We were taking round of our antenatal ward. Suddenly a small girl started walking between two rows of beds. She was barely two years old. We all were amused because she was wearing her mother's slippers, the right slipper on the left foot and the left slipper on the right foot. Her mother was admitted with another consultant and was lying on her bed in another row. She saw us watching her daughter, got up hurriedly, picked up her daughter and took her to her bed. I do not carry a camera around on ward rounds. So I could not capture that moment. Later I had some time to think about what had happened, and it suddenly dawned on me that the poor woman had no money to buy any footwear for her daughter. The daughter had a strong desire to walk wearing some footwear, found her mother's slippers near her bed, and made the best of the opportunity.
A few years passed. I was on my way to the outpatient clinic the other day, when I passed by a mother and her toddler standing outside the OT.
"Here, take mine" the mother said, in response to something the child had said. I looked at them. She was taking off her slippers and offering them to her child.
"But will they fit me?" the child asked her.
"Yes, of course" she said. "They will fit you perfectly."
He trusted her. He slipped his tiny feet into the slippers which seemed huge on his feet and started walking. His mother noticed me looking at him and smiled, proud of her son. I smiled back showing that I liked her son, and walked on. Actually I was moved by the mother's love for her child, her child's intelligence in judging the disparity in the size of his feet and the slippers, and his total trust in his mother which overrode his logical reasoning. At the same time I was upset that there was so much poverty that small children had to walk barefoot. I did not have a camera with me that time too; and even if I had one, I could not have snapped a picture without hurting that mother. The image shown above is my 3D graphics effort at reproducing what I saw that day.
A few years passed. I was on my way to the outpatient clinic the other day, when I passed by a mother and her toddler standing outside the OT.
"Here, take mine" the mother said, in response to something the child had said. I looked at them. She was taking off her slippers and offering them to her child.
"But will they fit me?" the child asked her.
"Yes, of course" she said. "They will fit you perfectly."
He trusted her. He slipped his tiny feet into the slippers which seemed huge on his feet and started walking. His mother noticed me looking at him and smiled, proud of her son. I smiled back showing that I liked her son, and walked on. Actually I was moved by the mother's love for her child, her child's intelligence in judging the disparity in the size of his feet and the slippers, and his total trust in his mother which overrode his logical reasoning. At the same time I was upset that there was so much poverty that small children had to walk barefoot. I did not have a camera with me that time too; and even if I had one, I could not have snapped a picture without hurting that mother. The image shown above is my 3D graphics effort at reproducing what I saw that day.
