A while ago, travelling by train, I remember noticing a small boy sitting in his father’s lap and playing the ever classic game every kid loves- let’s pretend. The boy was pretending to drive a car, with his gear being a lever that is used to change the inclination of the seats in the train. Seeing this little kid made me reminisce my own childhood, when I too loved to pretend -sometimes a teacher; or a young woman in college; and sometimes not unlike the little boy, loved to pretend –drive, sometimes in my father’s car.
As kids, we loved to pretend to be adults, and growing up seemed to take forever. We wanted to be adults too, so that people would take us seriously, and we would have the independence we so desired in our childhood days. Growing up took a long time, but when it finally came, it came suddenly, and isn't nearly as much fun as we imagined it to be as kids. Yes, we are taken seriously now, and yes, we have all the independence we require, but somewhere along the way, we lost the desire for these things. How ironical is it that now as adults, we wish to go back to the childhood, when everything was simple, everything was pure. The world was black and white. Everyone was a friend. An enemy was someone who had a different favourite colour than you did. Today, as I stand on the brink of becoming a graduate in a few months’ time, I wish to hold on to the last bit of the child in me that is still alive. I wish to do all the crazy things, and not be judged. I want to be as carefree and as inquisitive as a child, and as optimistic about the world as one. I want to believe in the good of everyone, and forget that there are dark places on this earth too. I want to sing and dance with joy at the first rains, and I want to jump in puddles and make a complete fool of myself. I want to squeal with happiness when I am happy, and I want to bawl, quite literally, like a child when I’m down. I want to be able dump all my problems on my parents and then forget about them altogether. I want to sit and dream about my hopes and wishes. There are a lot of things I want to do before I am officially a graduate, but most of all, I do not want to grow up…