Three Cheers For Innocence...

One of the first things that I do when I'm playing with a newborn is to gently blow air at his face; the reaction that follows is quite adorable. My mother tells me that I used to spend hours at a stretch staring at my hands when I was a baby. Quite a "convenient" baby I must have been I guess...no toys n danglers required, keeping myself occupied with something as dumb as gazing at my own hands...

I wouldn't have sat down to write this post coz' I am often so disconnected by it’s theme. Innocence...quite an indefinable term I must say. Though it pops straight into your face when you least expect it to be. One of my close relatives is holding a senior post in a company based overseas and has to make frequent trips for work. The younger child, 3 yr old motor-mouth of a gal often complains to her Dad that he never takes her to the park and so on. One evening when I was visiting them, she was dragging onto my uncle for the same thing. My uncle was on his way to a meeting and gently told the child, "...bete mere paas time nahi hai." (child...I don't have the time...) and then the lil cousin of mine said something quite remarkable. She said, "...koi baat nahi Papa...mere se le lo..." (that's not an issue Dad...take some from me) The words hit us and most of all…my uncle…not coz’ of anything else but the innocence of the little child. Children have that gift.

Somewhere along the way…we are told not to trust other people and every act of ours is more often than not a “pre-rehearsed” one. The idea of saying or doing the first thing that comes to mind is quite frankly…unthinkable. I am not saying that it’s “innocent” to grab the first pretty gal that comes across…that’s mis-placed affection, better known as lust! But what’s the harm in a simple smile? But then you never know what brand of pervert you are branded as for a simple act as a genuine smile. Hence, we all walk with a plastic face with extra control points for not letting that one odd genuine expression from showing itself! It’s all as per a game plan…

As I say this…I know that it is easier said than done to keep innocence intact in the times when taking a ride is ill-advised for gals by cops coz’ you never know when suit-clad smooth guy at the wheel takes that turn to an isolated spot. It’s a fact…trust has never been more difficult, yet it hurts to see everyone walking with their “guards up”…coz’ we might spend the entire lives, never having met the real person behind it.

Still…it’s nothing short of a breeze of fresh air to come across some act of somebody or something said by somebody, that just makes you smile out of the simple joy of finding out that it still exists. That innocence hasn’t breathed it’s last. Not yet…

Or else what would you say about a 22yr old confident and smart gal looking at her hands and saying with a sigh, “…mere hath toh 5th class ke baad badhna hi ruk gaye…” (…after class 5th, my hands just stopped growing…)

PS: Questions about the identity of the gal in the last para shall be heartlessly stonewalled…