Games children play

The battle of the water missiles went on for an hour or so and looked set to acquire more serious overtones, until some of the wise people of the society intervened and pacified the rivals, convincing them to dump their false pride, artificial height and superficial positions! In the end, everyone assembled happily in the park to deck each other up with the joyful colors of Holi.

The day ended with lots of fun, dancing, partying and good-natured ribbing. One was reminded of the sweet taste of life, which is often lost because of our need to control one another rather than coexist peacefully.

Life’s experiences, festivals and, above all, the world of children, may yet help us learn the virtues of peace and the importance of putting an end to nuclearisation.

In order to re-check the consensus reached, I got friendly with the kids of that Holi battle. The three older children in the group taught me about their choice through the analogy of the kitchen knife in the hands of a technology promoter, a soldier, a surgeon, a housewife and a thief. Amazing stories poured out as the imaginary knife was passed on from one hand to the other. From the hands of a Bollywood villain, in which it was a weapon of death, it was passed on to the surgeon and became a lifesaver; from the surgeon the knife passed on to the hidden terrorist, then it was handed over to an obstetrician performing a successful caesarean to ease a new-born into the world.

It was such a beautiful point, so well-told. If missiles continue to steal the sky, where will the sun rise? Where will the children play while learning? To save childhood we need to say no to war.

Surprisingly only two children out of eight were acquainted with the unique story of the little child, Laxmi, sacrificing her dolls and clothes. One child, spellbound with Laxmi’s arrest by the British army, correlated it with the scene from a movie where 11-year-old Bhagat Singh burns his foreign clothes in protest against foreign rule under Bapu’s guidelines.

Indeed, Bhagat Singh has also left his impress on these young minds. Later one evening, I found two of those eight children playing ‘soldier-soldier’, even as they pointed pistols at each other from across a make-believe Indo-Pak border. It then struck me that we must protect the world of children from the strident militaristic tunes emanating from the Pied Pipers of New Delhi who govern us before it is too late.