Yahya was a beautiful boy of 14, who lived in a nice and scenic neighbourhood, surrounded by gorgeous greenery. He loved to play videogames and had extremely curly, yet pretty hair. However, when he looked into the mirror, he did not like the way his hair looked for some ‘unknown’ reason.

One Sunday morning, he found out through his mother that a new family had moved into their neighbourhood. Taking a tray full of freshly cooked chicken biryani as a form of welcome gift, Yahya and his mother went to visit the new family next door.

As soon as the door opened, they were warmly greeted by a rather petite woman and her chubby son, who seemed to be the same age as Yahya. Both the mothers talked to each other while the boy, Ashaaz, excitedly grabbed Yahya by the hand and went towards the garden to play cricket with him. The two became good friends and played that day for two whole hours.

The next day, when Yahya went to school, he was surprised to see Ashaaz there as his classmate. Yahya happily helped Ashaaz settle in the school, telling him about their teachers and the school facilities. He also helped him keep up with the syllabus that had been taught to them before Ashaaz’s arrival. In no time, Ashaaz became friends with everyone else in the class and outside too, with Yahya being his best friend.

A few days later, the grade 10 students started to come to school, after being free from their board examinations. Ashaaz was quite excited to meet his new seniors. He had always had great experience in the past with his seniors and was expecting the same again. The seniors in his old school always helped their juniors and played with them.

One day, after leaving their class during recess, Yahya went to the library to issue a novel that had newly arrived in the library. Finding himself alone and with nothing to do until Yahya returned, Ashaaz took the opportunity of those free minutes to greet his seniors during their 30-minute lunch break. A bunch of senior boys were standing by the side of the playground, so Ashaaz approached them.

The excitement inside Ashaaz’s eyes disappeared when one of the seniors said to him, “Hey fatty! What’s your name?”

The others around them laughed loudly. Those who were standing at a little distance also turned their attention towards them. By this time, Yahya was returning from the library when he came across this scene. Yahya quickly came towards his friend and tried to take Ashaaz away from there, as he thought how uncomfortable it would be to be treated like this.

As Yahya approached Ashaaz and was about to take him out of the crowd, one of those boys chanted, “Hey, Noodlehair! Long time no see!”

The crowd’s laughter intensified. Some other students, most of them juniors now turned towards their direction and watched Yahya and Ashaaz being encircled by the seniors.

Then another one said, “You know what Yahya? Whenever I try to eat noodles, they remind me of your head and it instantly makes me nauseous. I let my sister eat my share. But I bet that she too would have puked if she ever saw you in real life!”

That remark made Ashaaz look at Yahya’s state, which clearly showed that he had faced this kind of rude remarks and bullying before too. Ashaaz felt disgusted at the seniors, but he continued to bravely face them.

With a calm and confidently tone, Ashaaz spoke up, “Hey! I really have no idea why you say what you say, and why you do what you do….”

At this, the crowd’s laughter started to die down.

Ashaaz continued with “But let me tell you the answer to your question. My name is Ashaaz. I would like to thank you for acknowledging the fact that I am fat. But if you called me fatty just so you could feel like a ‘cool’ person, then let me tell you, that this isn’t cool. It’s rude, trust me.”

Ashaaz’s statement led to a pin drop silence. The mocking smile on the faces of the boys had gone away. Yahya was shocked by seeing his friend react to the bullies in such a way and was scared of the retaliation that could follow from the older boys. But there was more to come.

Before leaving the crowd with his friend, Ashaaz said, “Oh and I almost forgot to tell you! I really love this chubby figure of mine. I like the way I look. And one more thing, my friend’s hair is something that people spend a fortune to get a similar look with the help of hairdressers. If anything, you guys are simply jealous of the way God perfectly made us.”

The seniors were so angry at being called out for their actions that they immediately left. Still, there was no evident sign of shame on their faces, it seemed like none of those bullies felt bad about their words, or ever knew the severity of it. These seniors had always gotten away with bullying their juniors or those they considered weak, no one had dared to answer them or stood their ground in front of these bullies. This had made them more confident and they felt they could get away with it every time.

But this soon changed as Yahya gained confidence through Ashaaz’s bravery to call out the bullies on the spot. From then on, whenever these senior boys would try to bully their juniors, all the juniors would bravely, yet respectfully, speak up for themselves and for their mates too. This revolution made the bullies have no respect in the school and, at last, no fear resided in the hearts of their juniors anymore.

Ashaaz’s bravery inspired his friends to be a better version of themselves, and to practice self-love and self-acceptance. He also taught them how to confidently speak up against any wrong that happened before their eyes, as no one else would come to their help unless they helped themselves.

So dear friends, bullies are not very brave, especially when confronted with a confident and brave person. Never let anyone make you feel bad about who you are, because you are what God choose you to be. You have to love and respect yourself if you want others to do the same.

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 29th, 2021