BOOK REPORTDoors to a Wider Place

Stories from AustraliaRetold by Christine Lindop

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” ― Helen Keller

Because of the RusillaRashida, Nimmi (narrator) and Lal are Punjabi children growing up on a farm inAustralia.

One day Rashida found a small bird in the grass by the river. Their father said:“Young and weak. It will mostly die”.

The children didn’t share the same opinion. They asked father what’s the name ofthe bird. He said: “Rusilla”. From that moment, it was Nimmi and Lal’s job to look forfood in the garden for Rusilla. The bird’s home became a cage where chickens hadonce lived in the garden. To Lal, Rusilla was a bird, a friend, from heaven. He loved itand watched it for hours.

And then one morning, it suddenly disappeared. Father went round the farmtrying to find a Rusilla, but the bird had gone.

Lal was crying hard so Ama (ama = love), their mother, picked Lal up and said:

„My son, no tears. Allah makes birds to fly. No tears. It is cruel, it is cruel tostay in a cage when you have the wings and the heart to fly. No tears. Youcannot hold a bird. You cannot hold things, anything, my son.“

Ama wanted to comform them, so she made up a plan. She promised to thechildren they would go to the town with their uncle Seyed, for the first timein their life!

It was very exciting journey. When they came to the town, they saw whitechildren. The white children were very rude and they were singing:

„Nigger, nigger, pull the trigger“.

Lal didn't understand the meaning of those words. He was very happy to seechildren. He ran to meet them. The big boy caught him and threw him backwardsto the ground. He was crying hard, because he didn't know why the white boywas so violent.

Then Rashida threw herself at the boy, and fight started, but Seyed appearedand stopped it. He took them to a little house on the other side of townwhere a white lady lived.

She was so generous in spite of they were Punjabi children. She took careof them while Seyed had some duties in the town. The white women wasvery old, but she loved the children. She gave them her „singing kettle“and some roses.

After few hours, Seyed picked them up. The sun was going down as theysaw their home. Lal, 4-years-old, said holding up his kettle:

„Look, Ama, it's Rusilla.“

Conclusion (My opinion)The story about the Punjabi children is a story that warms my heart every day. Itreturns me to my childhood. Childhood is the best time in life, I guess. This story was wrote maybe a century ago, when the black man didn’t have anyright. It was very hard for me to read the part where the white children were singing:“Nigger, nigger, pull the trigger.”

The Punjabi children were so innocent, they didn’t value others by their skin. No! Theywere just trying to find some new friends in the town. But, unfortunately, the Punjabichildren were beaten.

I realized racism is a big mistake. You can’t judge people as the white children from thestory did. And something else... I realized there are always good people ready to helpyou, to take care of you, to be your friend!

Yes, friendship and family are the most important things in our lifes.

Leo Fel, 2. a