Determination vs
Poverty
There exists a lot of
fleshy living object in the world but only few are there ,who live in real
sense. This story is about one such being, who not only made his life worthful
but also set up a bench mark for strugglers all over his home town. In a small
town, situated near The Bhramaputra ,there lived a boy. A poor one . But
Instead of living under poverty line he had some riches that even the Forbe’s
rankers would cry for. Each day this boy would get up, rush outside , turn his face
towards the glowing star and would pray to it. Then he would not loiter about
the town like his ordinary counterparts, rather he would visit the bank of the
river, place old dirty and torn pieces of paper that he accumulates from the
trash each day and would sketch the scenery in front of his eyes with fragments
of coal lying there. Well this half burned coals were left by peoples who used
to campfire each winter’s night .He would first draw the outlines and then
would fill it.The whole day long ,he would be busy, completing his sketch and
would not go home, until the small stars overpowersthe bigger one. The results
of his endeavour was always excellent. One day when, he left for the bank, while
he was passing by a primary school , his
eyes fell on a bill pasted on it’s wall. He stood in front of the bill and
started to read that was printed on it. Instead of not being enrolled in school,
he had learned to read. A broad smile spread across his face and he jumped out
of joy. In the poster it was written that, a painting competition is being
organised by a social club and anyone who wants to participate can fill in the
form, being distributed at the town’s cinema hall. But it was also written
there that ,the fee for the form was Rs 50.The amount was enough to pour cold
water on his positive anticipation of winning the contest and with a frowning look on his face ,he walked away from there. Unlike
other days , he wandered across the town till noon and then went to the cinema hall. There was a
throng of well dressed children standing in a cue, with a 50 rupee note in
their hands and were all set to fill in the form .For the first time in his
life , he felt very bad of being poor .Totally, hopeless he sat beside the
drain and started to gaze at the lucky one’. As he was lamenting over his
pathetic condition, a man came near him, ruffled his hairs and asked the reason
behind his dull mood. Very hesitantly, he narrated everything to him. On
listening to his melancholic story, tears started to roll down his cheeks. He rummaged
in his pocket, took out a hundred rupee note and gave it to the boy. On seeing
the note the boy’s face blossomed. He took the note and asked the man to wait for
him .He then rushed to the cinema counter ,which was just about to be closed, filled
the form, grabbed the 50 rupee note in his hand and rushed back to the drain, but
was surprised to find no one there. The man was gone. He felt very bad for a
minute .He then firstly, visited Maa Laxmi’s Temple, offered the fifty rupee
note to her and then started for his home .It was almost 11 am by the time he
reached home. At home everyone became happy to see him, as they have searched
for him, through out the town .He rushed towards his parents and gave them the
good news. Well ,for a rickshaw puller that was a mind boggling news. He cried
for few moments and hugged his son tightly. After two days, wearing best attire
that he could afford with his parents he went to participate in the drawing
competition. He was feeling quite nervous on seeing children loaded with
colourful drawing goodies but his mother, who understood the mental condition
of son, gently tickled his cheeks, rubbed his hair and consoled him. Within a
couple of moments ,the competition started. The judges asked everyone to make a
sketch of a place full of snow .Every one started to draw with their branded
sketch pencil but he drew with the ordinary one, which his father brought him by
working overtime. After an hour, the bell ranged and the participants were asked
to stop drawing. All the art works were collected and were presented in front
of the jury. After a long discussion, the jury finally came into an amicable
decision .The anchor stood on the stage and announced the name of the
participants, who would go ahead in the completion and would compete against
national level minor painters. By the grace of god and by dint of his hardwork,
he was also selected. He was very excited and was rewarded with a batch and a
box full of crayons. The next day he and his parents, departed for delhi with
the other participants and there families. They were all welcomed at the delhi
station with floral garlands and were taken to the completion hall, n a five
star hotel. The hall soon was filled with participants from all over india and
media personnel. The children also got the company of internationally famous
jury members. With a long speech of the chief guest, the competition began. That
day the jury has asked the children to paint a rainy landscape, with any kind
of poster colours. Eveyone took out their brushes and poster colour from their
lavish bags and started to paint. The
only person who was drawing the scene with crayons was the boy,who had nothing
but box full of wax crayons .Within few hours the competitors were asked not to
paint further. The paintings were taken away and were piled up on the judge’s
desk. The judges, seeing the paintings
one by one was baffled by the talent of the children. It took the jury almost
an hour to come to a dicision .They walked up to the stage and after giving a
speech they announced the names of the winners. The boy came second in it and
began too cry. He went near to the judges and asked the reason behind making
him the 1’st runner up. Addressing the viewers and participants the senior
member of the jury announced that they on the first place had selected the boy
as winner but as he had used crayons instead of
poster colours, they were bound to do so. Before the judges could have
said anything further, the boy’s mother broke the news to them. She told them
about their entire pathetic story and why his son has used crayons. On hearing to
that,tears started to roll down from everyone’s cheek. The viewers and
participants requested the jury to have
a recompetition. .The jury agreed and equal quality poster colours and brushes
were given to winner and the boy and they were asked to paint whatever they
like. The jury then announced that the winner will be selected not by them but
by the viewers and the children. They started to paint at 4 : pm and sharp at
4:30 they were ordered to put their brushed on their desks. The paintings were
passed on to the jury. The jury very minutely investigated the painting and
then showed it to the viewers but before doing that they omitted the
contestant’s name from it. The audience unanimously raised their hands in
favour of the scenery and the boy was selected as the winner. The scenery was
of none but of the reflection of the sun on The Bhramaputra. He was rewarded
with a golden medal and a scholarship to pursue his art career in abroad .This
was a story of a boy, a boy who against all odds , succeeded in life. He proved
that any kind of poverty can be eradicated by wealth of determination, in which
he abounded in.
Writter: RACHIT AGARWAL
