“Arun sir, do something. He has to study. If he is out of school, his life will be wasted; he too will have to labour on others’ fields like me.”  Sonabai wailed aloud. Arun Kamble was a teacher and Sonabai, a widow, worked in his house. She had no land or property. Her only hope was her son Bhau. She wanted to educate him, but Bhau was not interested in studies. Every other day he got into fights with someone or the other. But recently, he had done something unthinkable – he had thrown stones at one of the teachers. He had been thrown out of school for this and now his mother was sitting at Arun sir’s doorstep asking him to help.

Bhau remembered feeling quite happy that he would not have to go to school anymore. But Arun sir felt really sorry for Sonabai. He tried to convince the Headmaster to take Bhau back in school. The village elders too joined in and so the Headmaster agreed. But in the meanwhile, Bhau had tasted total freedom; now he simply refused to go to school. His mother would plead, beg, even beat him up every day. But eventually she stopped, as nothing seemed to have any effect.  Soon Bhau dropped out of school and started working at Arun sir’s house along with his mother.