Childhood Innocence

This weekend, I went away for a much-needed break to Fujairah. We stayed at the Hilton resort and got a good dose of sun, sand and beach. Mehreen was absolutely thrilled.

We checked in on Friday afternoon, roamed around for a bit and just relaxed. On Saturday morning, after Arfaz and Mehreen had spent a long time in the pool, I was taking her out to dry, when a Nepali lifeguard came and said “Hi Mehreen, did you enjoy your swim?” She gave him her usual grin- showing all her 6 and a half teeth. When we went down for breakfast, she was driving me insane. So I gave her a spoon to play with. 5 minutes later, the Filipino waitress walked to her and said “Hello Mehreen, here is a smaller spoon for you to play with.” I couldn’t help smiling. After breakfast, as we sat in the lobby playing with her, the Russian receptionist came up to us and said “Hi Mehreen, did you have a good night’s sleep?” I was starting to feel like I was with a celebrity now. Later, when we were just lazing about on the bed in our room with her somersaulting all over us, there was a knock. It was the Indian housekeeping lady. “I just came to say hi to Mehreen,” she said.

I found it so amusing that all the people who had asked her name, actually remembered it and even said hi to her. My child is not very people-friendly. She doesn’t let anyone carry her. Yet, so many people meet and remember her- regardless of the gender, nationality, age, etc. In a world where everyone struggles to highlight their differences, where wars are fought to seperate country from country, people from people and gender from gender, this comes as a welcome change to me. Everyone inherently loves children and their innocence. Everyone loves their naughty giggles. Everyone loves the fleeting moment of happiness that they bring to our lives.

This is not the first time I have felt this. When I went to Turkey, we met people from all over the world- from Russia, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Britain, etc. They all spoke to Mehreen in their own languages, cooed and fussed over her and she being the total diva just enjoyed it.

But of course, just because children are so cute, nothing will change. Wars will still be fought. People will still kill each other over their minor differences. But the world does seem a tad bit nicer knowing that there are still people who love an appreciate children and their innocence. This post is especially dedicated to all those little ones without whom our lives would be so bland. would like to quote Rabindranath Tagore “Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of humanity”