Okay, let's face it! We have all bunked work, college and the brave ones, even school at some point or the other. The reasons may vary from needing a break to taking care of a loved one. But the explanation we offer is often the same - I had a fever.
It seemed to be the most acceptable excuse to escape your employer's, professor's or teacher's wrath. But one 13-year-old boy from Nellai district in Tamil Nadu threw caution to the winds.
In his leave letter, written on a paper torn out of a notebook, Ishwaran says:
“As my mother is not keeping well, I have to take care of the animals in my home. I request you grant me leave on (8/3/2017).”
Published in Vikatan, the letter was written in Tamil. Ishwaran’s class teacher says he was stunned by the reason the student gave.
"I had never seen such a letter in my teaching career. When the boy came the next day, I asked him why he wrote this reason. He immediately told me - 'Sir, you told us to always speak the truth no matter what it was',” the teacher told Vikatan.
He added: “I was stunned by his answer and my eyes started tearing up. This made me realise the kind of effect a teacher's words can have on students. This episode has made me want to be more responsible than ever."
The eighth standard student's leave letter to his class teacher seems to have created quite an impression. Both his teacher and those who have read the letter can't stop gushing about the honesty of this student from a government boys’ school.