Childhood

Twelfth January, eight pm.

No wheat at home! EMERGENCY!!!

Papa and I rushed to the nearest grocery which somehow at that time and in that situation seemed very very far..! He was obviously driving full speed, and suddenly just out of nowhere a puny white and brown ultra-cute street puppy runs right in front of our car and before we could do anything, his helpless squeals escaped in the air. I looked at my father, my eyes pleading him to stop, even though I knew better that he wouldnt.He looked at me, smiled in a weirdly genuine childish sort of way and pointed out of the window..he stopped the car, ..!

I followed the directions of papa’s finger and there he was, a small round naughty looking boy, not more than five, maybe six, wrapped in a blue teddy bear nightdress with two sweaters and a jacket on top, not to miss the baby blue very very cute monkey cap with a flower on the crest. He looked like everything a happy childhood can be described as. But there were his eyes..those small little twinkling eyes which looked at me with such anger almost saying-“get lost! Fall of a bridge and Get eaten by a shark!” He was secretly wishing that either Chhota Bheem or Powerpuff girls come for his rescue and beat us up black and blue! He held the injured pup in his hand and inspected him carefully. He kept on consoling and cajoling the baby pup during his extensive, strenuous examination of all the bruises, abrasions and contusions, mumbling all sorts of things incessantly to the pup. He was almost apologetic for leaving the poor baby all alone so cold in the open. The puppy on the other hand, was comforted enough and wriggled in the boys hand telling him that he was ready to play again!

The car started moving again. I saw the boy wrapping the pup in his monkey cap and now, both of them were shivering. I could not stop myself and a smile broke out loose! I signaled a quick apology with hands on my ears and made another sign telling the cute boy that his puppy is very very cute. He replied, with the most genuine, innocent and unconditional smile on earth…He forgave me! Just as we were pacing out of sight, he stuck at his tongue and fanned his hands on his ears…you know the way children tease. Papa and I chuckled in the car! There was something that me, papa, the little boy and his puppy shared that moment. I think it was childhood…

Children give shelter and love to so many street baby animals.Almost everyone’s childhood has a part played by baby animals, I think it forms an important constituent of ‘childhood memories’, whether its feeding pups Parle-G on the way to school or teaching a young bird to fly! Or even stealing milk from home to feed kittens whome your mother just could not stand!

Cheers to all the children, and everyone who had been a child. Rather, cheers to everyone’s childhood!

The universe might be made of atoms, but the world is made of many tiny stories!