the narrow lanes leading to the dargah e sharif are dotted with these tiny hole-in-the-wall eateries. serving simple fare, these eateries do brisk business feeding the returning pilgrims.
one such family run eatery had a little fellow, about six years old, who was tasked with baking the rotis on a hot tava while his mother rolled them out for him. the task was simple enough, bake one side, turn the roti over, bake the other side and off it goes to the plate of a hungry pilgrim.
maybe it was sheer boredom or may be the lad was mischievous, but the fellow instead of just turning the rotis over was instead flipping them high trying to get them to turn in the air and land on the tava. mostly the rotis landed in a heap which he hastily straightened out. and every time it landed in a heap he giggled and looked sheepish while his mom rolled her eyes and asked him sternly, but clearly indulging, to stop the nonsense. i sat in the corner watching all this when just like that a roti nailed its landing. perfectly flat and the right side down. his eyes lit up, his mom's eyes lit up and i hastily put up my hand asking to be served that roti. there was a moment of quiet joy. and then it was back to rolling, and flipping and heaping, and giggling and the invariable gentle admonishing.
we as parents, and elsewhere, as leaders, often struggle to create an environment where mistakes aren't treated as mishaps but as opportunities to learn and be perfect.
i dont know where this little lad will end up when he eventually grows up but as a tiny tot he has already experienced an environment we so struggle to create.
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