The Little Patriot

"Mumma, who are terrorists?" four-year-old Rohan asked his mother while watching television.

Rekha, busy preparing lunch, stood startled at this sudden question. She left her knife and veggies on the kitchen slab and came to see what Rohan was up to.

What she saw was, Rohan had eyes stuck on news flashing on the television. It said, "Terrorist attack in school, 200 children killed in a mass shooting." She immediately understood.

She sat on the chair next to her son, whose eyes remained fixed on the TV.

Taking his hand in hers, she said, "Rohan, it is terror-rist. And those are some really bad guys who kill people for their own selfish purpose."

"Why do they do so Mumma? Look, Mumma, so many children like me are lying on the ground with dirt and blood all over." He pointed his finger out to show the tv screen.

"Because they find pleasure in killing people, just like you find it in playing with your toys or with your friend Rishi." Rekha tried to answer his innocent questions appropriately.

"Then why don't they get their own toys and best friends and play with them instead? What if tomorrow I go to school and they come there and do what they did to there kids? I'll hit them with my bat! And I'll not let them touch Sonali. She is really sweet and gives me toffees." Rohan kept blabbering, now his hands busy in drawing some random cartoon on his drawing book.

Rekha laughed for a few seconds, then suddenly tears appeared in her eyes. It was such an innocent, yet terrifying thought. What if this happens with Rohan, or any other kid, in any other school? What if they invade their own house, which was situated in a small town in Rajasthan, near the IndoPak border.

A sense of terror shook her from within. She grabbed her son and embraced him tightly and mumbled, "No! I'll not let anything happen to you or anyone else! Nobody can touch you! That's mumma's promise! I'll kill anyone who tries to harm you!"

"No Mumma, you are not terrorist. I'll talk to Doraemon. He will give me a gadget with which I will make all these terrorists turn into big black clouds. Then they will rain upon us and we'll have a rainy day at school! Yay!!" Rohan screamed with joy and ran into his room, imitating to call his favorite cartoon Doraemon.

Rekha had her own share of laughter at this innocent idea that popped in his son's mind. Also, she felt a sense of relief upon knowing that Rohan can judge between right and wrong.

Perhaps we might need a more ideal solution to this whole chaos of terrorism in the future, to fight against it and not stay silent, she thought. Also, with a prime minister like ours, she could always rely on him for the protection of her family and country.

But for the meanwhile, Doraemon's gadget idea worked fine for her!