CHILDHOOD DAYS

As months passed by, I saw my baby make progress in his life. Such as his first word, which was obviously ‘mother’ and it didn’t make me jealous one bit, really. Then his first step which made me so proud that I threw party among all my friends. Now he is 4 years old but I must admit he is way smarter than an average 4-year-old child. He would remember everything I would teach him and even question me about things which your average child his age would show no interest in.

 “I am going to buy some vegetables. You want to come?” I asked Anant who was reading his kid’s book.

"Yes dad. Coming,” he replied.

“Alright, I am waiting outside.”

After few seconds he came out, “Let’s go dad.”

While on our way to the main bazaar we encountered many military soldiers.

“Is it because of the war you mentioned?” my son asked.

“Oh! You remembered?”

“Yeah. After all, I do have interest in those kinds of things,” he replied. 

Sometimes, I get worried due to his interest being on things which a child his age should not.

After half-an-hour of walking we reached the main bazaar, but there was a crowd gathered there.

I wonder why there’s so much commotion.

I asked the man near me, “Excuse me, can you tell what happened? Why there’s so much crowd?”

“I am not sure myself, but I think there was a brawl between two men resulting in one guy stabbing the other,” the guy replied.

“Oh my! Is he in critical condition?” I asked after covering Anant’s ears.

“Yeah… people are saying the guy stabbed him multiple times in the chest and ran.”

 “Oh… I hope he lives.”

I looked at Anant who was confused and took him to the other side of the main bazaar where the noise of the crowd was less. There, I found an old friend of mine who had a stall of vegetables and fruits.

“Hey Vishva! how’s life going on?” my friend asked.

“I am pleased with my life,” I replied with a laugh.

“I wish I could say the same,” my friend said with a sigh.

“Why? what happened?” I asked while picking some vegetables from his stall.

“You know my wife. How strict she can be,” he said overdramatically.

Tarun’s wife is very strict in terms of food. She always makes him eat her so-called 'healthy food' and never let him eat outside. I don’t know how a man can eat those so-called 'healthy foods' every day, but there is love in the foods she makes him. She wants him healthy and fit, which I can respect.

“So, you know what happened there?” he asked.

“Apparently, there was a fight between two men which resulted in one stabbing the other.” I was curious as to what happened to the injured guy, so I decided to check myself. "Could you look after Anant for a moment? I am going to see what’s the situation there,” I asked my friend.

“Yeah, no worries, man,” he replied.

I looked at Anant whose attention was at the crowd, “Anant I will be back in a moment. Be a good boy and stay here.”

“Alright dad,” he replied.

I went back to see the situation. After going through the crowd, I saw a mage healing a person and from what it appears, he was the man who got stabbed.

He was completely still. His face looked pale, like a dead corpse. There was no light in his eyes. It looked as if—the soul has left his body completely. I was going to ask about the situation, but I got my answers from the gossips around me.

“Hey, do you know what happened?” one man said.

“Apparently, the other guy was talking some really dirty things about his wife. And when he also started saying cheap things about his daughter, that's when the fight started,” the other replied.

After hearing the conversation, my gaze at once went to a lady who was crying loudly, and beside her was a little girl who appeared to be no more than 10 years old. But what made me sad the most— was that the mother was pregnant. After few minutes, the mage who was healing the man non-stop got up with a sad face.

He announced, “I am sorry... I couldn’t save him.”

This broke the wife completely. She started crying more loudly, beating her chest with her fists which made her daughter more scared than she already was. Seeing the tragic situation unfolding in front of my eyes, I decided to calm them down. But as I was going to them the soldiers came to calm the situation down. After seeing the soldiers, I decided to leave the place with a sad and heavy face.

What is happening in the world? There is crime and sadness everywhere, and with this war that started 20 years ago— it has become much worse. Sometimes, I find myself occupied in the past when I was just a kid, doing nothing but playing with my friends in the scorching sun all day. But with this war, children are forced to grow up so fast that they might not even have a childhood. I just hope that Anant would grow normally and may his childhood days never end.