This Christmas I was in a super market and came across a wish tree. The unprivileged children in one orphanage have written their small wishes in the pieces of paper hung on that tree. If you are a middle or upper class citizen, you may wonder how small their wishes are. They long for dictionaries, crayons, shuttle bats, wrist watches, a set of new dresses ... The wishes are so modest to make you humble. These articles cost not even a percent of what you purchase and waste every day. But the same exists only in the dreams of some children and they hope X'mas Pappa to give them as the Christmas gifts.
I stood there and read all the wishes. Many wishes for a dictionary.I have some old dictionaries in my cupboard. These dictionaries I seldom used because they came late to my life. I had none when I was in dire need. That was some twenty years back.
I was in sixth standard. My class teacher who was also the English teacher asked me to refer a dictionary. I forget the context she asked , but the I still remembers the conversation .
"I do not have a dictionary, teacher "
She was astonished. There I stood in front of her as a consecutive winner of the proficiency prize for years in English medium.
"You do not have a dictionary at home ?Wonder!".
"I wish you shall get a dictionary as prize this year". She said after a pause.
Her sincere wish came true and I got a dictionary as prize that time. My joy was out of bounds. I have envied on my classmates whenever they use a dictionary. So I can imagine the eagerness of these children waiting for their Xmas gifts.
The same was the case with the atlas. I hoped I had one. Once I just went through the classmate's atlas, but she was over protective and did not allow much time. It was costly. So I did not had courage to ask my father to buy me one. The Social Studies teacher of the other division has prescribed an atlas as compulsory in her classes. I wished I had her as my social studies teacher, so that I can also own one. But it never happened. But now my two and half year old daughter plays with the dictionary and atlas as her toys!
"Do you wish to gift their wishes, mam?" the voice of the sales woman woke up me from the thoughts. "Ya , I wish". "Okay, you can purchase from here and give us" . "Can I bring from home?" The dictionaries that I got as prizes after my tenth standard were in my mind.
I stood there and read all the wishes. Many wishes for a dictionary.I have some old dictionaries in my cupboard. These dictionaries I seldom used because they came late to my life. I had none when I was in dire need. That was some twenty years back.
I was in sixth standard. My class teacher who was also the English teacher asked me to refer a dictionary. I forget the context she asked , but the I still remembers the conversation .
"I do not have a dictionary, teacher "
She was astonished. There I stood in front of her as a consecutive winner of the proficiency prize for years in English medium.
"You do not have a dictionary at home ?Wonder!".
"I wish you shall get a dictionary as prize this year". She said after a pause.
Her sincere wish came true and I got a dictionary as prize that time. My joy was out of bounds. I have envied on my classmates whenever they use a dictionary. So I can imagine the eagerness of these children waiting for their Xmas gifts.
The same was the case with the atlas. I hoped I had one. Once I just went through the classmate's atlas, but she was over protective and did not allow much time. It was costly. So I did not had courage to ask my father to buy me one. The Social Studies teacher of the other division has prescribed an atlas as compulsory in her classes. I wished I had her as my social studies teacher, so that I can also own one. But it never happened. But now my two and half year old daughter plays with the dictionary and atlas as her toys!
"Do you wish to gift their wishes, mam?" the voice of the sales woman woke up me from the thoughts. "Ya , I wish". "Okay, you can purchase from here and give us" . "Can I bring from home?" The dictionaries that I got as prizes after my tenth standard were in my mind.
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