Now I know I'm way past the stage in life where one cld change one's ambitions w/ every new issue of the comic book, but a feeling somewhat similar came over me the other day. I was walking down the road, on my way to the office n I wanted to trade my profession for another. No, I'm very happy w/ my work, but I saw smthng which made me wish if only I cld.
I was on the footpath, when suddenly a school bus came n stopped a li'l distance frm me. N running...actually dancing, hopping happily towards the bus was this li'l girl...arms flailing joyously...the pigtail bobbing up n down, just as happily...a water bottle around her tiny li'l neck...in a pinafore so tiny that it cldnt've been anything but cute!! For a moment, I thought she was running to me n I almost stooped down to scoop her up into my arms...but she ran instead into the waiting welcoming arms of the school bus conductor...now m not sure if this is the right designation for his job profile, but for want of a better word, we'll use this one. Anyway, I felt this guy has prolly the most satisfying of jobs. There was a bustling busload of very bubbly -- n apparently very naughty -- li'l girls...n m sure each one of them must've run to him just as eagerly n just as happily...
N he seemed genuinely happy w/ wot he did for a living...it was written all over his face...in that big broad smile w/ which he greeted those bundles of joy.
At one point in life, I wanted to be a nursery school teacher. I've always adored those cute li'l colorful chairs n tables, w/ tiny feet dangling mid-air...those books w/ scrawls struggling to be letters of an elusive alphabet...water-bottles huddled in a corner, or peeping out of a window...lunch boxes filled w/ delicious bribes...compass boxes w/ rowwwwss of brightly colored pencils, innocently disproportionate to the writing they'll never do...but just to be traded or flaunted...those toothless grins...those conspiratorial wide-eyed secrets whispered into tingling cupped ears...those make-believe worlds where u cld be a doctor or a pilot, just by saying u r one...
I so wish I really were a part of that beautiful magical world, where I cld say 'I'm-a-school-bus-conductor' n I wld be...
I was on the footpath, when suddenly a school bus came n stopped a li'l distance frm me. N running...actually dancing, hopping happily towards the bus was this li'l girl...arms flailing joyously...the pigtail bobbing up n down, just as happily...a water bottle around her tiny li'l neck...in a pinafore so tiny that it cldnt've been anything but cute!! For a moment, I thought she was running to me n I almost stooped down to scoop her up into my arms...but she ran instead into the waiting welcoming arms of the school bus conductor...now m not sure if this is the right designation for his job profile, but for want of a better word, we'll use this one. Anyway, I felt this guy has prolly the most satisfying of jobs. There was a bustling busload of very bubbly -- n apparently very naughty -- li'l girls...n m sure each one of them must've run to him just as eagerly n just as happily...
N he seemed genuinely happy w/ wot he did for a living...it was written all over his face...in that big broad smile w/ which he greeted those bundles of joy.
At one point in life, I wanted to be a nursery school teacher. I've always adored those cute li'l colorful chairs n tables, w/ tiny feet dangling mid-air...those books w/ scrawls struggling to be letters of an elusive alphabet...water-bottles huddled in a corner, or peeping out of a window...lunch boxes filled w/ delicious bribes...compass boxes w/ rowwwwss of brightly colored pencils, innocently disproportionate to the writing they'll never do...but just to be traded or flaunted...those toothless grins...those conspiratorial wide-eyed secrets whispered into tingling cupped ears...those make-believe worlds where u cld be a doctor or a pilot, just by saying u r one...
I so wish I really were a part of that beautiful magical world, where I cld say 'I'm-a-school-bus-conductor' n I wld be...
9 comments:
There, you just inspired me to write about my 5-yr-old going-to-be-6 bundle of everything beautifully innocent rolled into one less-than-2 ft-tall human mass of a neice!
Well written!
Okie, so now I know something else about you :-)
Divya, ur niece sounds tempting enough...u shd go ahead n write abt it...wld love to read it :)
Naimisha, thnx for dropping in...
N I guess a lot of me seeps into wot I write...basically, I just write down wotever I 'feel' :)
aww.. tht's so sweet but maybe being a nursery school teacher/conductor can be your retirement plan! what say?
Perplexed, m not a far-sighted person...usually never plan anything beyond a coupla days, but ya, I think a school bus-conductor wld make a good retirement vocation...or is that an oxymoron? ;-)
first, I like the look of this page...refreshing.
second, this brought in waves of nostalgia. No, I never wanted to become a teacher, but I sure want to go back to kindergarden...hmm
Thanks Piya, for the compliment...I actually enjoyed working on it...
As for going back to kindergarten, I wld anyday love to go back to those days when u went to school only to eat ur tiffin! :)
Those colorful clothes, bags n compass boxes...
Sigh!
Hey mate, that was one fantastic piece of writing ..
Every morning on my way to work, I come across a group of toddlers waiting for the school bus along with their parents .. playfully innocent and oblivious to the ways of the world. Transports me back 25 odd years; trying to recollect how I had been back then :)
So true Rodders...it's a real joy watching those innocent carefree faces...who burst into smiles at even total strangers! :)
I smtimes wonder how I must've been as an toddler, but have no recollection whatsoever! Wonder when we start making memories :)
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