Once upon a time there lived a young girl of 12 named Chinky in Haripur Krishna village. Her parents had a big farm where they would grow different kinds of vegetables but it was the Neem tree, standing tall in the middle of the farm, which was her favourite. She called him, Neem, her only friend who would listen to all her stories and make her problems go away. She used to love eating all kinds of candy-bars from the money she would get from her parents. Eating them with Neem was her favourite task every day which would make her very happy.

However, today is the day when Chinky is happy for another reason too. It is a day when her younger brother, as foretold by the local priest, is going to get born after 12 long years. The atmosphere all around is filled with laughter, chatter and happiness.

In the midst of all that, Chinky is sitting alongside her father and gulping a candy-bar that she has bought from the money that her father gave early morning.

“If you spend all your money on eating candy, what gift would you give your little brother?” her father asked.

“You will give me the money, Daddy.” Chinky grinned.

Both father and daughter were laughing when suddenly the doctor came out and said the words they all have been waiting to hear.

“Congratulations! A baby girl is born.”

The celebrations and the laughter stopped out of the blue. Chinky’s father sat on the floor crying looking up at the sky. As for Chinky, she could not understand what has happened.

“Why is everybody sad? I have a sister to share my candy now. This is a good thing, right?” she asked herself.

She ran down to her father who was talking to the local priest.

“You told me that a boy will take birth today. How can this be true?” he sobbed.

“Daddy, give me some money. I want to buy a gift for my sister.” Chinky asked politely.

“Go away! You will not get any money and the girl will not get any gifts from anyone.”

It is for the first time that Chinky’s father had talked to her in a rude manner. She started crying and ran towards Neem hoping he would help her somehow; the way he always does.

“I don’t understand why my father behaved in such a manner, he was so happy for
the arrival of the new baby and all of a sudden he became tensed and even shouted at
me, I have no money left with me after spending it daily on candy-bars. Please help me
get a gift for my sister.” she told Neem.

Of course, there was no answer from the other side.

She asked Neem again; begging him to give her the answers but there was none.

Devastated, she got furious at Neem and shouted, “This is the last time I am coming here, Neem.” and started to snivel louder. A slight thought of how she could have not eaten those few extra candies crossed her mind.

Suddenly, just as she was to leave his old friend behind, something painful bit her on the right leg. Looking down she saw something which would change her life.

“Hi! My name is Cheeti.” a little black ant said coming out of the cracks below Neem’s roots.

Before Chinky could say anything, Cheeti spoke, “I live below these cracks and when I heard that you will not be coming again, I started to fear for my family and decided to come out.”

“Why? What do you fear?” Chinky asked in astonishment.

“Every day when you come here and eat your candy-bar you leave crumbles all over the floor. After you leave, me and my family take them away and deposit it in our Food Bank. So, if you’d stop coming, there will be no food left for us.”

“What is a Food Bank?”

“It is a place where we save our food after we have eaten ours for the day. A food manager saves our food from other insects and after sometime gives us more than we initially submitted. This way we save our food for times of crisis.”

Chinky never thought that even small crumbles of her candy-bars has been helping an ant feed for her family.

“Don’t worry Cheeti, I will not stop coming here.” Chinky said wiping off tears from her eyes.

“Thank you. Also, I can tell you how you can get your sister a gift.”

“What? How? I don’t have any money left.”

“No worries. Just like ants collect little crumbles of food and save it for later, you need to collect and save little crumbles of money and then ask your father for help. He will guide you and take you to the money bank. And when you have enough money saved there, you can buy your sister any gift you want.”

After listening to Cheeti, Chinki got excited and thanked her and Neem for helping her.

“Thank you for helping me, my Neem and Cheeti!” she smiled and wrapped her arms around both of them.

At home, Chinky’s father was searching for her all around. He has realized that it was not decent of him to shout at his daughter and wanted to apologize. When she came home that day and told him the entire story, he was moved by her daughter’s desire to give her little sister a gift. He took her in his arms, apologized and promised that he will help her.

For the next few days, Chinky saved every penny her father gave her and finally took all the little crumbles of money to the village bank. 

“Please save my money here and give me more after sometime, I want to buy a gift for my little sister”

Amazed, the manager looked at her and giving her father a form to open a bank account, asked, “What will you give her?”

“An ant home.”