Stay Strong

Stay Strong

6 mins
16.5K


Mrudula and Deepak were working parents. They had one son, Pranav who was 13 years old. They always encouraged him to be independent and to take responsibility for his actions. They never entertained his cribs or small problems. They always told him to grow up and take charge of his issues, by facing it and learn from it and not to bring those to them to solve.


Recently they had shifted to a new city hence Pranav had to join a new school. As he was a new student in the class, he was ragged and bullied. He didn't take it seriously as it was his first day. But it didn't stop there. There was a group of 4 kids who troubled him always. He was cornered, kicked and beaten up daily around the school, in class, on the playground and on the way while going back home by them.


They used to humiliate, insult and play pranks on him in front of the class for being skinny and shy. Slowly his friends moved away from him fearing this gang would hurt them if they go around with Pranav. So, he was left all alone. He was threatened every day not to complain or else they would make his life more miserable that he couldn't even imagine. His first couple of months was doable, but later they started haunting him everywhere he went.


In school, everyone knew about this, but no one helped him. But whenever he was passing by, they said, "Look over your shoulder, because they’re coming for you…” This scared him more. He was always running to hide from them. There was never a moment to catch a breath, no protection or help at all from no one. He was depressed, devastated and had lost hope. He thought his parents will never understand him, they'll again advise him to handle his problems by himself.


This went on for a few months by now he had lost his confidence completely and fell sick very often and started bunking schools to avoid them. One day Deepak got a call from the school to inform him about Pranav's low attendance. That day Deepak came early to home and waited for Pranav. In the evening when Pranav came home, he was surprised to see his father at home. Deepak noticed few bruises on his face and asked him, "What happened Pranav? Did you fight with someone? What's going on? Your Principal had called me today to inform me about your low attendance. Why are you bunking your school? Please tell me if you have any problem.”


"It's OK dad. Anyways, you don't have any time for me. Neither mom has. I haven't even seen her from past 4 days. She is always on business trips, and you are busy with your work. So why worry about me. Just leave me alone. I don't need any help from you or mom." He ran into his room and slammed the door with a bang.


Deepak followed him quickly, opened his room door and said, “We are really sorry for not giving you the attention. We love you a lot.”


"No! Nobody loves me. I don't see mom these days spending time with me. She is always on her business trip. You also come late and then busy your office work."


"I'm sorry Pranav. We love you a lot, so we didn’t want you to get involved in our problems. Your mom loves you very much. From the past few months, she was suffering from a hernia. So, she had a lot of problems working, and we were regularly visiting the doctor. She is in the hospital now for the surgery. It was her idea that we shouldn't involve you in this. Because this would affect your studies."


“What?”


"Don't worry she will be fine. We thought you are a big boy now and would handle everything by yourself. Sorry, we got so involved in her problem that I never asked your problems in school. Tell me Pranav, do you have any problem in school?"


Pranav was shocked to hear about his mother's health. He thought for a while and decided not to make them more worry about his issues in school. So he said, "No Dad, I was only worried that you both never gave time to me. That's all. Nothing else."


"Then what are all these? Your bruises…."


He hugged Deepak and said, "Sorry Dad, I never saw mom's problem and spoke to you rudely. I'm fine. Don't worry. Please let's go and meet mom first. I want to see her."


Deepak took him to the hospital and Pranav spent some time with Mrudula. The next day he got ready and walked to his school. Near his school gate, he saw the gang was waiting for him. They circled him and started passing comments on him. He told them about his mother's health issues but rather understanding, they insulted him and laughed saying he was lying. This was his last straw that broke the camel's back. He kicked one of the boys so hard that he was thrown a few distances away and the other boys were shocked to see him turning so wild. But it didn't stop there. Pranav punched another boy in the face, and his tooth broke. Seeing this he regained all his courage back and looked at the other two boys. By now they were scared and ran away.


Soon looking at their fight, the watchman dragged Pranav to the Principal's office and made him wait near the office. As she was busy at the meeting. He calmed himself down and waited for the principal to call him. He was called in after few minutes. Finally, he stood up for himself and told everything to the Principal. Immediately all the four boys were called and their parents and took serious action on them. Pranav was relieved and understood that he could have done this long back only if he had overcome his fear. His fear overpowered so much that he didn't even think about facing them strongly. He decided that day that he would never entertain such people to destroy his moral. He will be strong and handle his problem by himself instead of waiting for someone else to come and pull him out of this.


He appreciated himself for solving his problem and helped others who were bullied in his schools. He ran a campaign “Stop bullying” in his neighborhood and educated other kids to be strong. He told them to recognize their strength instead of depending on other's help. This helped many kids and thanked Pranav for encouraging and supporting them. Pranav made many other kids come forward and talk about their problems in their schools, and he helped them to solve their problem by themselves.


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