A Birthday Present

Once upon a time, there was a king called Bhu. He was like a dictator in the small town that he lived. Everyone in the town feared him. He had three wives. Undoubtedly married off against their own wishes by their fathers who preferred giving away their daughters to the King from whom they might have presumably taken huge, non-repayable loans.

The last of the wives could not endure and enjoy her life as a wife to this dictator, although she bore him 4 children – 3 sons and 1 daughter. And thus, one fine day, she chose an ill-advised 'different' path. Her daughter was then just 9 months old. Thinking what evils may befall on this female child without her protection, the wife decided to take this female child too along with her. Just when she picked up the infant and started, one of the older sons told the mother that he will take care of the female child while she finished ‘her business’ in the house backyard, not really knowing what his mother was up to. Something made the mother give the daughter to her son. 

This act of giving involuntarily symbolized the son to be the protector of his sister. That son did indeed take good care of his sister and she grew up to be a fine young princess. She got married to another fine young King called Vij and the two of them bore 3 children – 2 princes and 1 princess.

The princess differed from her parents in thought and principles. While the parents always thought (like Socrates) ‘Others first; Us next’, the princess always thought ‘Us first; Others next’. Yet, even with this basic difference in thought, the parents doted on the princess because, well, she was their only princess! And with this plethora of love & freedom showered on her, the princess grew up to be a very competitive young teenager. She particularly excelled in sports and had the traits of a 'Fighting Warrior'.

Specially notable was this last year in her college when she aimed for top 3 awards that the college bestows upon its graduation students each year: The ‘NCC Trophy’ for participating in NCC; The ‘Championship Trophy’ for indoor and outdoor sports; The ‘Best Girl’ who tops in all categories – academics, sports, cultural events, NCC, NSS, etc..  

To achieve this, she planned meticulously. She checked with her mentors about how many points she can get for what activities. And she depended even on others since there were games where she had to play ‘Doubles’ and even ‘Mixed Doubles’ to get points. So she enquired around and chose her partners carefully so that they were skillful enough to win each game she played. This was especially true to win the 'Triple Crown' award which is given only for First Place winners in any game in all 3 categories - Solo, Doubles, Mixed Doubles. The pure challenge of winning this award made her adrenaline pumping and hungry for success!

And to get the ‘Best Girl’ award, she had to not only win the Championship award but also participate in almost all extracurricular activities such as cultural activities, NCC, etc. She had confidence in winning in sports and singing and dancing, but she hadn’t enrolled herself in NSS and NCC. So she got enrolled into those too, and learnt the basics of knotting and using rifles – just sufficient to get a certificate. She was good enough to get the NCC Trophy for one of the categories.

The heat was on now for the Championship Trophy. She had won in almost all the games and the competition was almost feverish. Every day and every night, the tension was palpable! Each night she would sit and calculate the points, and plan for next day’s victories. During the last few games, she knew she had enough to get her through but still she fought till the end victoriously to ensure her closest competitor was sufficiently some points away. And thus, she got her second aim fulfilled – The coveted Championship Trophy!

Alas! Despite being in the top charts for all categories considered for the Best Girl, she was not chosen as the Best Girl. She was heartbroken. But she later came to know that, in the past, this award was always politically biased. She, actually, was never even in contention! And hence, the girl who was chosen for Best Girl ended up being good only in academics but with not much contribution in sports or other extracurricular activities.

Albeit this loss, the Princess who dreamed high and almost reached the stars ended up being the Girl with the most awards – with her name being called as the winner, one game after the other, over and over again during the College Day Awards Ceremony with resounding applause. To highlight her achievements in brief, she had won 3^rd prize for Group Folks Dance, 3^rd prize for Group Patriotic Song Competition, NCC award, Inter-collegiate Table Tennis Runner-up award, Indoor Games Champion award, Triple Crown award (for Table Tennis), 10 Second Prize awards and 9 First Prize awards in various competitions and finally even the Grand Championship Trophy award!

And thus, the walls are adorned with so many trophies that it occupies an entire unit! She might have been unlucky not to get the Best Girl award then, but she remains an exemplary achiever and a True Champion! So what if she didn’t get the Best Girl award then, she gets my ‘Best Girl’ award hands-down!! In retrospect, if King Bhu's daughter had not been saved by his son, the world would never have seen this champion nor would this story have been scripted. And nor would I have found my 'Best Girl'! 

For this Champion, who created history in JG College Hubli between the years 2004 and 2005, who persevered against all odds and came out with shining glory, I dedicate this (hopefully immortal) blog post as a humble birthday present, so that the epic success story can always be remembered with the same feverish joy which she felt when she received all those awards!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEAR!!