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Exemplary Courage of a Girl

by Vaman Acharya
(Bengaluru, Karntaka, India)

It was half past ten in the morning. Suddenly there was a roaring sound of a lion in the botanical park. The sound was heard by the group of ten girls belonging to Adarsh Primary School, Pavanpur. The girls were feeling scary and stopped for a while after seeing the big board in bold letters "Wild animals appear here. Do not go beyond this point".

Without informing the teacher, they came out. Among them, the leader of the group Shruti was courageous and consoling her friends not to scare and be bold to face the situation. Except Shruti, all the girls were weeping continuously. The teacher did not notice the girls, who were coming out. The best course for the girls was to wait till the teacher comes out of the bath room. Children at this age do not think like a matured person. These girls instead of sitting idle decided to go out.

Every year during the summer vacation, Adarsh Primary School, Pavanpur conduct excursion for students. The purpose of such excursion would be to enrich their class room teaching through travel. One group consisting of 10 members led by Shruti had selected a botanical garden and other places of attraction. The students were in the age group of 8 to 10 years. The participants of student groups would gain a lot of knowledge about the rich historic, cultural and natural sights of our country. The group members were informed to follow the rules.

When they got down from their hired vehicle at the Botanical garden, they directly went to Government Guest House. The school had already obtained permission to stay in the guest house. The students took half an hour to get ready. Thereafter, the teacher went to toilet room and told the students to wait till she comes back.

She remained in the toilet room for more than ten minutes. By then the girls decided to roam around the nearby area. They were not aware that the teacher was stuck up in the toilet room and unable to unlock the inside bolt. The watchman, who was moving there, got suspicion of hearing the sound of the toilet room door. He went to his room and brought the keys to open the door from outside. Luckily, the door was opened with one of the keys in the bunch. The teacher came out with panic and perturbed for the pain undergone inside the toilet room for about half an hour.

She was utterly shocked to find the girls were not there waiting for her. Terrified, she asked the watch man to come along with her to search for the girls. By then, the girls were rushing towards the guest house.

“Shruti, why did you leave without informing me?” asked teacher.
“Madam, please excuse me for not obtaining your permission. First, permit me to narrate a horrible incident took place just few minutes back,” said Shruti.

“What is the matter Shruti?”
“Madam, you didn’t come out of the bath room even after 10 minutes, we wanted to have a look around. But unknowingly we went further. There was a big board giving caution not to cross this limit. Suddenly, we heard roaring sound of a lion. All of us were scared. I told all the girls not become scary and have patience. I was seriously thinking to come out of the situation. An idea was flashed in my mind. When I started counting the girls, including me there were only nine. One girl Navya was missing. The roaring was still there behind the big tree. I became bold and went near the big tree. I was surprised to see Navya behind the big tree playing with an electronic toy fitted with a sound of roaring lion. I told her to stop it. She did a mischief only to create an amusement among us. Now she has realized her mistake and apologized.”

The Teacher appreciated Shruti for her courage.

“Why did you play a dangerous game Navya?”
“Madam, I'm sorry. Please excuse me.”

They returned to guest house for lunch.

Thereafter, the teacher took all the girls to the botanical garden and explained different types of plants. The same day in the evening the group left for another place, forgetting all the tension they went through.

The Head Master of the school had convened a meeting and honoured Shruti.