Hard Work for an Air Full of Nothing

Naga walked in holding on to her arm. It was swathed in Crepe bandage.

What happened, Naga, I asked?

“It’s my son, madam’, she grimaced. “He jumped on to me and swung on my arm like a monkey!”

“I thought my arm would come off, madam”, she said very seriously.

I tried a little harder not to laugh but it’s hard to keep a straight face when there’s an image of a monkey-kid swinging on a limb!

“What madam…so much we have to do to raise children! I need my arm to work no at the computer? Do they have any idea of how hard we work so that they can waste to buy things here and there?”

But Naga, that’s what we earn for isn’t it?

“Oh yes, Madam, we have to earn so that they can have all the good things we did not have. My mother did not sometimes have milk to give me and I have to buy Bournvita to put in the milk so that they will at least drink the milk without complaints.”

“And my son, he will not only drink but also eat the Bournvita. My daughter madam, is very adjusting but this son…so much waste he does without thinking how hard I work”, she grumbled on.

Come on, Naga, can we really expect them to understand how hard we work? It’s like the saying that our fathers had to take the stairs so that we could use elevators…

“Yes but Madam, it does not mean that we have to buy all the junk these silly advertising fellows put on TV. Other children will buy so mine will want and there I am buying packets of chips which are only air full of nothing and few chips.”

Hmm…that’s a thought I did not think of.

“Yes Madam, full of air those packets of Lays, Fritos, Cheetos and what not and we pay Rs 10 for each pack when we could have got the air for free…we only need to go out and take a deep breath, no madam? Why pay Rs 10 for it?”

Well…the air is supposed to keep the chips fresh and there are some chips in it, Naga.

“What Madam, may be two rupees worth of it. That Saif fellow cannot eat just one that is ok, no—he is anyway getting to eat the chips free to hold the packet on TV—but then when our children decide that they too cannot eat just one…all our money is going down the pockets of these chips company for the air they pack with the few thin potato bits.”

Kids need some junk food too once in a while, Naga. If you deprive them of it, they would want it more.

She grumbled on “But, no understanding they are having about the value of money, Madam. For them Rs 10 is like a piece of paper. I have been working since class 10 to earn and children today—all they want is leisure.

All I want is leisure too, Naga, I said to myself. All we all want is leisure. And isn't it ironic that we have to work our tails off for those moments of leisure and those packets of chips with air full of nothing?