Thursday, December 4, 2008

Gift For Living

On my way home, I passed three young boys out on a walk of their own. Within the neighbourhood, I tend to give young kids a beady eye and ask sternly, why aren't you in school? But these were from some other area. So I passed on.
But then, one of them stopped to offer me some wild fruit. I was taken aback and touched. They had cut class to go loafing around. Can I really say its a waste of time or life on a rare fine day?

After class yesterday with the worst lot ( some of them don't know even the alphabet properly) one of the boys gave me piece of bubble gum. I notice too that its the not-so-bright girls who offer to carry my books or bag.

The spontaneity with which they make a connection is touching. Maybe they are blessed with the greater gift - for living .

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Quite right... Their frames of reference are differnet, so too their contexts... Like you did, all of us need to understand that...

Devika Jyothi said...

Nice to read this Kallu..

Nice one, really

wishes,
devika

kallu said...

Thanks Pradeep and Devika.

Devika, you blog doesnt allow comments by people not in a select club?

Devika Jyothi said...

Hi Kallu,

I had disabled it the other day, because i was not in a good mood...

Now, its enabled dear..and you may comment :)

sorry for that botheration..

wishes,
devika

Swarna said...

Kallu,
Perhaps we should grant them those moments - which for them will be special memories when they are Responsible Adults...

RAJI MUTHUKRISHNAN said...

Kalyani, how understanding you are.
Those kids would have loved you.

kallu said...

Swarna, its when they are building up those special memories too often that it gets worrying :-)
Responsible Adults - how heavy that sounds - life life weighs us down.
Ideally, it shouldnt.

Raji, Im sure they don't. Still its nice to believe it. Thanks:-))

Ayyappan said...

I'd rather have a not-so-bright daughter who has a big heart than a scholarly kid.
Moreover, it is very unfair of us to judge kids by their academic performance only when there is so much more to life than just books.

kallu said...

Ayappan, We dont choose the way our kids are- they just are - scholarly or not so bright and big hearted or just a little mean.

While they are with us, we are tweaking them a bit here and there and trying to get them into more accepted modes. But I dont think any parent is really thinking about the whole - they are more busy coping with everyday things- lunch and homework and the occasional tears as best as possible.
And we accept our children as the best.Whatever they may be.
Even if we keep saying 'look at..' we are proud of our kids.

Ayyappan said...

@Kalyani
I agree. Though I am not married and not a father yet, I can completely relate to the last line of your reply!