Young Inspirations

A group of three young lads all of hardly 9 years (perhaps) swooped into a small pizza eatery. It appeared like they'd come directly from the school as they were all in uniforms. My friend had ordered a pizza parcel for home. I was waiting along with her to collect it.

The three kids were the center of attraction for all the customers present there. They managed to occupy a 4 seater - table nearby the window. It was one of the boy's birthday and obviously, it was his birthday treat for the evening. They skipped glancing through the menu card. Perhaps they had the whole array of pizzas embossed in their mind!

The birthday boy asked the other two boys as to what they preferred to eat, and they yelled, 'paneer pizza' simultaneously.

He came to the billing counter and ordered 3 medium-sized paneer pizzas.

One special thing about this small eatery was that, the whole unit was run by a single person single - handedly. He juggled all the errands himself. He welcomed the customers with a perky smile. He politely offered them the menu cards for their choice of picks. He grilled the pizzas in the oven, sliced them and made parcels for those who decided to take them home. He also billed the transactions and cleaned the tables periodically. He never exhibited any signs of exasperation, despite the swelling crowd. He multi-tasked efficiently!

As there was no facility for washing hands in this small outlet, the birthday boy chose to locate a hand sanitizer all by himself. He not only cleaned his hands but was good enough to ask his friends to wipe their palms as well.

In the meanwhile, he also settled the payment for the pizzas. He verified time and again if the change given to him was right. He inserted the balance into his cute looking wallet. Perhaps he was warned by his parents not to overshoot the budget. And he obliged them in this process. Later he joined his friends nearby the window and settled.

As their pizza preparation would take more than 15 minutes to reach their table. They decided to have a welcome drink. Since their choice of cool drink wasn't available, they settled for flavored milk. The birthday boy was reluctant to pay for this. (Remember he may have to overshoot the budget). He contemplated for a while and cleverly transferred the idea of payment to one of his friends, by stating that he had no change to pay! Finally, his friend treated them to a welcome drink with his share of the money.

They discussed the homework and tests for the day. All the three kiddos had smartly finished their homework at school itself.

By the time their pizzas were delivered at the table, they'd ended up preparing for the next day's test. They even tested each other by asking questions until they perfected. How studious! Pondered the inmates...

Done with their studies part, they were completely relaxed to be engaged at the hang out here. The Pizza guy served their order at their table, a much awaited big moment for them. The birthday boy took the lead of partaking the sliced pizzas among the three of them in equal measure. His bonding with his friends was par excellence! Their faces were brightly lit up at the very sight of piping hot pizzas and they splurged together to savour them oblivious to the customers present around.

They were just about to finish, when the pizza guy served them another plate of sizzling pizzas each, much to their pleasant surprise!

The birthday kid shouted, "Uncle, I'd ordered only one each. This is not our order. Please take it back.

Pizza guy armed with honesty retorted by saying, "kiddos, the order that you placed is a 'buy - one - get one - free'. So please go ahead and enjoy this extra one too!

The kids simply loved it and their excitement hit the roofs. They couldn't resist the urge to gorge on it! But one of them looked at the time and since it was getting late, requested one of the customers for a phone. Each of them called their parents and informed them about the delay.

The kids resumed their eating spree. Their bonding was devoid of any misunderstandings, quarrels or scuffles. Instead, they cared to share and shared to care!

As bystanders, we were totally in awe of these kids behaviour. They were such disciplined young kids, brimming with good manners and equally smart in their studies. A rare trait to be found among kids of today.

The eatery might have been small in size, but we carried back not just parcels of pizzas but a huge baggage of little inspirations from the three little magical allies.