" To everybody's pleasant surprise I had topped the class in the abruptly terminated exam in tamil. Most of the students had barely answered a single question as they had taken it for granted that the paper would not be evaluated. And the most stunning outcome was that I was given the first prize for proficiency in Tamil! The prize was awarded to me on the annual day, thanks to the two well- written answers in the second terminal exam!

" See, this is called grabbing a chance that the others let go. I seized the opportunity to make the most of the little I knew and the result was a prize for proficiency in Tamil which I had never ever dreamt of! It was the first prize I ever won iny life.

Sudha butted in ," you mean I too may win an unexpected prize owing to lack of adequate competition?"

“ Exactly! The fact that you were bold enough to least participate may get acknowledged.”

Encouraged by her mother's experience sudha gave her name for elocution competition. When she reached the venue of the competition, she was not at all confident but even so, she tried to put her best foot forward. What luck! Just three participants including me ! " Sudha thought.

Rohan , q boy from B division of her school was the first to speak and his performance was impressive. The other participant too was not bad. Sudha who was the next to speak was trembling with nervousness. There were hardly a dozen people in the audience . She forgot the lines and stammered and blinked . Her voice was barely audible. Her mother squirmed in embarrassment . In short , sudha's performance was a flop!

The first prize was given to Rohan and the second to the other boy. The third prize went to sudha.

The next day when she went to school her classmates congratulated her. A pleased sudha reeled of lies…" oh! Such a tough competition! A good number of students from other school participated.. most of them are Hindi speaking students .. so winning the prize was really tough. My mother thought I would get the second prize…blah..blah.."

And then, horror of horrors! Rohan the devil appeared in her class during the recess. “ Congrats ms.Orator!” He said. 

Rohan burst into laughter . " Do you know there were just three participant's. 

Lo! The whole class turned to red- faced sudha. " Ha ha ! Tough competition! Such a hard won prize , no? Liar . Your lie has been exposed. 

Sudha, too joined in the laughter . Ugh stupid Rohan couldn't he let me have the thrill of fooling you all and priding over the underserved prize.

Indeed it was an unforgettable experience for sudha.