Lealyan Thawmte
One late Friday afternoon, Larry finished his Big Mac menu with a gulp of an aerated drink at a McDonald close to his home. He'd opted for an orange flavoured drink instead of a Coke, which he felt was for the big boys. He stood up from his table without touching the french-fries.
Dad had told him that french-fries are saturated in oil and that too much fat in your food is bad for health, He'd also encouraged him to eat more greens & fruits. But like all other kids his age, the temptation of cheeseburgers, pizzas, chips and sodas are more like Mission Impossible. He went towards the kids section of the restaurant. Taking off his down jacket, he sat down for a game on Nintendo.
Muamuan got up the next Saturday morning along with his mother and sat by the fireplace. Helping to stoke the firewood as Mama prepares to boil water for tea in a kettle as dark as a charcoal. He knew there would be no milk today. But he knew that Papa had come back from the town with a kilogram of sugar yesterday evening. Papa had gone to the town 15 kilometeres away, taking with him two of their egg-laying hens. They'd needed money to buy medicines for Mama who'd complained of backaches the whole summer.
He blew air into a one-foot rusty iron pipe at the fire. The wood was not dry enough. They had cut it from the nearby forest only a week ago. He stood up, crossed over to his bed, looking for his checked shirt which Mama had bought for him last Christmas.
The games were not good. In fact Larry felt that Playstations and X-Box games are far more superior to Nintendos. Though he had enough games downloaded on the computer and PC Games discs, he preferred Playstation because of the easy handling of the controller and the maximum control and flexibility over your thumbs, unlike the computer keyboards where you have to rely on most of your fingers. He left the restaurant, put on his safety helmet, cycling gloves and pedalled out the street in his 7 geared bicycle.
He screeched to a halt in front of the local library, and went in to see if there are any new PC Games arrivals to borrow.
Muamuan picked up his shirt, which had somehow fallen off the bed frame during the night and put it on. There was a small tear at the shoulder blade caused by a stubborn and thorny branch while chasing a lizard under a hedge at Liansang's place. Liansang is his best friend; although he could stop blaming him for letting go of a parrot they had caught at their cornfield last year. The shirt will do till the coming Christmas. He returned to the fireplace and sat on a low wooden stool as Mama added tea leaves and spoonfuls of sugar into the now boiling water. Later Mama poured tea into his favourite iron mug with floral designs and scratches at the base.
After Mama cooled down the tea, he heartily drank the mug's content with a lump of leftover rice which he scooped from a pockmarked aluminium bowl with his bare fingers.
There were no new arrivals at the local library. So Larry headed home. Some of his classmates may call, or even drop by. Besides he would like to download some new games from the Internet. One of his friends had just told him about a site where you can download really cool games. He hated downloading games for free. It takes time and wished that Dad would just bought him the Cds/DVDS. But he'd always maintained that its too costly and not worth it since he gets bored with it in a matter of days. Even then, he'd managed to cajole and plead Dad into buying him some of the latest games.
He reached home to a message from Daryll - his classmate, to call her back. Daryll had called to invite him for a visit to an aquarium during the weekend with her family. He thinks Daryll fancies him. He returned the call to accept the invitation. With Mom & Dad's permission.
Finishing his tea and wiping off the rice morsels that stuck to his palm and shorts, Muamuan stood up and told Mama that he would be going over to Liansang's place to have a look at their new puppies. He had always wanted a dog and when Liansang's she-dog became pregnant, he had asked Papa to buy him one of the puppies. He'll remind him again. Papa must still have some money left from selling those hens. He wasn't sure though. He'd heard that medicines are costly and that was also why he never tried to get sick. He doesn't want to get sick like the village school teacher's son did last time.
They had to carry him all the way to a dispensary 4 villages away and even then he had not gotten well. Maybe they did not give him a proper injection with medicine. They say that you should get an injection when you are sick. It also hurts, they'd said.
Munching on a bar of Tobelerone he'd taken from the fridge during a commercial break, Larry sat on the couch in front of Cartoon Network, giggling himself silly at how Jerry can make a fool of Tom everytime. Dad had come home from work and was online. E-mails. Then Mom yelled out, reminding him to get on with his homework. She also duly rebuked him for the untidy state of his room. Larry grudgingly got up from the couch as Tom tumbled down some hole. Mom&Dad always insisted that he finished all home works or projects from school before dinner. Damn parents.
