees providing its
shade, names of the couple inscribed on them. It attracted him and he took that
path today. He was not scared about the end of this path but was excited and his excitement made him walk on that path.
As he began to walk, he carefully
examined the road. He could see a few tracks of tyres and he knew something was
here. He walked carefully. 10 minutes, 15 minutes… the time flew by and he got
nothing. He got disappointed but the urge in him to explore this unexplored path
made him move forward. The urge in him was rewarded. He could see a boundary and
branches of trees, filled with beautiful flowers, were coming out of it, there
was a playground in it and some swings too. The wall was painted with varied colors,
with beautiful quote written over it.
The more he explored, the more he was
amazed. He asked the security guard if he could let him in and he replied in negation. He was
sad but he stayed there, running his eyes around the vast open field. It was a school
for specially-abled kids. Some were sitting on wheel chairs and dancing, while
others were playing cricket.
“What are you doing here? Don’t
you have a school to attend kid?”
He heard someone saying this to him from behind.
"Sir si..", he fumbled, he froze, his vocal cords refused to speak.
Sensing fear in his voice, he asked him to relax and gave him some time to think and speak.
"Sir si..", he fumbled, he froze, his vocal cords refused to speak.
Sensing fear in his voice, he asked him to relax and gave him some time to think and speak.
"I ran away from school. I had my
result today and I came last in my class", he said with his eyes still fixed
towards the kids on the ground. He didn’t blink.
(But he turned around. He didn’t
mean to disrespect him.)
"You are in which class?", he asked Arnab
As he turned around, he saw a tall
man neatly dressed in a pair of crisp blue shirt and trousers. He guessed that the man was
the owner of this place.
Arnab's eye scrutinized him from head
to toe and he ignored the question that was put forth him.
"I asked you something", the man
repeated again
“Sorry” , he said wishing he was
like him
“You are in which class?”, he repeated his
question
“10th class”, he replied, while his mind was still admiring the class of that man.
“My summer vacations are starting tomorrow. Can you search me a job?”
“My summer vacations are starting tomorrow. Can you search me a job?”
"Oh man I had made a blunder. I would
have loved to work in here but I had a slim chance", Arnab thought to himself
“Sorry??”, he asked confused
“Nothing”, he replied and started to
walk away after bidding him goodbye.
“Stop.”, he ordered. “Would you like
to work here?”, he continued
He stopped moving and came
back to the place where he was previously standing. He had got what he wanted.
"You are the right person for this
job. I could see this passion in your eyes, to be with them and seriously saying these
children want to be around people like you, people like us, who are ready to make
a difference. Your marks don’t matters to me. You are much more than you show.", he paused for a while
"Will you paint these kids and
make a difference? You are the color these kids want and I am sure you will
make a beautiful portrait.", he continued
Arnab went back home
feeling excited and happy, to paint them, fill them with the colors of smile, to wipe
away their sorrows, to wipe away the lines of black colors on their cheeks, left
over by the tears which run down from their eyes, silently disappearing into
their bed sheets at night but every morning they used to wake up with the same zeal, to
make a difference in their lives, to make a difference in the life of their
family, where they belong to.
***** XX *****
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