Kavya's Traffic Rules

What should Kavya dress up as for the Fancy Dress Competition? was no longer the question.

- Meenu Tripathi

After toying with the ideas of dressing up as a doctor, soldier, politician, actor, or any fruit or vegetable, they unanimously decided that Kavya would follow Mummy's suggestion and dress up as a traffic signal.

But Kavya was worried and said, "Mummy, how will I become a traffic signal, and what will I say when I become one?"

"Don't worry. I have seen it online. I will make a traffic signal costume out of cardboard."

"I will write some lines for you to say on stage and we can learn and understand them together," Kavya's Grandpa said, which gave Kavya confidence and filled her with enthusiasm.

Mummy followed an online tutorial and stuck circular red, yellow and green coloured papers on some cardboard cutouts. They even stuck red, yellow and green coloured papers on her conical cap in the right order. Grandpa explained why the three colours were important in a poem and made Kavya memorise it.

On the day of the competition, Papa clicked a lot of pictures of Kavya, and Grandma motivated her, prayed for her win, and gave her lots of best wishes.

There was no bound to everyone's happiness when Kavya came first in the school's Fancy Dress Competition.

Kavya enjoyed being a traffic signal so much that she wore the costume made of cardboard and paper every now and then and told everyone about the traffic rules.

One day, as soon as Grandpa came back into the veranda from his evening walk, Kavya ran up and stopped him by holding up her hand and said, "How can you not see my bright red light? You broke the traffic rule by speeding your car, right?" Grandpa laughingly replied to Kavya's playfulness, "My little princess, I am a pedestrian; I do not have a car."