Story of Shardul and Shyam

By Nilohit Bagchi

Once upon a time, Shardul and his friends were playing football in their society ground. They were enjoying the match when suddenly a black-skinned boy came and wanted to play football with them. He asked very politely, “Can I also play football with you all?” Everyone laughed except Shardul. They said, “Have you gone out of your mind? You think we will play with a black-skinned boy! Just get lost!” They laughed and teased the boy and even beat him. But Shardul stopped them and saved the boy. After listening to this, the boy cried and ran away.

Shardul felt very bad after seeing the young boy hurt. The next day, he didn’t play with his friends in the evening. He searched for the boy around the society and found him in the garden sitting on a bench alone. Shardul went and sat next to him and asked, “What happened?” The boy then turned around and asked, “Who are you? Wait! , I think you are one of the boys who beat me yesterday! Stay away from me, you cruel!” Shardul felt very awful but nevertheless, he tried to explain, “I am Shardul and I am not like them.” The boy controlled his anger and replied, “My name is Shyam”

They started talking for a long time and became good friends, and after sunset they left for home. When they reached home, Shardul shared this experience with his father. His father was very proud of him and said, “You did the right thing, Shardul. You should always judge a person by their inner feelings and nature, always remember that.”

Moral: We shouldn’t judge people by their skin colour, but by their inner nature and feelings.