Sreya comes second in her sixth level final exam. She is excited to participate in her first national abacus competition in Chennai. At the competition, Sreya works hard and wins the champion trophy in her category. She is surprised and happy to cry with her success. The trip teaches her that hard work leads to success.

1. “So the result of 6th
level’s final exam is out.”
When I heard this, I became very excited.
“First is Aditya”
“Yeah!”Aditya shouted.
“Congratulations!”I said to him.
“Thank You!” Aditya replied.
“Second is Sreya…”
“Congratulations to you too!” Aditya replied and I thanked him with a wide smile across my face. I had
come second.
I was sitting in my abacus class, a small room with lots of tables and chairs, a whiteboard and a big
abacus, with Aditya dancing beside me and humming a happy tune. Tanishto was playing games in his
digital watch. Ankita was flipping through the pages of her Brain Book. Swahil was also flipping through
the pages of our new Book 13 and Book 14. Everyone was busy doing their own work - everyone except
me and Aditya. We were too busy celebrating each other’s victory. But as soon as our teacher whom we
call ‘abacus ma’am’ came in, we settled down.
Ma’am began the class saying, “So today we are going to start Level 7…”
Our abacus ma’am is a very nice teacher. She is somewhat short, and has long, beautiful hair. She has a
lovely smile too. Our abacus sir always shows us the right way to do things. He is very tall with very little
hair on his head.
That day, while our abacus ma’am introduced us to decimals and other new things that we hadn’t
learned before, I began thinking about the National Competition in which I was going to participate on
6th
November at Chennai. I had never tested my skills in a National level before.
It all started from the month in which Aditya and I had topped the 5th
level’s final exam. Aditya knew
about the National Competition already, because he had participated in it before. And he had won the
Champion Trophy as well. It was a huge Trophy with pretty decorations. But for me, the National
Competition was a completely new thing. When ma’am explained everything to me step by step, I got
more excited and more nervous. All the participants had to do sum as fast as they can without making
mistakes in 3 minutes.
After hearing experiences of Aditya, I wanted to go there too. I pleaded my parents to allow me to
participate and I asked my mom to accompany me. To my delight, the answer was “YES!”
We were going to Chennai by train, leaving on 3rd
November at night. We were supposed to reach
Chennai on 5th
November morning. I was a bit sad to miss my school because I had achieved 100%

2. attendance last year and I wanted to make it 100% this year too. But Sir told me that there was nothing
to be sad about it because I was missing school for a good reason.
And suddenly for the whole week, things slowed down. Monday went, and then came Tuesday. Every
day I used to go back home and practice a whole bunch of sheets. My mother would see the sheets, and
I had then to do the corrections. Every day I used to wake up and look at the calendar, screaming, “Only
few more days left!” I noticed that my grandmother had started counting days too.
Every morning I screamed, but on Thursday (4th
November), which was the day I would travel to the
biggest competition of my life, I woke up speechless. I could only gasp. Today was the day I was
supposed to take one more step ahead to accomplish my mission: being a Champion. “It is not easy to
become a Champion” my mother had said. I had kept that in my mind the whole day. Finally at night,
10:00 p.m, I waved goodbye to my grandmother and father, who had come to drop me and my mother
in the Howrah station. We then went over to the place where ma’am and our National Competition
group had gathered.
“Hi!”Aditya greeted, jumping up and down with excitement.
“Hello!”I imitated him.
The next moment I knew, I was standing right by our abacus ma’am. She said, “I know how you are
feeling. There is nothing to feel scared about. Just enjoy yourself. You have practiced so hard, there is
nothing to feel nervous.”
Her words made me smile.
As soon as the train arrived we boarded it. Unfortunately our seats were right beside the toilet. All night
long we slept covering our noses. Well, after a smelly sleep I woke up the next morning. Ma’am made us
practice sheets the whole day. Finally at night I was tired and fell asleep the moment my head touched
the pillow. The station was to arrive at 3:50 a.m. But I don’t know why I woke up at 1:50 in the morning.
I decided to roam around a bit. I went to the compartment where ma’am and sir were sleeping. There
was a bunk empty. I climbed onto the bunk and sat by the window. Trees, lamppost and other things
whizzed past me. A cool breeze blew into my face and I dozed off.
“Sreya!” shouted my mother.
I woke up with a start.
“The station is about to arrive in 5 minutes!”she shouted.” And what were you doing in ma’am and sir’s
compartment?”
“I…I…”I stammered.
“Oh! Let it be. Just get ready quickly!”my mother said, hurrying.
I jumped off the bunk, quickly got dressed up and brushed my hair.

