THE COST OF WINNING

Silky snake and Bobo mongoose were classmates, and Silky was ahead of Bobo in sports, arts and crafts, dancing...everything except studies.

- Kumud Kumar

It troubled her greatly that her marks were never higher than Bobo’s. Their final examinations at Chanchalvan School were fast-approaching and this time, Silky worked tirelessly to outperform Bobo. However, the fear that Bobo might still score higher, kept haunting her. One day, while reading quotes by famous writers, Silky came across one by the English writer John Lyly: “All is fair in love and war.”

Silky thought, this is a war between Bobo and me a war of examinations. And I must win at all costs!

The exams began and Silky performed well in all the papers thus far. Only one subject remained—Social Studies. But ever since she had read that quote, she got busy thinking of tricks to defeat Bobo, instead of studying.

Silky knew that Bobo went cycling every evening to refresh his mind, and began keeping an eye on him.

One evening, as soon as Bobo returned from his ride, Silky approached him and started chatting him up. Distracting him to look for a bird in the horizon, she discreetly bit into the rear tire of Bobo’s bicycle with her fangs, and slithered away.

The next morning, Bobo’s parents left for work, saying, “Bobo, have your breakfast and leave for your exam early enough.”

“Alright, Mum and Dad. Bye,” Bobo waved.