We all dream too big...we have never ending wish-lists and desires...and as one gets accomplished...another gets added to the list...till eternity...I have always been a spendthrift...I spend like crazies...shopping for useless stuff which I’ll never ever use...and one fine day I realize that this particular piece of clothing has been rotting in my wardrobe since ages and I am not going to wear it ever again so I throw it off..And I love to go and gossip and bako-fy in cafes and all such places..So there's no more proof needed I spend more than required...even after getting belted by Dad..And I am sure most of us from our generation do that...
So today when I was hopping into a rick just after midnight after lazing in a coffee shop and after munching on a muffin which I would curse in the morning when I jog and watch by bulging tummy….suddenly this small kid around 7 years of age came from nowhere and started pleading…Didi please give me something to eat…and I didn’t know how to react….I checked my wallet for a 10 Re note…none…I didn’t want to ask for money to give to the kid from my friend…so we ignored the kid and we left…and that kid kept pleading till I was in the earshot and I was reminded of my kid brother…I felt my eyes watering but I didn’t want N (roomie) to notice…so we came back and I decided I wanted to get something for him…all the shops were closed..So I reverted the auto in spite of N yelling at me (its late, all shops are closed bla bla)...I found a small cigarette shop about to be closed and grabbed to glucose biscuits and went back to the coffee shop but the kid wasn’t there…A security guard was watching…he called me and said that the kid lived in a slum close to the place and roamed around there itself….I was disappointed I couldn’t hand over those biscuits to the child…But the guard assured me he would give it to him….
And so I came back….I really didn’t know why I felt so much like weeping and what struck me so hard…In a place like Mumbai one is bound to come across hundreds of kids everyday begging at the signals, outside colleges, temples, offices etc and yet I mostly ignore them…But today I had to stop myself from crying in the auto in front of my friend…I am still not very happy…just hoping that the kid gets those biscuits…even if he wasn’t hungry and was lying…even if my other friend who was there at the same time told me just now that she had bought him a packet of chips…what good will a kid do with a packet of biscuits…he would probably feed someone in his family…and that’s the reason I was talking shit about our wants in the beginning…poor kiddos there are no wish-lists for them…they strive for a Re 5 packet of biscuit…
I thank God for blessing me with who all I have around me to take care of me and for the fact that I am in a family effluent enough to fulfill my needs and unnecessary wants too sometimes…But it is so disheartening to see kids who should be getting education and playing are actually begging for a mouthful…okie I know it’s too much of a lecture but I intend to do something so that I never feel handicapped when I come across such kids…I should be able to help them..At least for now…I should stop wasting money….and think of the little kid who reminded me of my brother…
Strange.. How an everyday phenomenon can make us laugh or cry.. And how life can potentially give lessons on the simplest and most obvious of things..
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