My Dear Diary

My Dear Diary,

As you know I love to meet people, and entered the classroom hoping to make everyone smile. But as I stepped in, I saw a dull tension all over. The long-awaited results had been announced. Everyone, except the topper, was disappointed, as was I. The day seemed to drag rather slow, but finally did come to an end.

On the way back home, my mind juggled a hundred negative thoughts, like was it worth working so hard? Putting them aside, I stopped to buy some fruit. As I was deciding on what to pick, I noticed a child sitting behind the stall, trying to read from a torn piece of newspaper.

I asked what he was trying to do, and he told me he was practicing his reading. He was in Class 3 when his studies were interrupted because of the family's financial troubles. Now he worked as a salesman at the fruit shop during day, and worked on his reading skills by night, practising with whatever written material he could lay his hands on. And who taught him? He said it was a neighbourhood boy of Class 5, who also studied at night. Our fruit-selling friend sat up with him to snatch whatever bits of knowledge he could.

After he weighed and packed what I needed, I asked the boy how much I had to pay. Ma’am Rs 197, he said, promptly. Not sure if the sum was right, I calculated myself to crosscheck. The boy was absolutely right. I asked him what else he knew in mathematics, and he showed his subtraction abilities too. The balance from the Rs 500 note I handed him would be Rs 303, he said.

I left the place with a smile, a smile of contentment with my own life. A few hours ago, I was disappointed at my performance in certain papers. But seeing the enthusiasm of that child, I realised what I had in life, rather than what I lacked. While I was moping over a “dissatisfactory” result, this child was experiencing success in even being able to read from a scrap of paper.

How lucky I was to get an education, to be able to express my feelings far better than the millions who couldn't even read or write. While I had all the resources, that child was struggling between responsibility and choice.