Survival

It was a Sunday afternoon. As usual I was roaming in the countryside. I saw a little crowd watching a street show of an acrobat. I went closer and became a part of them.

A woman, about 30 years old, was performing. Her elder daughter, 6 years old, was giving her rhythm with the help of a dish and a stick and the other, of merely 1 year, was laid under a tree.

The woman was showing all her skills like passing through a burning ring, walking on a rope, picking a needle with an eye and much more. Some of them were really thrilling. All were captivated. But, there was something by which she was not concentrating her performance properly. Some fears and worries were hiding in her eyes. What was making her disturbed? She was looking at her child under the tree time to time which was the reason of her distraction.

After a couple of hours, the show ended and everyone moved away. The woman hastily ran towards the child under the tree, picked it up and kept into her laps. She was kissing it continuously with tears in her eyes.

Some spectators threw coins. Most of them enjoyed free of cost. The woman was getting tired due to continuous performance. Her daughter gathered the coins in a dish and handed it over her mother. The innocent daughter was unaware of the situation. Looking at those coins, the girl became happy. But, the was woman seemed to be very worried. She was seemed to be very unsatisfied with those handfuls of coins. She counted...all of them were comprising to 35 bucks...!!!

She had sat with a big question on her face. The child was sick. She was worried about it. It had a fever and had eaten nothing since the morning. Tears were rolling on her cheeks. She was kissing the kid with the thought of how to collect 100 bucks to pay for the doctor's fees and treat her child....