STORY: 🪁Kite 'Lost and Found'🪁

One of the things Gokul, the nine-year-old, was passionate about was kites. During the season for flying kites, he thought about kites all the time. Even while sitting in his classroom, he would be dreaming about them.

This year, kite season started with a bang for Gokul. His father bought him a beautiful multicolored kite and a big ball of string, called a line. Actually, it was Gokul's kite that was the first one to take to the sky in the area at the start of the season.

Father and son, as pilot and co-pilot, flew the rainbow kite from their rooftop. Gokul's father had already taught his son how to skillfully maneuver the kite during take-offs and groundings.

The new kite swam in the blue sky like a boat in the blue sea. Gokul, in particular, liked the sensation of the vibration the kite passed down the yarn. A child's heart is required to appreciate it. Gokul felt no tiredness holding the string and giving it now and then a strum of encouragement.

Fully absorbed in flying, with his eyes fixed on the fluttering kite up in the sky, Gokul kept feeding the height-thirsty kite more and more lengths of string. At one point, the skein was exhausted, causing the string to slip through Gokul's fingers, freeing the kite. Before his very eyes, the kite floated away and away.

Gokul was inconsolable. "I let down my kite. What will it do all alone in the vast sky? Will I be able to see it again?" he cried.

Gokul's father consoled him, saying angels in the sky would take care of his kite. "It will come back to you," he said.

"How? You are not a magician, are you?" asked Gokul incredulously.

To this, Gokul's father said, "You just wait and see."

Two days after the loss of the kite, the doorbell of Gokul's home rang. When he opened the door, there stood a boy. In his hand, indeed, was the kite.

"Lelo aapka kati patang (Take your broken kite)," said he, smiling.

Gokul's father came down from upstairs with a five-hundred-rupee note, which he offered to the boy who brought the lost kite.

"What is this all about? How come this boy knew it was our kite?" Gokul asked.

Gokul's father did not answer these questions directly. He simply took the retrieved kite in his hand and showed him the label stuck to the kite on which was clearly written the name Gokul and his address, and an announcement that said in capital letters: "IF THIS KITE IS LOST AND FOUND, A REWARD OF RS. 500 AWAITS THE FINDER!"

The boy who found and brought the kite, however, declined the reward of Rs. 500. He agreed to take lunch with the family and leave with a bar of chocolate for his kid sister.