There was commotion and subdued excitement in our three piece household. My son went to school this morning for the first time. Dressed by his mother in a strikingly matching suit and in a jubilant mood, he came glowing to me.
His hair was neatly combed; his face looked dewy fresh. On it was a shine I will never forget. As he raised his cheek to me, I kissed him. Softly. Strangely though, it reminded me of the times when his mother and I courted each other.
I had thought I will never be capable again of such intensity and softness.
Came his rickshaw-wala. His school badge with his little kerchief, firmly pinned to his chest, my son waved me ‘bye’. He stood there for a moment, ready to go. I tried to hide my tears and looked at my wife.
She was cleaning her eyes; and said she had just been cutting onions. We both stood there at the threshold crying silently as the rickshaw turned round the corner. Silly things.
In the evening, as I came back from office, I wanted to talk to him, but he had gone to play. I asked my wife about him and as slowly as suddenly we both discovered an exciting topic to share. After what seems an eternity, we laughed together heartily.
We almost stumbled on God in those pure moments.
In the night, when we were preparing to go to bed, my child suddenly remembered something. “Mama”, he cried, “I have homework to do”. Astonished, I looked at his mother. She said she didn’t know a thing about it.
There was nothing in his pockets when he came from school; he had not carried any satchel to school. My son took out a piece of paper carefully folded from his badge. The teacher had marked several points on the sheet. They were to be joined. My son was going to learn to draw a line.
My heart bled. My joy was immense as it was ecstatic. From now on, day after day, he will devour the fruit of knowledge. In time, the innocent eyes will have a know-all gleam. He would have traversed through his childhood and adolescence fully backed and equipped to take his plunge in the stream of this world.
For a long, sensitive phase, he will do our bidding and learn from the world created by us around him. God has decentralized his authority. He has entrusted us to mould him just as he created him. In millions of houses today, the same feeling will be experienced.
The day will not be forgotten. Because a new beginning was made today. A promise was being made in the cause of humanity that a good human being, may be not rich or famous was taking shape. Out of the ordinary, the extraordinary is announcing its arrival as a law-abiding citizen.
