As we watched the DDA group play "Son Pari" in the open space behind the main staircase of the Masjid, we suddenly realized that Radha wasn’t part of this play group. When we looked around we found that she was absorbed in a kind of play of her own in a corner. She had noticed a tiny plant (probably a weed) growing away from the general grass and had proceeded to find things in her environment to construct something around this plant. She had gathered small pebbles, and was plucking twigs from an abandoned broom to make a sort of border around the plant, completely oblivious to the others playing the group game.
I had bumped into Radha several times near the "Quila" and always thought she was a boy because of the short hair and the shorts and T-shirt attire. Only that evening when the kids selected by Rinki for the child-led fieldtrip was introduced to us, I realized that she was a girl. I wondered if her boyish appearance was a camouflage to gain access to most spaces in the village including the Quila which has a negative reputation and known to be a boyz zone.
At another instance, Gudiya while wandering through the compound had picked a long stick and was attempting some sort of a pole vault with it. It was really delightful to see the creativity of these children, especially when they were unaware of being observed.
No comments:
Post a Comment