Posham Pa

I always liked the summer evenings, which remind me of the show ‘Malgudi days’ on doordarshan though I don’t know what is the resemblance of the show with the evenings, but I guess, I would watch it during the evening time in my childhood. How can I forget the tune - 'ta na na ta na na na'... It has been years, since I watched that series. There are many such things which have been left behind in this busy city-life over years. 

On a similar weekday evening, when I had returned home from office and was making tea. Suddenly, the noise coming from the street caught my attention. I realised, it was the voice of several children playing in the streets. I was transported back to my childhood days when we kids used to gather in the streets at the same time, play and run. I asked myself, ‘how many of us adults enjoy the evening like this’. No one ofcourse because we have responsibilities and more than that – worries. 

What is it which separates children from adults – I think – attitude. Children have no ego, they have no conscience. They do what they want to without giving it a second thought. No one is going to criticise them for behaving bad or being irresponsible. But we adults have so many things to do, we are important tools of the society and that’s why we are conscious towards our actions.

Yeah! That’s the difference. 

When we are small, neither do we have intellects, nor sense of judgement of right and wrong. We look at the life as it is – school, friends, picnic, spoon-feeding from our parents, love from grandparents, fight with siblings, and pampering from relatives. This is how life appears in the beginning. As we grow up, and as our intellects develop, people gradually start to expect from us to be responsible towards various aspects of life – academics, behaviour, discipline, job, marriage, having children, looking after them, running a family and what not. So this difference is fair because we have to earn, we have to look after our families, their values and customs, and we have our goals to achieve.

That’s how the requirements of the society gradually mould us from a carefree happy child to a responsible citizen. This is a never ending unbreakable chain.

But instead of trying to break free of the chain, I, after preparing the tea, stepped outside and opened the gate.  So many changes have taken place in 20 years, but the song was still the same. It was as if everything was still the same – the summer evening, the ‘Malgudi days’ and my childhood friends (with funny hairstyles), except myself who has now grown into a mature adult who joined them to become a child once for a while…

Poshampa bhai poshampa ,
Dhakuo ne kya kiya
Sau rupaye ki ghadi churai
aath aane ki rabadi khayi
ab toh jail mein aana padega
jail ki roti khani padegi
jail ka paani peena padega.

ab toh jail mein aana padega...