There are things adults do that I wish I had never grown up. A child's mind is free of prejudice, malice and hatred which abound in a man. A child is not aware of religion, caste and gender disparities.
I remember an incident where a six-year old boy in my building - who belonged to a rich household - would go and play with the children of a poor milkman who had a cow-shed nearby. It would never have crossed the boy's mind that a filthy cow-shed stinking of dung was not an appropriate playground or the children who wore tatters were not fit to be playmates.
When he grows up, his parents, peers, teachers and other people in his social circle would teach him the differences in status and class. When that happens, his white robe of childish innocence would be smudged by the stains of hubris, the angelic face that might have winced at the sight of injury to a fellow-being would be concealed by a mask of deliberate indifference and he would think of nothing but personal gain, satisfaction of his own desires by hook or by crook and would not think twice before trampling on the weak and indigent on his path towards success, the kind of success that is monetary and often comes at the price of one's humanity.
To a child, a girl's superiority will never register on the mind as a dent on his masculine ego; at the most it will be a momentary resentment that will be as temporal as a wisp of fog that is cleared away by the very first rays of the sun.
A child is not bothered by the thoughts of personal advancement but lives in the present where an inexpensive toy is sufficient to humour him, so much in contrast with the insatiable appetite for luxury that is the raison d'etre of a man's existence.
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