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Creative Nonfiction

A girl (Vidya) is seen washing her school shirt outside her dilapidated hut. She is tying it on a rope outside her house, for drying. She stands for a moment as the shirt hangs on the rope and looks at it. Vidya walks inside the home. At home, her elderly mother is sitting on a cot. The girl says to her mother, "I have washed the clothes. I am going out." Her mother angrily says, "Somewhere back now. What's the matter, if you stop for a moment at home soon you will run to school." She pretends as if she did not listen to her mother. She says to his mother, “You shut up. Don't teach me. I know everything. Let me go." Saying so, she jumps out of the house. Jumping and running, she goes up to school. Two hundred meters from the girl's hut is "Rothmans International High School". It is a large five-story school. There is a big playground in front of that school. they have large compound sidewalls. The walls on either side of the school meet at the large iron door in the front. Another small ground is in front of the door. Vidya jumps in front of the school. She steps up on the school door. Vidya stares at the school. She goes into a dream.

Vidya is wearing Rothmans International High School dress and praying at school along with other students. In English, all the children are praying. After the prayer, Vidya and all the other children are joining their respective classes in the queue. Vidya is sitting on the bench in her class. She happily looks at the professor teaching from the front on a platform. She has books in front of her. Rothmans International High School is state-of-the-art technology. In the middle of the recess, Vidya walks to the canteen with her friends. She looks at the menu board, orders some dishes, and sits on a chair alongside a table. She is seen sitting in the school canteen with her friends eating burgers and coffee. Vidya is being felicitated by the headmaster by participating in various competitions. She is being honoured by the chief guests for being an outstanding student for the year. Vidya is standing in front of the school's Wall of Fame looking at her own photos and medals, while her friend gives a voice behind her.

Vidya comes from dream to the present. Vidya realizes that she was standing outside the school on a small ground, dreaming. Vidya turns around and goes to her friends. There are two little boys and three little girls, from very poor families, living in poverty, but living in a humane way, were playing in the mud. Vidya goes among them and she also starts playing. She seems quite happy with her friends here playing in the mud. Though,

Even while playing with friends, Vidya's focus was on the school. After playing for a long time, Vidya's attention goes to the two girls. Two friends walk around chatting with their bicycles in hand. One of them says, “Are you ready for school? I picked up a new backpack this year. It is bigger. Baba also bought a new pen. Another says, “I got a new dress from my mother this year. The girls keep walking chatting, but in the whole conversation, Vidya correctly hears that the school is starting on the next eighth date. Hearing this, Vidya jumps in excitement. Now her happiness has no limits. She runs around all five friends full of joy. She happily holds her friends' hands and moves them in circles. She runs towards the house in the same way, happy, full of joy and excitement.

Vidya reaches home running and dancing. She pulls out an old rucksack from a cupboard in a corner of the house. Wipe it clean with a damp cloth. She takes out a box of pencils from the cupboard. Counts all the pencils and puts them back in the box. Then again she does the same by removing the erasers from the cupboard. She takes out some more items, like rulers, sharpners rounder, etc. counts them and puts them in the bag. Out of the closet comes a very old school dress. It had mud patches on it. looks ugly but was washed. She opens it, puts it on her body and looks in the small mirror. Now the ugly dress is looking really preety on Vidya. Her face is full of happiness and joy. She then folds it again and puts the dress and rucksack in the cupboard. Vidya sleeps on a blanket lying on the ground with a lighted lamp. She is excited that school will start tomorrow. Vidya's eyes shuts.

Vidya gets up early the next morning and takes a bath. Wears the school dress from the closet. She puts the rucksack on her shoulder. Looks in the mirror. There is a look of happiness on her face. It's as if the time she wants has now come. Her mother, however, covers her in the mess of sending her. Vidya leaves the house saying to her mother, "See you soon". Vidya comes to the usual playground on foot. The front door of the Rothmans International High School is open. Vidya looks at the door. Walks towards it and stands in the middle of two queues that enter the school gate, each from left and right side. She could easily see

Boys and girls of different ages passing by her side and are entering the school. Vidya steps in front of the big door of the school. Looks at the boys coming in from both sides of her. A smile blooms on her face.

Vidya sits on the sidewalk. Removes backpack from the shoulders. The rucksack opens. Draws pencils, erasers, rulers, etc. from it. As a joint, she puts everything on that bench. She takes out some more papers from the backpack and puts one paper in front of each item. Was written on each piece of paper: - Pencil - Rs. 4, Eraser - Rs. 2, Foot Strip - Rs.

Vidya keeps the money she earns by selling all the school supplies in a separate box. The school bell rings. The big school door shuts close. Vidya puts the rest of the luggage back in the bag and leaves for home.

June 02, 2021 08:41

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1 comment

Lynn Penny
15:24 Jun 07, 2021

Great submission! Congrats on your first one. Vidya is truly an interesting one, the way she has to navigate her life is a bit sad.

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