He played along. All of 8 years, he found things to play in everything
he did. He jumped over the stones in the ground, smiling and laughing as he
rushed from person to person. Singing to himself, he spun round as the wind
struck him, as if the wind was playing games with him. I watched him with
amazement, wondering how little it took for a life to be happy. His tattered
clothes did not matter and maybe he did not even remember his hunger. I watched
him, jealous, anxious and with a smile on my face. How lucky you are, I thought,
to have found happiness.
And then.....crash!!!
He had broken a glass. And the glass cost him a tight slap
on the cheek. As the tea stall owner admonished him and the cheer faded to dark
tears in his eyes, I realised what I had done. I had stolen the child’s childhood.
I had robbed him of his happiness. I was responsible to make him snap out of
his happy playful gait and be brought back to stark reality. I was part of this
insensitive crowd, this shameless group of people who stood and watched
helplessly as the kid cried. And still, people demanded tea. The kid, crying,
took the tattered plastic tray, placed the hot glasses of tea on it and went
out, shouting, “Chai...chaiiiii”.
I watched the frail, shabby creature with amazement. I wondered
how stupid we are. All of us. We in our branded clothing, we with our English and
our smartphones. How useless we are! We with our dreams of early retirement, we
with our never ending wishes and high hopes, we with our so much and yet with nothing
at all. That kid had nothing but yet so much. No hope and bare minimum wishes.
And yet he was happy. Until, a glass with hardly two rupees had stolen his hope
and broken his dream.
As I stood there with the other shameless creatures,
enjoying their snacks and tea, I felt so ashamed. Every child, no matter how
rich or poor, has this inherent wish to play. Happiness comes naturally to
them. And we condition them to lose out on their instincts. We condition them
to become one of us, sad, competent, angry, depressed and jealous. What was the
child’s fault? The tea stall owner would not have lost a lot in the two rupees.
Had a customer broken the cup, he would not even have uttered a word. But what
he could not fathom was the child’s “carelessness”. Don’t you think the tea
stall owner was just jealous at the child’s happiness? Don’t you think,
everyone there was jealous? And the world went back to normal when the child
was admonished, brought back into our sad, frustrated world. Now that he was
crying, everyone could go back to their normal and everyday lives. This is us!
It is some food for thought tough. For me at least. I did
not realise this when I was watching the kid play. There was a smile on my
face, a smile of shared happiness at the child’s play. But maybe deep inside, I
was angry with the kid for being happy. How could he be happy when I was so
unhappy with my boss? Maybe I was just hoping, the child’s happiness would end
soon. Somehow, it did not fit into this world. If someone can be happy, he has
to have material things with him that are supposed to make him happy. How can
anyone be happy playing with the wind? It just DID NOT fit in. And when it all
ended, I stood there, finishing my glass of tea, happy deep inside that now the
world could be fine. But, in the process, I had stolen something which can
never be returned. I had stolen that precious thing and replaced it with
something in abundance with me. I had stolen the Child’s childhood and sowed
the seeds of hate. I could now be happy!!!!!!!
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