YOU HAVE TO BE KIND TO CHILDREN

Sunil and Deepa visited us yesterday. We were meeting each other after a very long time. Sunil is from our native place. His father ran a Tea Shop across the road in front of our house. The family had difficult days as the income was not enough to sustain a family of four. Sreekant was the elder brother. Their mother was a very practical woman. She encouraged the two boys to go for education as much as they could. Even in those days education was a costly affair. She had supplemented the family income through lending money her husband made from the Tea Shop. Banks and money lending institutions had not reached the village at that period in history. The rate of interest was high. But the poor people who had no access to credit facilities, found the arrangement handy. They never had to run to organizations afar to meet their immediate requirements.

It was a surprise to the villagers when Srikant secured admission in an Engineering College. More surprises were in store. As he completed his course he found a job easily through campus placement. The family bond was strong. Srikant took the responsibility of looking after Sunil’s education. Sunil was a brilliant student. It was no surprise to his teachers when Sunil passed his Chartered Accountancy - C.A - examination with a high rank. Soon after the results were published an investment firm in Singapore offered a placement to Sunil. It was readily accepted.

The brothers had married. In course of time both of them had two children each. Srikant was employed in Dubai. After a few years in Singapore, Sunil with his wife Deepa and children Arvind and   Parvathy migrated to Australia. The placement in Australia was far better than the one he had in Singapore. It was a pleasant surprise when Australia granted them citizenship.

Sunil and Deepa were discussing their life in Australia. Arvind is now fourteen and he is proving himself good in his studies. He is excellent Public Relations. Parvathy is nine. According to them Parvathy is very smart. Like all children of her age she needs a bit of prodding to concentrate in her studies. At times Deepa becomes frustrated and would threaten her that the matter would be reported to her dad when he comes home in the evening.  As Sunil reaches home after a tiring day at the office, Parvathy would run up to him and ask him, “Dad, how was your day at the office?” Poor Sunil would get to know what had happened between the mother and the daughter some time later. The sweet question from the girl would dissipate the anger in the mother and the father.

When the school conducts examinations Parvathy occasionally lags behind in Mathematics. Her refrain would be,” Well, I had a bad day in Maths today.”

Deepa rarely scolds Parvathy. Whenever it happens Parvathy would respond, “Well, you have to be kind to children.”

We had a memorable evening together. We could not listen to more as Deepa had to board her flight to Australia.