It was the year 2025, and the month was May. Pehchaan The Street School’s ground was a hustle and bustle with youngsters who reached there to join the Volunteer programme.
Under the neem tree, a girl who wore a long skirt with a t-shirt and curly hair was sitting and rechecking her profile file repeatedly.
Beside her, a boy was also sitting. He sighed, shaking his head, “Khushi Amara Agnihotri, at least now stop with your profile checking. Till now you might have checked it almost 100 times.”
Khushi glared at him before replying,” Arnav, we can check as many times as we want. What if, while getting interviewed, our interviewers get something wrong about our profile? So I am trying to make it look perfect.”
Arnav thinned his lips at her.
Their banter was heard by two, a boy and a girl, who came there for the volunteer programme just like them.
They both moved to Arnav and greeted Khushi and greeted them.
“Are you also here to volunteer?” The girl asked.
Arnav and Khushi smiled at them,” Yes! Are you both also here for the same?”
The girl and boy nodded their heads and replied,” Yup! By the way, my name is Esha Akira Menon, and his name is Mukund Nair. And you?”
Khushi answered,” Myself, Khushi Amara Agnihotri, and his name is Arnav Malik. We have known each other since birth.”
“Oh, wow! Mukund and I are friends from the 7th class. Glad to meet you both. We are from Kerala. Don't know many places except this one in the northern part of India.”
Esha said Khushi smiled at her,” Oh, don't worry at all. You have met us now, we will show you every part of the North by the completion of your volunteering period.”
Soon, they were called for the interview session, and the four got selected to volunteer at Pehchaan The Street School.
After getting selected, the four decided to meet at a restaurant. That night, they met again in a famous restaurant run by none other than Arnav Malik’s family. His twin brother Advay, along with his father Aravind Malik, was running it.
Esha and Mukund were struck by the architecture and beauty of the restaurant.
There was also a separate cafe in the restaurant with books in it. They named it “Whimsical Pages Cafe.”
After eating dinner in the restaurant, they ended the day with goodnight wishes to each other.
The next day, they reached Pehchaan The Street School in time and started to work on the things they had been allotted.
It was lunchtime, and Arnav, along with Khushi, Esha, and Mukund, went to have lunch in the house Esha and Mukund were living in.
While eating, Esha asked,” Khushi, why did you join Pehchaan The Street School as a volunteer?”
“Because of my Mom,” Khushi answered.
Esha frowned at her answer.
Khushi, who saw it, smiled,” When my father left us alone in this world, my mom was almost drowning in depression. Then she heard about Pehchaan The Street School from one of her friends, and she joined this school as a teacher. The children here have helped her to come out of the pain, and then she also learned that my Dad, Anirudh Ravichander Agnihotri, also helped many underprivileged children to join this school. She learned about this from Akash sir. When she told me about it, I felt proud to be born as his daughter, and my dad always recited a poem at my bedtime about a butterfly who got hurt and fell. He then treated that butterfly with care and motivated the butterfly to fly high and scatter the seeds of humanity to spread happiness. I used to sleep listening to that poem, and when my Dad died, I felt no one was there to recite that poem to me again, but I got my mom and Arnav to listen to it again.”
“Can we hear that poem?” Esha asked her curiously, Khushi smiled and recited,
“Fly high,
O’ my butterfly,
Fly high;
Spread your wings,
And fly;
To scatter the seeds of humanity,
In the barren fields,
And spread the kindness,
Along with the happiness!”
“It was so beautiful. Was it written by your Dad?” Mukund asked Esha also looked at Khushi for the answer.
“Yup! He and my Mom are great writers. My Dad was a great poet and my mom a great Author, a great storyteller.” Khushi replied with a bright smile on her face.
Arnav then added,” And as she was born to a great poet and author. She inherited both of their talents. She is also a poet and an author.”
“Wow, that's great to hear. Esha also loves to write stories and poems. She is also good at storytelling. Her family and my family love her crafts so much. Actually, before coming here as a volunteer, Esha completed her internship as a content writer at Pehchaan The Street School. After hearing about this volunteer programme, she was so eager to come and work here on-site, and using her puppy eyes, she convinced her protective family, and now we are here.” Mukund explained how they came there.
“Ohh! Then what about you?” Arnav asked, “Hello, loves to travel and loves to be beside me every day, so without creating any fuss, he came with me,” Esha replied this time.
Thus, they completed their lunch and went back to work.
After some days, there was a collaboration between Montex Pens and Pehchaan The Street School. Volunteers were asked to distribute the Montex pens to students.
Seeing the pen, Arnav chuckled, remembering a moment.
Mukund saw this and asked,” What happened, Arnav?”
“There is a special memory with this company's pen,” Arnav replied, looking at the pen.
Khushi rolled his eyes at him.
“What was that? We also want to know.” Esha asked curiously, Arnav smiled and stated,” Actually, it was the year when Khushi started her writing journey. And on her birthday, we all wanted to gift her something special that would help her with the writing journey. So, I thought of giving her a Montex special pen.
My Dad has a few friends in the Montex company, so with their help, he also carved Khushi’s name in the pen. I thought Anirudh's uncle and Raka's aunt would give her a special customized gift, as they do every time. I thought that time they would also do the same and give her a customized diary. But on her birthday, her parents also gifted her the same pen from the same company. Thus, Khushi got three pens with the same ink from the same company.” Arnav completed thinning his lips.
“And the funny thing was, everyone has carved my name on it. Not even one left the space on the pen cap to add my pen name.” Khushi replied angrily.
Everyone chuckled hearing her.
Later, they got engrossed in distributing the pens to the students along with them.
They also gave them the books, which were from MOCNOTEBOOKS.
June has arrived, and the four volunteers have gotten so close to each other.
One afternoon, Khushi was sitting under the neem tree in the school and thinking of ideas to do for Environmental Day on 5th June.
Arnav came there and sat beside her.” What are you doing sitting alone here?”
“Thinking of ideas to celebrate Environmental Day,” Khushi replied.
By then, others also arrived there.
“So, do you have any idea?” Esha asked, “Yup!” Khushi then turned to Arnav and continued,” Arnav, did you remember those eco-friendly pens? By my Uncle Raghav.”
Arnav thought for a moment and replied,” Yeah, the one who sells eco-friendly pens and books.”
“I know that many others will collaborate with our school, but this time, I thought of asking my uncle to help us. I personally want to distribute those pens to our students and explain to them about them on Environmental Day. So, that can help them.”
Khushi put her idea in front of them.
“Good idea. We can work on it. We can go and meet your uncle today, and talk about it.” Hearing his words, Khushi gave him a bright smile.
That evening, they met Khushi's uncle and talked with him about the idea, and he gave them the green signal.
On Environmental Day, getting permission from Akash sir, Khushi, along with her friends, distributed the Eco-friendly pens along with books to them and also explained to them how they would work.
“After the ink gets completed, you can see little seeds, right? At the bottom of the pen?” The students nodded their heads in yes.
“So, after the ink gets completed in your pen, don't throw the pen away. Instead, take those seeds and plant them in every corner of the school and also in your homes.
It will help the environment to grow greener and also keep us safe from disasters.”
Khushi explained to them, and the students listened to each word carefully.
During their volunteer programme at Pehchaan The Street School, the four became so close to each other that they turned into best friends forever and also became travel partners.
Like Khushi said in the beginning, whenever they got time from work, they used it to travel the world and learn about different literature.