This
is my first attempt at writing a short story. An incident which took place
during my travel from Bangalore to Delhi made me write this.
I
boarded the Bangalore-New Delhi early morning flight at 5.30 AM. I had chosen a
window seat as usual. Next to me a kid of around 6-7 years age and his mother
were seated. The father had got a seat at the rear end of the plane.
This
kid started throwing tantrums. He started speaking loudly as though he was at
home. His mother tried to calm him down but he didn’t listen one bit. Then the
kid opened a tablet kind of device. I realized that this kid was pampered to the
core. He started playing Cricket with high volume. His mother asked him to mute
and play but as usual he didn’t listen. He kept playing for a while. Breakfast
was served. He was grumping about something or the other all the time. Way he
sat on his seat was unique as well. He stretched his legs and sat almost in
diagonal kind of way. He refused to wear seat belts initially but later was
forced to wear by the flight attendant.
We
reached Delhi and there was another surprise in store. He had his skating shoes
and both the parents were helping him to skate. The kid again was grumpy. He
asked his mother to hold him properly. It had reached heights as far as I was
concerned. A 6-7 year old kid with latest gadget, skating shoes and add to this
is his erratic behavior in not even listening her mother’s instructions.
I
felt parents as directly responsible for whatever the kid is now. They might
have fulfilled all his wishes - bought the things which he desired, never scold
him for his irrational behavior and so on.
I
had a connecting flight to Kanpur and made my way into domestic transfer
section. Completed my security check and was collecting my laptop bag. I looked
back and there was this same kid who was undergoing security check. He had his
skating shoes on and his parents standing beside him. The security guard
enquired why is he wearing this kind of shoes. The father replied that the kid
has been diagnosed with an ailment where he cannot walk properly and has to be
escorted by someone all the time with the skates on.
I
was stunned when I heard it. All my earlier interpretations about the parents
and kid were completely one-sided. I just imagined certain things and came to a
conclusion. I had painted a bad image of kid and parents. I had done a mistake.
I just didn’t have the courage to even look at the kid or parents face.
I
had learnt a very big lesson of jumping to conclusions without giving it a good
thought. We do it many a times in our life. We interpret others based on some
perception which is highly subjective. We tend to become judgmental and end up
branding the person as bad.
