It was a hot summer morning on August 15, 2024. All my classmates stepped into the class, waiting for our new Urdu teacher to come and start the first day of school.

We were all happy because it was the first day of the new academic year, and being the monsoon season, it often rained and the weather remained cool. This was also the reason schools that year started late.

During the vacation, my father bought me an Anime book called a Manga. I would often read it at home and found it very interesting. So, on this first day of school, I took the book with me and while we were waiting for the teacher to come, I took the book out and started reading it.

What could go wrong, right? But everything went wrong!

Some time passed and I was engrossed in reading it, unaware of the upcoming disaster. I didn’t realise that my Urdu teacher had entered and had been glaring at me for the past few seconds. Suddenly, I felt an unusual silence and heard a hyena-like laughter coming from my friend.

I looked up and saw my strict teacher looking at me. In the blink of an eye, my teacher took Manga from me. I felt like my stomach had dropped. I knew I was in trouble, big trouble!

Suddenly, everything fell apart. I started blurting out every excuse I could think of, but the teacher wouldn’t budge. My friend was laughing loud enough for the whole class to hear.

Amidst the laughter, I heard the five most agonising words of my life: “Mister! Your book is confiscated!”

The rest of the day went by like a century. I felt as though everyone was staring at me, even the walls and windows were laughing at me. My best friend came and told me some rather pathetic jokes to lighten my mood, but instead, they made me feel worse.

I unwillingly got into my van at the end of the school day, reluctant to leave my book behind. When my father found out from me what had happened, he looked disappointed. I apologised. He wrote a note, which I showed to the teacher, the next day.

My teacher looked me straight in the eye. I apologised sincerely. She reluctantly returned my book, as if saying, ‘first impression is the last impression!’

After that, my friends would joke about it and teachers kept an eye on me.

I worked really hard to gain their trust and succeeded. Now, after a month, my friends have stopped bringing up that incident and teachers called me a ‘good student’, though the Urdu teacher still holds a grudge. From then on, I stopped reading storybooks during class and listened keenly.

Despite this incident, I still bring books to school. Would that get me in trouble again? Maybe!

Published in Dawn, Young World, March 19th, 2026