On the morning of Chilly’s singing competition, On the morning of Chilly’s singing competition, Aaloo had come to Chilly’s house, but Chilly was not happy to see him. He told Aaloo, “Go to Koko’s house!” And then without any reason, Chilly had hugged his mother and started crying. Now, let’s hear from Parsley about what happened next…

We all arrived at the competition venue. Chilly hadn’t said a word the entire way there. Usually, on the day of a competition, he would have given everyone a headache by singing songs constantly. Whenever Aaloo tried to speak to him, Chilly would just yawn. As soon as we arrived at the lake, we ran into Koko.

Aaloo and I wished Koko the best of luck. And then Chilly said, “Yes, Koko, best of luck! Has no one come with you to see you win? Maybe they already knew that you would lose!” And then he gave his first smile of the day. I don’t know why, but I didn’t like that smile at all.

Hearing this, instead of Koko, Aaloo turned red. The last time he turned red like this was several years ago, when Aunty Ant had bitten his foot. So, I immediately started looking around for Aunty Ant. But then Aaloo retorted, “Who says that Koko is alone? I’m here to cheer her on. Koko, sing well and you’ll win for sure!”

Upon hearing this, Chilly’s eyes turned red as if a tub of chilli powder had been poured in his eyes.

Koko left. She was sobbing. Aaloo went after her. I turned around to wish Chilly the best of luck and bumped into his wing. His wing burnt me! I thought to myself, ‘Does Chilly have a fever? Why is he so hot?’ Then he shoved me aside and left.

I looked at my mother. Her expression was as if she too had been bitten by Aunty Ant. I found Aaloo and I heard him speaking to Koko.

Once their conversation was over, I asked him, “And what about Chilly?” Then both of us went to speak to Chilly before the competition. But Chilly fumed as soon as he saw us and said, “Why have you come here? Go to Koko. And Aaloo, I’m not going to sing our friendship song!” Before Aaloo could say anything, Chilly flew away.

Hearing what Chilly said made me feel like my feathers had been ruffled. He had been practicing this song for a month and now he didn't want to sing it!

Aaloo said to me firmly, “It doesn’t matter what happens in the competition, but afterwards, we’ll have a party at Theo's Café and everything will be fine.” The thought of the party cheered me up.

When I heard Chilly sing on stage, I couldn’t hold in my laughter. Chilly was singing in Hindi, “Machhli Jal Ka Rani Hai, Jeevan Uska Pani chhe, Hath Lagavo Bi Jayegi, Bahar Kaadho Gujar Jayegi!” Everyone who had come to watch the competition laughed so much that their stomachs started hurting. Chilly doesn’t even realise that he can’t speak Hindi properly. He would have won if this was a comedy competition!

Everyone by now must have known how the competition result would go. Seeing everyone laughing, Chilly looked at Aaloo. Aaloo wasn’t laughing at all. Even so, Chilly was looking at him angrily. He then left without waiting for the result.