"Why are you laughing?" Rati asked, a little annoyed.
"Will you enroll my name in school or not?"
"When your father comes, we'll get your name enrolled."
"Okay."
Hearing this, Rati feels like dancing with joy inside.
"Alright then."
The next morning, as soon as Rati wakes up, she goes straight to her uncle and says,
"Uncle, did you talk to Papa? When will my name be enrolled in school?"
At that moment, her uncle urgently needed to go to the toilet and was standing with a water pot in his hand. To quickly send her away, he lies and says,
"Yes, little sister, your name has been enrolled. Now you will also go to school."
Hearing this, Rati becomes very happy and runs inside the house, where her elder sister Rama is getting ready for school.
"Rama, do you know? My name has also been enrolled in your school. Now I will go with you in the bus!"
"No, it hasn't been enrolled yet."
"Who told you that?"
"Uncle told me."
"Oh, he was lying."
"No, it's true!"
"Then where is your school uniform?"
"Well… my name is enrolled now, but it takes time to get the uniform. Don't you know that?"
"Okay then, give me your old dress. I'll wear that today."
"Fine, wear it."
After a lot of effort, Rati wears Rama's old uniform and gets ready nicely.
Then she goes outside and waits for the bus.
But when the bus arrives, the conductor again doesn't let her get on. He takes her down and hands her over to her grandmother, saying,
"Her name is not enrolled yet."
Hearing this, Rati becomes very angry at her uncle.
Her uncle has already returned from the fields and is sitting comfortably inside, sipping tea and eating hot rotis.
Rati feels deeply hurt. Her uncle's one lie makes her lose trust in the very idea of trust. And look at him—he isn't even ashamed, sitting there calmly drinking tea.
But Rati is not someone who forgives easily.
She decides to punish him.
First, she goes to the roof where her uncle's underwear is drying. She takes it down, pours lots of water on it, and hangs it back.
Then she comes downstairs, goes near the wooden platform where her uncle's coaching notebooks are kept, and chews them up with her sharp little teeth.
But even then her anger doesn't calm down.
So she goes to her mother, hugs her lovingly, and says,
"Mom, please make milk sweets for me."
Her mother replies,
"For two days I've been saving milk to make sweets, but some cat keeps eating the thick cream."
Rati quickly says,
"It's not a cat, Mom. Uncle eats it. Yesterday I saw him eating it. He even gave me a little."
"Your uncle eats it?"
"Yes."
Hearing this, her mother goes to the uncle and scolds him badly.
Rati hides near the door and laughs quietly.
It is now 8 o'clock. Her uncle has to get ready for coaching.
When he goes to the roof to get his underwear, he finds it completely wet.
"What! I washed this in the morning. It still hasn't dried! What will I wear now?"
Helpless, he has to get ready wearing only pants without underwear.
Then, when he comes downstairs and picks up his notes, he finds them chewed up.
"Mom! Who ruined my notes?!"
"Must be rats. Who else would do it? I always tell you to keep your books properly, but you leave them here and there. Now suffer."
"But I saw them fine in the morning! How did rats chew them in just two hours? What will I do now? Teacher will check notes today!"
Because his notes are ruined, he doesn't go to coaching and stays home.
Seeing this, Rati feels very proud inside.
After some time, she hears her father's motorcycle.
She runs outside. Her father asks her grandmother,
"Is there water in the field? Did the workers come?"
"Yes, they have come. You go, I'll come later."
"Okay."
As her father is about to leave for the field, her uncle says,
"Brother, we need to enroll Rati in school."
"Didn't you go to coaching?"
"No, there's no study today."
"Alright, then go enroll her. Take money from Mother."
"Okay."
Then her uncle turns to Rati and says,
"So, little sister, will you go to school?"
"Yes!"
"Then get ready quickly. Today we'll go to Rama's school and enroll your name."
Hearing this, Rati becomes extremely happy. She takes out new clothes from her mother's suitcase and gets ready nicely.
"Uncle, I'm ready. Let's go!"
"Okay, let's go."
Both of them sit on her father's motorcycle and leave for Rama's school.
For the first time, Rati is sitting on a motorcycle without her mother.
It feels like butterflies are flying in her stomach.
It feels as if a prisoner has been freed after thousands of years.
"What happened, Rati? Are you sitting properly? You won't fall, right?"
"No, uncle, I'm sitting properly."
"Hold tightly, otherwise you'll fall. Then your mother will ask me to bring you back—what will I do then?"
Rati laughs and says,
"Uncle, you get scared so easily. I won't fall."