Everybody needs a Hero

That was an exciting day for me at school because I don't had to attend classes after lunch while my classmates will have to sit till end of the day.

I was going to La martiniere school to participate in a quiz competition. My class teacher said it will be tougher than the intra-house competition held previous week in our school in which I came first. I had to form a team with Veena of section-A since she came second and a teacher would take us there.

None of my friends have ever been to La martiniere school and everyone was excited that I was going in there. But I was more interested in guessing who's going to be the teacher who will take us there.

After recess was over I went towards school gate and saw Veena standing there with a pencil-box in her hand. She was such a book-worm that she would study even during the games period. She used to wear a pair of big spectacles which were so thick that even my dumb friend Gopal would have looked intelligent with them.

After waiting for a minute we saw the school jeep coming toward us with Tripathi sir sitting on front seat. How he was there in the jeep? Of all the teachers Tripathi sir should have been the last man to agree to take us in a hot afternoon for a silly quiz competition. He was our English teacher and was strictest among all. He would not allow any indiscipline in the class and was popular as Ravan among students.

After a long travel we reached the school. It was a huge building made of red bricks. We went to the hall where competition was being held. It was filled with students from different schools of district. This was much bigger than we thought. Veena told me that person conducting the quiz is the same officer who came for school inspection last month.

We were eliminated in the preliminary written round as there were no questions on naming capitals of countries or naming former governor generals of India. Only question I could answer was date of French revolution and Veena answered a couple of others.

After all rounds finished we went to Tripathi sir who was looking at stage as if searching for something. We did not receive any consoling words from him and we were not expecting any either. He told us to go and have the free sweets given to participants while he kept looking at the stage.I still could not understand why he came here.

When we came back with our sweets, prize ceremony had started and an old man with long white beard was giving away prizes to winners. Tripathi sir was staring at the stage without a blink and his face was beaming with brightness. When he saw us he said "Hurry kids look at the the gentleman on stage.He is Mr. Rabindra Nath Tagore. Look closely, you will remember this day your whole life".