I was standing on my balcony one day when karma demonstrated a lesson within ten minutes. It was Makar Sankranti and I was observing the kites in the sky. The day was pleasant and breezy. Besides flying kites, children on this day took great pleasure in kite collecting, chasing cut kites that fell from the sky. I was lost in my own thoughts when I suddenly heard voices from below and saw two small children looking up at me. A girl of around seven and her partner in crime, a boy of around eight.
There was a beautiful green kite in pristine condition stuck on the edge of my balcony on the second floor and they wanted me to release it. I did, and their faces lit up with excitement. But unfortunately the kite drifted and landed on a ledge of the first floor on the opposite building. A wall separated the two buildings but there was no stopping these two kids from going after this big green kite, which would eventually drift off and fall on the other side. The two children wanted to get it before the other kids did. They decided to climb the wall.
The girl squatted and the boy climbed on to her shoulders, balancing with the support of the wall. She slowly stood up and the boy climbed over and sat on top of the wall. Wow, I was a little shocked and quite impressed with their little performance. The girl then put one foot against the wall, stretched out her hand and asked her friend to pull her up. The boy refused. He told her to go around the wall. But the kite would fall by then and she wanted to be around when he got it. The mean boy turned her down again and sent her off all huffing and puffing. She refused to help him further and left.
By that time the other kids had noticed the beautiful green kite and arrived on the scene. The little boy sitting on the wall laughed at them saying they were on the wrong side, the kite would fall on the other side of the wall and he would jump and get it. At that moment the kite slipped off and floated high above the little boy in the direction of the children. The boy was hysterical and shouted, “no, its mine!” and caught the manja (kite string) in order to pull the kite towards him. It was too late. The other kids had their hands on the kite and pulled it out of his hand. The kite string cut the boy’s hand badly and there was blood all over. Seeing this, they panicked and ran off leaving the boy in tears and tremendous pain.
A bystander helped the wailing boy down from the wall and wrapped the bleeding palm tight with a handkerchief. He had been noticing the events and said to the boy, “your little friend gave you her shoulders, you could have easily given her a hand. But you did not and now Karma has cut your hand.”
A hard lesson in life for an eight year old I thought. Selfish thinking got him nowhere. Being thankful, helpful and giving could have got the boy a beautiful green kite.