62 Seconds at the traffic lights.....

I saw the lights go from flickering green to a staring red.  As I halted the timer showed 62 seconds. In front of me were two icons of  'Man Made Luxury' - a black BMW and a yellow Tata Nano. I smiled as I saw the man made wonders and it was at that time when the corner of my eye caught a figure jump from the divider on to the road. I saw a 7-8 year old in check half sleeve shirt and over sized trouser wearing a cobbled chappal and holding red and yellow balloons. He rushed towards the cars asking everyone if they wanted balloons. There was some thing about his eyes that caught my attention. His big and dark black eyes said more than his words could say. Hope, despair, anxiety, innocent and probably helplessness. As he passed from one prospect to another he kept on looking at the timer as if trying to monitor the per prospect time spent. The timer flickered 32 seconds when he stopped in front of BMW. As he approached the BMW driver, Mr. Richie Rich rolled up his window. A micro second frown came and went on the face of my balloon seller. He looked at the timer again, it now flickered 29 seconds. He then turned towards the 'small wonder'. On seeing him coming the nano driver rolled down the window of his car and so did his 7- 8 year old sitting in the back seat. The timer flickered 25 seconds. As the windows rolled down, the shine in his eyes grew.The child sitting in the back seat gleefully shouted "papa red, papa red" to his father. The nano driver asked for two red balloons and two yellow balloons. The child cheerfully clapped as my little balloon seller handed him two red balloons. He handed the two yellow balloons to his father. While the father struggled to find some loose money both the 7-8 year old  grinned with joy. Ironically, balloon was the reason behind those smiles but for different reasons. By the time balloon seller was handed the money, the timer had already reached a single digit figure. The balloon seller threw a glance at the timer and ran towards the divider.

As I passed him, I saw him counting the money and transferring it back safely to his trouser pocket as he kept an eye on the timer waiting for it to go red again.

As I drove ahead, all I could think was " What Man has made of Man!"