Aladdin and Jasmine rose up on  the magic carpet and waved at the audience even as we heard …. and they lived happily ever after….that ended the Disney themed annual day celebrations at the school.

The audience cheered the children who had enacted enthusiastically in the four fairy tales beautifully choreographed and synchronized by the school dance teacher.  The gangway was soon queued up with people trying to get out of the auditorium. 

I decided to wait for the crowd to abate so I remained seated. J

ust as I started checking my mobile, I could hear a girl’s voice cracking nearby. She looked like a ten year old. She whispered something to her mother and then suddenly broke down. The mother started consoling her. Since I was seated just a couple of seats away I asked what the matter was.

The mother said,” Oh! It’s just that we are shifting to a new house tomorrow but my daughter doesn’t want to leave the old house. She is very much attached to that house where she spent  eight years. She also doesn’t want to leave the neighbour’s children who are her playmates. 

"I don’t know how to convince her that we are shifting to a house where she will have a much bigger room to herself. She will find new playmates in the new neighborhood.”

As soon as I heard this I went down memory lane. A decade ago we also had to shift to a new house. The difference being that our new house was in the same compound and just two parallel roads away from the old house. Just a stone’s  throw away. Even so there was a tirade of protests from Nandini, my daughter, who incidentally was a ten year old then. Few weeks before we moved out , Nandini spent brooding and writing obits to the beautiful evenings she had with her playmates. This  despite the fact that all her playmates  had vociferously promised to regularly visit her at the new house.

After shifting she kept a long face, lost her appetite and spoke little to us. I got worried and prayed that her playmates started pouring in after their school exams.

My prayers were answered after a week when all the neighborhood kids gathered at our doorstep as promised. Nandini came barging out of her room. The smile on her face returned as she saw them. The whole house was filled with boisterous noises.

From then on, the evenings once again became playful  and the kids went about painting the town red. It was all hunky dory.

As I returned back to the current situation, I looked at the ten year old crying on her mother’s shoulder. I looked at her and said,” Don’t worry and don’t cry. You will get loads of new playmates. You will have a good time in your new house. Buck up…. Yay!”

Kids and children crave for the simple pleasures of life till smartphones and gadgets enter their lives. Adults and modern day life styles put a spoke in the wheels of their innocence and tenderness.

As I left the school I sent a silent prayer  to the Almighty to guard this ten year old and bless her with what she rightfully craves and deserves. Amen!