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Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Joyless Toys

Wednesday morning. the weather is pleasant for the first time in the year. The Met department predicted the fine weather would continue for the next 10 days. I was enjoying the weather , traveling on the metro rail to office half an hour away.

As the lucky streak would continue, the train bogey that stopped in front of me was relatively empty and I eagerly climbed and put it "thasrif" firmly on the seat.

I let my mind wander off and was enjoying the cool morning breeze when I heard a "thud". I turned my head towards the noise to see a young boy, probably 10 years come in through the window separating the compartments. He was dressed in nothing but a pair of shorts.

I would have found it amusing had it not been for the cardboard box he was holding. It contained the cheap toys, the jingling bells, press and push sort of trinkets we all have played with as kids. But .. he was not playing with them.. he was selling them.

I smiled at the boy , but he looked at me with a neutral face and with a half bored expression pushed a toy in front of me. I wanted to help the boy and buy the toy, but then the words of so call wise ppl of not to help the lads on the trains came to me and I hesitated. In that moment of hesitation , the lad had moved on to the next potential buyer.

Seeing him move around the empty compartment, I felt a mixture of emotions and feelings.
I asked myself, should I be pity the boy for his state of being, at an age when he was to be playing with the same toys as those he was selling, or should I feel proud of him, that he was trying to make an honest living, which is more than I can say about a lot of grown people.

Should I help the boy and make his day better by buying a toy, or should I refrain from him seeing him as a ragamuffin.

Should I feel proud about my parents for showering me with more than enough, or should I feel ashamed about my country for not being able to give its next generation the RIGHT TO EDUCATION, their birthright.

Our country and in some cases the world has grown so bad that it has tapped into the innocence and naiveness of the young kids for its own benefits. Be it in entertainment industry or otherwise, any piece of show/work/action that involves children has turned into a major crowd puller.

At an age when the kids should be surrounded by toys for their own enjoyments, they are made the pieces of entertainment, forced to sell toys which should have themselves, being made to wrap the toys beautifully for another , more fortunate kid to buy, pose in ads for toys.

Toys have lost all meaning and have being useless artifacts that adorn the shelves of those who can afford them. The kids who breathed the life in toys do not enjoy them , preferring more technological stuff like PS and Wii. The toys are not joyless.

Our country has failed to provide the essential support to our next generation, the carefree happiness which can be learned only in childhood, to be remembered throughout our life, reminded by the next generation in front of us.
What are we doing about it?