"If you stop and think, you will realise how rudely funny are the stereotypes that we live in"
It was Akash's 7th birthday and Suman wanted it to be better than the last one. He did not like cakes and pastries like other children. He did go out to play with his friends, but whenever suman would peek out of the window, he would be standing in the corner, never looking dejected or concerned about feeling left out. From Suman's eyes, he was happier when left alone. Calling his school friends would be only a waste of effort and energy like the last time.
She went to Akash and asked "What do you want to do on your birthday Akash?" He looked at her with large bright eyes. "I don't know" he said and went back to his book.
"OK I have an idea" She said.. hoping she would at least get her attention.
"Would you like to go to the fair?"
"Alright" He shrugged.
Suman would have liked some more enthusiasm but like always she reminded herself -- 'One step at a time'
If life was described as a series of colours, Suman would describe her life with her son as gray, a bit of white here and there and maybe a few blotches of black. On the day of the fair however, Suman saw colours trickling in their lives in the form of Akash's smiles. There it was -- shining like sunshine yellow. His enthusiasm -- a beautiful bright red. She saw blue in his chuckles and his eyes -- a full rainbow!
Maybe it was my fault. Suman thought. I was so busy acting like a single parent, I forgot that he was probably struggling to let himself go too. For the first time in what seemed like a long time, Akash was behaving his age. He wanted to go on rides, eat ice cream and run around all at once. She took him to a little dress up corner. They had cowboy, batman and superman for little boys and wonderwoman, fairy and princess for a little girl. Akash stood there, studying every child going in and coming out dressed up as a someone else. "I want to be a fairy" He declared. Suman heard loud laughter, ,muffled giggles, questionable smiles and nodding of heads.
"A fairy you shall be" She told him.
He wore his wings, showing off his new superpower. The wand in his hands beamed under the sun and so did his face. The whispering over the choice of my son's dress however continued. "Why are they laughing at me Ma?" Akash asked. She could not let a few stereotypes damper her son's birthday. "They are not laughing at us son. They are laughing with us" She said. "Happy Birthday" She said, ruffling his hair.
Its been many years to the incident. Akash wanted to fight many stereotypes that bounded our world.But somewhere down his life, it seemed he had stopped. He could not take the laughter, the stares and the questions. Ma's stories were not true either.
"No Ma! They are not laughing with me. They are laughing at me -- that day and even today." He looked at his dancing shoes and sighed. "I have given up Ma"
