The boy and the monkey

I like to scribble something down and post without any edits. I describe myself as a lonely raider. Some sad youth living a two thousand kilometers away from everything he loves. A tender soul made to work twelve hour shifts, wear a mask and then walk around with a fully shaven face and ironed clothes- one hand in his pocket.

I used to be the heartbeat of all that you call entertainment. Used to be, used to be – means not anymore.

Saving all those Privilege Leaves and Casual Leaves to take a good long vacation and go home, I often forget to satisfy the man I used to be. I won’t complain unless my leave request for that dream vacation is put on hold.

I can fight any fire because I have a bigger fire inside me. I have been living with it. I have never tried to put it off. Without it, I am afraid I may not exist.

I connect socially (online) while travelling in the company vehicle to and from office. The round trip costs me around 3 hours of my day. Those fine days I switch over from night shift to day shift or from day to night, I get the luxury of an off for around 24 hours. I have always loved to spend those times trying and cooking food that resemble of what my mom used to serve me at home(Even though it never tasted great). I hate to eat out. Paying too much and stuffing my mouth with something I never loved is not a great idea. I opted for cooking. I cook my food. I spare some time during those beautiful days for my health –jogging and then a few cool low intensity exercises at the park.

On one of those beautiful days, I met him. He was on his toes hanging on the fingers of someone who should be his grandfather. It reminded me of how I travelled everywhere with my grandfather some twenty five years ago. I was interested in the kid. I smiled, he returned me a smile. He had a chat and the grandpa left him at the play area near to where I was doing my exercises and went for a walk around the park. I smiled at him again. He blushed. The kid started trying all the exercise machines kept in the park one by one. I kept an eye on him (as an HSE professional, I love to care for everybody’s safety :D ), but without much effort. I was just afraid that he might injure himself, he was too small to enjoy pain. Finally he reached my favourite spot in the park – the monkey bars. The kid stood right beneath it wondering what to do. He tried so hard to climb through the vertical post to reach the bars. One moment of pride, after many failed attempts he was able to touch the bars. He blushed. Now it has been almost 5 -10 minutes since I have started to observe the kid. I thought he would now stop and merrily go home. But he climbed again and again. One moment of glory and the boy was able to hang on to the bars. He hung with all his might and determination. I felt like going near him. I really admired his determination. He fell down, sprung back and then looked at me. The next time he climbed, I supported him. I helped him cling to the bars. I showed him how to use the bars transferring body weight from one hand to the other. My movements made him blush. His grandpa maybe as he was done with his walking came and took this boy along with him. They walked. He didn’t complain, he was happy.

I was sure that the boy will definitely come back the next day, he will go straight to the bars and learn to move through them on his own. There was fire inside him too.