But this time, his homework was about 'How he spent the week-end'. And it will be much more interesting to write about it after a visit to the aquarium. He wished he kew more of the names and types of fish and aquatic animals. Something exotic. The sharks, dolphins and octopusses are too common.
Liansang was already out on their porch. Smoothening the edges of the handle of his sling - catapult - with a small kitchen knife. At one corner, huddled over two worn-out jute bags were eight puppies of different colours, making tiny gurgling noises as they scrambled for mothers milk. Muamuan instantly decided that he'd want to have the one with the black and white stripe as it looked to be the most active one. Besides the colour, what would you do with a lazy dog? He would teach the dog to understand certain commands; take him to the fields and teach him how to burrow after rats. And maybe he'll give him an English name. He quickly settled on 'JOHNNY' - the first name he can come up with.
After testing the smoothness of Liansang's sling handle and pulling off a shot at a dragonfly precarioulsy balancing atop a distant fence, Muamuan returned home. For the morning meal - as he and Mama set out to clear the weeds and grasses that had grown thick amongst the pumpkins and cucumbers vines in their cornfield.
Ever since watching the Dinosaurus movies, Larry had wanted to become a palaeontologist. The Dinosaurs and some theories that they have probably evolved into birds fascinated him. Or maybe he'd become a writer. Write poems and songs. Stories with happy endings. His teachers had all commended him on his writing skills. But frankly he is undecided. Why, only last Christmas he discovered that Santa Claus never existed. And who knows, dinosaurs may not be as exciting as you grow up.
Muamuan wants to become an officer one day. He wants to live in a big town, in a nice brick house and have motorcycle and nice shoes and jackets that he can also wear in the rain. But people said that you have to go to a nice school, be very brilliant in studies and also know English to become an officer. He had often overheard Papa talking to Mama of moving to the town far away. Maybe then he can go to a school. Learn English. Maybe someday they will.
Larry & Muamuan are both 8 years old. Larry lives in one of the richest country in the world. Muamuan lives in the NE fringes of the world's biggest developing nation. Despite stark contrasts and glaring differences in their environments and lifestyles, they have and share many things in common. As with any child of and for- in their age.
Muamuan exalts with joy and gladness on the occasional hard boiled sugar Papa would bring home as much as Larry does with a chocolate shake or a candy. Larry prized as much his computer and Playstation games as Muamuan prides on his collection of marble sling pellets. Larry is thrilled as much at the prospect of a trip to the zoo or an amusement park as Muamuan cannot wait for the harvest season and the coming Christmas when he will get a new shirt.
Yet, for all their innocences and naivetes, dreams and aspirations, the differences in their lives and the world they lived in would hardly nudge towards similarity or equality or merge. Not even in the near future.
Two children. Two unequal lives. Two child no different from the other. In this, but ONE WORLD.
The awning gap between 'the rich & poor', 'wealth & poverty', 'haves & have nots', 'first world and third world', 'developed & developing', still getting wider as I wrote. Efforts to bridge that embarrassingly wide gap often lost in the intrigues and quagmires of political innuendos or diplomatic manouevres. And the phrases and coinages termed thereof are as common as it is cold. Words as divisive and sharp as the razor's edge. Words that have silently crept into our lives and vocabularies and like it or not - words that will determine our future. Our destiny. As humankind.
** 25% of the US population spend more that 50 cents (Rs.20+) on soft drinks whereas 25% of the world's population lives on less than 50 cents a day.
** The wealth of the 3 most well-to-do individuals exceeds the combined GDP of 48 least developing countries.
** The world's 225 richest people now have a combined wealth of more that 1 trillion dollars - equalling the annual income of the world's 2.5 billion poorest people.
