Second Chance.

'Give me one more chance da. I promise to play well'.

'Okay, I will give you three more chances. Only three. Then it is my turn to bat'.

I was watching the kids play One Tuppi cricket beneath my balcony. An unused, corroded scooter served as stumps. One of them was repeatedly getting clean bowled, and he was pleading for another shot. The other players huddled together and then the captain, the oldest player, a full five years old, held up three fingers. Three chances! 

The batsman repaid this generous gesture with a lofty six which hefted the ball into the swimming pool. The kids ran to the pool, distracted into a new activity which involved water and sand.

I marvelled at munificence of the children. At the abundance of second chances they had stock piled in their heart. But I was more amazed by the persistence of the child asking for another chance. Like it was his birthright. Like his tenacity merited it.

We stop being kind to ourselves as we grow up. We are less assured about worth and thus feel less entitled to a reprieve. So, we are less inclined to be magnanimous with the people around us. No second chance for them! 

Our rigid education system hardly warrants second chances. In fact, it gives the children enough rope to hang themselves, as they test their ignorance and not their knowledge.

Our society does not believe in respite. Thus, the inability to get into an IIT or an AIIMS in the first attempt becomes a talking point. A pink slip becomes the end of the road. And a broken  marriage becomes the end of life. 

The Laws of Nature encourage rejuvenation. Leaves dry and fall. Fruits ripen and burst. Lions are ousted from their pride. The praying mantis is devoured by its mate. But life reincarnates. Without fail. Every time.

 We must stake our claim to the second, third, fourth, fifth chances that life holds out to us. One need not die to avail the benefits of rebirth.