THE ALL ROUNDER

In the small town of Pondolem, a recently formed, small school called Lok Puram public school . In class 5 'A', Mr. Chanakya Narvekar, the best teacher and the principal taught 9 new students. 8 of those students were the toppers in each one of the subjects taught there. Aryan in Maths, Raman in Physics, Marie in Chemistry, Charles in biology, Suryakant in Hindi, Alfred in English, Karl in History, Ferdinand in Geography.

But there was one student, who was just an above average boy, who had no such subject as his strong zone... with the name Jack D'costa. While all of the other students came from rich backgrounds, Jack was from an upper middle class family. Due to this, he was always treated as an outcast. The 8 of them would always tease him, bully him and never tried to be friends with him. Due to this, he would always be alone and crying.

After six months of teaching, Mr. Narvekar decided to throw something unexpected at the children to assess them.

'Kids, you are all brilliant students. So I want to give you an opportunity today. In 2 days time, there will be a 160 mark examination called the All rounder exam. 20 marks each from the 8 subjects which are taught here. Whatever you have learnt till now will all be included in that exam. The winner wil get a free scholarship from the school. So, prepare well.'

In 2 days, all students studied hard. On the day of the exam they were made to sit 3 benches away from each other to ensure there was no copying. A 4 hour long marathon exam saw everyone write till the end.

After correction, Narvekar announced the results one by one.

'Okay, so here are the results. Aryan 75, Raman 83, Marie 52, Charles 72, Surya 88, Alfred 69, Karl 81, Ferdinand 96... and lastly the class topper... Jack 120.'

Everyone were stunned as to how the average boy with no special talents as such, managed to top. They asked him as to how Jack topped, and he replied, 'Because the fact that he was not great at any one thing, is his greatest strength. Jack knows a little bit of everything, every subject. So, unlike all of you, he could answer every question of every subject, as much as he knew.'

'But sir, that is unfair. This exam was only set up in a way that Jack would top.', Arya complained.

'This is how life is. Life never tests you in only one particular way. It never challenges you subject wise. I set this test to show you that being good at everything can sometimes be better, than being great at something. Jack, come here.'

As Jack got up and came to sir, he added on, 'You all troubled Jack, mainly because he was not a genius like you. But he too has a talent that you cannot have. So from now on, nobody bullies him. He is the class monitor. He is the "JACK OF ALL TRADES".'

Post the lecture, everyone went to Jack and apologized to him. They befriended him and treated him as equal. And from that day, Jack was always happy and smiling.

After graduating, they all became masters of their subjects and taught in a highly prestigious Saint Mark's school in Goa. They were the best teachers in the entire state. But the principal of that college was... Jack, who remained the topper throughout his life.