The Child in me….

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A sweet, innocent smile greeted me today as I entered the overcrowded metro to reach my office on time. It was a routine activity for lacs like me to wake up, be ready and start running the rat race of life, everyday without fail. But today, when I looked at the cute face, I realized how things change with time.

The smile was being reflected from a young face, which was enjoying an early morning outing with his mother. As he was clinging tight, it seemed that her mother was having a hard time to adjust in the brimming peak hour crowd. But the smile on his face did not vanish for a single second.

I began to think that few years from now, when he grows up, maybe he might travel in the same metro amid the crowd, amid the rush and then maybe this smile would not be so natural, or will not exist at all.

What was different in him and me? Age? But age is just a number isn’t it?? Then it must be the weight of responsibilities that I have on my shoulders. But wait? What responsibilities? I am a young bachelor, having a respectable job and do not care much about what others think of me. Then what is the difference between him and me?

Why I am unable to even show a faint sign of smile in the same environment, where he is reflecting all the luminosity with his attractive smile?

As I saw her mother de-board the metro at the next station, I began self analyzing the cause of difference between the two of us. He is new to this world, this commotion, unaware of the worldly ways and the desires that fill a heart with time.

He has not seen much more than his parents or some relatives, who are always smiling whenever they come in front of him. Possibly, he has not even read even the first letter of any language and technically, he was totally unaware about every knowledge gem of human development.

But still, he seemed calm, content, smiling and close to nature. When he saw people, he just winked or smiled at them, without judging them on any ground. He was pure. Just like natural beauty.

On the other hand, I was standing here, clad in formal attire, artificial from top to bottom. The personality I became was in sharp contrast to that of the baby. I might possess specialization in a subject, I might be rich, I might be a lot in this world, I might be achiever, but this is not natural.

In the race for survival, I have forgotten the child in me, and that is where I had done wrong. Today even if I try, I will never be able to wear a natural smile and the aura which the child possessed. I forgot the child in me, and today the nature showed me that it forgets everyone, who forgets themselves as the child of Mother Nature. As we grow more superior in technology and knowledge, we are distancing ourselves from the natural beauty of being human.