The Promising star

The School trip

    Kani got a chance to visit a theme park named, Adhisayam, at his third standard. It was a school tour. And the amount they charged for the tour was Rs. 250. Kani was eagerly waiting for that day to arrive with a lot of excitement running in his mind about the tour. 

    Two buses were arranged for the tour. One was the fourth number bus and the other was the fifth number bus. The fourth bus driver was called by a name, Military driver. He had previous experience in the military that's why he was called so. The military driver was one of the best drivers of the school at that period. He used to come with a great speed till the school gate had arrived and only put a little break while turning the bus inside the school, perhaps, using his sharp driving skills. He was liked by many children those days. In those days, there was also competition among students to see who was the best driver in the school. And when one bus was overtaken by the other bus, the students used to show their fingers from inside the bus and shout like anything by uttering the Tamil word, 'Aappu', in symbolizing that they were superior to the students, who were inside the opposite bus. That was their trademark celebration at those time. Also, they used to shout, 'Hoo Haa! Hoo Haa! and chant, 'O Podu!', whenever they used to get more and more enthusiasm with superior energy in their voices. The other bus was driven by the Raju driver. 

    On the day of the tour, the students were split into two groups and for each group, they allotted a bus. Kani was in the group which was allocated for the fourth number bus. They had a nice travel experience overall. The teachers, who accompanied the students for the tour, sang songs, danced and everyone had great enjoyment inside the bus. 

    Soon, the buses reached Adhisayam and all were very excited. The theme park was a water theme park. At first, students had a shower bath, after which they entered into the pool. Inside the theme park, there were watery swimming pools, water slides, artificial tides, swimming pads, life jackets, and colorful big tubes. 

    At first, Kani preferred to go to the swimming pool. He went underneath the water and he swam, very close to the flooring of the pool and the pool was also not exceeding Kani's height in terms of water level capacity it had. After some time, the teachers called upon all the students to assemble in one place. They all then had their tasty lunch over there. 

    After that, again they went swimming. This time Kani decided not to waste his energy in swimming. So, he simply sat over a colorful big tube and started to float on the water surface. Kani enjoyed his floating peacefully. But, all of a sudden there came a random guy who pulled off the tube over which Kani was floating. Kani got collapsed and he fell into the water by allowing some water to go inside his nose and mouth. The random guy got a good scolding from Kani and later on, Kani started his floating back again and had a peaceful time, by floating on the water surface. The whole day was like a dream-c*m-true experience not only for Kani but for all other students as well. Soon, the time arrived for them to go. The students were wondering as if could they stay up there all the time, without going back to school again? But certain things have to move on, as the time moves on. No one can stop that. They all departed the theme park with great sadness on their faces. On the return journey, they had their night-supper, at one hotel. At that time, some students felt itchiness in their fingers due to unknown reasons. But, Kani didn't face that issue. The symptoms disappeared soon before they appeared to the school, on the following day. Kani had some wonderful memories over there that he would always bore them in his heart throughout his life. 

    Alas! after that tour, Kani never had a chance to go to any other tours in his school life. Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf. Sometimes it's not meant to be understood, but to be accepted. Perhaps, acceptance of reality is the key to happiness.