When a childish emulation turned a fatal reality...

Two little boys were playing the 'hanging game' in one of Nagpur's lesser-known localities.

The younger one had their sister's dupatta in hand. He was trying to explain the intricacies of hanging oneself to his 12-year-old brother Dhiraj Khare.

Dhiraj, however, had ideas of his own. He was a great television watcher, he was, and had seen the scene enacted plenty of times.

"Here," he cried, "I will show you how it is done!"

Thus saying he snatched the dupatta from his brother's hand, fluently made a noose for himself, tied the other end to an overhead bar, and jumped from atop the cot.

And that was how Dhiraj's mother and sister found him on their return. They rushed him to the hospital -- only to be told that the childish emulation had turned into fatal reality.

UNI