Learning to Breathe

SHE FLED Days and weeks slipped by, And the Little Child with her dreams ran. On the endless Road of Adventure, With every step, she sang. She befriended the birds, She befriended the lambs. In her innocent, innocent world, Cobras didn't have fangs! Then dawned on her the dread of the night. Where would she hide herself? Where would she take her respite? Afraid was she on hearing the wolves howl, Who made these creatures, so furious, so foul? How would she escape from times of fear, When the tiger's growl was drawing so near! 'Think, O Little One, Think with all your might. All fear shall disappear If only you kindle the light.' Fire, she whispered, Fire is the key. Fire shall get me, Out of my misery! With strength and courage she kept on her fight, From start to end, she never lost her sprite. She relaxed in a cave after her long day, And thought of the miracle that had come her way. Did Fire speak to me? Did Fire itself guide me? She looked

      THE GIRL WHO SOLD A BASKET        Every morning my father made me go to the station at Deoli and sell the baskets which my younger sister and I would make. Deoli is a very small station and only a few trains would pass by. Father had met with an accident a year ago, and ever since he has been unable to work at the wood factory. Selling baskets was the only means left for us to earn money. With what little we earned, we managed to survive.        I was only fourteen then, and being the chirpy sort, I found it troublesome to sell baskets each day. The Deoli station hardly had any excitement; a tea stall, a fruit vendor, a newspaper seller and the office of the station master. That was all. No one got on the trains that passed, and no one got off.        Summer was the only time I enjoyed my duty. Deoli itself didn't bring any change, but the trains did. The passengers were more and there would be more noise and more happenings. The trains would stop for the same ten minutes