Hope

He was like a pintsized adult, waiting to grow taller. I had know him since he first came to this place, how long ago was that? Five? Six? Years ago. He had been a boy of four then, innocent, full spirited and waiting to explore the world. He did not know a single word of Dzongkha, the result of being born and brought up in Kurtoe. Arriving in Paro was like stepping into an all different world for him. There were so many different aspects of living he could not fathom but fully intended to understand.

Initially whenever a vehicle passed by, he would run wildly after it and I would run after him. “You must not do that. It is dangerous” I would try to tell him in my limited Kurtoeb, he would laugh then and till date I never found out whether he had laughed at my kurtoeb or just out of sheer pleasure. I would then collect him in my arms and take him home. But all that was, as I have already said a few years ago. Things have changed these past few years, I have moved away from home and his mother has taken to drinking heavily.

On my occasional visit home, I see him doing everything from cooking to doing laundry to mothering his mother. He has matured beyond his age and before his time, yet there is something heart achingly young about him. At 10 he is a young boy with the eyes of an old man. His mother who chooses to remain drunken five days out of a week either bashes him or ignores him. At times I long to hold him in my arms and tell him that things will improve for the better but am not sure he will welcome my sympathy. I don’t know what it is but there is something about the sorrow and pain of life that teaches you to grow up as an individual and I could see that he has done that.
On my last visit home just as I was about to get into a taxi, I saw him standing by the road. I walked up to him handed a couple of fifties and hugged him close to my heart “Some day,” I said “I hope to have a son like you.” Since the taxi driver was getting impatient I hurriedly got into the taxi and drove off. On hindsight I looked back and saw him running after an Alto car…….children and their resilience……no matter what life decides to deal them, they always manage to see the ray of hope amidst the dark shadows.