Young Saviour: Helpless to helpful

It was a rainy morning, Ananya was very nervous on the first day of her school. She got some relief when she saw another girl approaching as it was also her first day. Both girls had their first day of school and late admission into the ongoing semester. The other girl named Shweta was a spoiled brat from a rich family. She got late admissions because of the job transfer of her father into this city. Ananya had started adjusting when her new parents got her admitted to the best school in the city. 

 Ananya and Shweta became friends when Shweta saved Ananya from the bullying by some students who made fun of the dressing sense and the appearance of Ananya. Shweta was from a rich family but did not tolerate anyone making fun of someone else’s appearance and stopped those students to judge Ananya by threatening them of complaining to the principal.

One day when Ananya and Shweta were going back home and were in the washroom, Ananya suddenly smelt some strong gas smell coming from the kitchen. She immediately asked Shweta “ Can you also smell a strong gas?” Shweta replied, “Yes, but it’s not our job, Rajubhai must be there to take care, you don't worry”. Saying that she left for her school bus and Ananya assured her of leaving as soon as possible. 

But, Ananya could not leave because of her curiosity and reached near the kitchen, quickly opened the door where she saw the knob of the gas stove kept on high without any flame which caused gas to get accumulate inside the kitchen because of the poorly ventilated room. Ananya was able to smell gas due to adjacent windows of the kitchen and girls washroom. Kitchen windows and doors were closed and because of the collection of so much gas, it became difficult to breathe.

Ananya swiftly turned off the knob. She began thinking that why Rajubhai was not present in the kitchen. She decided to go and find him but was surprised to see that he was busy gossiping with his friends at the nearby stall.

When Rajubhai arrived, Ananya made him realise his mistake and his irresponsible attitude towards his duty which could have caused a mishap involving the risk of lives of the whole school. 

Ananya asked him to explain this incident to the principal and surrender for his mistake but he denied and requested her to keep quiet as would lose his job if the complaint is taken forward. As she was not in a mood to hide this incident, Rajubhai told her how he knows about her past and how she became an orphan because of her bad destiny. “She is just a little innocent girl and was out of the house when that accident happened, how can she be responsible?” She remembered these words of her uncle

She didn’t want to recall that day, but that horrific scene came to life again in front of her eyes and she felt helpless for not knowing how to stop those fire flames that were snatching everything from her: her house, parents, childhood. 

On that day, Ananya was busy making drawings sitting on the floor when her mother Malti came out of the bath and saw sparks in the electric wire, without making any noise she immediately told Ananya “Please go and bring a kerosene bottle from the nearby grocery store”. Unaware of the scenario, Ananya rushed out of the house to follow her mother’s request. 

Ananya was a single child of her parents, her father Balaram was a hard-working farmer who had taken a loan recently for building his own house. Balaram had his farm connected with his house so Malti started screaming with panic which made Balaram rush to his house and he saw sparks due to a short circuit, trying to fix the issue he tried to touch the main switch which gave him an electric shock. 

Malti was unable to understand what should be done as they had recently started to live in this brick house, by the time Balaram could reach home she had started collecting important documents and belongings before leaving her house and now she had her husband on the floor unconscious with an electric shock.

When Ananya came back she could not believe the house she left was not the same as it had fire flames all over the walls which were still not painted. Villagers gathered around to help but Ananya could not recall what happened next as she fell unconscious and saw her relatives when she woke up it was her mother’s brother and his wife. They took Ananya with them to their village but due to the cruel behaviour of her aunt, she was dropped at an orphanage in the city by her uncle. After a year, Ananya was adopted by her new parents and shifted to the big city.

Many days passed and Ananya forgot the incident that happened at the school. When she was going back home she saw a small girl sitting on the floor and making drawing with chalk on the floor of the parking area of the school. Suddenly, a car took the reverse gear and started approaching this little girl as the exit gate was behind the car and the driver could not see this girl sitting on the floor. 

Rajubhai suddenly noticed the furious driver arguing with his wife and speedily moving in reverse which made him realise that he had left his little daughter playing on the floor when there was no car parked, he started running towards that car trying to stop it but the driver was not able to understand with closed windows. 

Suddenly, the car stopped with a screeching tyre noise and Rajubhai almost got a heart attack and got down on the floor. The car managed to move outside the parking of the school and he got relief when saw his daughter playing with Ananya whom he had threatened some days back.

Rajubhai realised his mistake of how because of his careless behaviour, the lives of innocent people was at stake and Ananya, who saved them was threatened. He quickly went to the principal’s office and explained that incident, accepted his mistake and described how fearlessly Ananya saved the lives of so many people. 

Ananya was given a bravery award for saving lives and was titled as a “young Saviour” to act fearlessly despite her tender age of 10 years. She had lost her parents in an accident at the age of 7, so she started watching videos on how to act at times of emergencies and made herself vigilant and prepared to be helpful.

Every school should incorporate drills in their curriculum on how to act in case of emergency and whom to contact for help.

Life skills comprehended: 

•   Not to bully anyone

•   Help those in need

•   Act bravely and responsibly

•   Lifesaving skills in case of emergency 

•   Never take your work for granted and accept your mistake