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He walked slowly to the wicket. The bowler took a short run and then the ball was twirling towards Ranji. And then a thrill ran through Ranji’s arm as he felt the ball meet the bat.

CRACK! The ball, hit firmly with the middle of Ranji’s bat, streaked past the helpless bowler and sped towards the boundary. Four runs!

And that was only the beginning. Now Ranji began to play all the strokes he knew. He sent the fielders scampering to all corners of the field.

Twenty minutes after lunch, when Suraj closed the innings, Ranji was not out with fifty-eight and Ranji’s school won the match. On his way home, Ranji stopped at Mr. Kumar’s shop.

“We won!” he said, “And I made fifty-eight—my highest score so far. It really is a lucky bat!”

---Ruskin Bond

Answer the following questions:

What kind of inspiration do you get from this incident?

What role did Mr. Kumar play in making Ranji successful?

Have you been inspired by anyone in any field like the one above? If so, describe him/her.

Do you think that the bat was really a lucky one? Do you believe in such things? Share your ideas with your group.

While playing a game of Cricket, there are many rules. Similarly, we have rules to keep us safe and they are called Perosnal Body Safety rules. The three rules are:

Clothing rules - We keep private parts covered in front of others. Though we don’t cover our mouth, it is private too.

Touching rules - We don’t touch private parts in front of others.

Talking rules - We talk about private parts with Safe Adults.

If someone breaks ‘Personal Body Safety Rules’, I can say ‘NO’ to that person; GO away from that person as and when I can; TELL a safe adult about this person because he/ she is doing something unsafe and has to be stopped. There is no shame in any part of the body. The person who breaks the Personal Body Safety Rules needs to be blamed and he/she needs to feel ashamed of their behaviour.

I am a safe person if I follow Personal Body Safety Rules for myself and for others.

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