CHOWKIDAR AND ABDUL KALAM

We have given India the moon stated a beaming ISRO Chairman while the former President Abdul Kalam envisioned the ISRO realising the dreams of several children to be astronauts who wish to voyage to moon and Mars besides the deeper space. The cheer on his face said it all and reminded one of the love he shared with children. May be Saint Nicholas (Santa Claus) and Chhaccha Nehru are the only others I could think of who could match this bonhomie with children. Well I also belong to a family of children crazy persons and we closely observe every movement of a child as well as imbibe every word uttered by children. The former President's remarks on the aspirations and ambitions of children brought to fore many instances which I thought could be shared.

As a six year old, my cousin felt he was saddled with homework and schoolwork while I enjoyed life since I had just taken up a job. To add to his misery, when queried about the nature of job, I had remarked that I was to scale a mountain of chocolates and eat them once I reached the peak. His ambition was instantaneously to bid goodbye to school and swap portfolios. But a more amazing ambition he had was that he should travel to the sun. May be he is the only one after the mythical Hanuman who dreamt of such a possibility and would not the ignitor of minds be pleased to know about this dream?

A neighbour's kid had another ambition which was very much childlike. He wanted my sister to be his teacher who would give a lot of statement problems to other children and then take him out to play.

A third child had an interesting way of celebrating Deepavali wherein he would want to be slapped on his back instead of bursting crackers. He once travelled to Raipur and stated that it would be daylight there when it wouldbe night here. All from a four year old - Newton or Galileo in the making.

Many children have had dreams of being a teacher, an engine driver, a bus conductor, a flier, a pilot, a policeman etc but have you heard of a child which aspired to be a thief and all for a jar of pickles. Today this very child is a bright engineer pursuing studies in London.

The sone pe suhaga came during a journey from Delhi to Bangalore. A child boarded the train with his parents. He warmed up to me and reached out to my food much to the chagrin of his parents. As we chattered on, I asked him about his aspiration. Lo and behold he answered without batting an eyelid that he wanted to be a CHOWKIDAR. The reason - all children listen to him and his cane..

Truly the innocent world of children remains unmatched.