MALIK AASOODA & MAJID MUNEER
A few months back an event was held in our school based on so called “Children’s Day”. A grand event of Minto Circle School with so many programmes & skirts related to the future of the country ‘Children’. One such program that stuck our minds was a skit entitled “WHAT DOES HALF AN HOUR COST”? The skit included a small yet effective story of a five year old girl, whose father was a big business tycoon. The girl hardly saw her father as he left home before she woke up every day & he returned back when she had slept. So, the home had remained just a house for her & her babysitter was the only person to take care of her. One evening she tried hard to stay awake late at evening waiting for her father. When her father came back, she desperately went to him & asked “DAD! How much do they pay you for half an hour?” in a disgusting manner, the only reply she got was “go to your bed! You have to get up early in the morning.” After an hour or so, the father went to the girl’s bedroom and saw his little girl crying. Of course the father went to her and simply answered her question “they pay me 1000 rupees for half an hour”! The girl in an innocent manner asked “can you lend me 300 rupees dad?” the father surprisingly asked the reason for borrowing 300 rupees, to which the girl politely replied “DAD, I’ve collected 800 rupees. If you lend me 300 rupees, I’ll pay you 1100. Please! Spend that half an hour with me…..!” and what dumbfound was the father.
In this modern period, when a child is born in a family, no one describes the baby as a boy or a girl but for a father an engineer is born, for mother a doctor is born, for uncles and aunts a new hope is born which will bring credit to their names & for young children in the family an astronaut is born who will discover distinct lands for them so that they can boastfully tell their friends “O! That planet! That has been discovered by my cousin. “Grand mothers are in a hope that the new born will one day discover such medicine which will help them to vanish wrinkles from their face while grandfathers expect such a medicine which will eradicate diabetes from this world. In fact
, I myself once witnessed this when my second cousin was expecting a baby & her in laws made a statement “Wane Zaye Na Ase Engineer Soub”. Soon we will be having yellow colored school buses outside the hospitals to take new-born kids to the crèche.
When a baby is born, the parents now a days first indulge themselves in arranging the birth certificate for their newborn and the second, rather the most important thing that they look for is the form of the most renowned crèche for their baby. An arrangement for a babysitter is done in the family as mom & dad are supposed to go their respective offices. As such, the only person to take care of the child is the baby sitter. In fact in most of the cases, a child recognizes his babysitter while they give a cold reaction when they see their parents, because the baby hardly knows them! As soon as the baby uses his two legs to stand rather than four paws, a school bus appears on the door where a babysitter is seen carrying the baby upto the bus with his tiffin box. The only thing he faces is burden of tones instead of joyous movements. While mom & dad have already left for their respective offices, they show their care by giving a mere phone call to the babysitter asking if their baby reached the crèche.
Sent to crèche to play with ted.
Unfortunately he loses the warmth of his mother’s bed!
At this tender age the baby sits among the other children in the crèche who also share the same fate, while the teachers at the crèche try their level best to take care of the baby & make sure that the contents in the tiffin transfer into his stomach. Now a streak of happiness runs down the spine of mom & dad as the baby is able to speak the letters A,B,C
Unable to mutter & sent to speak!
Now comes the turn to admit their baby in a school. On the very first day, the child wants his mom & dad to accompany him up to the school but dad has to attend an important meeting & mom can’t leave the office. The scene which appears is the child sitting in a big luxurious car & a driver accompanying him to his school. Now the baby can speak, red, blue, purple yellow in one go. He or she now memorizes the names of ample birds & umpteen vegetables. Days keep on passing like this in the sense that driver drops the child in the school and also comes to pick him up during off time.
An important event is going to take place in the school. It’s the inter school science project presentation. The child happens to win it and gets a golden trophy. He even gets selected for the state level of the same project. For him, it’s like a dream coming true; he is dying to break this news in front of MOM & DAD. As soon as he reaches home, a big iron lock hangs the door. He enters his house but a roar of silence keeps haunting him. He desperately waits for his parents to come. Till this time, he takes a short nap & when he wakes up, he notices the presence of this parents, and he quickly goes to DAD to tell him that he won the competition but if DAD is going to take interest in such things who is going to pay his fees and the bill of his phone and all other expenses. With half broken heart he now goes to his mom to show her the trophy which her son has won in the science competition but if mom is going to take care of such things he will have to sleep empty stomach. With these words of mom, suddenly the luster of his golden trophy vanishes away and now he moves to his room and updates the status of his facebook profile where he gets words & comments of admiration & appreciation for his brilliant success, even from the people whom he does not know. But he still remains devoid of a word from his parents.
Now there is the annual day celebration in the school, and he is going to receive the award for the best student. But DAD can’t even spare an hour from his busy schedule and MOM has to attend an important wedding. He sits in the crowd of thousands of students in his school who are also like him having swelled pockets but empty hearts! He now grows up being indifferent to all the in-differences Now where in the story did the love exist?
Due to this very cause, we have lakhs of drug addicts, a million annual tee age suicides and thousands of old age homes in our Country!
(Both Majid and Aasooda are students of class 10th of Minto Circle School. They together participated in a number of science events & can be followed on the below mentioned
Email addresses maajidmunir0001@gmail.com,malikaasooda@gmail.com.)