The Kid On a Traffic Signal

 

I have a few memories of the time when I was a kid and used to go to school on a ‘school rickshaw’ in my small hometown. It was a manually pulled rickshaw, with specially made wooden trailer, where four or five kids used to sit facing each other in each of the two parallel rows. I think I still have some glimpses of the rickshaw-wallah who used to service our school-rickshaw. He was dark skinned, had nice hair, and was very talkative. And how the roof of the rickshaw was made of “tin” like metal which used to make sound whenever the rickshaw moved or came across a jerk! When railway ‘gumti’ (level crossing gate) came, a couple of boys used to get down and push the rickshaw so that it could ride the small hill called the ‘railway gumti’. We also enjoyed the other side of it, when the rickshaw rolled down at high speed due to the slope.

Recently, after many-many years, I had stopped at a traffic signal and noticed that there was a ‘school van’ standing besides me. I think it was a yellow colored ‘Tata Magic’ vehicle which is popular as a school van these days. There was a kid sitting near a window, perhaps a boy, and he happened to observe the vehicles who were stopping at the red traffic light and said to his friend in Hindi, “Jo log imaandaar hote hain, wo rukte hain” (Those who are honest, follow the traffic rules and stop when the signal is red). His statement instantly went deep inside my heart.

The kid had thought that stopping at a traffic signal was a conscious choice of riders which could tell about the person’s integrity. This was such a touching thought. I think after growing up, today I believe that most of the people who do not stop at traffic signals do so because of general carelessness and disregard to the traffic rules, irrespective of their personal integrity. Although I stop at traffic signals most of the times, but the boy’s statement made me reflect on several occasions when I did not. I did feel a little embarrassed. I was not aware that if I did not stop at a traffic signal, a kid could be watching and judging me, thinking that I was not an honest person.

The way the innocent kid pronounced the long word “imaandaar” in Hindi still wanders in mind when I think about the incident. May the magical thing called childhood be always enjoyed by all kids everywhere, in all times and places.

- Rahul