Children's Day!

Sister Elizabeth, the English teacher, announced, “Day after tomorrow, there will be a painting competition. It’s November 14, Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday.”

“My birthday also falls on that day,” said Divya. Her friends and classmates clapped their hands. Monica, her best friend, smiled and said, “We shall celebrate your birthday. Buy a Cinderella dress — an embroidered pink dress — like the one I wore for my birthday.”

“Yes, my daddy will buy me whatever I ask for,” said Divya. She went home eagerly and asked her father, “Will you buy me a Cinderella dress for my birthday?”

"Yes,” her daddy agreed.

“Pink colour and fully embroidered.”

“Done,” he assured her.

A different gift

When Divya’s father went out to buy her dress, she stood in front of her house dreaming about the pink dress and her birthday celebration. However, when her father returned, Divya found that he had only a small packet in his hand.

“Where is the frock?” she asked.

“I am sorry dear,” he answered calmly. “The Cinderella frock costs Rs. 1,500. We cannot afford it. It’s too expensive.” Divya was disappointed.

She wore an old, cheap dress on her birthday and all her friends laughed at her. That evening, Divya was sitting alone in the backyard. Her daddy placed a small packet in her hand. She unwrapped the packet and saw a small colourful book written by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru titled Letters from a Father to his Daughter.

The pictures attracted Divya and she started reading it. Nehru had written to his daughter in the summer of 1928, when Indira was in Mussoorie, and he was in Allahabad. How lonely he had been and how he had missed her! He yearned for company. He tamed some sparrows which became friendly with him and they started eating from his palm. He had befriended three puppies as well.

She read the book with great interest and slept with the book under her pillow.

One morning, Divya asked her father. “Can I get another book?”

“Sure,” said her father, delighted.

She went to the library that day and asked the librarian for a good book. The librarian gave her Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. While she read the book, her sister said to her father, “Daddy, you have given her an excellent birthday gift. You have cultivated in her the most wonderful habit — the reading habit.”