The Amazing Race

He woke early, as he did everyday.. and as usual the first thing he did was to clean his bicycle..he wanted to win the race today, for he wanted the prize badly… he finished all his morning rituals, and checked the time to be sure that he was not running late.. he pedalled fast towards the group of houses where the other kids stayed, this was his warm up exercise. in the distance he saw the kids ready, on their bicycles. this was where the race started, everyday, and they raced all the way to school, almost 3 kilometres.

his presence was acknowledged by fleeting smiles on the other kids’ faces… he could feel the excitement in them too. they finished saying bye to their parents… the parents, of course, had no clue about the race.by mutual consent, the race began…there were five kids totally, including him.. but he knew that only a couple of them were a serious threat to his winning.. but sometimes he felt they performed as a team against him, perhaps because his house was slightly away from theirs, and he didnt play with them in the evenings…

the road that was the ‘racetrack’ had steep climbs, rough roads (if you could call them roads)and steep descents, all of which made it exciting to all the participants. and towards the last stretch, was the steepest climb and one could see the finish line, the school, in the distance.and this was when the kids pedalled extra furiously in a final bid to win the race on that day.

but it was he who won, like every day till date, having outsmarted and outpedalled all the others on the way.. a feat more remarkable because his cycle was an old one, as compared to the others who got new cycles every year.he smiled broadly and waited at the finish line, the school entrance, for the others to catchup. they smiled at him, as though acknowledging his skills, and told him they would give him his prize in the evening. he waved to them as they went in.

he had a kilometre more to go, to the market, where his mother waited for him. together, they would sell vegetables all day. in the evening, while the other children played, he would sit with the prizes he had won – old books and newspapers. as he pedalled the last kilometre, he was happy at winning the race, but he wondered who was actually winning every day in life – him or the kids…..



until next time, winning isnt everything, and its definitely not the only thing…