The Childhood

"Sir", I couldn't listen until my secretary shouted second time and loud enough,"Sir, are you OK? Its too late and staff has already left the office. I think you should go home and take some rest", she showed her genuine care.

"I'm fine", I got back to my senses but could speak only these two words.

I got up from my chair, gathered my belongings and left my chamber. As I walked towards my Car, I wished I didn't own it. I wished I wasn't that rich. I wished I could be as normal as a common man. And I wished I was never grown up. The billionaire for the world was a beggar inside. The man to whom the world salutes wishes a small corner where it could hide himself forever.

Half heartedly I opened the door of my empty home. No one was there to wait for me. No one was there for whom I'd come here. But that night was somehow different from a normal night. More scary, more nostalgic and more insomniac. All at once and at the same very time.

***

"Dad, don't leave my bicycle. I'll fall", I pleaded while I was learning to ride bicycle in his safe guidance.

"Don't worry son, I'll not leave you. Don't worry, just keep pedalling", he encouraged me while running with me when I was trying to keep balance on my bicycle.

"Dad, I'm actually riding it. Can you see Dad? I did it. I learned it", I keep on shouting without knowing that he wasn't holding the bicycle anymore and was just smiling and waving from far behind.

I looked back and when I didn't saw him holding the bicycle, I lost my balance and fell down. I got angry with him. He came close to me and pulled me up and hugged me. I was pushing him away ignorant of his sacred love for me.

"You don't care for me thats why you left me alone", I complained while I was crying.

"Son, look at me. I was just trying to vanish your fear away. Until I was holding the bicycle, you were sure that you wouldn't fall. Also you didn't actually fall until you realized that I wasn't holding anymore. You only fell when you came to know that you were left alone. Son, the fear is in our minds. If we let it take on us, it most probably will. The fear fears from you until you don't let it take on you. Son, please understand that I can't be with you all the time and I may not be with you in the very next moment. One has to move on in life alone. So be prepared to take the challenges of life."

"Dad, I love you. Don't ever talk about leaving me", I had stopped crying by now. I got another lesson from the man of wisdom.

***

I woke up by the noise of children playing outside on their bicycles. I smiled watching them playing. I wished I could get back my childhood where the pockets were not rich but hearts were. Where marbles mattered more than the money. Where love was there, not loneliness.

And where bicycles were more precious than BMWs.

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