The moment the van started moving, Manu pushed his head out of the window to say good-bye, not knowing how dangerous it was to lean out of a moving car. He could have been hit by a tree or another car coming from the other side.

``Put your head inside'', everyone said. Manu, however, kept sticking it out till someone pulled his head in.

A couple of minutes later he put his hand out of the window to feel the cool breeze against his hand. He liked doing that. But then, the driver saw him and shouted at him to put his hand inside, thus saving him from getting hurt.

When Manu did not obey, they shifted him from the window seat and made him sit in the middle.

Manu was most uncomfortable in the van. It was a long journey to school and the children were tightly packed in the mini van. Manu pushed the child sitting next to him to get more space for himself. But his neighbour resisted Manu's attempts. Manu got angry and finally gave such a huge shove, that the poor child fell out of the seat and on to the floor. He then started howling.

When the other child tried to get up and sit on the seat, Manu boxed him. A fight started in the van. Everyone started shouting and screaming. The driver looked back to see what was happening and in the process almost hit a cyclist.

The driver had only one choice; he stopped the van, got out and opened the doors till all children spilled out and the fight stopped. ``Don't do that," he shouted at Manu. ``You are being naughty. Don't you know it can be dangerous?''

But Manu was not prepared to listen.

The next day however, the driver made sure that Manu was not sitting next to the child he had fought with, the previous day.

But this did not help much. If Manu was not pinching his neighbour, he would jump up and down the seat or even stand on it.

The driver complained to his mother and mother asked Manu to be careful. But Manu was not the one to obey others.

Then the inevitable happened. One day, when Manu had got on to the seat and was jumping up and down, a cow came in front of the van.

The driver braked hard, the van came to a screeching halt, and Manu fell from the seat. He banged his head on the front seat and got a few bruises and cuts.

He started crying but no one felt sorry for him. ``We told you to be careful, didn't we?'' They said.

``Yes, you did,'' said Manu. ``And I have learnt my lesson. I should behave myself when I am travelling.