A joyous heart……….

“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.