Balloon And The Boy Who Feared It

             “I used to get a shiver if I thought about holding balloons, because I was scared of floating away. ‘’ Fiona Apple

Few days back a colleague of mine visited my house. I am retired and he is still in service. After the exchange of niceties, I asked him about his son and daughter. They are grown up and on their own. He said his son is now studying in USA and daughter is serving in a company and is at present in Pune on a short visit to her office. 

The working style has changed. For many it is still work from home (WFH). Occasionally they are called to office for a meeting. COVID has changed the way we look at things. Disasters sometimes bring in good things. 

We talked things like their childhood and remembered some good moments. I told him that I am happy to know that balloon boy is now in USA. At first, he did not get what I was telling. He laughed merrily when I narrated the childhood story of his son Phiku, as he is known to all of us.

Balloon is something every child would love to hold. It’s fascinating to see how their eyes and faces lit up when you give them the balloon. How they play with them, fight for them, it’s their world you have to be in, to understand it. In a party one may see a child crying simply because a particular balloon is held by another baby or that another baby has more in number, and it goes on. In a nutshell balloon and babies are inseparable.  

Balloons defy the gravity and float; they are lightweight and come in bright colours. These characteristics elicit and delight the child in everybody including the children. They are part of every celebration, be it a birthday, an anniversary or a success party. They bring in energy, enthusiasm and happiness. Leave alone kids even elders cannot resist the balloons. 

Philosophically, the balloon represents our body and soul. The balloon which is destructible is the body and the air filled in is the soul, which is indestructible. Body without the soul has no meaning. While the air can get into another balloon, the same air can never be caught back to fill into the same balloon. Likewise, once the body separates from the soul, soul never finds its way back into the same body. 

You may be wondering as to why I am filling with all this already known stuff. Well, back in around the year 2000 or so, we had a small party for our son’s birthday. We were very selective and not big-time partiers. We had invited only very few known and friends of our children. 

Phiku happened to be younger brother of my younger sons (birthday boy) classmate. When we went to invite them, Phiku was very young may be just started going to KG, Phiku came to me I shook his hands, talked some sweet things and told him he should come to our home, and he will get to eat cake and balloons to play. The moment I said Balloon he ran away with a fear in his face. I asked his father what happened, why did he run. His father told me that he fears balloons and told me not to give him balloons when he comes for the party. 

With that input, I went back. On the day, instead of using the normal balloons I decided to bring in the bladder balloons, which are bigger and stronger. Though it takes extra effort to blow them, but they don’t burst easily. I also had few other balloons which I Kept it in case some kids asked for them. I had used bladder balloon to play with my children. I remember that scene in Charlie Chaplin movie “The Great Dictator”, where he hits the floating balloon like globe up with his butt. I had enjoyed that whole play with the globe.

Well, that day arrived, and all the kids came for the party, which was in the evening. We had some activities for the kids. It’s really wonderful to watch the kids play. They form their own teams or groups. There will be leader and follower. You can also see some bossing around or bullying the smaller ones. You can see quieter ones and the noisy ones. You will find a kid wanting everything the other kid has and you will find a kid who will give away everything. You will find a kid who will be hiding behind the mother’s saree, you will find a kid whose parents are worried they will lose the kid. 

Phiku was silent and playing to himself initially. Occasionally playing with his sister. Slowly he mingled with others. I had placed balloons at many places and free with long thread tied. Some kids took them and started playing. Some of them started like hitting in groups and making fun of one another. We had the party in the hall and the open courtyard was annexed to it. Kid could go out and play in the lawn. 

Someone arranged a balloon game for kids outside. Teams were made where every child was asked to participate. The game was to keep the balloon up and not allowing it to fall to the ground. So, the teams have to keep hitting it up. Whichever team keeps it up for longer is the winner. 

Phiku initially hesitated to join. But as the game got going and kids enjoyed hitting the balloon higher and everyone was looking to hit. Then the game changed to individual mode. Everyone was asked to take the balloon and keep it up. I saw from the corner Phiku had not joined. But he was animated seeing his friends hitting, running helter-skelter to keep the balloon up. Also, many of them collided and fell. Some dragged the others to keep their ball up. Many would shout, complain to parents. Many would cry shortly but regain and re-join. 

Slowly I saw Phiku also started hitting the balloon that came his side. As the balloons were all bladder balloons so far none had burst. 

With all this going, time came for cake cutting. We had one activity before that. We had stuffed one balloon with lots of flower petals and small toffees and tied it at the centre in the hall. This was to be burst by the birthday baby. As it was thicker balloon, using pin we could not make it burst. So we had perfected the art of bursting by candle heat. I held my son up and he burst the balloon with the lit candle. The flower petals and the chocolates showered on him and around. The kids started picking the chocolates. I was watching Phiku from the corner. He did not show any signs of fear after the balloon burst. The cake was cut and served to all. 

Then the time came for dinner. Kids were gathered with difficulty; some were still after the balloons and chocolates. They were made to eat. Then the elders started the dinner. While we were at it, kids once again started their fun games. I told them they can take home as many balloons as they can gather while leaving. If required, some more can be blown. You should see the fizzy, the fun of snatching from others, hiding away from others giving it to parents and coming and asking me for more balloons. Wow, it’s so relaxing and refreshing to watch the kids in this mood. 

In the meanwhile, I saw a big girl had gathered the piece of the burst balloon and trying to make small balloon. She put the piece across her lips, stretched it and sucked in the breath and twisted it and while holding the small balloon tightly with one hand, she will rub it against her other palm to make sounds. She will show it to hear friends and rub it on their cheek to make that funny sound. I was just enjoying her creativity.

Sometime in between, I had told Phiku’s father to watch his son playing with the balloon. He smiled and said yes, he is playing but let’s see. 

Well, every revelry had to end and so the party came to an end and friends started leaving with their kids one by one. As promised, I allowed kids to take the balloons as many as they could. Phiku’s home was just across. So, his parents were amongst the last ones to leave. I saw Phiku had collected a few balloons and holding to them dearly. I told Phiku to come home anytime he wanted the balloons. And they bid goodbye with his father smiling. I saw Phiku carry the balloons all by himself. I was happy that he had overcome his fear and was enjoying the balloons like any other kid.