There is nothing like the smile of children to make one's day (or days) special particularly when travelling across a country State like Rajasthan in India where a simple decorated pen or a lolly-pop can make children's eyes sparkle with joy and where words need not be said.
The Junnagarth Fort in Bikaner may have not been the right place to distribute the first pens and lolly-pops, as I soon realised, because there was one particular moment where parents and family members of the children I was handing them out to came over to see what was going on and blocked the way to one of the fort courtyards ... though I was happy enough to see they were as touched with the "gesture" as their children were.
We had been told it would be advisable not to hand those out to the children directly, but after just three days I felt I should not miss the opportunity of approaching children in my own subtle way and I must confess I am glad I did it because that gave me a unique chance of being close to them and directly share their joy.
As we approached Jaiselmer, just one day after I started distributing the little things I had brought along I realised I wouldn't have enough to last me till the end of the journey ... I had miscalculated not the number of days but definitely the potential number of children I might come across with.
So the last lolly-pops were handed out to two rather shy siblings on a small village compound we stopped at on the road to Ranakpur, days before the end of the trip...
But what precious moments those were ... I am sure I will forever remember those big eyes looking at me ...
No comments:
Post a Comment