A CHANCE TO PAINT THE PORTRAIT

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 42; the forty-second edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for the month is "COLOR"

A class of 42 students were chatting laughing their hearts out. Why wouldn’t they? After all their half yearly results had come out and all of them had passed with flying colors.

"Arnab...Arnab"

His friends called out his name in repetition as they encircled around his bench while Arnab ducked himself beneath his bench trying hard to avoid himself from the heartfelt mocking of his friends. As he couldn’t bear any more, he dashed out of his class before his teacher entered, jumped the boundary of his school walls and he was out in the open field. This was his yearly routine at school and it started when he was in 5^th class.

He didn’t run out because he scored less than his friends, he didn’t run out because he came last in the class. He just ran out because his views of education were different from his classmates and he was tired of getting mocked.

Every time he ran away; he took the same path. The road, the shops, the show owners and even the name of the streets were inscribed in his mind. Today again he came to the same t point but he stopped. He didn’t want to go to the same road, meet the same people and spend time in the playground like he always did. But today he was amazed as he saw a new path in the left side of the T-point. It was a grassy path which meant lesser people had ventured on it. He could see the trees providing its shade, names of the couple inscribed on them. It attracted him and he took that path today. He was not scared about the end of this path but was excited and his excitement made him walk on that path.

As he began to walk, he carefully examined the road. He could see a few tracks of tyres and he knew something was here. He walked carefully. 10 minutes, 15 minutes… the time flew by and he got nothing. He got disappointed but the urge in him to explore this unexplored path made him move forward. The urge in him was rewarded. He could see a boundary and branches of trees, filled with beautiful flowers, were coming out of it, there was a playground in it and some swings too. The wall was painted with varied colors, with beautiful quote written over it.  

The more he explored, the more he was amazed. He asked the security guard if he could let him in and he replied in negation. He was sad but he stayed there, running his eyes around the vast open field. It was a school for specially-abled kids. Some were sitting on wheel chairs and dancing, while others were playing cricket.

“What are you doing here? Don’t you have a school to attend kid?”

He heard someone saying this to him from behind.

"Sir si..", he fumbled, he froze, his vocal cords refused to speak.

Sensing fear in his voice, he asked him to relax and gave him some time to think and speak.

"I ran away from school. I had my result today and I came last in my class", he said with his eyes still fixed towards the kids on the ground. He didn’t blink.

(But he turned around. He didn’t mean to disrespect him.)

"You are in which class?", he asked Arnab

As he turned around, he saw a tall man neatly dressed in a pair of crisp blue shirt and trousers. He guessed that the man was the owner of this place.

Arnab's eye scrutinized him from head to toe and he ignored the question that was put forth him.

"I asked you something", the man repeated again

“Sorry” , he said wishing he was like him

 “You are in which class?”, he repeated his question

“10^th class”, he replied, while his mind was still admiring the class of that man.  
“My summer vacations are starting tomorrow. Can you search me a job?”

"Oh man I had made a blunder. I would have loved to work in here but I had a slim chance", Arnab thought to himself

“Sorry??”, he asked confused

“Nothing”, he replied and started to walk away after bidding him goodbye.

“Stop.”, he ordered. “Would you like to work here?”, he continued

He stopped moving and came back to the place where he was previously standing. He had got what he wanted.

"You are the right person for this job. I could see this passion in your eyes, to be with them and seriously saying these children want to be around people like you, people like us, who are ready to make a difference. Your marks don’t matters to me. You are much more than you show.", he paused for a while

"Will you paint these kids and make a difference? You are the color these kids want and I am sure you will make a beautiful portrait.", he continued

Arnab went back home feeling excited and happy, to paint them, fill them with the colors of smile, to wipe away their sorrows, to wipe away the lines of black colors on their cheeks, left over by the tears which run down from their eyes, silently disappearing into their bed sheets at night but every morning they used to wake up with the same zeal, to make a difference in their lives, to make a difference in the life of their family, where they belong to.

 ***** XX *****

“Darkness is temporary; it is the absence of light. We can’t stay away from light for a long time. It’s hidden in us, it’s hidden around us. It’s the best color to fill our lives with. All we have to do is to find the source which emits it.” – APOORV 

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