A Second Chance

A True Story by Chance Stone

When I was at home before I came here, I used to do household chores with my mother. My parents could not send me to the school because of the lack of money. I used to fritter away the time playing and doing lots of inferior things. But my heart has always been saying to study. I used to look at the students going to their school in their uniforms, seeing this, my eyes used to fill with tears. I had always been asking my mother to study, but she could not allow me to do so. Before I had no goals to achieve. I thought, “Now I can’t study. I will be a farmer.” Many years went by. One day she sent me to a government school. But teachers were not good. They always kept sleeping on their chairs. And children used to make noises. But I was helpless. I kept going to the school.

One day my father woke me up in the morning and said, “Get ready, we have to go to Patna.” I wanted to say, “Why?” but I did not ask. Then I got ready and we started on the way. Almost five boys were coming too with their parents on the train. After three hours, we reached here and then came to know that if we will pass the examination only then we will be admitted here. We appeared for the examination, and on the results paper I saw that I and two more boys from my village have passed the examination.

But what was this? When I came here, I started to get homesick. I always kept weeping. Then I was dismissed from here. My father was called to take me away. When I reached my home, after three days my mother brought me here again. She was requesting to God to re-admit me. And it happened. From that day I started studying hard. I was unable to read an English sentence. But by laboring hard I started reading English fluently. Then I chose a goal, and still, even now I am here and studying.