Looking For Me

It had been raining all day. The sky was overcast with dark clouds. The gurgling sounds of thunder rented through the sky and streaks of lightning speared through the dense blanket of clouds.

School had just got over and the children were filing into the school bus. Harihar, an autistic child, used to walk home from school everyday. His mother was worried because of the storm, so she backed the car out of the garage and decided to go to fetch Harihar from school. She knew that a walk through lightning and thunder could be very scary for a child. By the time she reached the school, she realized that he had already left. So she followed his route, straining her eyes hard to locate him in the dense curtain of raindrops. She had to stop at a red light, and it was then that she spotted him walking a little further away on the sidewalk. But he was smiling! He was thoroughly drenched, but he looked very happy.

Slowly, she brought the car over to the boy, and asked him to get in. Then she asked, “Harihar, were you smiling or did I imagine it? I thought you would be scared.” The little boy said, “Mama, you see God was clicking pictures of me, all the while!” Just then there was another flash of lightning and Harihar smiled innocently as if in compliance with the flash of God’s camera. Mother looked up nervously at the angry clouds and bundled her son into the car.

The story does not end here. On the other side of the road was another boy, who was running for cover from the angry downpour. Harihar saw him and said, “Mama, can we give Abhinav, a lift home?” “Sure” said mother. Having seated Abhinav into the car, Mother said, “Abhinav your lips are quite blue, I think you are scared of lightning. Don’t worry; we’ll drop you home soon.” Abhinav said, “God was flashing light all around to look for me. I think He knows that I stole the pencil box. He flashed His torchlight again and again to search for me.”

Whatever we are inside; is the way the world around us seems to be. The world around us is but a mirror of what we are or the way we think. It is our own perspective and attitude that determines how the world appears to be.