PS: Let us feed our people now. Support the Mautaam initiatives. Let us feed the hungry. Let us give till it hurts. To save lives. As a certain saying goes - 'We come into this world NAKED, so will we leave this world - NAKED'.
www.zogam.com
One late Friday afternoon, Larry finished his Big Mac menu with a gulp of an aerated drink at a McDonald close to his home. He'd opted for an orange flavoured drink instead of a Coke, which he felt was for the big boys. He stood up from his table without touching the french-fries.
Dad had told him that french-fries are saturated in oil and that too much fat in your food is bad for health, He'd also encouraged him to eat more greens & fruits. But like all other kids his age, the temptation of cheeseburgers, pizzas, chips and sodas are more like Mission Impossible. He went towards the kids section of the restaurant. Taking off his down jacket, he sat down for a game on Nintendo.
Muamuan got up the next Saturday morning along with his mother and sat by the fireplace. Helping to stoke the firewood as Mama prepares to boil water for tea in a kettle as dark as a charcoal. He knew there would be no milk today. But he knew that Papa had come back from the town with a kilogram of sugar yesterday evening. Papa had gone to the town 15 kilometeres away, taking with him two of their egg-laying hens. They'd needed money to buy medicines for Mama who'd complained of backaches the whole summer.
He blew air into a one-foot rusty iron pipe at the fire. The wood was not dry enough. They had cut it from the nearby forest only a week ago. He stood up, crossed over to his bed, looking for his checked shirt which Mama had bought for him last Christmas.
The games were not good. In fact Larry felt that Playstations and X-Box games are far more superior to Nintendos. Though he had enough games downloaded on the computer and PC Games discs, he preferred Playstation because of the easy handling of the controller and the maximum control and flexibility over your thumbs, unlike the computer keyboards where you have to rely on most of your fingers. He left the restaurant, put on his safety helmet, cycling gloves and pedalled out the street in his 7 geared bicycle.
He screeched to a halt in front of the local library, and went in to see if there are any new PC Games arrivals to borrow.
Muamuan picked up his shirt, which had somehow fallen off the bed frame during the night and put it on. There was a small tear at the shoulder blade caused by a stubborn and thorny branch while chasing a lizard under a hedge at Liansang's place. Liansang is his best friend; although he could stop blaming him for letting go of a parrot they had caught at their cornfield last year. The shirt will do till the coming Christmas. He returned to the fireplace and sat on a low wooden stool as Mama added tea leaves and spoonfuls of sugar into the now boiling water. Later Mama poured tea into his favourite iron mug with floral designs and scratches at the base.
After Mama cooled down the tea, he heartily drank the mug's content with a lump of leftover rice which he scooped from a pockmarked aluminium bowl with his bare fingers.
There were no new arrivals at the local library. So Larry headed home. Some of his classmates may call, or even drop by. Besides he would like to download some new games from the Internet. One of his friends had just told him about a site where you can download really cool games. He hated downloading games for free. It takes time and wished that Dad would just bought him the Cds/DVDS. But he'd always maintained that its too costly and not worth it since he gets bored with it in a matter of days. Even then, he'd managed to cajole and plead Dad into buying him some of the latest games.
He reached home to a message from Daryll - his classmate, to call her back. Daryll had called to invite him for a visit to an aquarium during the weekend with her family. He thinks Daryll fancies him. He returned the call to accept the invitation. With Mom & Dad's permission.
Finishing his tea and wiping off the rice morsels that stuck to his palm and shorts, Muamuan stood up and told Mama that he would be going over to Liansang's place to have a look at their new puppies. He had always wanted a dog and when Liansang's she-dog became pregnant, he had asked Papa to buy him one of the puppies. He'll remind him again. Papa must still have some money left from selling those hens. He wasn't sure though. He'd heard that medicines are costly and that was also why he never tried to get sick. He doesn't want to get sick like the village school teacher's son did last time.
They had to carry him all the way to a dispensary 4 villages away and even then he had not gotten well. Maybe they did not give him a proper injection with medicine. They say that you should get an injection when you are sick. It also hurts, they'd said.
Munching on a bar of Tobelerone he'd taken from the fridge during a commercial break, Larry sat on the couch in front of Cartoon Network, giggling himself silly at how Jerry can make a fool of Tom everytime. Dad had come home from work and was online. E-mails. Then Mom yelled out, reminding him to get on with his homework. She also duly rebuked him for the untidy state of his room. Larry grudgingly got up from the couch as Tom tumbled down some hole. Mom&Dad always insisted that he finished all home works or projects from school before dinner. Damn parents.
