Preethi's discovery

Preethi was a nice girl. She was pretty, kind-hearted and courteous, and no one disliked her. She was a darling daughter; her parents couldn't ask for anything better. She never did anything to upset anyone. In fact she couldn't even hurt a fly. She had a smile sweeter than honey, but it was very rarely that anyone got to see it. Preethi was often sad because she was alone. She didn’t have any friends. For some reason, no one ever wanted to be friends with Preethi, except one girl, Naini. Naini was so peppy and lively; she was the little Miss Sunshine of their school. The entire world was her friend, even the teachers! She loved company so much, and always got to be in it - so that just made her happier. Her vivacious attitude made her cute, even though she wasn't blessed with many physically attractive features. Preethi loved Naini, and wished that she could be as happy as her.

But then, somewhere in the corner of her mind, there lurked a little bit of jealousy every time she saw Naini prance about amidst all her friends. It broke her heart that she had just one friend. One sunny summer afternoon, Reene ma'am asked the class to submit their homework notebooks for correction, and they did. Forty five notebooks were too much for one teacher to carry to the staff-room alone, and she asked Naini for help. Incidentally, Preethi had been sitting next to her, so she brought the leftover books to the staff room for the teacher. In the staffroom, all the teachers were happy to see Naini. They greeted her with love, ruffled her hair and made fun of her playfully while Preethi stood in a corner and watched, waiting. She wondered why none of the teachers had even recognised her presence. She wondered why no one wanted to ruffle her hair, or tease her. Reene ma'am noticed the look on Preethi’s face and said, "Are you alright, child?". At that point, Preethi could take it no more. She burst into tears and wailed, "Why doesn't anyone like me, Reene ma'am? Why doesn't anyone want to talk to me? Why don't I have any friends? I'm a nice person, I don't like hurting anyone's feelings! Why shouldn't I have friends?" Reene ma'am walked Preethi out of the staff-room and sat down with her on a bench in an empty classroom. Preethi poured her heart out to her teacher. "Naini is my only friend in the entire school. She has so many friends! Why don't people like me?" Preethi cried. Reene ma'am frowned. "Nobody dislikes you, Preethi. But nobody likes you either." Preethi looked up. "What do you mean?" "You're a sweetheart, child. Everyone can guess that you're good at heart, but no one knows for sure. You never voluntarily speak to anyone, nor do you go out of your way to speak to anyone." Preethi seemed to make sense of what she was hearing. Renee ma'am was right. "To top it off, you've always got that sad frown on your face. You look like it's so easy to break you that people would rather not risk taking the chance! Naini is so peppy and full of life; no one can extinguish the energy she's got. She doesn't have a care in the world, and that is all takes to attract people to yourself."

Preethi thought long and hard about what she'd learnt that day. Her entire life made sense to her after realising those things, and she decided to be different. She owed it to herself! Preethi began to smile more, and fill herself with enthusiasm. The difference was easy to notice; on the first day of her change, she had almost half of the class trying to speak to her to understand what made the difference! And that's how she learnt the secret to making friends; being peppy is all it takes!

This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.