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studies and they were angry that their exams would be delayed just because of a handfulof wrong-doers. They were full of spirit and it seemed as if the whole compartment wasdrawn to them. Arun looked at them with wonder and respect.When they alighted at their home station, Arun felt he had enjoyed the trip immenselyjust observing the different kinds of people he had come across. He was very silent andpensive as he walked home with his aunt. The impact was great.People are so different; and yet, do you notice points of similarity? What does eachone basically want? Are we different underneath the skin, as it were? Or do you noticesome common trend in all of us? Find out for yourself.13. School DayThere was a lot of excitement for about a month before the School Day when parentsand friends of the school were to share in the joy of an evening of entertainment. It wasalso the day when merit cards were distributed to all the children in the school who hadachieved 65 percent and above in a subject or had gained merit in games, music, arts,debates, drama, and hobbies. In this particular school, they did not give prizes only to thefirst three pupils of a class. They wanted as many children as possible to be rewarded foreffort or talent; as a result, there was less competition and more participation on the partof children. The pupils were all looking forward to the School Day.The teachers who usually drew up the programmes to be presented had decided onthree main items involving the majority of the children. There was to be a historical skitin English depicting an episode in the Life of Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh; apageant in Hindi bringing scenes from India’s freedom struggle around the item of theSalt Satyagraha when Gandhiji led the famous Dandi March — this was written by thepupils of class VIII, after they had studied about it in class and it was completelyimprovised; there were also several folk dances depicting the coming of the rains and thejoy with which it was welcomed in Bengal, Punjab, Kashmir, Gujarat, Maharashtra,Kerala, Karnataka, Orissa, and so on. The songs were selected with care and the dancesprepared in typical folk style with a lot of attention to the authenticity of the costumes.One hour had been allotted at the end of each day for rehearsals but the children tookso long to assemble that Miss Chitra Gokhale who was in over-all charge had anenormous burden which a lesser person would have given up. But she had grit andcontrolled the whole exercise, allotting different venues and teachers for each item. Yet, apersistent problem the school faced was the lack of a sense of punctuality in mostchildren. It was as if the children felt so free after classes were over, that it took themsome time to let off steam and collect themselves together again. So, the students’ councilwas asked to discuss it among themselves and take the responsibility for gettingrehearsals started on time. As the day drew nearer, of course everybody became moreserious. Isn’t it true that we seem to need a challenge to make us serious and responsible?On School Day, back stage, there were a whole lot of emotions on display:nervousness, excitement, jealousy, frustration, anger, cooperation and team work.Teachers and parents were doing the make-up. The ‘queen’ looked so gorgeous that thelittle maid who had to wear simple clothes was a little jealous. There was a search forfolk jewellery and flowers among those doing the folk dances. Everyone wanted to look