It was around eleven thirty p. M and lakshmi stealthily entered the bedroom where mrinal was sleeping. It had been a holiday, a sunday. A holiday for the family five of them, her master , mistress, grandma of the house, jeet and mrinal. Jeet had gone out at nine soon after breakfast and came only for dinner. He was the elder son and mrinal, the younger. In the evening she had to cook one full course dinner. On their holidays she had double work. "Lakshmi, where are you? the gas is on. grind masala and add after the vegetables are done. it should be soft. otherwise mrinal won't eat. I have soaked the tamarind in hot water. you poured too much of water yesterday. be careful. extract the juice and make rasam. add a bit lemon to the salad. grind the badam for the kheer. get the dough ready for rotis. we are expecting a friend. let the dough be enough for six."When lakshmi dipped her hand into the tamarind juice, it stung. She had cut her finger while chopping vegetables. Grand ma called out,"Lakshmi, keep your hands clean. don't put your fingers in your mouth."She was always suspicious about lakshmi's cleanliness. The guest arrived late and the dinner and chit chat went on for long. When lakshmi ate, it was well past ten p. M. She then had to clean the plates and pots and get the kitchen ready, for the next day was a working day and everyone had to be out by eight. She watched mrinal sleeping. She glanced around and found 'the book' that she loved, on his table. There was an open notebook and a pen. She sat at the table and opened the book. She read and reread and kept on turning the pages. She worked out on the notebook for sometime. After an hour and a half, she returned to the storeroom corner which was her bedroom, with the book. Normally she fell asleep in her nook, almost immediately. She would get up only when the alarm of the clock which her mistress had given beeped. This had been her routine for two years, ever since her parents had left her here. But today she looked into the 'fascinating book' in the bright light that fell on it from the neighbour's garden. She could hear her master's voice talking to his wife. She did not want to eaves drop but in the silence of midnight she could hear him clearly, as the door of their bedroom was ajar. "I had a call from mrinal's school. his class teacher said his performance in maths exam is very poor, 'abysmal, it is', her very words. but somehow he completes his home assignments well. even tough problems he is able to solve at home. she asked me if we help him. do you help him, thara?""No, I don't. it must be lakshmi. I have seen her doing sums in his notebook, though she had tried to hide it from me,"Said the mistress. "Lakshim? how dare she?" Boiled the master. Lakshim's heart beat fast. The mistress replied,"I think it's mrinal's instructions. may be he felt humiliated in school for not finishing his home assignments.""But how could lakshmi, who has studied only upto third class do fifth standard sums? has she learnt everything on her own? how long has this been going on? if this is so she must have proper education, thara. we are depriving a poor, but brilliant girl, her right to education," Her master's voice was choked with emotion. Her mistress protested,"You know how difficult it is to get house help, nowadays, sunil. I can't do all the work.""We have forgotton so far that she is only eleven years old, only as old as mrinal. child labour is illegal, thara. we had been inhuman. we have the money to employ an adult. oh, we had been so blind to her age. I won't let this continue. I think it is our sin of making this child work so hard, that has made our mrinal a dull head! I am going to educate the child and make amendment for the sin committed."When child labour was connected to the trespassing of the divine law and was called a sin, with the accompanied divine punishment that was mentioned by her master, her mistress kept quiet, anaysing the truth in it. Lakshmi jumped for joy. She need not study 'the book' stealthily hereafter! 