Today I stand 5'9" tall, am 21 years 8 months 19 days of age, have completed more than 3/4th of my graduation but still a question remains.. Am I a grown up?.. I seriously fail to answer this question whenever it pops up. What does being a grown up mean? does it mean ability to shoulder a responsibility.. to think maturely.. to be able to stand on one's own feet..??? or does it mean to be able to do all of it? Can I do this all on my own .. for sure I'm no Superman.. but yes I can certainly try. There are so many examples of people ( several of them who are younger to me) doing all that I mentioned above, with such an ease that it makes me, at times, feel microscopic. There was this once, that I was travelling by train, at around 8 in the morning, the train stopped at Adra Jn. I stepped out to look for something to eat and a figure to my right caught my eye. There was this boy, very neatly dressed;probably a 12 year old, who was sitting on the bench and was counting currency notes. Just then the train sounded it's horn and I headed back. This little guy also boarded the train and came and sat down in front of me. I wondered whether he was travelling alone or was with someone.. so I asked him if there was somebody elder travelling with him, to which he coldly replied "Nahin main akele hi hoon". Wanting to start a conversation I asked him where lived and there was again a ice cold reply, "Kolkata". As the train moved on, I was able to strike a propr conversation with this guy, whom for no good reason had made me curious about him. As I spoke to him I discovered that his father, who worked with A.H Wheeler Kolkata distributed newspapers till Adra at all Wheeler stalls, had died in a train accident and this boy had taken over his job. At first I thought, "These wheeler people should be sued under the Child Labour act!" but then as he spoke more about himself, i found out that he was supporting a mother and a younger sister. At this tender age when he is supposed to go to school,play with friends, this guy had was slogging day and night run his family. Things like government free education programme, child labour act did not matter to him, all that he saw was that he had a family to support and he was doing nothing else than that....
Circumstances harden a man... but have they hardened me.. am yet to find out
--Capt. krrunch
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4 comments:
Growing up is a never ending process:)
As Shalini said, the day you believe you've grown up, you're dead. :)
Keep growing up but never let the kid die in your heart:-)
We grow up everytime we observe these 'Gods of small things'
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