Hamza belonged to a wealthy family. He was very proud of his wealth and behaved rudely with the poor. His friends were also irritated by his snobbish behaviour and occasionally stopped him from insulting the poor.

One day in school, Hamza’s class had done well in a test, so the class teacher told them that they would have their last period free to do whatever they wanted to. Everyone was happy and started discussing what to play. Some opted for football, while some wanted to play cricket. But the majority chose football, so that was what they would be playing.

When the last period started, everyone reached the ground and started playing football. Time passed quickly for the boys as they were enjoying themselves a lot. Hamza was playing phenomenally as he was a strong and energetic boy, and he was very enthusiastic about football as well. The bell rang to announce the end of school and it was home time. Hamza wanted to play on to score a hat-trick as he had already scored two goals. So he urged all the other boys to continue playing.

A teacher arrived and asked them to stop and also said to Hamza that his driver had come, so he must end the match and go. Hamza was furious, but he had no choice so he bid farewell to his friends and left the ground. He was very upset that he couldn’t score a hat-trick.

Hamza always behaved rudely with his driver for no reason. And this time, when he wanted to score a hat-trick and he couldn’t do so, he thought it was all his driver’s fault for arriving to pick him up. He was so furious that he blurted out his anger on the poor man.

“I could have made a hat-trick but because of you, I have missed it. Why did you have to come and spoil my game? Now drive the car,” Hamza yelled at his driver.

The embarrassed driver kept silent and started to drive Hamza’s luxurious car.

The next day, a similar incident took place when they were playing cricket before home time. Hamza was playing like a legend again. Hamza was continuously hitting boundaries and sixes. His teammates were cheering for him. Hamza’s team needed six runs in two balls and the final bell for the day rung. Then Hamza scored a boundary for four runs, the match turned in favour of Hamza’s team. Hamza demanded a timeout to rest as he was very exhausted. The timeout ended and Hamza was ready. Two runs were required in the last ball.

The suspense could be felt by everyone there. His team was cheering, and Hamza was excited to make them win the match. Hamza thought that if he would hit the winning run, he would become a school hero and everyone would start praising him.

Ali, who was his friend, was bowling the last over. Ali bowled, but just then someone called Hamza’s name to announce that his car had come to pick him up. Hamza got distracted and he was bowled out. Everyone couldn’t believe what had happened. His team lost the match by only a single run!

Hamza was angry once more and he again took out his frustration at the driver.

He scolded his poor driver, “Are you dumb? Couldn’t you have just stayed quiet and waited for me to come to the gate?”

In his anger, Hamza didn’t even notice that he was scolding the driver right in front of the school gate and so many people were watching them.

The driver’s eyes turned wet and he softly replied, “Master, I am told to pick you right at home time and make no delay in bringing you home.”

“Stop this nonsense! Don’t you know how to talk with me? Or should I …?” Hamza sentence remained incomplete as he noticed his driver’s eyes wet. Hamza became silent and sat in the car.

That day, Hamza felt down and the teary eyes of his driver couldn’t let him rest. In the evening, his best friend, Sami, came to his house. Hamza was very happy that he would feel better in the company of his best buddy.

However, the situation was different. He noticed that Sami was not his usual self. He looked worried and sad. So Hamza asked what the matter was. Sami told him that his father had suffered a big loss in his business and the family was going through tough times. Sami told a lot of other details about their financial problems that made Hamza feel sad for his friend. After listening to Sami, Hamza silently got up and went to his room and took his pocket money, which was Rs5000, and gave all to Sami.

Sami was teary-eyed. He hugged and thanked Hamza, and told him that it was very sweet of Hamza, but he would not take that money and would manage with what they have. That was the moment when Hamza started feeling different about everyone around him, especially the poor. He couldn’t forget the look in Sami’s eyes, and noticed that it was the same worry and anxiousness as that in his driver’s eyes.

Hamza realised that he had been very rude with the servants in his house. He felt burdened by his behaviour with everyone, and then the teary eyes of his driver came to his mind. Hamza made up his mind about something.

The next day, Hamza was completely a different person. He got up and went straight to their car porch where the drivers were cleaning their lavish cars. The one who drove Hamza to school and picked him up was also there.

They were all shocked to see Hamza in his sleeping suit. They thought Hamza must have come to scold them for something. But Hamza stood in front of his school driver, and in front of everyone, humbly apologised for his previous day’s behaviour and accepted that he was wrong all this time. Hamza also promised that he would change his bad behaviour to good.

His driver was shocked, as were the others. The driver stammered, but no words came out from his mouth.

From that day onwards, Hamza changed to a kind-hearted boy and never spoke rudely to anyone. He showed concern for the poor and started to help others as much as he could.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 8th, 2022