Outstanding Story (Sub-junior) - Compassionate Confusion

“Compassionate Confusion” is one of the outstanding stories (sub-junior) of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2019 written by Bhavani Sankar Das, Dav Public School, Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar, India.

Compassionate Confusion

One evening I was at my balcony and was eagerly waiting to witness the cart festival procession approaching towards our lane. Flocks of people were crowded the street to witness the festive vibes. Amidst the excitement, my eyes focused towards an irresistible goat in the lane. The goat was being dragged by his master and it was reluctant to step forward.

I was curious to learn about the goat’s behavior towards defying its master’s instruction. My aunt was standing adjacent to me. She was in a detailed conversation with the butcher and about the goat’s future in the next few minutes.

Hearing this I gasped and was filled with compassion and sorrowfulness for the goat. The next minute my confused mind ordered me to follow the goat and the master. The master stopped few metres away from my home and hooked up the goat to the ground. The goat being at a vulnerable situation could not be resistive anymore.

The master got engaged in a conversation with the butcher and approached towards the goat to offer the last prayer in name of God. The procession had already arrived at the starting of the lane. The anticipated crowd was engaged in the awaiting procession in the street.

There comes a picture of the legendary Mr. Shahrukh Khan whose predominantly infamous dialogue ‘Ja Simran Ja, Jeele Apni Zindagi’ striking my head. With this dialogue of Mr.Khan, my volatile mind became naturally determined and with the inbuilt guts, I unhooked the goat and let it free. Realizing about the master and the butcher’s attention turning towards us, the goat and I swiftly escaped in the arriving procession. The goat escaped from being chopped and my confused compassion towards the poor thing met its expectation. I was delighted about being unrealistic of saving the poor goat and not being aware of the future consequences of doing so. But all I know that is, “When the intention is good, the reward is also good”. I was totally nervous of being caught. But I got back to my home safely, which I considered as my greatest reward.

From this incident, I could quote lines from that day: “GOOD WILL ALWAYS LEAD TO ACHEVEMENT. NOTHING CAN BE ACHIEVED WITHOUT HOPE AND CONFIDENCE.”