Be thankful for the bad things happening to us for keeping our eyes open!

Come to think of it,  I am really thankful for every event that has shaped my personality. I’m not perfect, but I like who I am and I try my best to I learn from my mistakes. It’s important to see your effect on every situation you are in, otherwise you will miss out on the opportunities you have to learn.

In our times, kindergarten used to be called as Montessori school, I’ve attended this small pre-primary school run by a kind hearted lady who looked after us kids as a mother and I felt so attached to her because she was always like my own mother, so warm and gentle in her behaviour. As I passed out of the Montessori school there was only a municipal run school nearby and there were no private schools for me to take admission therefore my parents put me in the municipal school which was full of all children from economically weaker class of the society, the school was free of charge for all of us, not tuition fees to be paid and we used to get a free bottle of milk and a pack of biscuits every morning, which was also the reason why some kids were sent to this school by some parents such was their condition at home.

This new school was different for me after the Montessori. I spent the first two days quietly by myself. I convinced myself I was just observing my new environment when the truth was, I was just too shy to socialise with kids of different class all sitting together. On the third day though, I decided to sit on the front steps by the school’s entrance during lunch break. It’s where I noticed a lot of kids hanging out. I figured I’d have a good chance of talking with someone, perhaps even to make friends. I saw a couple of guys I recognised from one of my classes and decided to play it safe and sit with them. So I started sitting with them at the staircase everyday and they made fun of all the boys and girls who entered the school in the morning.

There used to be a black coloured dog hanging around our school gate and I used to hate dogs and used to run away from them always, whereas all the kids used to throw stones at the poor stray dog who used to run away crying once hit by stones and the kids used to laugh it out and enjoy his cries of kiannn... kiyannnn ....since I was sitting in the pack of those kids the dog used to watch me too as part of the gang. One fine day something happened and some kid threw a big stone at the dog and the dog became aggressive and came running to the stair case where all of us hanging as usual as he came running, all the troubled kids ran away to the class and I was left behind as I fell down and started crying as the dog came closer and bit my right leg first and then also bit me on my hands barking at me in aggression, as I lay there with bleeding hands and legs and children god panicky and they ran to the teacher and the head master who too came running and took me to the doctor,

The headmaster also sent some boy to my house for fetching my mum as those days there were no telephones at every house leave aside mobile phones. So mum came running and the doctor was stitching my wounds and putting on bandage to my leg and hand and then informed my mum that since it was a stray dog I need to take 14 injections of Anti Rabies vaccine otherwise it would be too risky. Those days only one Haffkine Institute (which was started by colonial British doctors) in Mumbai used to manufacture Anti Rabies vaccine, therefore for the first shot my parents had to take me there and for subsequent shots my family doctor would give them to me. So the course of 14 injections in my stomach was so painful that I had to miss school till my treatment was over and I still remember it was so painful for me to bear at such tender age I used to bend while walking such was my condition.

Finally I became alright and started attending the school again and the same routine continued, but now with a change that the kids who were called the trouble kids of the class disowned me and said "you don't come with us because the dog does not like you". I said fine and I started being on my own and the same dog which had bit me became friendly to me and then used to come over every day to meet me and I used to save the biscuits for sharing with the dog and he used to wag his tail and also became so friendly to me realising that I was not the one who had hit him From that day onward I was never afraid of dogs in my life in fact I had pet dog and cat at home when I grew up and I became an animal lover myself.

Therefore this was the story which changed my life from an animal hater to the animal lover and it etched on my childhood memories forever that some bad things in life actually help you to open your eyes wide and become a better person in life. Stay blessed! #kishoreshintre