Meals At School

One fine summer morning, Paati was sitting on the cot, she was separating Yubha’s hair to make pigtails. Paati said “ Yubha Chellam, everyday you eat meals at school, today it is your star birthday so you eat food at home. I am sure you won’t refuse as I have made your favorite food that is Sambar with rice dripping with ghee!”Yubha’s mouth watered and the greedy devil readily accepted.

When she went to school, she came to know that there was a new cook in the school whose name was Raghu. He had a crooked nose and his teeth were yellow in color, he wore a torn shirt with a pair of dirty trouser. Radha and Sumita were scared when they saw him but Yubha was disgusted when she took a glance at him, she thought that if he was so dirty then how would his food taste. That afternoon when Yubha went home for lunch, the girls watched enviously. The other girls had rasam and brinjal bhaji, when Radha went and told the cook that he had not given any rice he screamed at her “You stupid girl, none of you get rice just eat what is being given!”

And on the other side Yubha was nicely enjoying her lunch and as a surprise Paati had made some Gulab Jamun for dessert! After coming back to school Yubha found half the children clutching their stomachs and Raghu was laughing behind their backs. Yubhashana rushed toward Sumita and asked her what happened and Sumita said “Yubha that horrid man forced us to eat over-cooked brinjals and watery, salty rasam” saying so she burst into tears. Next Yubha went to Radha and asked her the reason, her friend gave the same answer. Now Yubhashana turned into detective mode and peeped inside the scullery. She was shocked by what she saw, there was a trolley full of fresh vegetables and Raghu was cutting the rotten ones for tomorrow. Luckily school was over and she could follow him where he was going. She quickly rushed home, put a old frock and entered the school from the back gate.

Fortunately, Raghu was still there chopping some rotten yam. After he finished, Raghu took the trolley and walked out of the school. Detective Yubha silently crept against the walls. She followed him till he halted near a tumble down hut. She peeked as silently as a mouse inside the stinky house and she saw Raghu speaking with his wife, Rathi in a hushed voice “ Rathi, he said, I gave the stupid children bad food and I got all the fresh veggies for us”. Suddenly his wife screamed and pointed towards the tree Yubha was hiding behind, she had seen the detective! Yubha ran as fast as her legs could carry but unfortunately Raghu who was a tall and slim man caught her. He tied her to a nearby tree and gagged her with a dirty sock. He said “ That will teach you not to poke your nose in other people’s affairs”.

At home, Sumati, had come to discuss about the crochet homework given in school with Yubha. When Paati said that Yubha was not at home, Sumati remembered that her friend had been speaking something about spying on Raghu. She shivered at the thought that her friend might be caught. Sumati ran out of the house and followed Yubha’s foot prints, after walking for 10 minutes she smelt the jasmine flowers Yubha kept in her hair. Then she heard a muffled shout, her suspicions were correct Yubha was there some where near. She found her bestie sobbing softly, Sumati consoled her and firmly said “ Yubhashana, I have never seen you cry so I expect you to stop crying this instant.” Yubha stopped weeping and Sumati gently removed the gag , she also untied Yubha. After a few minutes when the detective’s breath was normal, Yubha told her friend everything. The two girls rushed to the village Panchayat’s house who was surprised to see two girls in dirty frocks. The Panchayat who was called as Ramesh Uncle marched off to Raghu’s house and gave them a sound scolding. He said in a harsh voice “ I am ashamed that a couple living in our peaceful village can do such a deceitful activity, you both will pack up now and I don’t want to see you two in the village again”. The pair felt very small by the rough words and shifted to another village the same day.

After explaining every thing to Paati, Ramesh Uncle who had come to Yubha’s house with Sumati’s mom told the kids that Raghu and Rathi had reputation of doing such cunning acts and had been thrown out of many villages. The next morning, in the village meeting everyone was told about the incident and everyone praised Yubha and Sumati for their bravery. The two girls hoped that their next mystery would also include Radha as she was a bit jealous and then giggled about their silly tension………