What do you do to be involved in the community?
Ekansh looked around the field for where the other fielders stood and
then he assessed his own position and how he could stop an incoming
ball hit by the batsman.
A game of cricket was part of almost every Sunday. All the children of
the society gathered in the playground around 10 in the morning to
enjoy their time with the game.
Sunday was in particular a special day, it was a day when games and
other sources of enjoyment overwhelmed the day unlike the otherwise
study dominated days of the week.
Ekansh was part of the fielding team. He focussed upon the batsman.
The bowler bowled a fast-paced ball and the batsman skilfully swept
the ball left and took a run. One of the other fielders present in the
direction picked the ball and threw it back to the bowler.
‘This batsman is a hard hitter, the ball is going to fly,’ thought
Ekansh and the ball did fly. The batsman hit a straight drive but the
ball wouldn’t cross the boundary, and the fielder the ball was flying
toward was Ekansh.
Ekansh prepared to catch the ball and took a few steps back to adjust
to the ball’s trajectory. The ball came down but it went past a fallen
Ekansh. Just before the ball came down, as Ekansh stepped back, he
slipped and fell down.
‘What happened? How did I slip?’ Ekansh thought, as looked for what
had caused his fall. It was an empty packet of biscuits. When the
The gardener watered the grass and plants of the ground earlier in the
In the morning, some water is collected in this empty packet of biscuits and when
Nishant stepped on it, he lost his footing and fell.
Ekansh got up as his friends came running to him. He could see it
everywhere now, the empty plastic bottles, candy wrappers, packets of
chips and biscuits. The children who regularly came to play around
have been littering in the playground ground.
‘Has the ground always been so neglected?’ Ekansh thought before he
went back to continue playing.
The next day as Ekansh walked to school, he saw the old gardener
parking his bicycle. He smiled at Ekansh.
“Good morning.. ” spoke Ekansh.
“Good morning!.. off to school?” asked the gardener.
“Yes”, Ekansh smiled, and he continued to say “I fell due to an empty
packet of biscuit yesterday. Why is there such garbage around the
ground?”
“I try my best to clean the ground every day. But, when I return the
next day, I find it in this condition. The children who come to play
in the evening, bring eatables with them and throw the packets and
bottles around. I try to tell them and they listen at first, but after
some days they return to their old habits,” replied the gardener.
Ekansh looked at the ground for a while and then continued on his way to school.
As Ekansh was walking through the school corridor, his eyes noticed
the charts made by children which were pinned up on the boards outside
the classes.
‘That’s it. A poster will be a good idea’ Ekansh concluded.
That day when Ekansh returned home, he dragged his sister to sit with
him and help him make a poster.
‘PLEASE DON’T THROW GARBAGE IN THE PLAYGROUND’ the poster read.
Next day, before going to school, Ekansh put up the poster on the
entrance of the playground.
‘Now, no one will throw garbage here’, thought Ekansh. He went away to
school, happy to have taken the initiative. Ekansh didn’t get time to
check the playground in the evening as he had to attend a family
function. But he was eager to see if his effort had borne any fruit.
Ekansh was surprised the next morning; he could still see littered
garbage around. Not only that, but someone had torn his poster down.
He went away sad.
Ekansh’s sister told her mother about what happened. Ekansh’s mother
found Ekansh sitting quietly on the balcony.
“Let’s try and offer them a solution and see what happens” said Ekansh’s mother.
Ekansh looked at his mother with a confused expression.
“Make another poster, I will tell you what to write”, smiled at Ekansh’s mother.
Ekansh and his sister made another poster and a few days later they
went to paste it with their mother.
It read- ‘THROW GARBAGE IN DUSTBIN’.
Ekansh’s mother along with several neighbours in the society had
bought several dustbins for the playground; they were in addition to
the few bins present in the ground. The gardener helped to place them
around, especially near the benches where children usually sit and
eat.
The next day Ekansh’s mother accompanied Ekansh on her way to the
market. When they reached the ground, they were delighted to see it
much cleaner than before.
The gardener stopped his bicycle near them.
“It worked”, he smiled at Ekansh.
“Yes it did”, replied Ekansh with a smile as he walked away with his mother.
Early Morning Memories 
One response to “On Clear Grounds”
Maybe Sunday is not the time for cricket it is time for church. Good post
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