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Bela Raja: You never felt insecure or threatened?
Every Saturday we were allowed to go into town to see a movie. So what I would do was have no lunch and collect money from 40 – 50 students, and run and buy the tickets. On my way back, I would eat to my heart’s content.
I used to be the leader of a gang. We would have gang fights and plan strategies. These things used to interest me more than any academics.
Hafeez Contractor: I was just interested in playing and nothing else. I was most interested in funny pranks. One day, I did not want to study, so I created a distraction. For one whole hour we played ‘chor police’.
Every Saturday we were allowed to go into town to see a movie. So what I would do was have no lunch and collect money from 40 – 50 students, and run and buy the tickets. On my way back, I would eat to my heart’s content.
I used to be the leader of a gang. We would have gang fights and plan strategies. These things used to interest me more than any academics.
Students used to book my textbooks for the following year, because they were almost brand new. I probably opened them one day before exams.
Explanation:
After hearing about the punishments given by the teacher, Ms Bela asked him as if he had never felt scared or worried about being punished by a teacher. At that moment, Hafeez answered her that he was interested only in playing and nothing else. Here, Hafeez meant that even after getting punishments from his teacher, his intention was to play. Among all his game, he was more interested in making funny pranks.
A boy making funny pranks
One day Hafeez felt very bored, and he did not want to study. So he created a distraction in the class and made all the children in his class to play with him. He played "chor police" for an hour with his friends. These were the funny things Hafeez used to play in his classroom when he felt bored in his studies.
Hafeez was a boarding school student. He and his friends used to enjoy going to the theatre on Saturdays. They used to go to the town to watch movies. To watch the film, they needed money to buy the tickets. So he would skip his lunch during the lunch hours, collect the money from 40–50 students, and run to get the tickets from the movie theatre. While he was returning after watching movies, he would eat food as much as he liked from restaurants.
Hafeez was a boarding school student. He and his friends used to enjoy going to the theatre on Saturdays. They used to go to the town to watch movies. To watch the film, they needed money to buy the tickets. So he would skip his lunch during the lunch hours, collect the money from 40–50 students, and run to get the tickets from the movie theatre. While he was returning after watching movies, he would eat food as much as he liked from restaurants.
Every Saturday Hafeez and his friends used to enjoy movies in theatre
Hafeez was not only a playful boy, but he was also the leader of his gang. Usually, in schools, the students would form separate teams, and they would fight with each other. Similarly, the Hafeez group and the opposing gang would develop a plan to defeat their opponents. Rather than focusing on his studies, Hafeez was more interested in playing, fighting, and performing humorous pranks on others. Academics wise he was very low, and his interest in playing was comparatively high.
Usually, when Hafeez was promoted to the next grade, his juniors would book his books for the following year. Because Hafeez would have rarely opened the books and there would be no markings in it. Since the other students knew about their senior Hafeez, and they would get his books for the next academics. Moreover, Hafeez had the habit of opening the texts only the day before his examinations. As a result, it was quite common; his books appeared to be brand new.
Meanings of the difficult words:
| S.No | Words | Meanings |
1 | Insecure | Of a person not confident or assured; uncertain and anxious |
2 | Threatened | State one's intention to take hostile action against someone in retribution for something done or not done |
3 | Distraction | A thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else |
4 | Chor police | Children’s game in which one child (thief) hides and others (policemen) try to find him/her |
Reference:
National Council of Educational Research and Training (2008). It so happened. The Treasure Within (pp. 25-33). Published at the Publication Division by the Secretary, National Council of Educational Research and Training, Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi.
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