always help others Archives - Champak Magazine

BLOW HORN

Riya and Manya had gone to their grandparents with their parents. Their car was left alone in the garage.

‘All of them have gone for a vacation but have left me alone here. Now for 20 days, I will be stuck in this darkness. Riya was telling Manya that they are going for 20 days to the grandparents,’ the car thought and felt sad.

The car looked around in the garage to see if there was somebody to talk so that it could pass time. It spotted a rat who was busy eating something.

“Brother Rat, how are you?” When the car called, the rat got terrified and hid inside a box.

“Why are you getting frightened? This is me, the car. You are getting so scared hearing my voice as if I am a cat,” the car laughed, “Anyway leave all these things. For 20 days its just the 2 of us in the house. Everyone has gone out.

Will you play something with me?”

“Later, right now I am going to the kitchen. I won’t get a better opportunity to eat to my heart’s content in the kitchen. I will rule the kitchen for the next 20 days,” the rat said overjoyed and ran out of the garage.

‘I shouldn’t have told him about everybody is out. Now he will not come to the garage,’ the car thought.

It was 12 at night. The car too was trying to sleep. Just then the rat came back running to the garage. “Phew, life saved

“Phew, life saved,” he was panting.

“What happened?” the car was startled.

“You had told me that there is nobody in the house and all will come after 20 days, so I was sleeping in the kitchen. But now 2 people came inside the kitchen. I was about to be crushed under their feet.”

“That’s very nice.”

What? I was about to get killed and you are saying that it is nice.”

“No Brother, the man must be Riya and Manya’s father. I am feeling happy thinking that I won’t have to stay locked in the garage for 20 days,” the car said joyfully.

“But none of them was Riya and Manya’s father.”

“Then they must be the neighbours whom they must have asked to keep a check on the house.”

“Might be possible,” the rat said. The garage opened at that time and 2 people entered inside.

“Appu, there is a car in the garage. Instead of taking 10 small things from the house, it’s better that we take the car itself,” One man said to the other.

“Pappu, in that case, get inside the car. Let us take the car.”

“Stupid, if we start the car then the neighbours will come to know that there is somebody in the house. This can put us in a loop. We will have to push the car and take it away,” Appu hit Pappu’s head with his hand and said.

“They are thieves,” the car panicked.

“Raise an alarm to chase them away,” the rat said and started shouting loudly saying ‘Thief, thief.

“Stop it. Your voice is so soft that nobody will be able to hear you and even if they do, no human would understand you. It’s anyway good that they are not able to understand you, otherwise, these thieves would have beaten you dead.”

“So what shall we do now?”

“Till they don’t start the car, I can’t do anything, but you can do something.”

“What?”

“You blow the horn which will cause a loud sound and the neighbours will wake up. Then these thieves will have to run away,” when the car said this, the rat went inside and stood on the horn but it didn’t blow. By that time Appu and Pappu had pushed the car outside the garage.

“Brother Rat, do something.”

“What should I do? I am standing on the horn but it is not blowing,” the rat said.

Appu and Pappu were taking the car towards the gate. When the rat couldn’t think of anything, he bit Appu’s hand and again stood on the horn. Appu saw the rat inside the car and wanted to punch him.

The rat moved from the horn and Appu’s hand touched the horn which started blowing loudly.

“What are you doing, you stupid? If you will blow the horn at this hour, the neighbours will wake up,” Pappu shouted furiously.

“A rat bit me and I was hitting him.”

“Appu, leave the rat and quickly get out from here,” Pappu said, pushing the car. As soon as they reached the gate, they found the police waiting for them.

“How did the police come here?” Appu was shocked.

“We are here because of your stupid behaviour. We were taking rounds over here when we heard the sound of the horn. We came here wondering who was the horn at this hour and found you two,” the policeman said, putting handcuffs in their hands.

“That means we got caught just because of a rat,” Appu-Pappu said, holding their heads.

By that time, the neighbours also came over. They put the car back in the garage and put new locks to the garage and the house.

“Thank you, Brother Rat. You saved me from those thieves.’

“That was my duty, Sister Car. Now you take rest and I will also leave.”

“Where are you going at this hour?”

“In the kitchen! When else will I get the opportunity to live and eat in the kitchen,” the rat laughed and said. The car too started laughing.

That ambulance that came to halt

Raju and his friends were on their way home from school when they heard a siren. They turned around and saw an ambulance. Raju felt bad for the patient inside.

