When I got a call, I went to the balcony to continue the call. At that moment, I noticed a little boy who was hiding behind my house owner’s car parked nearby. I thought he was playing the “hide and seek” game. Even after my call that lasted for about ten minutes, the boy was still in the same place and that made me take a closer look at him. He was wearing a dirty top and shorts which was unusual for kids in our area to be wearing something like that. That’s when I had a lot of questions running on my mind.
Who is this kid? Why is he hiding here? Is he waiting to steal something from the car? I decided to wait and watch him.
He was constantly looking at the backdoor of my neighbour’s house. After a few minutes, an old lady came out from that door carrying food on a banana leaf. She placed it over the compound wall and shouted “ ka..ka..ka ” (to invite the crows to eat the food) and returned home.
It took the boy only a few seconds to run towards the wall and grab the food. When he was enjoying the food, that old lady suddenly came back with another banana leaf. The little boy was shocked looking at her. When the old lady screamed at him, he disappeared in seconds.
The very next day, I ran to the balcony when I heard that old woman calling out to the crows but this time the clever woman was standing in the terrace.
I looked for that kid to give him some money so that he could buy something to eat but I never saw him after that incident.
P. SUBRAMANIAN,Engineering graduate
