This incident takes me back to the year 1995 when I was a class 9th student. That day our English teacher didn’t come to school and thus we got that period free. We all were enjoying in the school playground without realizing that nursery section students were also present there for their prayers & game activities.
We all girls were specially so engrossed in playing with the balls that we didn’t notice when these toddlers started singing the national anthem. But the moment we realized (except for one of my classmate Pooja) we immediately left all the balls & stood straight. The moment it got over we saw that Ms. Neelam (one of the senior most teachers from the nursery wing) was coming towards us.
Her face was all red in anger & fury. She started screaming at one of my friend Ritu for not leaving the ball while the national anthem was on. But we all knew the fact was it was not Ritu but Pooja who didn’t leave the ball. I & one of my close friends Preeti immediately asked Pooja to come forward & reveal the truth.
Without wasting a single moment she came forward & accepted her mistake. She requested Ms. Neelam to spare Ritu as she was at no fault at all. She slapped Pooja hard for her mistake & also scolded her badly. After the period got over & we moved towards the classroom some of the girls said that since I & Preeti called out for her name that’s why she came forward otherwise she wouldn’t have. I am not exaggerating by saying that these few girls were making mockery of her & two of them also said that Pooja acted like a fool as she didn’t use Ritu as a scapegoat to save herself from the anger of Ms.Neelam.
I did listen to all what they said but it didn’t bother me because all I knew was it’s not easy to admit your mistake so openly in front of others but Pooja had shown that she has the guts to openly accept her mistake without caring for the consequences. Though now I am not actively in touch with her but I still respect her for what she did that day.
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