A man got down from the ambulance and requested the other vehicles to give way but the cars were standing back-to-back. There was no place for the ambulance to move.

Raju and his friends were watching this incident. Raju noticed that the traffic jam was too long and was not going to clear that easily.

Raju ran forward to find out the reason for the traffic jam. He saw a big crowd and everyone was shouting slogans. Raju asked, “What’s happening?”

“We are on a strike because the government is not fulfilling our wishes,” someone replied to Raju.

Raju asked, “Would it not be better for you to be heard in a place where you are not blocking the entire road and creating problems for others?”

The man said, “If we don’t block the road, no one will hear us.”

Raju asked, “What’s that even supposed to mean?”

The man said, “Hey kid! If the traffic gets blocked, only then the government listens to us.” He started his sloganeering again.

Raju pleaded, “There is an ambulance at the back which has been waiting for a long time and the patient is in a critical condition. The patient has to be taken to the hospital as soon as possible. Could you please make way for it?”

The man said, “You go from here. We will leave only when our wishes are heard.”

Raju understood that the crowd was not going to move. He knew something else had to be done to make sure that the ambulance reached the hospital on time so that a life could be saved.

Raju called his friends and said, “Come, let’s do something.”

Raju said to the other drivers, “Please move your vehicles a little so that the ambulance can go near the divider.”

Raju and his friends took the traffic boards and created a ramp for the ambulance to cross the divider and cross over to the other side of the road.

On the other side, cars were moving slowly. Raju and his friends signalled the cars to leave a place in the middle of the road for the ambulance to move.

The ambulance slowly inched forward.

The man from the ambulance thanked Raju and said, “My son’s life will be saved because of all of you.”

Raju thanked his friends and everybody went to their respective homes. They were happy to have saved someone’s life.

Taking Care Of Grandmother Veena

One Sunday afternoon, four friends Jai, Juee, Om and Rakhi were playing a game called Lingocha in the park near their house. The four were playing till afternoon and not realising how hot it was.

Rakhi’s mother called from the window and said, “Rakhi, it is afternoon. Come in for lunch.”

“Some more time please,” said Rakhi. Everybody wanted to play for some more time, nobody wanted to go home.

In the afternoon there were not many people on the road. On the opposite side of the park an old lady, almost the age of their grandmothers, was walking with two bags in her hand. One bag was full of vegetables, the other was full of fruits.

Suddenly, they heard a loud sound. The kids turned around and looked at the road. The old lady had fallen down, and all the vegetables and fruits were on the road.

Rakhi said, “We must go and help grandma.”

Om said, “But we don’t even know her.”

Upon hearing this, Jai said, “So what? If someone is in trouble, we must help them.”
Juee said, “You are right Jai, we all must go and help her.”

All four of them went near the lady and saw that she was not moving.

“She must have become unconscious because of the heat. Jai, please go and bring my water bottle,” said Rakhi.

Jai brought the water bottle quickly. Then Rakhi took some water and splashed it on grandma’s face.

Grandma regained consciousness and slowly opened her eyes.

Juee saw grandma’s face and said, “I have seen you on my way back from school. “She turned to her friends and said, “Maybe she stays somewhere near my building.”

Jai said, “Well let me pick up all the fruits and vegetables from the ground.” He kept all of them inside the bag.

Om said, “We should help her get up and make her sit on the bench.”

They took grandma to the park and made her sit on the bench. Rakhi gave her some water to drink.

Juee asked, “Grandma, do you stay near the temple?”

“Yes, I stay in the opposite building. It’s called Vasthu Residency,” said grandma.

Juee said, “It is very close to the building I stay in.”

Om asked, “Grandma, what’s your name?”

Grandma said, “My name is Veena.”

“We would love to help you, let us take you to the building. Please eat a banana for some energy,” said Jai. He gave grandma a banana to eat. They helped her and took her to the building.

Om carried her bags.

Jai asked grandma, “On what floor do you stay?”

Grandma said, “I stay on the first floor, flat number 104.”

They helped her in the lift. When they rang the bell of the house, her family was shocked to see her like this. The children told her son and daughter what had happened. Both of them thanked the children.

Grandma said, ”All four of you must eat lunch here before you all leave.”

They all refused to eat, but grandma did not listen to them. The children became good friends, and they would visit each other often. One Sunday afternoon, four friends Jai, Juee, Om and Rakhi were playing a game called Lingocha in the park near their house. The four were playing till afternoon and not realising how hot it was.