Dhanush and the Bear

“Dhanush and the Bear” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Vatsal Gupta, India.

Dhanush and the Bear

This is a story of a boy who was very generous and kind, his name is Dhanush. He was not so intelligent but he was very helpful and nice human being. He was liked by everyone who met him. Dhanush had a younger sister Asha, who loved and cared for her brother. As Asha’s birthday was approaching, Dhanush promised her to gift a toy train. But he was sad as he didn’t have enough money to buy the present. He was in a fix.

One day Dhanush was walking on a street with his friend Ishaan, when they came across a poster – for a competition on role play in their community. Dhanush was very excited as this was the opportunity he was looking for. If he could win, then he could easily buy a toy train for his sister. “Wow!” – said Dhanush, Ishaan asked the reason for his joy. Dhanush told his desire to gift his sister and how he was looking for a way to collect some money for the gift.

Dhanush started planning for the competition day & night, but had no idea which role to play, until he saw “Bholu” – the bear trainer. His eyes sparkled as he got the idea now. He went to Bholu’s house where he saw the bear “Abby”. Within no time he became friends with Abby and asked Bholu if he can have his bear for the role play competition – Dhanush wanted to play ‘Bear trainer’. But uncle Bholu refused!

Dhanush was very sad as the gift for Asha was looking difficult and he was running short of time. Next day when he was playing at home he saw someone moving behind the trees, when he walked out to enquire – to his surprise he saw “Abby”. His hind leg was bleeding, Dhanush immediately took him inside and cleaned the wound, he also gave Abby some honey. Dhanush, in his heart, said thanks to uncle Bholu!

Dhanush started practicing for role play and became very good friends. Abby could follow all his instructions and could even understand his emotions. Finally - the day of competition arrived - Dhanush could not sleep the night before due to nervousness, he told Abby – we must win this competition and Abby gave a nod as if he understood everything.

Finally, when Dhanush’s turn came – he walked to the stage with trembling legs. He started playing with Abby on the stage and his performance went amazing, the judges were so impressed that Dhanush got a standing ovation from them; and yes “He has won the competition”.

Dhanush was happy and sad – happy for winning the competition and sad since Abby has to go back now. Dhanush invited Ishaan to his house next morning so that they can play Abby before he goes back. When the door-bell rang – Dhanush was “startled” – as he saw a police inspector instead of Ishaan. On being enquired by the inspector, Dhanush told that it was Abby – uncle Bholu’s bear. But inspector told that it was not Abby but probably an escaped bear from the zoo. Now Dhanush was trembling with fear, he was aghast and didn’t know what to say.

Dhanush requested inspector to visit uncle Bholu’s house to confirm. When they reached, they saw uncle Bholu sitting with his bear. Dhanush asked uncle Bholu – did you not send Abby to help me for the role play competition? Bholu said “NO”, I had already told you it was not possible. Dhanush then realized that bear at his house is the one escaped from the zoo.

The inspector then took Dhanush and bear to zoo for some further enquiries. The authorities were very happy to see the bear and were pleased with Dhanush. They awarded him for his hospitality towards the bear. The authorities praised him and said – not many people take care of animals.

Dhanush was jittered with joy as he got enough money now to buy gift for his sister. Dhanush and the bear are still friends and he visits the zoo regularly to meet.

The moral is that if “WE ARE KIND TO OTHERS THEN THE UNIVERSE IS KIND AND HELPFUL TO US”