Saint Bernard

"If you can be one thing, be kind."

When the whole country was under lockdown; when there were chaos all around, yet the streets were abandoned; when some were losing hope on their lives while others were building their hopes on share market, a 10 year old Ajay had some other plans.

Unlike other students, Ajay wasn't too joyful with his quarantine. He had his own convincing reasons. And one of the major reasons was that he couldn't trick his family anymore for bucks. From tuition fees to stationary requirements to teacher's day celebration at school, he hadn't left a single opportunity to grab those extra pennies.

His birthday was soon approaching and he needed a couple of hundreds to purchase his special birthday gift which he was yearning for long. His mere thought of receiving his gift on his b'day and winning over his rival classmate was so ego-satisfying. And so Ajay laid on the sofa  his school days.

Abhi was a 11 year old boy studying at the DPS along with Ajay. Although, his family couldn't afford the fees, he earned it under the RTE act. Abhi was smart enough in his academics and it didn't take him long to become one of the top 3 students of the class surpassing Ajay. He was also unintentionally gaining fame for the cute puppies he had at his home. Ajay, who always like to remind others about his uptown class, demanded Abhi to sell him the puppy at whatever cost he'd impose. Abhi gently denied the deal saying that he can't imagine selling a life and it was too early for that puppy to be adopted.

One more denial for an already feeling-lost soul was too much to take for Ajay. He challenged Abhi in the face that he'd get a puppy by his birthday which Abhi cannot afford and which is definitely not a local breed. Now all he wanted was a posh-looking, adorable, heart-snatching; Saint Bernard.

Ajay knew what response he'd get at home if he requested for a new pet. He was sure about being denied. But he wasn't going to lose his hopes so soon. He planned to purchase the puppy with his own money and pretend to be gifted by his pals. This way, he could show off his puppy as well as find a place at home.

"Ajay !!" waking up from his thoughts, Ajay attended his father's call. "Would you like to come to the clinic? We'll be back soon." "Yes, dad. But if you give me a 100 bucks." Dad smiled and agreed. Both of them left to the dad's clinic to get the case study files that he'd forgotten. It was almost 8 pm and people were religiously sticking to their homes.

"Would you like to stay in the car or will you come upstairs? " "I'll stay here" Ajay said. "ok but don't get out of the car. I'll be back soon," dad left.

Past 7 minutes, Ajay saw a guy far away walking with two large cans in hand & a mask on his face. The guy walked all the way to the junction street, placed the cans near the bushes, and started serving food in paper plates that he got along. Soon, a group of dogs came running towards the boy wagging their tales, some jumping over one another. The boy served food to all those dogs and quickly walked towards the next street. As he was coming forward, under the flickering street light, Ajay recognized the boy to be Abhi. He was stunned at what he just saw. He didn't react but observed his thoughts gushing in. He knew he didn't do any wrong, yet he felt sorry for someone, for something.

Next morning, Abhi's mom woke him up and indicated to check the verandah. There was a bicycle with an envelope to its carrier. Abhi opened the envelop and found some cash and a letter. It read " I still hate you, but this time for not teaching me kindness earlier." Abhi smiled in gratitude.

Ajay was both happy and worried. Happy for something obvious and worried to create a new convincing story about his "lost bicycle".