Truth of an Orange

I’ve grown up with stories of how kids are always up against fruits. The problems have been many, but solutions, almost none.

So, when my kid protested to having his daily orange, I thought of coming up with an ingenious idea. I doctored a photo of superman, his favourite superhero, holding an orange.

Each day, when he went to school, I’d tell him stories of how the secret of being superman lay in the orange. I’d tell him how orange had those elements that made a kid strong and healthy. It made a kid intelligent, like a superhero and prevents him from any disease. “Have you ever heard Superman catching cold?” I asked, and he nodded each time in approval. It took time, but to my surprise, the trick worked. Every day, when he came back from the school, the orange had been eaten.

I was happy. But the story was not over yet. I discovered that the oranges were actually given away by my son to his friend, who was suffering from some disease. “He needs to be strong like superman, mum”, my kid explained. It was of course not a pleasing revelation that my son was compromising on his health. But the gesture made my kid immensely happy. And I realized, the ultimate objective of being healthy is to be happy. It took me an orange to understand my son and the secret of his happiness.

Priyanka Majhi