The last bell to the Government school opposite to our office rings. Children come rushing out. A group of around 15 boys are gathered near our building gate. We are curious to see what they are doing. One of the boys tells everyone to give him some space and does a reverse somersault three times. Looking at him, another comes out of the group and does a headstand. Few more boys follow; a lot more dance moves come out. Gradually, there is a healthy B-boying battle going on between the boys. The group disperses after a few stunts leaving me thinking. These boys are not more than 10-12 years old. Unlike mine, they come from a not-so-comfortable background. Some of them don’t even have shoes on. But when they did those moves, I was pleasantly surprised by their attitude and the smoothness with which they moved. It was a healthy competition, each observing and trying to learn from the other. And they have learnt all this by just watching the various dance shows that air on television. The good thing is these boys have found out so early in their lives about what they love to do. Hope they never lose it and shock the world with their moves.

Master Shifu! Forget Po, you should go to Bandra West if you want to see the perfect example of Inner Peace being practised. Once you reach near Kensilworth Arcade which is opposite McDonalds and houses KFC on the ground floor, just stop at the bend outside KFC. People who know this area well will tell you that Chaos is its middle name. Noise, Traffic and Confusion have been residing there since years. There at the same KFC corner, a few feet apart from each other, you will see two souls all curled up with their eyes closed, immersed in a world of their own. People would be hurrying past them; vendors would be shouting at the top of their voices and also in their ears; cabs and rickshaws would not be making things any easier. But they won’t budge, not even an inch. Their eyes will remain closed; their bodies will still be curled up; and you would be rubbing your eyes and pinching yourself to check if all of this is real. And no, they are not dead. You would know when you watch the easy, controlled breathing through the ups and downs of their stomachs. Life’s a bitch, they say but these two dogs (huge ones at that) sure know how to take it in their stride. Po could learn something from them. I know I did. Thank you, Dogs. Woof!

On Saturday, I was having a very late lunch at this place called Shri Krishna, a small eating joint in one of the bylanes of Mahim. It serves, mostly delivers, gharguti jevan (food that tastes like it’s been made at home). All the staff, mostly young guys and girls, had finished working for the first shift and were tidying up and having their lunch. While I was relishing my Chana Masala and Chapattis, I heard two of them, a girl and a boy, talking. She asked him about his admissions to which he replied something and then later started talking about his exam schedule. He talked further about his lectures he has in the coming week. She asked him whether he had opted for Science or the Arts stream to which he replied that he had opted for Commerce. That’s when it hit me. It was such a contrasting situation. On one hand, the work that they were doing at that very moment was cleaning the leftovers, washing the utensils, arranging the cleant ones, and the conversation that they were having—that too a passionate one—was about studies. They seemed to have no qualms about working and the kind of work that they were doing given the fact that at this age, they should be just studying. Maybe, they knew that they need to work in order to survive and study, in order to grow. In my mind, studies or not, they had already grown up. Kudos to them for doing what they are doing and here’s hoping that they reach where they aspire to reach.