“Here you go” said Suma while handing over four bags full of used toys to Ravi. She was happy, they were getting rid of unwanted junk to make some space in house. Their 3 years old doesn’t play with them anymore. She has got select toys she likes to keep herself busy with. She keeps getting new ones too.
“It’s too much” Suma had said one day. Then she spotted pavement construction activity near the house where children accompanied their parents who worked as daily wage labourers. The children didn’t attend school. All they did was play all day among cement, sandstone & bricks. They ran, napped, ate, made merry. All under the sun. And shade.
Ravi drove to the location where the construction was on. He spotted one child. He took out a bag and handed it over to him when soon his parents took charge and started showing him different toys Ravi had brought.
But Suma had “promised” a group of children would be there. As soon as Ravi was about to drive off, he spotted five more at some 100 mts. They were chasing a dog away, like a pack themselves. Ravi took the bags and walked towards them. Bags three. Monsters five.
What happened soon after was no less than a riot. Laughs, joys, thrills. Shrills. Pushing, pulling, snatching. Screaming. Children were absorbed as if no World surrounds them. They want the best. The best of that moment. The best of those toys. Ravi looked back and experienced bliss in that time. In the faces of children, who people say are innocent like God.
“JUNK”, Ravi thought as he was driving away. One gets rid of it, other battles over it. It gives that.
JOY.
