I've had just enough time to... see myself in the eyes of a child.
Taken in Kunshan while wandering around
“He
doesn’t like me”.
Maybe it
was not because he does not like me. Maybe it was because I witnessed what he
did. Or maybe it was because he was protective of his little sister. His sister,
who was looking at me with questioning eyes.
“Who are
you?”
“What do
you want?”
“Why are
you taking our picture?”
She
could not figure me out yet. So she was hesitant with her response. Maybe she
will smile if I say a kind word or two. Maybe she will run away. But I kept my
distance. I have no right to intrude.
Her
brother, he just glared at me. I am a stranger. I can be up to no good. I
cannot do anything for them except getting them into trouble. So he challenged
me with his look. If I put on a fierce expression. Maybe he will run away.
Maybe he will call for his family. I am after all a stranger and an outsider. So
I kept my distance. Smiled, and backed off. I am after all an intruder into
their world and I have to respect that. (I was in Kunshan with a couple of
hours to kill and I’m not going to do that watching TV in the hotel room. So I
wandered out into the street where ordinary people lived.)
Earlier,
I “caught” them playing with the stainless steel bolts and washers that they
somehow dismantle from the railings of the steps and overhead bridge. I tried
one with my bare fingers and found it to be fast secured. Maybe, they have
found all the loose ones or maybe they did it with some tools though I did not
see any. If they construct the railings so poorly that children can dismantle
them, then it is not the children’s fault for you can expect a child to do
exactly what they did. I did not want to encourage them though so I checked my
smile and moved away wondering what did I learn from this encounter to have it
so strongly registered in my memory.
