Yesterday I got a call.
I was on my way back home from college. It was around 8:15pm.
A familiar voice of a young boy screamed "HellooOoo!!" from the other end.
I recognized it as the voice of one of the kids from the Playroom.
A smile spread across my face.
"How are you doing today?" I inquired.
He screamed back, "When are you coming again?"
My college had reopened after the vacations.
I thus had not been going regularly to the Hospital anymore. As a matter of fact, I had only gone once in the past week. Naturally, that was not acceptable to any one of the kids.
"I have college. So I'll try coming soon enough."
"No. I dont want to know" He paused and stressed on each of the next four words and asked again, "When. Are. You. Coming?"
"I'll try coming maybe in the weekend?"
"No! That won't do! Come tomorrow," he pleaded.
"Okay. Okay. I'll try," I replied, trying to pacify this young boy.
"Promise?" he whispered into the phone.
I mumbled.
"Didi. Please. Promise me you'll come tomorrow?"
I was left with no choice.
"Promise," I repeated after him.
Without pausing for a second, he handed the phone to his mother. I heard him squeal in delight as he passed the phone over - telling his mother excitedly that I'll be going to visit him. I spoke to his mother for a bit, inquiring about his health in general and ended the call after a while.
I looked out of the window. The cold wind blowing in my face. And I was overwhelmed by the simplicity of the emotions as felt by both the kid and myself.
I could under no circumstance deny that kid the simple joy of having a friend over to spend some time with.
I am in my last Semester in college. A part of me wants to make the most of each day.
To spend as much time as I can with my friends in college.
I wanted to do that today also.
But.
I couldnt.
I simply could Not imagine the look on the kid's face and the disappointment I would cause him.
So. Inspite of a part of me wanting to stay back, I left the college gates and took a bus to go to the Hospital.
And then.
The Smile.
That innocent-toothed-wide-grinned smile on the kid's face when he saw me.
No words can express the simplicity and a paradoxical complexity of that smile.
He wants me to go tomorrow also. After college.
I know how happee it made him and all the other kids when I went today.
But then again, I'm talking about a kid who is sick. Really sick.
I'm left debating with my own self.
Wanting to stay back in college seems selfish on my part and yet indulging in a his demand is not always right.
I'm torn between myself.
I was on my way back home from college. It was around 8:15pm.
A familiar voice of a young boy screamed "HellooOoo!!" from the other end.
I recognized it as the voice of one of the kids from the Playroom.
A smile spread across my face.
"How are you doing today?" I inquired.
He screamed back, "When are you coming again?"
My college had reopened after the vacations.
I thus had not been going regularly to the Hospital anymore. As a matter of fact, I had only gone once in the past week. Naturally, that was not acceptable to any one of the kids.
"I have college. So I'll try coming soon enough."
"No. I dont want to know" He paused and stressed on each of the next four words and asked again, "When. Are. You. Coming?"
"I'll try coming maybe in the weekend?"
"No! That won't do! Come tomorrow," he pleaded.
"Okay. Okay. I'll try," I replied, trying to pacify this young boy.
"Promise?" he whispered into the phone.
I mumbled.
"Didi. Please. Promise me you'll come tomorrow?"
I was left with no choice.
"Promise," I repeated after him.
Without pausing for a second, he handed the phone to his mother. I heard him squeal in delight as he passed the phone over - telling his mother excitedly that I'll be going to visit him. I spoke to his mother for a bit, inquiring about his health in general and ended the call after a while.
I looked out of the window. The cold wind blowing in my face. And I was overwhelmed by the simplicity of the emotions as felt by both the kid and myself.
I could under no circumstance deny that kid the simple joy of having a friend over to spend some time with.
I am in my last Semester in college. A part of me wants to make the most of each day.
To spend as much time as I can with my friends in college.
I wanted to do that today also.
But.
I couldnt.
I simply could Not imagine the look on the kid's face and the disappointment I would cause him.
So. Inspite of a part of me wanting to stay back, I left the college gates and took a bus to go to the Hospital.
And then.
The Smile.
That innocent-toothed-wide-grinned smile on the kid's face when he saw me.
No words can express the simplicity and a paradoxical complexity of that smile.
He wants me to go tomorrow also. After college.
I know how happee it made him and all the other kids when I went today.
A part of me feels obliged to go and another part understands that its only a child's demand.
And that. Its not possible to do it everyday.But then again, I'm talking about a kid who is sick. Really sick.
I'm left debating with my own self.
Wanting to stay back in college seems selfish on my part and yet indulging in a his demand is not always right.
I'm torn between myself.
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