3. Mom was right. The station arrived in 5 minutes. I took my bag and stepped out of the train.
The first thing I noticed in the Chennai station was that everything written around me was in Tamil.
Everyone waited till ma’am took our attendance. We waited for the bus to arrive. One hour………. Two
hours……….Three hours……… and then the bus arrived. As we went to the bus, we were shocked. It was a
micro-mini bus. Everyone gasped. There were many “ouch!” as we tried to fit inside the micro mini bus.
After travelling for one hour we reached the hotel in the morning. Actually it was a lodge. We and other
families checked in their own rooms. That day also we practiced a lot of sheets. At night, I and my
mother bought some idli for dinner. My father and my grandmother called to wish me luck.
The next day we went to the famous Loyola College. The time for our group, that is, the Santoshpur
group was 10:00 a.m. As the hour hand of the clock pointed to 10, we all stood in a queue and entered
into the auditorium. We sat down in the chairs that were provided and assigned to us.
Mr. Arul Subramaniam introduced himself to us.
My heart raced after he finally said, “Position. Ready. Start.”
I did the sums as fast as I could. I pushed back my all thoughts and concentrated on the sums.
And then after 3 minutes he said, “Stop!” and immediately I turned my sheet.
“So how did it go?”my mother asked.
“Good. “I replied.
“Hey!”Aditya slapped me a high-five.
Then we roamed about a bit as we waited for the results.
It was nearly evening when we entered the hall for the results.
Aditya gave the demonstration.
All of us clapped as he got each and every sum correct.
Finally they started announcing the champions.
Aditya became a champion in E3. He smiled that huge smile of his and took the trophy.
Next was the announcement for E4 group, which was the one I had competed in. In excitement, I closed
my ears. But I still I could hear them. And when I heard my name, I was so surprised that Aditya had to
scream into my ears to take me out of that shock.
“Your name has been called. CONGRATULATIONS! Now go and take the trophy!” he shouted.
“Yes. I was getting up.”I replied. I jumped to my feet. I got up on the podium and took the trophy from
Mr. Arul Subramaniam.

4. I had heard many grownups tell me that sometimes when they become very happy they cry. But I never
understood how someone can cry with happiness. But when I was taking the trophy, I totally got it.
Because I was so happy that I felt as if I was about to cry. Yes I did it. I won the champion trophy. I felt a
tiny tear drop down my right cheek. I quickly wiped it before anyone could see it.
After the prize distribution, my mother hugged I me as tightly as she could.
I hugged ma’am and sir. Ma’am was going to a short trip around Chennai. Sir was going back to Kolkata
with us. Ma’am was happy because everyone had won something or the other--- be it the champion
trophy, be it the gold medal or be it the silver medal. And the biggest thing--- everyone was happy.
Later, we packed our things and headed for the station. This time, fortunately our seat was not beside
the toilet.
On Tuesday, we finally arrived Kolkata at 3:50 a.m. My father had come to pick us up from the station.
He congratulated me too.
And suddenly I couldn’t wait to plunge back into my old life again. This was the first National
Competition I had participated in. This was also an event in my life that taught me a very valuable truth.
Hard work and determination really results in success.