Member-only story
The Mirage
I remember an incident from childhood. Our relatives had come to our home during the summer vacation. One day, after dinner, while we, cousins, played, the elders chatted amongst themselves. I noticed that slowly their chatter began to grow quiet until one of them said, “Kids, it is getting late. Go to bed.”
We began protesting, “Why should we sleep, while you stay up?”
They silenced us by saying that we were only kids, and despite our strong protests, they succeeded in sending us to bed. But we did not want to fall asleep immediately and continued to talk for some time in hushed tones.
The whispers eventually grew louder, making my aunt come into the room and yell at us to fall asleep.
Though my cousins dozed off in no time, sleep evaded me. Through the creek in the door, I could still hear the elders speaking. It was then that I realized that only when you grow up will you have the freedom to go to bed whenever you wanted.
Since then, I began to notice the little discrimination against children.
Parents and teachers designed our daily schedule. They decided on our holidays and did not leave us free even then by giving assignments and projects.
