so one sad saturday morning i had to be on shoot at 7 am in the morning. First a weekend and then reporting for a shoot that early in the morning is like mid night for me. So well all groggy i reach the shoot and it all begins. While i am sitting and watching the first shot being taken i see 2 very cute little boys sitting next to me and enjoying the shoot... and that was the beginning of a day long friend ship with two super smart and super cute kids..
Uzeb and Zuber were two kid models for my shoot. Zuber was the earlier choice for the lead kid model and then at the shoot we realise he is not fitting the bill so his younger brother Uzeb is the one we go with. While Uzeb is happy and doing his kiddy running around, Zuber is visibly upset that he is not a part of the shoot anymore.. I feel extremely upset seeing him upset. trying to find ways to talk to him but he is not talking to anyone. goes away to one corner and sits on the steps ... I with slow and steady determination inch towards him and finally manage to crack him open.. and then from using my Deo to telling me about his dream to buy a cycle to how upset he was to who all he had in his family continued and then a day long chitter chatter with both the boys and my groggy day turned into a fun little session of sorts with them..Both the boys extremely intelligent..
Sometime in the day their parents also come to the shoot. Zuber comes and points at them and tells me - there my Ammi and Abbu. I look at them and see them busy having their lunch so I turn away.. Eventually in the evening his dad gets talking to me.. They are this humble couple who are there to support their kids and just anxious about not leaving them alone for their first such shoot.. So i get talking with them. Thier dad is a Taxi driver and mum a house wife. He tells me about his three kids.. so both the boys have an elder brother as well who they tell me has just gotten selected to meet Irfan Pathan and few others from the Indian cricket team and has been selected to play at the state level. But that requires for the parents to shell out about Rs 1 lakh and he says thats not something he can afford. He tells me that he would really get annoyed with his son for going and playing cricket because somewhere that worry of not being able to support this hobby of his son eventually would always bother him, But the son went ahead and followed his dreams and reached to a point where the father is left with no option. So he has left every thing to 'Malik' and says he will figure some way out for sure.. I find this man for the humble background that he comes from, to be extremely modern and broadminded in thoughts. He believes his kids can do every thing and they are intelligent enough and all he can do is support them in the right ways and teach them to be humble and all the right disciplines of life..
Zuber he tells me is suffering from acute asthama and so looks 8yrs old when he is actually 13. I am shocked because he really doesn't look that old. An amount of Rs 90,000 has been spent in his treatment from various hospitals like Lilawati to Tata memorial.. every possible good big hospital one can think of.. but nothing much has come out of it..So in True style his father leaves every thing to " allah" .. "I am doing every thing i can and i think my prayers have been answered to some extent as you can today see him walking around in this shoot when 2 months back he was bed ridden and i had left all hopes in him even surviving this ordeal".. I Smile.. i feel happy that i get to see Zuber in this happy state..
Uzeb..is the naughty super intelligent child who the father thinks is going to make him very very proud. He says to run a family of 3 kids with his humble salary of taxi driving is not easy but i don't complain.. All i know is that my aim is to do every thing that i can to make my children's life better in this world and i think my job is done.. From there on God will take over and what the almighty has decided for them they have to live through that and make their own world.
The end of the day makes me feel so good to meet such great parents and the 2 little vibrant happy kids. I pray for them before i leave. thank the 2 kids and bid good bye's but the 4 faces - Uzeb, Zuber and his parents don't leave me.. i have not stopped thinking about them and every time i think about them it brings a smile on my face.. to meet such warm and positive people only makes you feel life is so much more worth all the things that we think are trouble.. :)
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