With a little streak of graphite mark, the hut got a complete shape in her little notebook.
"Have you finished writing the alphabets..?", the teacher asked with a hoarse voice which she had acquired through 5 years of kindergarten teaching.
Five year old Charu then realised that sometime ago her quite formidable teacher commanded them to write alphabets. She started with the capital 'A' but even before she completed it, the 'A' had grown into a big hut.
The sensitive girl got terrified by the teacher's question. She strongly believed that she'd be kneeling down in the next few minutes. The teacher appeared like the villains of the cartoons she had watched. Once, when the teacher was marking the attendance Charu was talking with her friend. She was arguing about the existence of the 'Powerpuff girls' and their notorious villain 'mojo Jojo'.Suddenly she realised that the entire class was at pin drop silence since the teacher was staring at them with her sharp eagle eyes. Charu had no idea why she was gazing at her. The boy behind her poked and reminded her that it was her turn to say 'Present mam'.
When she was about to speak, the teacher shouted at her saying that she had already marked absent to her. Charu has no idea about the 'present and absent' things. Yet she knew that the teacher was angry at her and from then she never speaks in front of her teacher.
"What have you done, stupid girl?"
"I am.. I am.. I'm Sss ss sorry.. I'm sorry mam", Charu's eyes became a well in fear.
" What did I say to you..?"
"Alphabets.. To write alphabets.."
"And you have drawn a hut instead of writing 'A'..?"
"...."
Later that hour, almost everybody in the class got 'V.Good' in their test sheet whereas Charu's paper was marked with 'Very poor, Disobedient, mischievous'. Little Charu's day was ruined. She came home with a pitiable face. The usual enthusiasm by which she welcomes her dad went missing that day. She was seated at the corner of the sofa with her head drooped -The test paper was in front of her.
"Hey baby girl, lemme take a look at this.. Woahh.. A Hut drawn out of an alphabet.. That's amazing sweetheart..!" Dad exclaimed with real happiness..!
"Turn that page around daddy..", Charu's voice lowered.
"Very poor, Disobedient, mischievous", "ugh haha"
"She insulted me in front of everyone and told a story to mock me dad.."
"A story..? That seems interesting.. What did she tell baby..?"
"Once there lived a man called Pied Piper. He has all his music in a flute"
"Oh wow, that seems great..!"
"Piper is capable of attracting everyone with his melodious music. One fine day, when people were gathered at the church, with his music, he mesmerized every kids of the city and took them along. Three kids, a deaf who couldn't hear the music, a lame who couldn't walk, a blind who didn't know the path were left behind."
"Oh sad.."
"She told that I'm one among those pitious kids.. Am I dad..?"
Dad laughed at her, took her in his arms, kissed on her cheeks. "You keep on drawing good pictures dear, do whatever that brings you happiness. If your teacher tries to mock at you by this story, tell her what I'm gonna say now". Charu exclaimed with her eyes wide open and the kid's day ended with her lovely smile.
The next day, same writing drill was continued. This day, Charu's 'B' has turned into a beautiful butterfly. The teacher became mad and yelled at her, "You poor kid, you'll never follow the music of the Piper."
Charu with a smile, stood up, looked deep into her eyes and said, "Dear mam, those kids who listened to the music of the piper went out of the city, got lost somewhere along with the piper. They never came back. Those poor kids who couldn't follow the music remained happy with their parents forever", and started sketching the frail wings of the butterfly with colors.
The teacher stood astonished, gaped at her for a while and with a smile, she helped Charu to complete the last stroke of the butterfly..!