I lived at mosque street at Rameshwaram. Every evening, after coming back from the mosque, I would stand near a Shiva temple to hear those hymns by my friend, Ramanadha Shastry, the son of the priest.
hmm.... hmmm.. how beautiful!
Om Namah Shivaay! Om Namah Shivaay !
Every day at school, I Rama always sat together in the first bench of the classroom.We're like brothers. One day, a strict teacher came to our class. He went around the class stopped near me. He looked sternly at me shouted,
But...
No buts ! Go, sit on the last bench
Hey you ! How dare you sit beside the temple priest's son!
I felt hurt that day. Sadly, I went to the last bench. While coming back home, I thought that we couldn't be friends anymore. After reaching home, I narrated the whole incident to my father. Rama also did the same.
The next morning, Rama hurriedly came running to my house and said breathlessly,
Kalam , Kalam ! Father has asked you to come to our house immediately.
Ww..... Whhaaattt ! I think I'm going to be in trouble
When I reached there, and saw my new teacher,my heart skipped some beats for a moment. Rama's father (Temple priest) said sternly to our teacher,
The priest allowed him to teach in the school.
All children are equal in God's eyes. How can you discriminate among them?Apologise to Kalam here now or you'll be fired from the school !!
Sorry , Kalam Extremely sorry. I've learnt my lesson
Since then, we sat together proudly at the first bench. We were the best of friends ever after.
A real life story of our former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam