His eyes were still trying to get used to the light in the world. He gave a tiny squeak and closed his eyes resigning into what he would be deprived of in all his life, sleep. Oblivious to the stare from the elders, the gold chain adorning his delicate neck and all the celebration around him he continued to sleep. It is not every other day that a new member joins the family. As he slept, the mother looked at him with all her love and said “Look, Krishna has come home!” Every neighbour and relative, some long lost and almost forgotten, visited the parents and unanimously seemed to agree with the mom; and there starts the journey of the little one.
On the first Krishna Jayanthi after the child started walking, the poor feet were dipped in rice-flour-paint. The little one finished the daunting task (for the mother of course) of drawing “Krishna feet” in almost 2 minutes. The impression of the feet on the floor, however distorted due to the uneven walk of the little one, looked beautiful to the parents. He was dressed like Krishna and from somewhere in the neighbourhood, the mom found a gopika and photos were taken with the innocent kid holding the flute wondering if he should hit someone with it and the gopika giving expressions of blushing. Again, completely oblivious to what was happening around! Everyone who saw the photograph said that it was cute.
Then the kid grew up to become a teenager. He got himself a mobile phone. He started having night outs, night studies and of course, exchanged numbers with people of opposite gender strictly for educational purposes; girls are good at having log of the deadlines, being attentive in the class and stuff like that. But somewhere around this time, all of a sudden someone removed the Krishna out of him. He ceased being Krishna and got demoted to a human – a normal male teenager, when in reality this was time when he actually started being Krishna! The same mother who said “Krishna has come” now goes to his dad with complaints like “its 11.30 in the night and he is speaking to someone in the phone. I am sure it is a girl.” “That day I saw our boy with that girl in his bike.” “Our son is exchanging looks with the girl next door and she is giving him blushing looks.”
At this point of the journey, we stop for a moment and think. You know mom, this is not fair. I think you have a little confusion between Krishna and Ram. You were the one who told me the stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata; you ought to know better than me in this regard. Ram is supposed to be the Maryaadha Purushotham. Not Krishna. You can be a little more generous in the “numbers” with Krishna. Now conveniently, Krishna becomes famous for his Bhagavat gita. Moms have this little habit of reporting incidents of Krishna’s childhood and directly fast-forwarding the story to Bhagavat Gita! Krishna never had an adolescence or what? If it had not been for television and books, your adolescent boy would ask “Raslila? What Raslila?”
Whatever…! I just have a message to say to all the parents. Next time you see your dear boy flirting/dating, bring the above picture to your mind and feel happy that in the real picture in front of your eyes, there are not so many girls.
And if you do see so many girls, feel proud that your boy has at last become Krishna all by himself! Not many guys get to be in the place of your son! :)
