“Two ones are two, two twos are four…” came the sounds faintly. But Monisha was not listening. Striking a pebble with her toe she dreamt partly of dosas, her favourite food, and partly worried about what she would do if her younger sisters Anisha and Sandhya saw her.
7
“Amma!” they would scream as soon as they entered their home, “Amma, Monisha akka was punished today again!” That would set her amma off. “How will the younger children behave if the older ones are like this?!” she would yell.
9
But Monisha could not help it. She was dreaming of all her favourite thing—dosas, of the Taj Mahal, of her favourite hero Lawrence and a tree made of chocolate—when she realised that the headmaster was peering at her over his spectacles and was waiting for her to answer something. “Erm,” said Monisha.
11
“I see,” said the headmaster, turning a shade of purple in anger. “Can you show me your homework?” And that was it. She had forgotten to do her homework again. She was sent out of her class, once again. It was not fair. Everyone should be allowed to dream and not do their homework once in a while!
13
Suddenly she heard a howling sound. Monisha looked. Outside the school wall, close to the marketplace a little child was playing. Walking towards him was a dog. Monisha was scared of many things: she was scared of the darkness, she was scared of the headmaster’s cane and she was scared of the village bully. But nothing scared her more than dogs.
15
There was another howl. Monisha was glad she was inside the walls of her school. There was something distinctly wrong with the way the dog was walking towards the child. There was a shrill scream. Somebody said, “Mad dog!� The sun was blazing, but the drooling dog moving towards the child, suddenly made Monisha shiver.
17
Monisha watched as the child stood there with his marbles, staring at the dog. A woman screamed but no one did anything to distract the dog who was growling loudly and foaming in the mouth.
19
The dog slowly walked towards the child. That’s when Monisha ran. She ran towards the child. In one single move she took a fistfull of sand and threw it at the dog’s eyes and in the next she lifted the child and ran for her life into the school.
21
For days after that Monisha was a hero. Every single person in her town talked about a little girl who risked her life when not a single adult would do it. The little baby turned out to be the headmaster’s grandchild. The headmaster broke his cane and hugged Monisha for a long time. Amma, Anisha and Sandhya could not stop beaming at the world. Pooja, Monisha’s best friend brought her loads of dosas laden with ghee and the headmaster’s daughter hugged her and gifted her three beautiful pavadai and a bag full of chocolates and one beautiful Barbie doll.
23
As for Monisha, after her legs stopped shaking, she decided never to be scared of anything.
25
Glossary Faintly Striking Pebble Peering Howling Distinctly Shrill Blazing Shiver Distract Beaming
Very softly To hit A stone or small rock To look in an angry or questioning way To scream and cry very loudly Differently Very loud Burn very brightly To shake without control To divert attention from something To be very proud
Vinitha Ramchandani Writer Vinitha Ramchandani, a published children’s fiction writer, is the editor of Popular Prakashan, one of India’s oldest book publishing firms. A former journalist, she has written and published over 15 books for children. In her free time she holds creative writing workshops for children.
Kasturee Kailash Illustrator Just like the key protagonist in this book, Kasturee is a day dreamer. When she is not busy with her boring 9 to 5 job, she loves to doodle, sing, travel, read story books and take lots of pictures. This is her first ever book as an illustrator.