I got curious and peeped out of the window to check what was happening on the lane out side. The little girl was crying her heart out stumping her feet on the ground. That she was crying despite being alone ( there were no one to pacify her) made me feel she was really upset about something.
I usually find her playing with her playmates in the evening but never had any chance or reason for interaction.
"Hey, what happened?"
It seemed my question fueled her grieves and she started crying even lauder. " What happened? Why are you crying? May be I can help you out?" My second question succeeded in generating some response from her. " I am trying to collect the marbles in my hands," she said maintaining her sobbing. "But every time some of them slip out of my hand". That's when I noticed the collection of some twenty marbles she was struggling with. She had palms too small to accommodate more than five marbles at a time. Even if she managed to pick up one more, another slipped out. She was struggling for a quite some time and got frustrated with the slipping off...there was no one around to help her out and started crying.
The innocence amazed me. "Why don't you put some of them in your pockets. Then you take away the rest in your hands," I suggested. But that made no effect on the sobbing of the girl. "Look, even it is not possible for me to take all of them in my hands at the same time." I made a demonstration of what I said, collected a hand full of marbles in the right palm and when I tried to put some more with them, deliberately slipped some of those already in my hand. The girl watched the demo, maintaining her sob. But she was not convinced by what ever I did and started crying again,"No, I need to collect them in my hands only." This time I really did have no idea what to do.
At that point, one of her playmates appeared in the scene. "What happened Ritu?" I noticed some light in the face of the girl. She explained him her cause of grief as she did earlier. " What's there to cry about? Let me put some of them in your pockets. Keep the rest in your hands. It is ok?" He did wait for her consent and started putting the marbles in her pockets. As the pockets too were not big enough, he put some of the marbles in his pocket and there were some eight marbles left to be accommodated in the hands of the girl. By the time he finished all these arrangements, the girl calmed down and stopped sobbing. In a few moments they left the spot, in search of other playmates. I found myself wondering "why?"
"Why it was that the girl resisted the idea that I gave her, but readily accepted the same idea when it came from her playmate?"
I was not a friend, the little boy was.
Yes, friends have been remaining a fascination for me.
They come silently, like cool breeze on a hot summer afternoon. Each of them with a unique bunch of enrichments. You know not when they enter your lives, capture the empty spaces inside and gives meanings to all your struggles. When you try to imagine your days minus them, you can feel the empty spaces within. You are a changed man now. They reign on you until one day the uncertainties of life drift you apart. They go as silently as them come. But never leave...
I usually find her playing with her playmates in the evening but never had any chance or reason for interaction.
"Hey, what happened?"
It seemed my question fueled her grieves and she started crying even lauder. " What happened? Why are you crying? May be I can help you out?" My second question succeeded in generating some response from her. " I am trying to collect the marbles in my hands," she said maintaining her sobbing. "But every time some of them slip out of my hand". That's when I noticed the collection of some twenty marbles she was struggling with. She had palms too small to accommodate more than five marbles at a time. Even if she managed to pick up one more, another slipped out. She was struggling for a quite some time and got frustrated with the slipping off...there was no one around to help her out and started crying.
The innocence amazed me. "Why don't you put some of them in your pockets. Then you take away the rest in your hands," I suggested. But that made no effect on the sobbing of the girl. "Look, even it is not possible for me to take all of them in my hands at the same time." I made a demonstration of what I said, collected a hand full of marbles in the right palm and when I tried to put some more with them, deliberately slipped some of those already in my hand. The girl watched the demo, maintaining her sob. But she was not convinced by what ever I did and started crying again,"No, I need to collect them in my hands only." This time I really did have no idea what to do.
At that point, one of her playmates appeared in the scene. "What happened Ritu?" I noticed some light in the face of the girl. She explained him her cause of grief as she did earlier. " What's there to cry about? Let me put some of them in your pockets. Keep the rest in your hands. It is ok?" He did wait for her consent and started putting the marbles in her pockets. As the pockets too were not big enough, he put some of the marbles in his pocket and there were some eight marbles left to be accommodated in the hands of the girl. By the time he finished all these arrangements, the girl calmed down and stopped sobbing. In a few moments they left the spot, in search of other playmates. I found myself wondering "why?"
"Why it was that the girl resisted the idea that I gave her, but readily accepted the same idea when it came from her playmate?"
I was not a friend, the little boy was.
Yes, friends have been remaining a fascination for me.
They come silently, like cool breeze on a hot summer afternoon. Each of them with a unique bunch of enrichments. You know not when they enter your lives, capture the empty spaces inside and gives meanings to all your struggles. When you try to imagine your days minus them, you can feel the empty spaces within. You are a changed man now. They reign on you until one day the uncertainties of life drift you apart. They go as silently as them come. But never leave...
Comments
but lucky are those
who see you from close.
i read this post, and i found really it is beautifully narrated.