Growing Up

 I was thirty-five years old when I got my passport and travelled abroad for the first time.

My little friend Gabbu is just fifteen months old and he just returned from a holiday in Thailand.

I saw lions and their cubs in awe and fearfulness at the Delhi Zoo.

Gabbu’s mother showed me videos of him playing with the lion cubs inside their cage.

On the eve of his overseas departure, I met Gabbu sitting upright in his beautiful perambulator.

When he returned after ten days, he had dropped the pram and was walking.

My little friend had surely grown up quickly.

We were meeting him after quite a gap and there was trepidation that he would have forgotten us.

We saw him sitting lazily on the swing looking slightly bored.

I clapped my hands hard, he turned, and the scene changed.

Gabbu smiled and reciprocated by clapping his hands and moving his legs up and down.

As the swing went forward and backwards, he smiled more and more with every swing.

We were thrilled that our little friend remembered us well.

We continued with our walk in the campus and in the next round we reached the swing again.

Gabbu started making hand gestures which appeared to be saying… get me out of here.

He was wearing a pair of nice white shoes with two red stripes… I am ready, he was saying.

With a gentle pull, got him out of the swing and placed him on the ground.

Gabbu smiled first and then laughed and started walking.

Wondered, how someone can laugh merrily in a world divided by jingoism, religion and mad men?

Gabbu was now laughing with his mouth wide open.

Buddy, do you know what happened at Venezuela while you were sleeping last night?

Saliva dripped from his open mouth and he seemed happier.

How can you be happy with missiles and drones flying in all direction in Ukraine and Russia?

Gabbu now started laughing aloud making the ha ha ha sound.

Do you even know how many Iranians died or were put behind prison bars?

The little one now started rocking his head as he kept walking and laughing.

Do you know that Greenlanders are feeling the chill not from the cold for the first time?

Gabbu now started shaking his head faster and harder as if in a trance.

Doesn’t the four hundred plus AQI at Delhi bother you Little One?

Gabbu now started singing… la la la… loudly and everyone around could see hear him.

Wild fires in Chile, ethnic cleansing in Sudan and train accident in Spain- no time to rejoice Buddy.

Gabbu kept singing and wobbling in circles round and round.

High he was for sure but in a spirit of his own.

Singing a song of his own.

Dancing in his own steps.

Shaking his head from the front to the back as if there were a spring in his neck.

His mouth ajar, with four little teeth popping out in front and saliva dripping as he laughed.

I raised my index finger and asked him to stop prancing.

He looked at me, laughed aloud and purred with his lips held together as if saying... forget it!

I wondered if this is not the state what we all seek to attain- Ultimate Joy.

Joy of dancing as if no one is looking.

Joy of singing without worrying about the right notes.

Joy of laughing uninterrupted till you cried.

I wondered how Gabbu was able to do it all.

D said, it is because of his innocence.

He is pure at heart, one without deceit and cunningness.

He knows little simple things and knows no fear, shame or competitiveness.

Gabbu is untouched and undisturbed by things we worry endlessly about.

Our hearts and minds are completely corrupted and the innocence is lost from our lives.

Age and innocence are inversely proportional, when one goes up, the other comes down

Honesty and simplicity keep vanishing from our lives with each passing day as we grow.

We wear masks all the time and refuse to be our true selves.

We are always trying to be what we are not and worried about what others think of us.

I looked once more at my little Laughing Buddha and said…

Gabbu, don’t grow up. It is not worth it.

Keep laughing, keep dancing and keep singing…let the world wonder why.

Stay young and stay innocent as long as you can.

Growing up is a trap.

Don't know if he understood anything, he just smiled, blew a flying kiss and wobbled on.

SS