My name is Vishnu....

My name is Vishnu. I am seven years old. I live with my mother and my four year old sister outside Andheri railway station in Mumbai. My mother sells flowers and gajras at the railway station. I sell newspapers in the evening. Our house is made of plastic and is a very pretty blue colour. We got it from the vegetable market where they throw out all these plastic sheets and I picked out the colour myself. I have been going to school for two years and I already know the alphabet and even some small words. But my mother says that I may not be able to continue going to school because people don’t buy so many flowers any more. I told mom that chumki didi, who begs at the railway station, makes more money than us but my mother scolded me and said begging for money is bad. Even Raju bhaiya says that mom is right. Decent people did not beg for money. I didn’t know what decent meant but I wanted to look like a big boy so I pretended to understand.
Raju bhaiya is my best friend. He is twelve years old and very tall. Bhaiya says he is also poor but I think he says that because he thinks it makes me feel better. He has a tube-light and a table fan and it doesn’t rain inside their house. So he must be rich. He said he also used to sell newspapers at the station like me when he was a small boy. Now, he has his own bicycle and he delivers newspapers to the big houses in Juhu. On Saturdays, he takes me with him in the morning to see the big houses and the rich people. Sometimes, if the gate is not very high, he even lets me throw the newspaper inside. On my birthday, Raju bhaiya gave me a big ball. So we went to Juhu beach to play and I also shot balloons at Mohan kaka’s shop. I like shooting balloons because I am very good at it. Mohan kaka lets me shoot balloons on nights when it’s cloudy and there’re not too many people at the beach. He smiles and pats me on my back when I hit balloons in all my five shots. I like it when he does that. We went back on Raju bhaiya’s bicycle and like always, he let me ride it for a little while and, like he does almost every day, he told me that when he opens his own shop at the railway station, I can have his cycle. Raju bhaiya says that it is his ambition- to have his own shop. I have always wanted to grow up and be like Raju Bhaiya. Now I have a different ambition. I want to win a gold medal in the alimpix.
I remember that afternoon very clearly. It was pouring with rain and we were waiting for Raju bhaiya to come with the evening papers so that I could go to the station and sell them. I wanted to go play in the rain until he came but my mother would not let me. The last time it rained like this, my sister and I played for a long time and she fell ill the next day. The doctor said that my sister had something called new-moon-ya and scolded my mother for not taking care of us. My mother had to pawn her only gold chain to buy the medicines. It was a very nice gold chain. So I behaved myself and sat quietly. Raju bhaiya looked very excited when he came. I asked him what had happened and he said “India alimpix mein gold medal jeet gaya”. I didn’t know what that meant so i asked him. He seemed to be in a hurry and he said “For now, it means more people will buy the evening paper today!! Now go!!”.
I took my plastic sheet raincoat and ran out with the papers yelling “India gold medal jeet gaya! India gold medal jeet gaya!”. Raju bhaiya was right! Even people who would usually shoo me away called me and asked for a paper. Raju bhaiya had given me TWO bundles today and I had sold them all. My sister and I had an extra vada-pav at dinner that day. I was very happy. I asked bhaiya about the gold medal that night and he said that some man from Delhi had won a gold medal in the alimpix competition by shooting all the balloons. I said I can also do that. But bhaiya said it’s a very big competition and that people like us cannot win that. I think he didn’t know but pretended to know because he also wanted to look like a big boy. That man from Delhi has made so many people happy. He has given an extra vada-pav to so many children like me. I also want to make many people happy. I also want to make my mother smile again by giving her the medal in return for the pretty gold chain that she lost because of me. I also want to win an alimpix gold medal. Can someone please tell me how? Please.