The Journey Of Chichi's Lollipop

Chichi is a small 5-year-old girl. She is from Tamil Nadu. She stays with her grandparents as her parents stay in Bangalore for work.

Chichi is a very naughty and mischievous girl. She is very cute and her grandparents love her a lot.

It was morning and Chichi's cat was meowing. She woke up to the sound and ran out to see. She saw her cat was meowing at a parrot, as it wanted to eat that. Chichi pushed her cat inside and made the parrot fly.



Chichi's teeth were craving for something sweet and hence she said to her grandmother to give her chocolates but her grandmother didn't want to give as she always used to eat chocolates and nothing else. Chichi became red with anger and went out and sat with her cat. She saw her friend Riya running and coming towards her. She welcomed her and asked her to sit and said to her to relax and told how her grandmother didn't give her chocolate to eat. Riya wanted to inform Chichi about the golden opportunity of going to Bangalore to take the jumbo lollipop. There's a competition being held there which tells to find the treasure lollipop which is hidden in Bangalore and participants of any age are allowed and can also take their pets but children should be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Chichi was very happy to listen to it, she was imagining all the enjoyment and the happiness she would have when licking the jumbo lollipop!

She went inside and Riya left. Chichi started shouting 'tata' 'tata' (grandfather in the south). But when her grandmother came to inform that her grandfather went for his morning walk, Chichi didn't reply and kept quiet. Her grandfather came and Chichi rushed, he took her and went to the sofa and asked her the reason to be so angry with grandmother. She said about the chocolate and grandpa had a lovely surprise for her. He took his newspaper and read about the same competition which Riya had told her. She jumped with happiness and she knew that her grandparents were going to take part in the competition.

Her grandma was not happy as she was old and didn't want to take part in such competition where her friends would laugh at her, but looking at Chichi she agreed



Her grandpa took a bath and ate his breakfast and went to register their names for the competition.

Her grandmother was making preparation for the hunt in the newspaper it was mentioned the hunt is to be of approximately two to three days depending on how the participants find the clue to move ahead in their journey of finding the jumbo lollipop!

Her grandmother packed biscuits, laddoos, fresh fruits, chips, chocolates, tea powder, sugar, and all the stuff. Her grandpa came back and said tomorrow by 6 a.m. they have to assemble in the ground from there all will depart as they find the clues. Her grandpa also packed his bag he took his reading glasses, his watch, a compass, some first aid kit, his scarf and his box of cigarettes not one but 20 boxes of cigarettes and matchboxes as well. He also took candles with him. Chichi seeing them wanted to carry her own bag. She took her school bag removed the books and kept her favourite toys, her clothes, water bottle, atlas and some wafers and chocolates she also took her cat's favourite mouse toy!

It was early morning at 4 a.m. Her grandmother got up, took a bath and went to the temple to take blessings and wished to win the contest!

Her grandpa also got ready then Chichi also got ready and made her cat ready as well.

They went to the ground Riya came to wish luck to Chichi and whispered something in her ears. Chichi smiled.

There were 20 teams in total all had come from different parts of the country and some were young some were old some were just borns! Chichi was astonished by the no. of teams but didn't lose hope. Each team was given a map about the hunt, and was given some instructions and also told that using trains or trucks is allowed but the fare will not be given by them.

Each team was looking stronger than the other. Chichi looked at her grandparents and started their quest. The first place to go was the Tamil Nadu station where a banana vendor had the furthermore clues, they went there and were happy to find their first clue. The banana vendor put some conditions in front of them that is to buy bananas and seeing that at least 3 customers pay and buy another 3 bunches of banana, then they pleased few of them to buy after an hour 3 members agreed to purchase and the vendor gave them the clue that there would be a balloon seller on the road where patients go to get cured and very famous place in Tamil Nadu where people from different parts of the country come. They took the clue and moved, her grandpa thought it might be a hospital but which hospital? Meanwhile, Chichi's cat started meowing as it was hungry, so they all went near a tree and sat there to have their lunch, her grandma took out the lunch she made that is rice, coconut chutney and curry with some pickle and they also fed her cat!

