AND THAT MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE
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| My cousin Sakshi(right) and I |
I was a serious kid, I never talked much, I associated with very few people. I was this little child with lots of thoughts in the head! Lots of doubt, maybe not about sciences or mathematics (I was pathetic at Math initially) but about how people were behaving around me. So that was me, silent, serious but still amicably adorable! So I dint look forward to the day. I faked a back-ache in the morning but my mom was way too familiar with my famous "back-aches" that occurred on special occasions so that dint help. I was decorated, dressed for the kill, left to be attacked by those cruel teachers who kill with their comments despite a huge smile! So we went, me and mom, in a rickshaw (Rickshaws were very common then in Delhi then). The morning air brushed through my hair and I felt good. It was all silent, the lull before the storm.
So we reached school, and my mom and I somehow separated. I can't recall a particular time frame but I came to my classroom alone. The teacher wasn't there, nobody was there. I went towards one of the windows and stared blankly outside. I suddenly noticed that a chocolate was kept on the table. No one was there to claim it. I walked towards it and stared at it. My initial reflex was to pick it up and place it discreetly in the pocket but I dint do so. Something stopped me, something from inside and I dint know what. Maybe it was a little child’s conscience or innocence but the temptation was huge. A chocolate is an undeniable treat for a kid but I still couldn't make my hand reach out to it. It felt like I was going to do something wrong by picking it up and someone might have forgotten his/her chocolate there! But then again, a chocolate is a chocolate!
So there I was, trying to make one of the most imp decisions of my life, Yes, important. I now know what it has impacted on me. A 7 year old trying to work out the boundaries of his little brain. I just stood there, frozen in time, and finally decided that I was not going to pick it up. Even as a child, it felt like a huge defeat, to let that chocolate go. My mom and the teacher walked in together, smiling, and I surely dint expect that.. So had my mom too joined hands with the teacher on ways to kill me?? It was already tough to let the chocolate go and I couldn't comprehend with the loss of the chocolate and my mom altogether! I was shocked, my little brain working on optimum levels and exploring every possibility but I calmed myself down! The teacher gave a good feedback, I remember her name. It was "ILA GULATI" and I liked that teacher. I was kinda her pet. She smiled at me and waived towards the table indicating me to go towards something on it. And even before I could turn towards the table, little fireworks of joy had already started in my heart. I walked the red carpet of my little life and gleefully picked up the chocolate not even realizing what ma’am wanted me to do, least bothered, like it was destined for me. I couldn't believe the turn of events. The chocolate was mine, ethically of course.
It was a sweet incident that I still fondly recall. It made a world of impact on me. Had I not made the choice between good/bad that particular day, I'd fail to make one subsequently and it'd become a habit! It set my ideals clear and my ideologies apart! When I look back now, I feel despite my teeny weenie brain, I did make the right decision and “THAT MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE”.
Peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Suyash