As It Comes To Mind

Monu and Meethi were best friends and schoolmates too, Meethi being a year older to Monu. But at school they rarely saw each other. The only free time was the interval at 11:00 a.m. when the staff and children had their tiffins. It lasted 20 minutes, which gave just enough time for the kids to eat and drink before the affable peon picked up the hand bell to ring the end of the interval. So, it turned out that Monu saw Meethi at the bus stop in the morning and then next only inside the bus in the afternoon before they started back on the return journey. And once they both got down at the bus stop Monu would walk alongside Meethi thinking of the games they would play in the evening. In the evenings, the children would sometime go to a small ground nearby and play on the swings and slides. Raka called it 'Jhoole Ki Maatth' and it was a favourite with the kids because they loved the free space it afforded where they could run after each other and get on the swings in twos and so

Last week, at my daughter’s dance class, I was sitting with the other mothers and watching the kids diligently perform the steps that their teacher taught them. In between, when the teacher took some reprieve from the continuous singing, the kids would rush towards their satchels and take a sip of water. It was during one such small break that I was privy to a short exchange between one of the mothers and a student. It so happened that the break had unexpectedly extended somewhat due to a phone call for the teacher and the child in question - a young girl of around eleven or twelve years - was sitting next to my daughter and trying to whistle. She was probably only trying out what she had seen her brother or a classmate do, something as common as trying out a new candy which she had seen someone else have. And promptly came the reproof from one of the mothers seated nearby, “Shhhh! Don’t whistle child! It’s something that only boys do!” The young girl replied with a rueful smile, almo