The Newspaper Delivery Boy

Mohan had found his own melody in the jingle of the bicycle bell. He was moving swiftly now. He had important work at hand. The newspapers had to be delivered by now, but some issue had caught his attention while he was leaving his small home at the Raghupati chowk footpath for work.

Mohan's father died when he was three. His mom, though, is alive, but paralyzed. So, Mohan is the sole bread earner in the family of four- his disabled mother, his elder sister, his younger sister and himself. His sisters help their mother and also do the daily chores.

Mohan was leaving for work when he found that his little sister had turned ill. So, he had to rush her to the nearest municipal hospital for immediate treatment

Now, Mohan was running late in distributing the morning paper.

After apologizing to every customer, he finally reached the last house of the delivery. He got off his bicycle and took the final newspaper in his hand and left for the house to his right.

While walking, his eyes fell on the front page of the newspaper. The seemingly beautiful picture of a mountain peak with a man on it who was waving the American flag was quite appealing. He smiled. He rang the doorbell and awaited the owner. A man opened.

"Hello, sir. I'm sorry, I am late today. Here's your newspaper!" Mohan said, apologetically.

The man smiled and replied, "It's okay, kid. By the way, you seem very small for this job. What age are you of and what do you study?"

"I'm nine years old and I don't study anything."

"What?! Why?"

Mohan told the man his life story. The man with tears of sympathy in his eyes, said, "Son, my name is Shivam. And I understand what must be going on with you. If ever you need any help, you can come up to me. I'll help you in any way possible."

"Thanks."

"Okay, tell me what is your dream? What do you desire in life?"

Mohan gave a lot of thinking to it and pointed to the front page of the newspaper and with gleamy eyes, said, "I want to go there. At the top. I want to wave the Indian flag the same way as him."

"You have big dreams, kid. It's not easy to do that."

"But you said you'll help me."

"Oh, yes. Well, I happen to know a mountain trekker. I'll ask him if he can teach you mountain climbing."

"That'll be great, sir. Thanks."

Mohan left, hoping that he'll be helped. After a few days, he met Shivam again and asked him if he has talked to his friend.

Shivam said that his friend is asking 20,000 rupees for teaching and that he can't do anything to help him now.

Mohan, dejected, left for his home. While returning, he realized that mountain climbing must be similar to tree climbing. So he started practising climbing trees. Every day, he used to work, then take care of his family and then practise for achieving his dream.

He used to fall a lot, but there was no one to help him stand up again. He cried, swallowed his tears, restricted his pain, stood up, wiped the blood and went on again to reach the top.

After a few years, Mohan started climbing hills and small mountains; all in the name of his dream.

And when Mohan was just seventeen, he went up for the big fish- Mt. Everest.

A few weeks later, Mohan came back to the town where his family was. Still, they didn't have enough money for a living. Mohan started the newspaper delivery business again after a halt of a few months. He went up to Shivam's house.

"Hey, Mohan! You've achieved your dream finally. I'm sorry I couldn't help you. But wait," Shivam said. He brought a newspaper cutting and gave it to Mohan, "Here, take this. You've earned this."

In the cutting, Mohan was proudly waving the Indian flag at the top of My. Everest. His dream had finally reached the sky. The newspaper delivery boy had been in the newspaper now. This was Mohan's dream to die for!