Growing Up

Naveen goes to the swimming pool every morning. It's in the society's club. It's well designed - lot's of trees, flowers and grass all around the pool. The morning swim helps him clear his mind before he begins his hectic work schedule. Plus, it's the only place in Mumbai where he gets to hear birds other than pigeons and crows. The real stress buster, however, is when he sees his five year old daughter learn how to swim. While he does his laps, he keeps an eye on her.

The trainer was being a little strict with her today. It's been a week and she was still not doing the leg movements properly. She got scolded a couple of times. Naveen saw this and swam out of his lane towards them. She looked like she was about to cry. Naveen asked the trainer to end it for the day and asked her to play around in the grass.

He started doing his laps again. Every time he pulled his head out to breathe in, he looked at her from the corner of his eyes.

He noticed that it just took her a few seconds to shift her attention completely from swimming to becoming playful with the flowers. Not that he hasn't seen his daughter play around before, it was the first time he was comparing his life with her's.

"Wow! It's so easy for her. One moment she's about to cry and next moment she's all happy and playful. She has completely forgotten what happened a few moments ago," he observed.

He finished the swim. As they moved out of the club, he heard the sound of a plane flying above. He asked his daughter to look up. "Yayy!" she jumped in excitement.

Naveen saw a young man coming in to the club. He wore a white t-shirt with text written on it in capital letters. It read ..

"DON'T GROW UP. IT'S A TRAP."

It brought a smile on Naveen's face.

While coming in to the swimming pool next morning, he was still pondering about this observation. Instead of doing his laps, he decided to relax in the pool. He let his body loose, turned around to keep his face towards the sky and started floating on the water.

It was an absolutely clear sky, lit up by the morning sun. At a really high altitude, he saw a plane. It was so high that its sound was not audible. It appeared as if the plane was moving very slowly. As the plane moved through the loose vapor, it condensed and formed a streak of cloud behind it.

His eyes were above the water level, open to witness the beautiful scene in the sky. His ears were submerged, reducing the ambiance sound and distraction.

When he turned his face upwards, his attention was nowhere in particular, it was up for grabs. He realized that it was not the streak of cloud which caught his attention. It was that side of the plane which faced east. It shined spectacularly bright as the sunlight fell on it at a perfect angle.

It reminded him of the first time his dad showed him a plane flying in the sky. He relived that awe and wonder.

"Yayy!" he said.

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