at the signal..

I was standing at the signal waiting for the signal to turn red.. listening to the usual RJ chatter.. And as usual there were these beggars cum salespeople who beg and sell their product at signals.. There were these kids along with an older lady trying to sell bouquet with all dead flowers and begging you to by them.. One boy passed my car and I just happened to look at the flowers drying.. noticing me paying some attention he stopped at my car and starting gesturing me to buy it and begging..

I did what I usually do, ignored and looked away to the empty passenger seat and looked busy.. After a few seconds I could still see a shadow on my car window. The boy was standing there mesmerized looking inside the car..

I quickly locked my car from inside unsure of what he may do.. but then noticed something... The boy had placed his mouth on the glass and was trying to beg.. that had created a small patch of frost.. He looked at it all mesmerized and started drawing something..As soon as it dried he blew on the glass again and drew some more.. oblivious of my presence and of his purpose on that street.. He was living the moment.. Enjoying every bit of the lines he drew, the figures that came alive and with each new figure his smile grew bigger...

I kept looking at him drawing more and more on my car window deeply engrossed in his masterpiece..which were nothing but some lines..maybe trying to draw an alphabet or a figure..

What he wanted to make was not important but how passionately he wanted to make it was..

The signal turned green and i looked up to see traffic moving.. I turned to the window instantly but the boy had disappeared..into the darkness..back to begging..

And i was left wondering...

There he was, a boy in rags, begging, illiterate yet fascinated by such a trivial thing.. He would be struggling everyday to make a living, to fight the older boys and make something extra so that is spared the rod that night.. Yet in all the greater troubles that life has subjected him to..he did not leave his childlike fascination... the joy of making something.. of living the moment..

And here I was living in luxury, making a lifestyle statement yet so far away from the child like fascination which is so easy to nurture, develop and build on for someone like me yet so far away a thought.. the price you pay for being educated!!!