Imagine a seven year old child looking into your eyes with all the innocence in the world. There could be no way that anyone would not surrender to that naive face. The moist little eyes did little to help me control my emotions. All I did was stretch my arms and he came running into me.
“Sher, promise me, you will stay happy once I am gone.”
He just nodded his head in agreement. It would have been too demanding of me to expect anything more from him. He was probably not even aware of what I was talking about. ‘Promise’, ‘gone’ – these were very big words for him to understand. Happiness to him never meant anything more than a pizza or a pencil or a kite. In the little of life that he had seen, I was a constant presence throughout. And now all of a sudden I would be leaving him forever. My plan to shift my base to Bangalore from Kolkata for better career opportunities came as a big shock to his little heart. His world was confined to the lanes between his house and school, and out of nowhere he had to come to terms with the fact that the world was much more than what he thought.
He gripped me tightly around his small, tender hands and rested his head on my left shoulder. For a child who was always up to one mischief or the other, he was uncharacteristically calm. A few tear drops rolled down from his cheeks on to my neck. By then he had started to sob profusely. I turned around and made him sit in my lap. He was looking down, clearly trying to figure out what to say.
“Sher, do you want to say something?”
“Yes.” He said and nodded his head.
“Then tell me.” I said with a hoarse voice. The tears in his eyes were driving me nuts. Never before had I seen him in a more somber mood.
Once again he clasped me in his arms, without uttering a word of what he wanted to say. His silence was speaking everything. For him I was the ‘go to’ person whenever he needed anything. Any problem, he knew where to go. Mom’s anger, new toys, pizza, movies, I was the one to take care of all his problems. Not only him. I too needed him as badly as he needed me. His smile would invariably take away all the pain and agony from my heart, no matter what the situation was.
After a while he loosened his grip on me, took out the handkerchief from his pocket and wiped off his tears and nose and walked away.
“Where are you going Sher?” I asked. I did not want that moment to come to an end. That serene warmth in his hug had a magical feeling.
“I have to do my homework else my teacher would scold me.” He replied, still struggling with his fumbling voice.
I could not stop myself from admiring the innocence of that kid. Moments ago he was crying with me, and there he was preparing to complete his homework. His tears were honest and so was his dedication to complete his homework.
Half an hour later, I got ready for work. While leaving I heard him calling from behind.
“What happened Sher?” I shouted back.
“Wait, I am coming.” He replied.
He came running towards the gate with something in his fist. The spark was back in his eyes.
“Take these Rs.30/- and bring me a 0.5mm and a 0.7mm click pencil when you return back.” He said, stretching out his clenched fist and opening it before me.
“Where did you get this money Sher?” I asked. His hand was full of coins – Re.1/-, Rs.2/-, Rs.5/-, Rs.10/- – all the denominations were there in his little hands.
“I took them out from my piggy bank.” – was his innocent reply. I smiled and closed his tiny fist once again.
“Go back and put these coins back into your piggy bank; I have got enough money to buy your click pencils.” I smiled back tapping his shoulder.
This little incidence taught me a beautiful thing. We should live in the moment instead of worrying about the future. For him, I was there with him in that moment. He just made the most of that moment instead of worrying what would happen when I would not be around.
That’s how one should approach life, enjoy the moment, future is nothing but an outcome of the moments in our present.
