By Naramsetti Umamaheswararao
Balu was a kind and bright boy who was always smiling. But he had a secret: he was utterly terrified of the dark. He never dared to step out of his house alone after sunset. Whenever the lights went out during a power cut, he would let out a small, scared squeak, cry “Mom… darkness!” and rush to hide himself in his mother’s arms.
One night, as he sat trembling on her lap, his father scooped him up. “Balu,” he said gently, “there is absolutely no need to be afraid of the dark. Think about it. When the light is on, your toys are right there on the shelf, your favourite books are on the table, and your cozy bed is waiting for you. When the light is off, guess what? All your toys, books, and bed are still exactly in the same place! Darkness doesn’t add anything or subtract anything; it just turns off the lights. It’s your own mind that invents imaginary monsters. Once you learn to push those silly thoughts away, you’ll see how brave you can really be.”
Balu nodded, trying to understand. But the next night, when the light went out, his heart began to pound all over again.
Days turned into weeks, and Balu remained as scared as ever.
One cloudy afternoon, as he was walking home from school, the sky grew unusually dark. A strong wind rustled the leaves, making them dance in eerie shapes on the ground. Suddenly, Balu froze. He heard a strange, pathetic little whimper. He stopped and listened. The sound was coming from the thick, thorny bushes by the side of the road.
“What could it be?” he wondered, his heart fluttering. He hesitated for a moment, then took a brave step closer and peeked into the bushes.
There, trapped deep within the tangle of sharp thorns, was the tiniest, fluffiest puppy he had ever seen. Its leg was caught, and its velvety ears were drooping with fear. Every time it tried to wiggle free, a thorn would prick its delicate skin, making it let out another sad cry.
Balu felt a wave of fear wash over him. “If I reach in there, those thorns will tear my skin,” he thought, taking a step back. But then he looked at the puppy’s big, soulful brown eyes, shimmering with unshed tears. He saw how hard its little body was shivering. “No, I can’t leave him. He’s just a baby, and he’s so scared,” a little voice whispered inside him. “He needs me”.
“Don’t worry, little one. I won’t let you get hurt,” Balu said, his voice stronger than he expected. He dropped his heavy school bag on the grass and looked around. He found a long, strong stick nearby.
Using the stick, he carefully pushed the sharp thorny branches aside, creating a small path. Slowly and gently, mindful not to scare the puppy further, he reached into the opening. A few thorns scratched his hands, but he hardly felt them. He scooped the tiny bundle into his arms and carefully pulled it free.
Once safe, the puppy didn’t run away. Instead, it looked up at Balu, wagged its tail with all its might, and enthusiastically licked his nose. It was its own little way of saying, “You are my hero!”. His heart was filled with a warm, joyful feeling that erased all his remaining fear.
When he got home, he ran to his father and told him everything.
His father’s eyes filled with pride. “You did an incredibly brave thing today, Balu. You risked getting hurt to save a small, helpless creature. Only a person with real courage can do something like that. I am so proud of you!” He gave Balu a tight hug.
Just then, his mother arrived with a tube of soothing ointment. As she gently dabbed it on his scratches, she smiled. “Well, my little hero will be truly unstoppable once he conquers his other fear—the fear of the dark!”
Balu’s smile faded a little. “You’re right, Mom. I still have to work on that.”
His father sat next to him. “Balu, that’s where you’re wrong. What you have isn’t a fear; it’s just a misunderstanding. To prove it to you, I have an idea. Tonight, we will go into one of the rooms and sit together in the dark. I will show you that there is nothing there but silence and emptiness. Your imagination is the only thing that fills it with monsters. Will you sit with me? After that, mother will know you are a complete hero.”
Balu hesitated, a shadow of fear crossing his face. “Are you sure? Will I be safe?”.
His father said, “I am your dad. Would I ever ask you to do something that wasn’t safe? I promise you, I will be right there with you the whole time. You’ve faced sharp thorns to save a puppy. Facing the dark is easy compared to that.”
That night, they went into a quiet room and closed the door. His father flipped the switch, and the room was instantly plunged into darkness. At first, Balu let out a gasp and squeezed his father’s hand as hard as he could. But his father just laughed softly and put his arm around him.
“Now,” his father began, “while we’re sitting here in this quiet, peaceful dark, I’m going to tell you a true story about a real-life hero who was born in our very own country. This is a story about a brave young man named Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.”
He told Balu about Shivaji’s courage, how he learned to navigate through the densest forests and the darkest, snowiest mountains without any fear. He described how Shivaji, even as a young boy, wasn’t afraid to explore hidden caves and deep canyons, always knowing that the dark was just a part of the world, not something to dread. Balu was so enthralled by the stories of battles and daring escapes that he completely forgot where he was. He was picturing Shivaji on horseback, charging through the night to defend his people.
“Wow, daddy! What an amazing hero! He was so brave,” Balu exclaimed when the story was over.
“He was,” his father agreed, smiling in the dark. “And tell me, Balu. During all this time we’ve been sitting here, while I was telling you the story, did anything happen to you?”
Balu thought for a moment. “No, nothing at all. I wasn’t even thinking about the dark! My eyes have adjusted now, and I can see the shapes of the furniture. It’s not scary at all.”
Outside the door, his mother’s phone alarm went off. The next moment, she pushed the door open, flooding the room with light.
Balu looked up at her with a beaming smile. “Nothing happened to me in the dark, Mom! I’m not afraid anymore!”
His mother hugged him tightly. “I am so proud of you, Balu! The courage that was concealed within you all this time has finally revealed itself. That courage is your own special light. Where there is light, darkness must disappear. And where there is courage, fear has no place to hide.”
From that night on, Balu never feared the dark again. He was truly a hero, through and through.
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Naramsetti Umamaheswararao has written more than a thousand stories, songs, and novels for children over 42 years. he has published 32 books. His novel, Anandalokam, received the Central Sahitya Akademi Award for children’s literature. He has received numerous awards and honours, including the Andhra Pradesh Government’s Distinguished Telugu Language Award and the Pratibha Award from Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University. He established the Naramshetty Children’s Literature Foundation and has been actively promoting children’s literature as its president.
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