A Beautiful Girl

Reading Time: 3 minutes

By – Ayushi Shukla – storykipotli (at) gmail (dot) com

Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful girl named Tara. She had brown eyes, curly hair, red cheeks and rosy lips. She was adorable, charming, graceful, chirpy like a bird and affectionate. Tara lived with her mother in a small house in a small village.

She loved wearing scarves. But it was strange that she wore her scarf even in summers. Nobody knew the reason behind her scarf. Sometimes, children would make fun of her also, but she ignored everyone with a smile.

There was something magical about Tara! From a 6 year old child to a 60 year old person, Tara could cheer up anybody. Coming from a small family, she started working early. She was good at stitching clothes and so worked in a boutique.  Every day at 7 she would leave for Tarapur, a town 10kms from her village. On her way, she would give candies to small kids, help elderly people carry their heavy load, talk to birds, sing and dance all the way.

Tara worked hard the entire day. But as soon as the clock hands reach 4, Tara would rush back home. This always bothered Raman, the owner of the boutique. He tried talking to Tara about it, but she would change the topic. There is something suspicious about her. I need to find out, “Raman thought to himself”.

One day, he thought of talking to her mother.

Raman approached Tara’s home, while she was away.

Namaste, I’m Raman, Tara’s boss, said Raman. Oh, please come, sit. What will you have? Tara’s mom asked. Thank you aunty. I am here to discuss about Tara.

Tara’s mom’s face turned pale. She understood what Raman wanted to know.

Everyday Tara leaves the boutique  by 4, which is way too early. I tried talking to her about the same, but she always changed the topic, said Raman. What is the matter?

Tara’s mom was silent.

Promise me that on knowing the reason you will not kick her out of the boutique, said Tara’s mom.

Finally, Tara’s mom revealed the untold-top secret to Raman. Tara suffers from disomediamebho, a disease where her ears grow bigger and bigger as the sun sets. In the morning they become normal, but still are different from ours. This is the reason why she wears a scarf and leaves early.

While Tara’s mom was unfolding the secret, Tara dropped in.

Do you also want to see her ears? her mom said. Tara removed her scarf and Raman was dumstruck. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Tara had big big dew drop shaped ears. During day time, those ears would become small but still look funny. And post 4 o’ clock, those ears would become very big. She was petrified, terrified to face the world with those funny ears. And so always kept them covered. Now that her secret was out, she thought Raman would kick her out of the job.

But you know what, Raman also had something suspicious. He always wore his headphones. Tara had never seen him without his headphones.

After hearing Tara’s story, Raman too removed his headphones.

Tara screamed. What? You too! Raman also had big ears. He was afraid that people would run away on seeing him. So had his headphones always on.

Now that both had those big, big ears, they decided to embrace what they had and accept it. From next day, they were not frightened to show it off. For few days, people made fun, but then they got used to it. 

MORAL: Accept your differences and carry them with confidence.