by Hardeep Sandhu
Translated from the Original Hindi by Kanwar Dinesh Singh
One day, the teacher asked the second grade children to draw a picture of something they loved most. Some drew beautiful flowers, and some drew colorful butterflies. Some began to draw pictures of the sun, moon, stars, and some beautiful toys of their own. Karmo, sitting in a corner of the classroom, drew two ugly hands.
The teacher was surprised and asked, “What have you drawn? Hands! Whose hands are these?”
“These are the most beautiful hands in the world; these are my mother’s hands.”
“What does your mother do?”
“She is a labourer. The whole day she works by breaking the stones on the road,” Karmo replied, shrinking back into herself.