Global Campus: Creative Writing Competition 2016 | Page 2

Winner
Creative Writing Competition 2016
Name: Christopher
School: Dover Court International School, Singapore
Age: 14
Word count: 550

Kamal
Kalam was no ordinary boy - he lived in a hut deep in the forest that fringed a little shanty old town in Srinagar, India.
So on his 6th birthday when his wood-cutter father invited him to make the trip to town to sell off the pile of wood
that he had collected, Kalam was quick to take it up. His excitement at the prospect of going to town was clearly
palpable to all at home.
It was a long and arduous journey to town through thick forest that was fraught with danger and obstacles. After
almost 3 hours of hard walking and traversing’s hillocks and rivers they were finally in town at daybreak. Kalam
could hardly believe his eyes. Town- life was nothing like he had imagined. It was so pulsating with life and yet in
some strange ways frightening.
As his father sat at the sidewalk peddling the firewood that he had carried on his back to this place, Kalam wandered
about and his curiosity was pricked by an interesting sight. Inside a walled compound, from the gated entrance, he
watched intently as a group of children sat under a makeshift shelter, reciting enthusiastically something he could
not make out clearly.
It was their infectious enthusiasm that fascinated him. A man stood in front of them and he seemed to say things
that made these children respond vocally and animatedly in a myriad ways. Kamal was enthralled by it all. He
needed to be with them. However, the problem was he didn’t have clothes and they did: for the first time he felt
shame. Little did he know that this was the town’s elementary school.
On his way back home he enquired his dad if he might join those children. His father taken aback by his query,
replied in an alarmed tone that he could not afford it. Kalam knew, sensed, that it was far more than just and that.
Nevertheless he was determined to watch and learn from a distance. Later his mother told him what school was
all about and how you learnt things. Kamal knew that was exactly what he wanted – to learn. Learn everything…
nothing was going to get in his way. Not poverty, not the journey, not the discriminations nor the stigma of being an
‘untouchable’.
That resolve saw him standing naked .outside at the gate, rain or shine. He was intrigued .Every morning without
fail, he stood at the gate listening to every word the teacher taught. It did not take long for the teacher, an elderly
dhoti-clad gentleman to notice that lonesome figure at the gate, who seemed to pay attention to him far more than
any pupil in his class. He wanted to ask that child why he stood there. When he eventually did, the boy’s answer was
so profound that the teacher offered to pay for his fees.
That meeting between them on a fateful morning would eventually change the course of the boy’s life and that of
India itself.
Kamal went on to learn and excel in every grade. He moved to the city on scholarship and eventually graduated with
top honours. Such was his passion and charisma that everyone who met him was astounded by his wisdom. Years
later, he was appointed to the highest office - the Presidency.
www.nordangliaeducation.com

2