My wife called, 'How long will you be with that newspaper? Will you come here and make your darling daughter eat her food?

I tossed the paper away and rushed to the scene. My only daughter, Sindu, looked frightened; tears were welling up in her eyes. In front of her was a bowl filled to its brim with curd¹ rice. Sindu is a nice child, quite intelligent for her age.

I cleared my throat and picked up the bowl. 'Sindu, darling, why don't you take a few mouthful of this curd rice? Just for Dad's sake, dear'.

Sindu softened² a bit and wiped her tears with the back of her hands. 'Ok, Dad. I will eat - not just a few mouthfuls, but the whole lot of this. But, you should...' Sindu hesitated. 'Dad, if I eat this entire curd Rice, will you give me whatever I ask for?'

'Promise'. I covered the pink soft hand extended by my daughter with mine, and clinched³ the deal. Now I became a bit anxious. 'Sindu, dear, you shouldn't insist on getting a computer or any such expensive items. Dad does not have that kind of money right now. Ok?'

'No, Dad. I do not want anything expensive'. Slowly and painfully, she finished eating the whole quantity. I was silently angry with my wife and my mother for forcing my child to eat something that she detested⁴. After the ordeal⁵ was through, Sindu came to me with her eyes wide with expectation. All our attention was on her. 'Dad, I want to have my head shaved off, this Sunday!' was her demand.

'Atrocious!' shouted my wife, 'A girl child having her head shaved off? Impossible!'

'Never in our family!' My mother rasped. 'She has been watching too much of television. Our culture is getting totally spoiled with these TV programs!'

'Sindu, darling, why don't you ask for something else? We will be sad seeing you with a clean-shaven head.'

'Please, Sindu, why don't you try to understand our feelings?' I tried to plead with her.

'Dad, you saw how difficult it was for me to eat that Curd Rice'. Sindu was in tears. 'And you promised to grant me whatever I ask for. Now, you are going back on your words. Was it not you who told me the story of King Harishchandra, and its moral that we should honor our promises no matter what?'

It was time for me to call the shots. 'Our promise must be kept.'

'Are you out of your mind?' chorused my mother and wife.

'No. If we go back on ourpromises, she will never learn to honour her own. Sindu, your wish will be fulfilled.'

With her head clean-shaven, Sindu had a round-face, and her eyes looked big and beautiful.

On Monday morning, I dropped her at her school. It was a sight to watch my hairless Sindu walking towards her classroom. She turned around and waved. I waved back with a smile. Just then, a boy alighted from a car, and shouted, 'Sinduja, please wait for me!' What struck me was the hairless head of that boy. 'May be, that is the in-stuff', I thought.

'Sir, your daughter Sinduja is great indeed!' Without introducing herself, a lady got out of the car, and continued, 'that boy who is walking along with your daughter is my son Harish. He is suffering from... leukemia'. She paused to muffle⁶ her sobs⁷. 'Harish could not attend the school for the whole of the last month. He lost all his hair due to the side effects of the chemotherapy. He refused to come back to school fearing the unintentional but cruel teasing of the schoolmates. Sinduja visited him last week, and promised him that she will take care of the teasing issue. But, I never imagined she would sacrifice her lovely hair for the sake of my son!

Sir, you and your wife are blessed to have such a noble soul as your daughter.'

I stood transfixed and then, I wept. 'My little Angel, you are teaching me how selfless real love is!'

The happiest people on this planet are not those who live on their own terms but are those who change their terms for the ones whom they love !!

“我说你还要看多久报纸？能不能过来让你的宝贝女儿将她的饭吃了”，我妻子喊道。

听罢我赶紧将报纸丢在一边跑了过去。我的独生女儿Sindu看上去像被吓着了；眼里泪如泉涌。她面前放着满满的一碗米糊糊。Sindu是个好孩子，在同龄的孩子当中是相当聪明的一个。

我清了清嗓门后拿起那碗米糊对女儿说“Sindu，我的宝贝儿，你为什么不吃几口米糊呢？就算看在爸爸的份上，亲爱的，”

Sindu这时有所缓和，用手背擦去眼泪，说“好吧，爸爸，我会吃的--不只是吃几口，而是把所有的都吃完，但是，你得…”Sindu 停顿了一下。“爸爸，如果我把所有的米糊都吃完了，我要什么你就会给我什么吗？”

“我保证”。说着我用自己的手握住女儿伸过来的粉嫩的小手，算是达成了这桩交易。这时我有点忐忑不安了。“Sindu，亲爱的，你别老是要一部电脑或是其它这么昂贵的东西，爸爸现在没有那么多闲钱，好吗？”

“不，爸爸，我不要什么昂贵的东西”。她一口一口地，饱含痛苦地将所有的米糊糊都吃完了。对于我母亲和妻子强迫我女儿吃她不喜欢吃的东西这件事，我心中忿忿不平。苦难过后，Sindu睁大着满是期盼的眼睛朝我走过来。这时所有的眼光都投向了她，她走到我跟前要求道：“爸爸，我想将头发全部剃光，就在这个星期天剃”。

“这太残忍了”我妻子大声吼道“一个女孩子家家剃个光头？不可能！”

“在我们的家里绝对不允许”我母亲厉声说到“她电视看得太多了。我们的文化因为这些电视节目正在变得腐化堕落！”

“Sindu, 宝贝儿，你为什么不要点别的什么呢？看着你脑袋光光的，我们会感到很难过的。”

“求你了，Sindu，请你试着理解一下我们的感受好不好？”我试图央求她放弃。

“爸爸，你已经看到了我吃完那些米糊糊有多么不容易”。Sindu泪流满面“而且你答应了我要什么就给什么。现在你又反悔了。你不是跟我讲过神王的故事吗，而且还说不管在什么情况下都信守诺言是一种诚实的体现吗？”

是时候该我拍板了。“我们之间的诺言必须遵守”

“你是不是疯了？”我母亲和妻子不约而同地喊道。

“没有，如果我们食言，她也就永远不会知道信守她自己的诺言，Sindu，我们将满足你的愿望。”

头发剃光后，Sindu脸蛋显得圆圆的，眼睛也看着又大又漂亮。

星期一的早晨，我送她上学。看着光头的Sindu向着教室走去别有一番味道。她回过头朝我挥挥手，我也笑着和她招手。就在这时，一个男孩突然从一部车里‘降临’，并喊道：“Sinduja，等等我！”让我大吃一惊的是那个男孩也是一个光头。我想“或许这才是女儿剃光头的内幕吧。”

“先生，您女儿真的是很了不起！”一位女士从车里走出来，也不介绍一下自己就接着说道“和您女儿一块儿走着的男孩是我儿子，叫Harish。他得了…白血病。”她停顿了一下努力控制自己的悲伤情绪。“Harish上个月整整一个月都没法上学。因为化疗的副作用，他的头发掉光了，他拒绝回到学校，害怕同学们无意的但是却很残忍的嘲笑。”Sinduja上周来看望了他，并且向他许诺她会处理同学们嘲笑他这个事情。但是我万万没想到她会因为我儿子而牺牲掉自己漂亮的头发。

“先生，您和您的妻子跟你们的女儿一样拥有如此高尚的精神，上帝会保佑你们的”

我站在那儿一动不动，接着眼泪夺眶而出“我的小天使啊，你这是在用实际行动告诉我怎样才叫真正无私的爱”。

在这个世界上，最幸福的不是那些活在自己信条里的人，而是那些为了自己所爱的人而改变自己信条的人。