The Old Man

Heer was extremely excited when she returned home from school. No, it was not the rajma chawal that she could not wait to devour, but it was the announcement that was made at school. They were going to select three kids to participate in their class’s annual play. Heer had been  participating in the annual plays ever since she joined school. Last year she played the role of a honey bee and the year before that she was a queen. She told Nani all about it and could not wait to go school the next day to find out more about the play, and what her role would be if she got selected. 

Nani always encouraged Heer’s creativity, she sometimes even covered for her when it led to more destruction than creation. One time when she was 5 years old, Heer spilled an entire bottle of glue on the rug while making a poster for her room. Not only did Nani get it dry cleaned but never mentioned it to Heer’s mom. Nani protected Heer unconditionally.

Next day at school, Heer was elated to know that she was one of the three kids who had been shortlisted for the play. They had not been allotted their respective roles yet, but the teacher told them the plot. It was a story of two girls who find an apple in the garden and struggle to divide it equally between themselves. Everytime they would cut the apple one girl would get more than the other. This is witnessed by an old man who was passing by and decides to help the girls by eating the extra portion of the apple. However, the girls continued to stay dissatisfied by the portion of apple they would get each time and the old man kept eating the extra portion. This ended with the entire apple in the old man’s stomach and the girls empty-handed. What a funny story! The girls exclaimed. However, none of them wanted to play the old man. He was clever and bad, and he took the poor girls’ apple. 

The teacher made them all recite lines of the characters and it was decided that Heer would play the role of the old man. Heer was very sad, she requested her teacher to reconsider and expressed how much she did not want to play the role of a shrewd old man. But the teacher insisted that she would do great and that her acting skills were very good to play this role. 

Heer returned home very sad. She told Nani about what had happened and cried her heart out. Nani heard her apprehensions of playing an evil man and explained to her how it was just a role and that it meant nothing in real life. She cheered Heer up by making her realise that it was a tough role to play and if the teacher thought she should do it, it meant that Heer was very talented. Heer was not completely convinced but she memorized her lines and practiced everyday with all her heart. She knew that her Nani would be very disappointed if she did not give her best to whatever she did.

The day was finally here. Heer was not excited like she was last year or the year before, but she knew she had to give her best. Nani came to see her play,  clicked multiple pictures and cheered the girls on. The play was a success. The audience could not stop laughing at the misery of the two girls, and the wit of the old man completely stole the show. It was such a big hit that the school Principal mentioned the play in his thank you speech and noted that Heer’s act made him chuckle. 

Everyone liked the old man. Heer was shocked and extremely happy. She hugged her nani and thanked her for pushing her. She had never expected she would be liked for playing the greedy old man. Nani told her that she was proud of Heer for not backing out even though it was not what she wanted and made her realise how sometimes we do not know what is best for us and how sometimes what seems like a curse can actually be a blessing in disguise. Heer returned home a happy girl, happier than last year and the year before that.