Most of us have grown up with stories of divine angels, warm fairies, dreamlands and fantasies of actual chocolate houses existing!!! Well, I was no different … just that my castles in the sky actually came alive.

I was around seven years old when, in my summer holidays, I went to Kolkatta (Calcutta then) to stay with my grandparents. I went there all alone, used to spend the entire day with my granny who pampered me tremendously (God bless her soul). For me these summer holidays were such a delight, but the pleasure just lasted for a short while. Soon I started missing home, especially my ma, considering the fact that it was the first time that I was away from her.

One evening, I started to create a ruckus – I was adamant that I was going to go back home, back to Bangalore. My grands tried their luck to convince me, to cajole me, but alas! I was too cranky for that. That night they just quietly gave in to me and put me to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up to one of the best mornings of my life. My bed was surrounded with chocolates, teddy’s, games, flowers, toys and everything else that I loved. Next to my pillow was a little note that said “To a lovely angel, from an angel”. I screamed in delight. I probably would have been the happiest seven year told then. I soon called my grands and asked them why they did this and to my surprise they answered, “We didn’t do anything, an angel came and gave this for you”.

And yes! I did believe that an angel gave it. It was then explained to me that the “angel” left it because I was being a strong girl and staying away from home. Angels watch you and when they think you’ve been a good girl, they reward you too.

This incident made me completely believe in the goodness of life. I believed in the white fairies hovering in the deep blue skies, in beautiful worlds where everyone is happy. I believed in pure innocence. And this stuck along with me for quite a while.

Today when I look back, I really like to thank them for such a lovely surprise. It had completely changed the way I looked at things. It made me do a lot more “good deeds” coz I knew angels were watching me.

On a broader horizon, may be we all can do this to a child. May be we all owe it to them. We need to make them believe in the purity of life, so that they have a beautiful childhood and then a clean future.