Samir Shukla
By Samir Shukla
I was sitting on an outdoor bench outside a shopping center on a late summer day.
A kid, maybe around 3 or 4 years old, was looking out over the edge of the parking lot. His head swayed back and forth in quick movements, mimicking the motions of a bird’s head. He seemed to be looking for something or someone. A few minutes later, his grandmother appeared within his eyesight. His eyes lit up and he yelled, “grandmamma!”
“See I told you grandmamma was coming,” the mother let his hand go and the kid ran across the small grassy area and into his grandmother’s arms.
I watched this scene and a smile broke on my face while a large imaginary movie screen appeared, showing me B&W and technicolor flashback reels of my youth. The screen replayed numerous such anticipation moments of years past. Those carefree days when our spirits were young and even the smallest potential reward or an upcoming trip or visit to a relative became an epic film of anticipations.
Kids are naturally attuned to the immediate present and even more to some anticipatory thing or event that they have been told about. If they are told on Monday that they will be taken for pizza on Saturday, the whole week is a joyful time of looking forward to that fun, even though a rather common, happening, going out for pizza.
While our youth progresses into adulthood, many people, somewhere along the way, become jaded and toss aside or forget about those warm feelings of anticipation. It’s the busyness of life, the anxieties and travails, sure, but with a little tap into that forgotten youthful energy and the span of time for that upcoming trip to the beach can also become an ointment for daily pains that invariably happen.
Anticipation becomes a natural healer, a friendly hand patting you on the back and saying, hey, it’s going be ok. Soon, you’ll be sitting on the beach, toes in the sand.
That’s the hidden power of anticipation.
Even if that trip to the beach turns out to be a soggy, cloudy affair or that long-awaited concert doesn’t quite live up to expectations, those moments of anticipation make light of the time leading up to the trip, event or moment.
It’s interesting, but sometimes the anticipation may turn out to be more fun than whatever is anticipated. Such are the fleeting joys of life.
Now, of course I’m talking about fun things coming up. There’s also the anticipation of unfun and stress-inducing events, like that final exam or an upcoming job interview. I’ll leave these passages of time for you to work out and navigate.
Getting back to that late summer day, the act of anticipation glowed in the kid’s eyes, awakened probably when his mom told him grandmamma was coming to meet them. His wide smile made the sunny day sunnier, for him and me.
I don’t know about you, but I’m glad I’ve never quite lost that childlike love of anticipation. It’s one of life’s completely free gifts that are too often set aside. Remember that kid in the parking lot. Recall him in yourself and relive some joyful anticipation.
Even if the anticipated is a routine trip to the park, or that often consumed pizza.
Samir Shukla is the Editor of Saathee Magazine.
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