She walked into her room, gently lifted the aquarium off the table and placed it on the floor. She sat cross legged on the floor peeping into her aquarium with awe. She had hand picked the members and it was a strange assortment. She had two turtles, three snails, a couple of gold fish, shiny black pebbles, clear water and a small mound of sand with a bridge to reach it.
She usually placed it on her table by her head. Yet everyday she made it a point to place it on the floor and look inside religiously. Her beady eyes gleamed with joy every time a turtle surfaced onto its little island. Or just sat intrigued when a fish nibbled on the colourful pellets.
Remarkably, she never went a day without her staring session and peeped into the tank with the same warmth as before. Her little thrills failed to make any sense.
It’s been over two years since we first went to the pet store. Fish have bellied up and been replaced, snails have shrivelled and the turtles have grown, but her daily routine has not altered even a bit. She still sits and ogles.
She never threw a tantrum when she found one of them belly up. She calmly ran up to tell me that another one has moved on. That first time, I was perplexed to have to decode to her cryptic circle of life. But her insight left me astounded. Either her reason shined through, never for a moment tarnishing her innocence. At that tender age of six, she taught me to let life run its complex course. Some things will never be in our control and others will be a mystery. And that’s the simple truth.
The blogger is a student at Loyola Academy, Hyderabad.