THE RACE

Tarun was a mediocre student. His grades could barely satisfy his parents. And, he was not a good singer, dancer, painter, or even an actor. He always thought of himself as the black sheep of the family. his elder brother, who was pursuing a degree in engineering from a reputed college, always made the family proud. But tarun was never good at anything like that. However, he was blessed with the strength of a great athlete; he was an excellent runner. He would run for hours, be it day or night. Whenever he felt sad and lonely, he exhausted himself by running, thus releasing all his pent-up emotions. At all times, he would miss his school bus and would then run to school, which was five miles away from his home! He just had one deam -to become the fastest runner in the world. Tarun did not know how to achieve his dream. On the one hand, his parents hated his running and wanted him to concentrate more on his studies, which he never did. On the other hand, he belonged to a middle class family, and Tarun knew that, to achieve his dream, he needed an intensive training, the amount for which was well beyond his family's reach.