When I ran in the Balloon Race

When I was studying in class ‘Prep’

I was with my parents at the Annual Sports Day in our school, I was 6 years of age, studying in class ‘Prep’ then. I had no idea about what was going on that day at the school. Before reaching the school that day, I even did not know that my parents had registered my name for the ‘Balloon Race’ there, I was just very happy riding with my parents on our scooter. In those days, I always enjoyed sitting on the little seat ahead of my father on the scooter.

That day, our school was very crowded

That day, our school was very crowded. There were sounds and their echoes everywhere, mostly because of the mikes and also due to the noise made by the kids and their parents. Many events were organized that day, most of them were related to athletics, but as a kid I was very confused about everyone jumping and running here and there.

The Announcement for the Balloon Race

Then came the announcement from one of the many mikes, “Dear parents of the participants of the ‘Balloon Race’ are requested to make your child ready for the race. The race will be in 10 minutes.” After hearing this announcement, my mother who was standing beside me, started pushing me towards the race track and said, “Beta (Son), get ready, you have to run in the race.” I was like, “What? Race? Why? I having fun,…. I don’t need to run.” My mother replied, “No beta, you have to. Now let’s go.”

The Teacher explained the Rules of the Balloon Race

At the next moment, I was at the starting end of the race, with the other 10-12 kids. Then, one madam (Teacher) came to explain to us the rules of the ‘Balloon Race’. She said that we had to run towards the end-point where there was one balloon kept for each kid, we had to burst our own balloon using our hands and run back to the starting point. After explaining the rules to everybody, she asked us, “Understood everyone?” Everyone said, “Yes maaaam (in chorus)” and I too nodded my head.

The time had arrived for the race to begin. The Physical Education Sir (Teacher) of our school came near us and said, “Listen, kids, when I say ‘On Your Marks’, ‘Get Set’ and blow my whistle, all of you start running. Understood?” Every kid said in chorus, “Yes Sir” and I too nodded my head.

The Balloon Race begins

The Physical Education teacher screamed, “On your marks, get set,…” then he blew his whistle. After hearing the whistle, every kid started running on their tiny feet. Believe it or not, I was the first one to reach the balloon but before I could figure out how to burst the balloon with my tiny and thin hands, the other kids had burst their balloons and almost reached the other end. One madam (teacher) present there showed me the technique to burst the balloon, still, I could not burst it, then she held my hands with the balloon and burst it. She said, “Now, go beta (son), run to the other end, run quickly.” I was running to the other end alone and the kids on the starting end were laughing at me. It was a great comedy for the people present there and a great embarrassment for me.

That time, I could not understand why I was not able to burst the balloon. Now, when I think about it, I guess it is about different techniques for different hand structures, shapes of the fingers, and shapes of different balloons. I think the technique mam (teacher) showed me to burst the balloon, was not appropriate for my hands or fingers and It's not like that I have never burst any balloon in my life. From all these things, I think, everything doesn’t work for everyone, sometimes to make something work, we have to do something different.