They rested there for a while and her grandpa tried visiting the hospital but couldn't find any clue then her grandma remembered how once her neighbour Chilapa said they wanted to visit Vellore for getting treatment for eyes, and how Vellore has a hospital where people from all over the country come to get cured, and hence the clue would be there. They booked tickets and Chichi was tired but on the way to station she saw a lady who was looking hungry and poor, was working hard with a heavy bag on her back and was barefoot. Chichi felt pity for her and gave her some biscuits to eat, the lady said how she worked hard for her daughter who wants to be a doctor one day. Chichi was listening carefully to this, and then they moved towards the station. The train had to arrive at night so they kept waiting and enjoying little snacks. Her grandpa read the newspaper and her grandma told stories to Chichi. Chichi then saw a temple where

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a woman was crying as she had no food. Chichi went up to her with her grandma. Her grandma gave her little food and asked her to stop crying. Chichi saw this and remembered how one day because she didn't like the food, she threw it and she learned how people cry for starvation and she went up to the god and asked for an apology for it and not to punish her for this and she also said that she would never waste food. Then came the horn of the train, mad, they went to the station and went into the train. They had dinner and slept. Chichi had a dream where she saw she was eating the lollipop and now it was about to get down, they reached and went to the famous golden temple after taking a bath, took blessings and came. On the way, Chichi saw a man about his grandfather's age walking barefoot in this scorching heat when she was in her grandpa's lap as she was tired. She Got down and went up to the man, asked about his shoes, the man touched his head and said he doesn't have as he is poor and can't afford one at this time. Chichi searched for her bag and found some coins and gave to him. The man laughed and thanked her and went away. Chichi remembered how she once threw her new pair of shoes just because she didn't like the colour, she felt bad again.

They walked up to the hospital and found a man and asked about the next clue, the man didn't agree to give the clue easily and asked them to go in and do something for the patients which can make them happy and return back with proof such as a smiling photo of theirs with them. They went in and saw crowds of people, each one having tensed faces and waiting, they saw a small baby who was crying out of pain in her stomach and how her mother was waiting for their turn to show the doctor. The doctor was seeing the patients but each one had to wait for some time or even months. Chichi was surprised at this and was scared. Her grandma saw another woman with a baby who was crying but the woman didn't have money to buy the medicines. Her grandma bought medicine and they smiled and took a picture. Chichi was slowly coming to know many things happening in the world and realizing things that she misused for her benefit. She remembered how once she told a lie of toothache for not going to the school and the medicines which her grandma gave she threw them out.

The next clue asked them to go to the station and find a man with a Bullock cart. They went and the man agreed to give the next clue if they could help him push his cart a little. They did so and got the next clue as well. Meanwhile, Chichi got hungry and asked for something to eat. They ate and the next clue was in a forest. They reached at dawn there and were now left all alone without a trace of any humans. Her grandpa took out a compass and started moving towards the north direction, but then walking for miles together they couldn't find anything and her grandma was tired so they stopped for a while and made tea and gave their cat something to eat. Chichi had biscuits and then again started walking, they got sounds of animals which scared them and there jumped a monkey who snatched the compass and didn't return until a banana was given. They were tired and scared, Chichi wanted to return home, but they lost the track to the station as well. It was late noon now they had very little food to eat then at night they lit up some food and waited. At night they heard sounds of tiger roaring and then came a tiger, they didn't know what to do. They stood still and it went away but took Chichi's bag with it. Chichi sometime later started crying and her grandparents consoled her to buy a new one after returning.

It was dawn now and they found nobody. They kept walking and then saw a small temple where a man was standing. They asked about the clue and the man agreed to give the clue only when they give something precious to the man. Her grandma had nothing except flask, teabags, wafers and medicines and few clothes, her grandpa thought and gave his favourite watch. The man gave them the next clue which was to catch a train and go to Bangalore where at the station a man with the last clue will be standing. They walked and walked and found a different station, they had whatever they had for lunch and started for the train.

It was a chilly day and her cat was hungry too, they gave him some biscuits and it slept. Then an old man came shivering and sat beside them. He was shivering with cold and then her grandpa gave his favourite scarf to him. The man was very happy and blessed them and went away and then they saw a cat crying but they didn't know why. Chichi'scat was eating a biscuit instead of eating it himself he gave to that cat and the cat meowed with happiness and went away. The train came, they reached Bangalore and found a man standing with something in hand. They went and asked him for the clue. The man agreed to tell the final destination address only when they would clean a lake, they went to the lake, cleaned with their heart and Chichi sincerely cleaned the lake and was happy to do so. Then the reached the ground and found many participants already present there...

They knew they couldn't win but suddenly everybody gave applause and announced Chichi and the team as the winner. They were surprised and asked the reason for this as they had arrived late. The judges played the video which captured them helping everyone in need whether it was Chichi, her grandma or grandpa, they all helped others in every way possible and her cat as well. They had all the qualities of being human and hence they were the winners. Chichi was given the huge lollipop with marshmallows, dark chocolates, gems, and many other delicious things...Chichi hugged her grandparents and then her eyes went toward some poor kids seeing her. She went to them shared it with each one and ate it.

In this journey, Chichi had learned a lot of new things and also learned to respect others and things as well.