It was his routine- to get up early in the morning, begging to every door of the street for food and then after searching for some junks in the garbage. Of quiet a young age, in the unclean rags he looked like any beggar boy.
He responded in the same‘no reaction’ way to all the people at various doors who behaved differently. Pitiful. He never knew that he has to be angry on some one who misbehaves. Since he started seeing the world, this all is like that only. And that made him ‘careless’ about all such things. At maximum, as if a natural response of every animal, thankful eyes were his response to the ‘generous’ people who poured unhealthy food in to his bowl, which other wise they would have delivered to dust bin.
His next duty was search of junk. He used to sell the junk to the junk shop to earn some pittances. He spent his times in the garbage blissfully, as children would enjoy playing in parks. In the heaps of wastes, he searched for others’ unwanted and his wanted things.
One day, as usual, after filling his bag with enough junk, he sat at a corner of bus stand and started checking what he collected that day. In that day’s collection, among usual items - such as squeezed toothpaste tubes, waste boxes, tins, half full shoe polish container, old & damaged shoe polish brushes- there was one thing that made boy’s eyes glow with fascination- an artistic ‘chirag’ like tiny lamp.
Instantly some thing flashed to boy -the story, grandma telling to her grandson, which he listened hiding behind a tree. He recalled that story of a poor boy called ‘Aladdin’.
“Once upon a time there was a poor boy called Aladdin…
One day he found a ‘Chirag’ which confined within it a gin…!
Thereon it gave him all he wished…!”
Boy felt thrilled. Started thinking “if the one I am having now is just same as that magical chirag… and if it gives me all I wish… then…then…I will ask for lot of money, new colorful clothes and all that I think. I will eat all I wish in that big hotel on the main road to city. I eat all those beautiful dishes I saw in the glass showcase of that hotel. The hotel owner, who ran me whenever I went near the hotel, will not be able to recognize me in my rich dresses. After eating in the hotel, I will sit in my long car. Driver will salute me and start driving the car towards city… I go to city…there I will…”
As the boy kept on dreaming, his entire colorful dream became dense smoke; the smoke started swirling with a great speed! And then the smoke whirl entered the junk bag!! The boy frustrated as his dream shattered and desperately started searching for that spinning smoke which took away his dream. Bag was full of junks and boy had no patience. Desperately he emptied his bag at once. The whirlpool hidden in the bag then swiftly moved and entered a small black box- the shoe polish wax box. The small box, due to the impact of whirlpool stated rolling on the ground and started running away from the boy. Btu passionate boy picked something to hit the rolling box and stop it. Chased it for a few steps and was just about to hit it. But then the wax stopped as it hit and stuck between a pair of shoed legs. Then the man shouted-“stop playing now. Come here and shine my shoes quickly. I’ll give you five rupees if you make them shine like new. Hurry up!”
Boy was nonplussed and was unable to utter anything. “Five rupees! Wow!!”- he said him self and then only he noticed what he is holding in his hand, which he picked to hit the rolling box- a shoe polish brush! Before this, boy saw many others doing this job. But he never thought that he could also do that. But today…
Boy sat down and started shining the shoes of proud man. Once boy thought enough he looked at the face of that man. He was not happy and shouted “not enough”. Boy brushed again. But man seemed not happy with that. He gave the boy three rupees and said “this is more for what you did” and walked away. For the boy, three rupees were too much. Mean while another shout came- “hey, how much you take for shining my shoes?”
Boy is not aware that, what his chirag spouted was an illusion. He is not able to analyze or interpret the meaning of his dream and what all happened thereafter. He not even knows that he already stepped the first step towards realizing his dream.
Girish Kodashettar
(written on: September 2002)
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