The boy who cried on the airport .....
Once I was going back to India . I was waiting at the airline counter
which was yet to open . The flight was full , it was delayed and
the surrounding atmosphere was not very upbeat.
Suddenly everyone turned to see where the sudden wailing came from . A
small boy , about three years of age had begun to cry for no apparent
reason . He was sitting on the luggage and was crying . It seemed that
he had got bored of the monotony and he could not take it anymore . It
was quite disturbing me in the beginning but then I realised that the
child was letting out his pent up feelings . After a few minutes , the
child started crying again . This time it seemed to be more of a show
than pent up feelings . His parents looked on helplessly while all the
other people cursed under their breaths .
I went up to the child when there was a lull in the beat , held out a
chocolate . The boy almost extended his hand to get the chocolate when I
said " You cry very well . If you cry in the same way again I will give
you this chocolate . " He took away his hand and stopped crying . His
mother did not understand what had happened and urged him to take the
chocolate . He would not extend his hand . He looked at me and looked
away . He just did not know how to react . It may have been the first
time that his trick had been called up or it may have been the first
time that his crying itself was getting a prize which he was not ready
to accept .
We stood in the queue for another one hour or so . The child did not cry
. Once in a while he looked at me and then looked away but he did not
pull the stunt again . Or was it a stunt ....
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