Courage

We are taking a walk around the garden; observing the lush greenery, the colorful flowers, the naughty kids playing on the seesaw, and the slides. Elderly people gathered together and playing pranks on one another. The younger men and women busy in running/jogging on their own or with the common love of the new generation – smartphones. Just then we hear an innocent cry from behind. We turn back. We see a small boy, maybe 4-5 years old, standing alone at some distance. We rush towards him. He seems to be very confused, worried, a bit scared. We reach to him, kneel down in front of him and ask, ‘What happened? What is your name? Why are you crying?’ He doesn’t say a word and continues crying. We try to look for some chocolates in our bag. After struggling enough with no success, we face back to the boy and stand up. We give out our hand and ask him to come along with us. He seems skeptical, but the smile on our face makes him comfortable. He gives out his hand too. We take him with us to the nearest bench. After sitting down with him, we give one more attempt to find something in our bag. And this time we get lucky. We hand over the toffee to the kid. He smiles. His innocent face mixed with tears and dust particles have another dimension to it. The innocent smile reaching to his ears. It brings a smile on our face too. We ask him once more, ‘What is your name buddy?’. He says, ‘I’m Sohail. Sohail Mehmood.’ ‘Nice name, Sohail. It is very nice to meet you. Tell me now, why were you crying?’ He replies, ‘Abbu had got a ball for me yesterday and I lost it today. He is going to be angry on me now.’ ‘Where do you live Sohail?’ ‘Just in the chawl behind the garden’, says Sohail. His expression changes again. A teardrop is about to fall from his left eye. We tell him, ‘Don’t worry Sohail. Let’s get a new ball for you. Abbu won’t be angry at you then.’ He gets excited for a moment, but then he realizes that it won’t be right. He says, ‘Thank you so much. But I don’t want a new ball. I will say sorry to Abbu.’ We wonder, how can such a tiny soul be so polite, so honest, courageous. We feel proud about him. Just then few other kids around the same age come running towards the bench. They drag Sohail to play along with them. While leaving, Sohail turns back and gives the same innocent smile. This time wider than the previous one. We remain seated on the bench. Alone, but with so many thoughts. Probably, we have found the answer that we were looking for. We realize that we don’t have to look for excuses for the mistake that we have done. We just have to admit it. We wonder how we got helped when we were actually trying to help someone.We wonder how much have we changed from the time when we were of Sohail’s age. We weren’t much different than him when we were young, then why have we complicated our lives? We decide, maybe it is late but it is not the end. We still can be same old souls, which we were a few years ago. Honest, innocent and pure. It brings a new courage within us, and a new smile. We take out the ‘smartphone’ from our pocket and look for the right number. We just know what we have to do now!

Smiles,

Swapnil..