Last Sunday, I was out with my family for our usual weekend dinner at our favourite restaurant. It was a normal, routine fair as well ordered food and enjoyed the little chit-chat. Moments later a family walked in from the door and in came a fairy-- a girl aged around 4, wearing a pink fairy costume, with pink butterfly wings, pink hairclips and pink hairband with butterflies popping out of them. Encouraged by our mushy glances towards her, the girl came to our table and immediately struck a chord with us.

 

She told us she had special wings with which she could fly. I could not help but ask her if it were her birthday that she was so dressed up. Her answer surprised me, “No, it isn’t my birthday today. I just dressed as a fairy because I wanted to and so that people appreciate me.” Strange how kids hold faith in the strangest things and it transforms their world into a whole new delusional space.

 

That evening the kid enjoyed all the attention from all tables in the restaurant. She was lovable the way she was, but the extra effort she put in made her the evening’s favourite in the crowd. I felt she had actually taught me a lesson there. There will be good days and there will be bad days. But a lot depends on how you can improve the percentage of one kind as compared to the other. Meanwhile, the story doesn’t end here. While ordering food she ordered something that wasn’t even on the menu.

 

She told the waiter get her a ‘feast’. He just smiled and went away. He came back with a dish, which the family had already ordered, and presented it to her as her ‘feast’. The girl grinned cheek to cheek and had a hearty dinner. It is interesting how one reads this situation in the context of us elders. She got something and she happily convinced herself that that is what she wanted and dined a happy soul. Someone else would say she was taken for a ride as someone else decided for her and she did not even realise...that she did not even protest to what was being served in front of her. While some may call it faith and greatfulness some others may call it surrender and stupidity.

 

I would say, she had faith that her wings could make her fly, and that is a good start for a four-year-old. As for the surrender to what the waiter gave her in the name of a feast, no questions, no queries just gratefulness for what comes under the name of feast. Her intention was to receive appreciation and she did because she went all out to socially interact and speak with all and get her dues. What I liked about that pure soul is that she did not wait for a occasion, she made the occasion special. But the child taught us we hold the power to make the ordinary extraordinary. True spirituality is finding magic in the mundane.