“Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Priya, Happy Birthday to you!” Priya smiled excitedly at Madhumita, Jagdish and Prabhu as her mother placed a rich chocolate doll-cake before her. “You know Priya, Sanjana aka told me that if you make a wish on your birthday while blowing out the candles on the cake then it will come true”, said Madhumita. Priya thought long and hard about what to wish for. Then suddenly, it hit her. She could be a doctor for a day! She had always wanted to know what it was like to be a doctor. She closed her eyes and blew out the candles.
7
When she opened them again she found herself in a white lab coat, taking the temperature of a patient in the medical room of a forest resort. She looked through the window and saw a movie shoot going on, starring her favourite actor, Vijay. He was shooting a fight scene near the edge of the forest. She decided to go outside as soon as the patient left. It was late in the evening and as she was enjoying the action sequence, she heard a growl by the bushes. Before she could react a tiger pounced in at the corner of the movie set. Everyone was engrossed in the scene and nobody noticed but her.
9
She was scared and also worried for the safety of Jagadish, Prabhu and Madhumita, who were also watching the shooting. Just then, an idea struck her. She noticed a huge pit that had been dug at the end of the ground for the construction of a well. She picked up a branch lying nearby, lit it using a matchstick and went near the pit. The makeshift flaming torch was for her protection as she knew that wild animals were afraid of fire. The tiger was approaching Vijay and the villain now. It stealthily moved closer and closer.
11
Suddenly, the tiger pounced in Vijay’s direction and roared at him. He began to move away slowly, but the Tiger struck his arm with its claws. Priya ran in front of Vijay and immediately the tiger fell back. It was afraid of the hot, glowing fire.
13
She lured the tiger towards the pit. Jagadish handed her a large piece of meat which she threw into the pit. The tiger made a great leap and fell inside the deep pit and now it couldn’t come out by itself. She had succeeded! The whole crew began cheering Priya’s name.
15
She fetched her medical kit and approached Vijay. She cleaned his wound and wrapped a bandage around his arm. Vijay said, “Thank you so much, Dr. Priya. You have saved my life today. But, why did you risk your life like that?” Priya replied, “No matter what the situation is, as a doctor, it is my responsibility to safeguard the lives of people.” Suddenly the director Murugan sir, interrupted, “Dr. Priya. This whole time the extra camera was rolling and we captured your bravery on film! I think we would like to add the scene to the movie.”
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“Oh my gosh! Thank you so much, sir. I’m honoured.”. Priya was so excited at the prospect of being in a film. That night, she returned to her room exhausted and fell asleep immediately. When she woke up, she found herself back at home. She shot more scenes with Vijay over the next few days, and they became good friends. She even shot a dance and song scene with him and she felt that she had never had this much fun in her life! It had really been the best week.
19
A few months later, she and her friends were walking on the road and eating cool, vanilla softees. Prabhu suddenly fell silent for one moment and then shouted, “GUYS! Look at this.� It was the window of an electronics shop and one of the TVs was showing a music video. The video showed Vijay dancing to a song. Next to him, dancing in a beautiful red dress was Priya herself! She had almost forgotten about the film!
21
It released that week and she attended the premiere function with the cast and crew. She clicked pictures with Vijay and even came in some of the newspapers! She was instantly famous.
23
The film became a super hit and the audiences all felt that the tiger scene was the best! Now, on the roads, people would say, “Hello, Dr. Priya!”, “You’re so brave!”, “We really admire you.” And what could be better than that? Her dreams had come true.
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Glossary Edge Sequence Growl Pounced Engrossed Construction Makeshift Approaching Stealthily Protection Struck Direction Lure Immediately Leap Succeeded Fetch
Side or corner Step by step direction of a dance Angry noises made by animals Jumped suddenly To be very pulled into something and not pay attention to anything else Going on in the surroundings To make something that can only be used for the time being To walk towards The way a tiger walks when it is hunting so that it does not make any noise To be safe To hit The way or path to be followed to a place To attract someone To do something as fast as it can be done To make a big jump To win something or finish some work in a good way within the given time To catch something. For example when we throw a ball to a dog to catch it, we can also tell him to fetch for it.
Situation Responsibility Interrupt Safeguard Honored Prospect Capture Exhausted Admire Instantly
A set of Duty To stop something To save To be proud of oneself The chance that something will happen in the future. To catch something or someone. For example, many programs are captured on camera and then telecast on tv. To be very tired To like somebody a lot. For example, people admire Sachin Tendulkar because of his batting skills. In a very short time
Anu Ghanashyam Writer My name is Anu Ghanashyam. I did my schooling and graduation in Mumbai. I started working at the age of 21 as HR with Wipro, Bangalore. I got married to my fellow colleague, Ghanashyam at Wipro and later on we moved to Infosys, Trivandrum. I have an adorable son named Indraneil.
Maitri Dore Illustrator Maitri Dore, an architect by profession, always had a childhood penchant for cartooning and illustrating. She grew up in Bombay and moved to Bangalore for her first job,where she currently works in the practice of mud architecture. Apart from drawing lines, she illustrates for the Chennai based children’s magazine, Gokulam.