“Shared joy is a double joy”

Radhika D. Shyam

My house is second in a dead-end road of about eight houses on each side of it. The second last premises is that of a playschool. So you can imagine the bustle every weekday. Around 12:30 PM. children rush out excitedly to meet their parents.

Here, one particular balloon seller saw a lot of potential to earn money. He started frequenting the place exactly at 12:15 PM. His big colorful balloons of all sizes and shapes never failed to attract the attention of the little children on their way home and their parents, most of the times, indulged them.

One such afternoon, over a year ago, I saw a lady on a two-wheeler buying a big balloon for her child. Also, all the five little children of poor labourers working in one of the neighbouring houses had a double-colored balloon in their small hands. Assuming that the lady on the two-wheeler had bought the balloons for the children, I blessed her. The joy on their faces brought a smile to my lips.

However, the scene that I witnessed soon after the lady left made me red with anger. The balloon seller took the balloons away from the children. I stormed out in fury to fight for the wronged children. I reprimanded him for his shrewd and cunning behaviour. I scolded him for exploiting such innocent children and for cheating the lady who had paid for them.

But what he said in his defence embarrassed me like never before. He said that he often lent some balloons to these children to play with for a short time and that the lady had not paid for them. He said he loved to see them having a good time and that he would certainly love to give them away, if only he could afford to do so. The sincerity in his voice convinced me of the authenticity of his words. I thought of the several occasions when I had contemplated lending my children’s toys or tricycle to these children while they baked in the sun outside, but never got down to doing it. Here was a man of limited means, actually doing it by risking his goods and investment in the progress.

Last 14 th November, I eagerly waited for the balloon seller. By the time I became free to come out, he had already given huge balloons to his patrons. They looked happier because they had never held balloons of this size before. They ran joyously chasing and bouncing them. I handed out the money and told him, “I will pay for them. Don’t take the balloons away from them today.”

He turned around to smile and expose his red betel leaf stained teeth. “No Madam, today the balloons are for them to keep. The playschool principal gave me a big order of 100 balloons yesterday. She wanted them for Children’s Day. And since I earned well today, I thought of making this day memorable for these children too. So I decided to give them bigger balloons and some chocolates too.”

This time, his words brought tears to my eyes. He taught me something that I could never have possibly learnt from any book or in any educational institution. “Shared joy is a double joy.”