“Hello, am I speaking to Veda’s
mother?” uttered, a voice quite familiar.
“Yes! This is Veda’s mother on the line” said, I. “Hi! I am her class teacher speaking” uttered
the voice. Before she could speak
anything, a series of questions ran through my mind. “Hope all is well with her in the class. Hope she is not bothering other students in
the class and so on and so forth.” Well
this all flashed in just seconds and then as if I was awaken by my dream when
the teacher asked me if I am still there on the phone. She is a very bright child and does not
bother anyone in the class and according to her teacher she is one of her favorite
students among all, why sudden phone call then? I ciphered. Anyways
“Yes! Ma’am, tell me”, I asked inquisitively. “Veda has been chosen for Inter School
Competition where she has become a book and she has to advertise it with some
innovative tag lines, jingles etc.
Everything will be provided by the school but the only thing that is
bothering me is that she has very less time to prepare”. I was flabbergasted. “What? Wow! I mean this is so good to
hear. What kind of competition is
it? Less time? Why? When is the competition? Where is she supposed to go? What she will wear? What all she has to
speak?” I bombarded her with a series of questions.
She patiently gave an ear to all my
questions and when I ceased, she made me understand each and everything about
the competition. “Veda is a very good
speaker and I have no doubts about that”, she continued, “School management has
chosen her to participate and she is the only one chosen in the entire grade 1
to represent Maxfort for the Inter School Competition.” My heart was filled with pride. My inquisitive voice altered into a voice
full of pride.
“She will be ready for the
competition ma’am, you need not worry”, a proud mamma said to the class
teacher.
A sigh of relief was distinctly discovered
by me over the phone taken by her teacher.
On a thank you note and stating that she knew that I would be supportive
enough to manage and prepare Veda for the big day, she put the phone down.
At the tender age of 5, my
daughter is entering the world full of competition. I am proud of her. I started preparing her for the big day. She had precisely only a day to learn the lines
she had to speak. She is a
go-getter. She’s expressive, impresses
everyone with her speech and gestures and I knew she would set the stage on
fire.
I prepped her up for the big day
and she was all set to go to school. Her
competition was over and I went to fetch her up from school at an unusual time since
I got a call from the teacher that she wasn’t back.
Waiting for me at the school
reception, her teacher saw me entering.
Veda ran towards me and gave me warm hug with a twinkle in her eye that
described all. Her competition went
well.
I went up to the teacher to take
the feedback. I never wanted to know whether
she won or no. The teacher said, “You
prepared her very well. She was thorough
in her speech and had a marvelous accent.”
She further continued, “Winning and losing is not the prime factor. The only thing that matters is that she got
an experience about Inter school competition by going to other school and this
is a remarkable achievement in itself. We are proud of Veda.”
My eyes filled with tears of joy. I carried Veda up in my arms, snuggled her
and thanking her teacher walked out from the school reception with proud.
