A Summer Evening With Joyful Beings

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As the sun calmed down, reducing his intensity, we opened the doors and let ourselves out of the tightly closed, artificially cooled house, to breathe some natural air. Though the warmth in the air hasn't yet died and no leaf seemed to have life, my eyes fell on a scene that was so lively to watch and brought a cool wave of happiness to the mind. What could be more interesting on a summer evening than to watch children playing on the streets with cries of cheer and joy. I was bending over the wall of my balcony to see a group of ten boys, all aged below fifteen playing cricket. Now,this is the cricket played in Indian streets without rules, so ten boys would do the job of two teams. Again, out of the ten, eight were active players and two were silent spectators. They must be umpires. I got caught up in their play as it displayed exuberance and their pure hearts. The children knew no boundaries, hypocrisies, limitations, inequalities or fears. The group had children belonging to all classes of the society, rich and poor, but still they appeared to be best friends. They were very much unaffected by the "fences" that the adult society has created. The hot weather, sweat, hunger or any other physical need doesn't bother them.  They don't know class or caste. All that they know is to be joyful and spread happiness to everyone around them.
I was busy thinking all this and simultaneously observing each of them, when suddenly a boy started dancing, unaware that I was watching.  Even if he knew that I was watching from above, he wouldn't have stopped dancing,because that was his expression for taking a wicket. This attitude of children teach a lot to all those who get too shy to express their happiness with people around them. Such people have a presumption that others might think something wrong about them. These unknown "OTHERS" put limitations and barricades to our energy. When this thought of "OTHERS" grows big and takes deep roots in our mind, it becomes a hindrance to be our natural self. This is the reason that everyone feels more comfortable in the company of children rather than adults, as children remain their natural selves and brim with life. Anything that is natural has life and liveliness attracts. Whatever is artificial can hold our interest only for a short time.
Getting back to our children's group, there was another boy who was sitting with a dull face. He must be thinking about his marks or ranks or grades. Oh! What a pity. Who are we to judge them or rank them anyway? and for what should we do that? We adult folks are unintentionally inducing seriousness into these joyful beings in the name of competition, winning, losing, talent, rules, etc. What's more saddening is that we claim this to be discipline.  What is required more than pure and happy souls? Isn't that enough to make the world a happy place?
Well, if I could get this much happiness by just watching the children play, how would it be if I take part in their game? What if I go and ask them to join me in their team? Can I throw the ball good enough to take a wicket, without disappointing the little minds? May be yes. Can I hit the ball so strongly such that it breaks a window of some house and still be forgiven by the owners of that house? May be yes. Then, can I put my hands inside the street gutter and take out the ball that has fallen into it? Absolutely no. I am so obsessed with cleanliness. That's why I remain a serious adult. After all its a matter of washing hands with a hand wash, but still I cannot do it. For, I
 have been taught unwanted things like- "road", " dust", "dirt", "disease", "health", "safety", "vehicles","strangers" and what not. Even to this day I am taught many such things. Many of you may also have similar experiences.
I don't know how far these have protected us,but,surely they have graved our joyful natural self.
Life full of rules, cautions, fears, doubts, discomfort in mingling with others, irritation and finally we turn out to be serious individuals who cannot spread happiness to others( at least not for a long time).
As I was deeply lost in these serious thoughts, I heard a big scream of joy. The winners' scream. I couldn't make out which team won or what were there scores. Anyway, who bothers about the game when the children with full of life in them were spreading happiness to the whole street and making everyone smile with their every act and move. May the child in them live forever, their innocence and purity be preserved. By the time I finished writing this, the sun and the children had gone to their respective homes and I came to my blog to share this.


© Written by Manaswini Pasumarthi