My name is SPRING-LEE-PA. Funny name, isn’t it? But I like it. It has a ‘spring’ to it as well, a kind of ‘bounce’! I get very excited when I see kids playing with a ball. I love it when the ball bounces. Just like my name! I can’t spring or bounce but I can certainly have a spring in my step! They say it’s nice to have that.  Do you think so too? We have such names in our community but some others think that it’s an odd name. As if Basant is being addressed as Basantee!! He He He…Poor joke!  I live in a very small place just outside the town of GANGTOK. That’s also a funny name for a place but it is very musical – GANG – TOK, GANG – TOK, GANG – TOK. I love the sound of this name and I am sure you will like it too although I am told by elders that GANGS don’t TALK. They only fight. Ha ha he he he…another poor joke!

I am not writing this to tell you about funny names and make you suffer my bad jokes. There are so many such names and many more bad jokes! Besides, I don’t think my name is funny and actually I don’t like people who think so. I just want to tell you about a very adventurous day in my life. Let me get to that straight away.

The day was very cloudy with dark clouds threatening rain. The rainy season was about to begin and everybody was trying to store food. It rains very heavily in our locality and during rains it is very difficult to go and collect food from the shop. We have only one small shop in our neighborhood. We were told that new provisions had come to the shop so we all decided to go to the shop and get food. Ours is a hilly region and walking up and down with a big load of things is very difficult so we thought we will all bring small amounts and stock food in the house.

I live in a very large family and our community is known for hard work. We are always working and are much disciplined. All work, no play! We often move in a line, especially when we are small so that we do not get lost. But I always broke the line and stood looking at exciting things around me – monkeys with their little ones, kids playing with balls or flying kites, chicks following their mother hen, bright flowers. The BIG MOM in our family, the eldest one always scolded me: “where is your line, Spring-Lee? Your mischief will get you into big trouble one day”! Apart from being naughty, I was also very inquisitive, always wanting to know more and more. My Ma and Pa used to get tired answering my questions but they did answer the questions they knew.  There were questions for which they did not have an answer: “why does a sugar crystal taste sweet while a potato chip is salty?”

Once again, I am getting out of line, moving away from my story! I should learn how to focus! So that day, we all went to the local store. The other family living in our neighbourhood also came. So, we were a big group.  In the other family, there was a little one named BING-LEE-PO. I liked him a lot as he was somewhat like me. But he looked smarter. While I was very dark, he had a very nice light brown complexion. I always loved to go out when their family came with us, especially when BING came along! I used to call him BINGO, and he was my best friend. So, we all went to the shop and collected our stuff and were about to go back when a very nice photograph in the shop caught my eye. I was fascinated by it and kept looking at it for some time. A number of small boys and girls were flying kites in that picture. One kite was pink and blue and had a very long tail like that of a langoor – the black faced monkey. Another bright red and yellow kite was made like a dragon. One orange kite had a face of a joker printed on it.  Everybody was enjoying kite flying in a large field full of beautiful flowers. The picture was really lovely. I stood there admiring it. I do not know for how long I was standing there gazing at the photograph. I suddenly heard big thunder and sound of rain. I looked around and found that there was nobody from my family near me. I WAS LOST. THE BIG MOM WAS RIGHT! I WAS IN DEEP TROUBLE! And as you would have guessed by now, I WAS SCARED STIFF! I did not know what to do. It had started to rain heavily and so I decided to move in the direction of my home. After walking for some time, I realized that I was going in the wrong direction because it was uphill and I was getting really tired with the weight of food I was carrying.  When we had come to the shop, we had walked up the hill. So, I should be going downhill, not uphill. So, I stopped and stood on the sidewalk under the roof of a house to save myself from the rain.

It started to rain more heavily. It was raining ‘cats and dogs’ as they say. Soon, rain water started to flow on the road. Some kids on the other side of the road were playing in the rain. They had made paper boats and were floating them in the water on the road. They were jumping with joy, shouting, singing and pushing each other in jest. I also wanted to go and play but did not want to get wet and catch cold. I also had food with me which would have got spoiled.  So, I stood there watching the kids. The rain became heavier and the water started to flow on the sidewalk as well. I got more scared and was wondering what to do.  I didn’t want to get wet and the thought of being in water sent a chill up my spine as I had not learned to swim. I was so scared now that I wanted to cry.  I shouted for help but nobody could hear me as the rain was making a big noise. I thought I heard somebody but I could see no one from my family nearby. It was then that I saw a large box on a step near the side walk. The lid was slightly open. I ran to the box as fast as I could and climbed into it with some difficulty but carefully carrying my provisions with me.