It was the festival of spring.A colourfully-dressed crowd of men,
women and chidren were all going to the village fair.One little boy ran,
brimming over with life and laughter,to keep pace with his friends.little child, come called his parents, as he lagged behind attract by the toys in the shops at the fair. He hurried towards his parents, his feet obedient to their call, his eyes still on the toys. He could not control his desire, even though he knew the old, cold atare of refusal in their eyes. "I want that toy," he begged.
His father looked at him angrily while his mother was tender, and giving him her finger to catch, said: "Look child, what is before you." The faint disgust of the child's unfulfilled desire disappeared when the pleasure of what was before him filled his eager eyes.
The child could see many footpaths full of people. He felt at once afraid of, and attracted by, the confusion of the world he was entering. At the corner of the entrance, there was a sweetmeat-seller, calling out- "Gulab jamun, rasgulla, burfi, jalebi". The child stared and his mouth watered for the burfi was his favourite sweet. "I want that burfi," he slowly murmured. But he half knew that his request would not be heeded, So without for an answer, he moved on.man steed balding a pole with yellow, red, green and purple battoons flying from it. child was carried away by the rainbow glory of their colours, and he wanted to have them all. But he knew his parents would say he was too old to play with them. So he walked on further
A juggleg stood playing a flute to a snake which coiled itself in a basket. The snake rassed its head in a graceful bend like the neck of a swan. But he knew his parents had forbidden him to hear the coarse music of jugglers. So, he proceeded farther
There was a roundabout in full swing. Men, women and children were laughing and shrieking madly as they went round and round in it. The child watched them, his lips parted in amazement, and a pink blush of a smile came on his face. This time the child 3made a bold request: "I want to go on the roundabout, please, Father, Mother!"
There was no reply. He turned to look for his parents. They were not there ahead of him. He turned to look on either side. They were not there. He looked behind. There was no sign of them.
A full deep cry rose within his dry throat, and with a sudden jerk of his body, he ran from where he stood, crying in fear: "Mother. Father!" Tears rolled down from his eyes, hot and fierce. He ran to one side first, then to the other, not knowing where to go. "Mother, Father!" he cried again and again. Every little inch of the space in the fairground was crowded with people. The child might have been crushed underfoot, had he not cried in loud voice, "Father, Mother!"
A man heard his cry, and bending down with great difficulty, lifted him up in his arms. "How did you get here, child? Whose baby are you?"
The child wept more and cried, "I want my mother, I want my father."
The man tried to comfort him by taking him to the roundabout, "Will you have a ride on the horse?" he gently asked. The child's throat tore into a thousand sobs.
Listen to that nice music, child," he pleaded when they reached the juggler, But the child shut his ears with his fingers.
Would you like a balloon?" he asked lovingly. But the child just sobbed. "What sweets would you like, child?" the man asked.The child turned his face away from the sweet-shop and only sobbed,"I want my mother,I want my father."