It was her bright,intriguing eyes that caught our attention.
She was with a bunch of other urchins - dusty,patchy clothes, dirty,unkempt hair, bare feet, a rag over her shoulder - and looking our way.
My friend tried to hide her discomfort by giggling loudly over nothing - and we pretended we did not see her - them.
We were just outside the McD's, having finished our lunch, holding our colas, waiting for a cab.
My friend had packed lunch for her kids, and i had shopped for some books for my own.
She kept looking at us - her eyes brimming with curiosity. She kept talking to her group, as they scoured for left overs in the bin, pestered people passing by and sharing the loot. they looked at us every now and then, and then at the girl.
"She is going to be here any minute. i suppose it's her TURN to come to us."
"Turn ?"
" yeah ! dont you know ? they have turns to go ask for food or money. "
"oh ! we could just ignore her."
"why dont these kids go to some school and study ? instead of wasting time here begging ? dont their parents care for them ?"
"i am sure they do, but they may have problems even bigger than school, problems we cannot even begin to fathom.."
"oh rubbish ! they are just lazy ! lazy filthy scoundrels ! what life will they ever have ? wasting childhood begging, getting some menial job, marrying, kids, begging with kid in tow...same...."
"yes, i suppose so...u know, if only they could get some education...i mean, they must be atleast literate you know....sign their own name...be able to read and write basically, then there would be some hope of getting a job or something, u know, tangible..."
"i bet they still put their thumb prints ! these people could never care for an education yaar. all they want is money and food!"
She pulled her rag-bag over her shoulders rather resolutely, one of her friends nudged her a bit, and she began to walk - towards us...her steps may have faltered a bit, but her gaze did not.
"oh, there goes my food - i dont have the heart to say no to these poor children..."
but she walked towards me..."hello didi...these new books...your ?"
Rather taken aback listening to a beggar speak english...it was now my turn to falter,"y..y..yes..why ?"
"then where the old books ?"
"at home !"
"if you no need them, can i have ?"
my good friend,who had stared open mouthed till this point,butted in,"you want to sell them ?"
"no no ! study didi, study,learn,read."
"dont you go to a school to study ?"
"no didi, then how to get money ? so study from old books,read and write english,marathi and hindi now...me in class 8 soon...i only take exam, teacher is good, she allowed. no problem of attendance, only go for exam, pass, next class..."
"and dont you have a syllabus ? how do you prepare for the exam beta ?"
"my friends - all different classes, so we put our savings and buy books for highest class, then it passes down."
"so why do you need these books ?"
"to study." she said wide-eyed as if not quite getting my question. i did not understand then why she would want to study outside her syllabus. she, probably did not understand, why i would question her studying outside her syllabus.
"are you here daily ?"
"yes didi, we get hungry na !" said she, of a yellow,toothy grin...
"you like burgers ?"it was now my turn to stare at my friend, she was trying nervously to smile.
she took them after some coaxing, she was used to leftovers. this was new.
"ok beta, you keep these books. and i will come again tomorrow with more, ok ?"
her friends had begun to close in by now, by the sight of the books, not the burgers...
"ok didi!" and a wider, more beautiful grin i had never seen !
"and what do you want to be when you grow up ?" asked my friend to our little girl in particular and her bunch in general.
"teacher !" "doctor !" "computer engineer !" "pilot !" "nurse !"...came the replies, and a more melodious cacophony we had never heard.
"see you...bye !" "bye !" "bye didi !" "bye !" there was more laughter in their words than on their faces...
and we couldnt stop it either - neither the smile on our faces, nor the little drops in our eyes.