But this time, his homework was about 'How he spent the week-end'. And it will be much more interesting to write about it after a visit to the aquarium. He wished he kew more of the names and types of fish and aquatic animals. Something exotic. The sharks, dolphins and octopusses are too common.
Liansang was already out on their porch. Smoothening the edges of the handle of his sling - catapult - with a small kitchen knife. At one corner, huddled over two worn-out jute bags were eight puppies of different colours, making tiny gurgling noises as they scrambled for mothers milk. Muamuan instantly decided that he'd want to have the one with the black and white stripe as it looked to be the most active one. Besides the colour, what would you do with a lazy dog? He would teach the dog to understand certain commands; take him to the fields and teach him how to burrow after rats. And maybe he'll give him an English name. He quickly settled on 'JOHNNY' - the first name he can come up with.
After testing the smoothness of Liansang's sling handle and pulling off a shot at a dragonfly precarioulsy balancing atop a distant fence, Muamuan returned home. For the morning meal - as he and Mama set out to clear the weeds and grasses that had grown thick amongst the pumpkins and cucumbers vines in their cornfield.
Ever since watching the Dinosaurus movies, Larry had wanted to become a palaeontologist. The Dinosaurs and some theories that they have probably evolved into birds fascinated him. Or maybe he'd become a writer. Write poems and songs. Stories with happy endings. His teachers had all commended him on his writing skills. But frankly he is undecided. Why, only last Christmas he discovered that Santa Claus never existed. And who knows, dinosaurs may not be as exciting as you grow up.
Muamuan wants to become an officer one day. He wants to live in a big town, in a nice brick house and have motorcycle and nice shoes and jackets that he can also wear in the rain. But people said that you have to go to a nice school, be very brilliant in studies and also know English to become an officer. He had often overheard Papa talking to Mama of moving to the town far away. Maybe then he can go to a school. Learn English. Maybe someday they will.
Larry & Muamuan are both 8 years old. Larry lives in one of the richest country in the world. Muamuan lives in the NE fringes of the world's biggest developing nation. Despite stark contrasts and glaring differences in their environments and lifestyles, they have and share many things in common. As with any child of and for- in their age.
Muamuan exalts with joy and gladness on the occasional hard boiled sugar Papa would bring home as much as Larry does with a chocolate shake or a candy. Larry prized as much his computer and Playstation games as Muamuan prides on his collection of marble sling pellets. Larry is thrilled as much at the prospect of a trip to the zoo or an amusement park as Muamuan cannot wait for the harvest season and the coming Christmas when he will get a new shirt.
Yet, for all their innocences and naivetes, dreams and aspirations, the differences in their lives and the world they lived in would hardly nudge towards similarity or equality or merge. Not even in the near future.
Two children. Two unequal lives. Two child no different from the other. In this, but ONE WORLD.
The awning gap between 'the rich & poor', 'wealth & poverty', 'haves & have nots', 'first world and third world', 'developed & developing', still getting wider as I wrote. Efforts to bridge that embarrassingly wide gap often lost in the intrigues and quagmires of political innuendos or diplomatic manouevres. And the phrases and coinages termed thereof are as common as it is cold. Words as divisive and sharp as the razor's edge. Words that have silently crept into our lives and vocabularies and like it or not - words that will determine our future. Our destiny. As humankind.
** 25% of the US population spend more that 50 cents (Rs.20+) on soft drinks whereas 25% of the world's population lives on less than 50 cents a day.
** The wealth of the 3 most well-to-do individuals exceeds the combined GDP of 48 least developing countries.
** The world's 225 richest people now have a combined wealth of more that 1 trillion dollars - equalling the annual income of the world's 2.5 billion poorest people.
PS: Let us feed our people now. Support the Mautaam initiatives. Let us feed the hungry. Let us give till it hurts. To save lives. As a certain saying goes - 'We come into this world NAKED, so will we leave this world - NAKED'.
www.zogam.com
No comments:
Post a Comment