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| Priti with Mittal Patel at the VSSM girls Hostel, Ahmedabad |
She nodded in affirmation.
“What do you take?”
She chose to remain quiet.
“Money?” I asked.
“No.”
“Hairbands?
‘No.”
“Clothes?”
“No.”
“Notebooks?”
“No.”
“Pencil?”
“No.”
I continued asked about stuff that could be lifted
and Priti continued to deny.
“So, can you tell me what do you lift?”
“Sharpener.”
“Oh ok, and?”
“Eraser.”
“Ah, is it.”
“Foot ruler.”
“What else?”
“That’s it!!”
“Why only this much?”
“That is because, I am fond of them!”
I was enjoying this conversation. It made me
nostalgic, of times when Kiara was a junior KG student and came back with lots
of such stuff in her pencil box. And she too would tell me the same thing.
“It is not appropriate to lift things without
asking,” I told Priti.
She just refused without opening her mouth, “It is
called robbery, a sin!”
“Oh, who told you that? And why did you do it even
when you knew it is wrong?”
“Because I like them so much, Didi!”
It was hard not to fall for her innocence and
humbleness.
“Next time you crave for sharpener, foot-rule and
eraser come to me, I shall give them to you and promise me that you will never
take anything without asking again.”
I stretched my hand towards Priti asking for her
commitment.
“I will not take anything, I promise!” she voiced loudly and gave me a high-five.
“But what if you continue with your habit even
after promising me not to!”
“Will accept whatever punishment God gives me,” she
told me looking at the sky.
“God will put a big ball in your tummy, you won’t
be unable to eat. So, think before you promise. Children like you are very dear
to God so they aren’t punished. He forgives children but places a ball in their
tummy.”
“I will never repeat this again!!”
I felt the need to share this experience with you
all to give a glimpse of how children think and act and how we as adults
misinterpret their behaviour. We are blessed to be taking care of such
fantastic children. They never hesitate to confess their mistakes. They have
learnt their lessons well at the hostel and chose to be righteous in their
conduct. We are sure our training and guidance will help them become better
humans and that is what we wish to achieve because, we need to think beyond the
stereotypes.
