“Panditji, one day Gandhi Jayanti was watching a program at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi. Then a fire broke out due to an electrical fault. A pandal caught fire there. “Hundreds of people were trapped inside the pandal, which was closed on all four sides.” A children’s story written by Rajesh Chithira
Amma looked after Ameya for two or three days. It’s like she’s thinking about something when she comes out of school. Sometimes he gets up as if he has decided something. She would write something in her little notebook. What is written will be looked over and under the glasses. Eventually it will be carefully hidden from the mother. My mother walked and watched as if she didn’t see anything.
I wonder if Ameya tells him. Her mother’s confidence that she is Ameyah’s best friend is now hurt. Ever since she was a child, she was taught that whatever happened outside she should tell her mother. Ameya has been following him until now. Now, what is Ameya thinking these days? What does she write in the notebook? Finally, the mother stopped talking and asked Ameyya about the matter. What is a game? what’s wrong Is it something you can’t even tell your best friend?
Oh, is that it? I was thinking of ways to be brave. That’s what I was writing in my notebook. Ameya showed the book to her mother. There are some cuts in it. Ameya then began to tell the reason.
Ameya usually returns home from school happy. That order will only change in a few days.
The reasons for that are either because Ameya gets homework that she doesn’t like very much. Or some children must have teased her.
Her classmate Rohan is at the forefront of teasing her.
The first of his reasons is that Ameya is a thin-looking child. And she wears glasses like a big learner. Rohan will have some reason to say this and make fun of Ameya.
One reason is that Ameya is the class monitor this year. Rohana, on the other hand, would sit in class and talk when the teacher was not around. He also has some friends who are perfect for him. Naturally, it is Ameya’s responsibility to write down the names of the speakers and give them to the class teacher. She will do it. Sometimes during those days the teacher would perceive Rohan. Sometimes a small penalty will be given.
The teacher does not beat the children. Instead some enforcement will be given. Today the teacher said to write the lesson learned in the morning fifty times. That is why Ameyya was despised by Rohan. Poor Ameya, she was in tears. She went and told the teacher. I cannot be a teacher or a monitor. All the children scold me. He didn’t say it was Rohan who started the fight.
Then the teacher asked, does Ameya know what courage is? Children need courage.
Ameya remained silent. Then the teacher continued again. Do you know when children need courage?
Mum, do you know when children need courage? Ameya asked her mother.
Mother looked at Ameya. Then Ameya began to speak. But she didn’t tell her mother that the class teacher had told her all that.
Mother, either, if we have fear inside but want to do something new, we need courage. Then, we must muster the courage from within to develop some new skill, whatever it may be, such as playing a Rubik’s Cube or doing something that requires physical flexibility.
Or let’s say we fail first and other kids see it. Don’t we feel bad inside. Can’t we overcome that trouble if we have courage? Likewise, it takes courage to do the right thing even if the people around us or the situation around us are not good. Isn’t there an opportunity to tell the truth even if it is difficult? We can only do that if we have courage.
Do you know the last thing, the mistake we do, sometimes we do it unconsciously and sometimes we do it intentionally. Either way, we need courage to speak up.
The courage required for all this, we must practice and acquire.
When Ameya stopped talking, her mother asked. “So, Ameya Mole will continue to be the class monitor?” Mom smiled when she asked that.
“How does mom know” I thought I shouldn’t be a monitor?
“The day you think like that, you will see sadness on your face. Let him go, what was Rohan’s problem then?”
Oh, that’s right, he spoke in class and I wrote his name down.”
“That’s right, where did you get the sources of courage today?”
“Can’t I find out on my own?” Ameya was embarrassed.” But let’s say this is what the teacher said.”
“Does Ameya know there is a prize for brave children in India?” asked Mother
Ameya remembered reading the news in the newspaper, “I heard that the children won bravery awards.”
“Mother, it was news about a twelve-year-old boy named Guru Himapriya. It happened when Himapriya was in an army camp in Jammu when she was eight years old. A group of terrorists attacked the house where they were staying. Then Himapriya’s father was not at home. Amma and Himapriya also tried to resist the terrorists. Himapriya’s hand was injured by a grenade thrown by them. The mother was injured and collapsed. The news was that Himapriya did not flinch even after a terrorist held a gun to her forehead and talked to them for hours.
“Aha, the mother’s daughter has a good memory” patted Ameya’s mother on the head. Then he asked
“Does Ameya know how our country started honoring bravery for children? Ameya shook her head no. Then mother began to say.
“But tell me, who was the first Prime Minister?”
“That’s Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru”
“Yes. Panditji was watching a program held at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on the day of Gandhi Jayanti. Then a fire broke out due to an electrical fault. A pandal caught fire there. Hundreds of people were trapped inside the pandal which was closed on the four sides. Then there was a boy there, his name was Harish Chandra Mehra, the fourteen year old boy, who was active in the scouts, found a knife and cut the decorative panel and helped the people go out. Harish showed courage even risking his life. Nehruji came to know about this and decided to give an award to recognize brave children from all over the country. That’s how the applause started.” Mother stopped telling the story and asked the next question.
“Who will get the first prize Ameya?”
Ameya, who had forgotten herself after the story, asked her mother.
“Is that Harish’s name?”
“Yes, full marks for Ammukutty” continued the mother. The first award was for Harish and another child – in 1958. Nehruji gave that award to both of them.
Ameya also felt that she was brave. That is why the names of those who spoke in class were written down. Obey what the teacher says. I won’t hesitate to do any homework – she told herself.
“So how do you know if someone is brave?
“Or, Ameya thought for a moment and then said. “When it is possible to do the right thing according to the situation”
“That’s Amkutty, my brave one” Mom kissed Ameya’s forehead.
Ameya lay thinking that she should tell her father all the things she knew about courage, but that night she fell asleep suddenly, relieving the clouds of thoughts that had followed her for a few days.
