It was the day of Ganesha festival. The annual fair in the village had began. The large field just beside the dam was the best spot for the fair, specially because the famous Ganesha temple was situated there. Just like every year, hundreds of people had come to the fair to enjoy themselves. The glory of the Ganesha temple was known far and wide and so people from other villages came too. The constant rain in the past few days had made the atmosphere pleasurable. Cool breeze refreshed the people and carried away the heat of the crowd. The whole environment was lively and colorful.

Numerous stalls were set up. Most of them sold junk food. Others had sports goods while some were for testing shooting skills on balloons. The temple was decorated with flower garlands and smelled wonderfully of sandalwood incense sticks. People were shouting with excitement on giant wheels and other such rides. Children were playing and running around. The food stalls were swarmed primarily by teenagers while the married women flaunted their saris and jewels to each other. The fathers were responsible to look after little children and so were having a hard time controlling them and keeping them at hand. A rich man was giving a gold crown to the temple for Ganesha’s idol as a votive offering. His son and his wife were praying with him.

Amidst all this merriment, a poor women was trying to sell some flutes made of palm leaves. She had a little boy, approximately two year old, in her lap. She was wearing a tattered and dirty sari. The boy did not have any clothes on and shivered every time the cold breeze touched his frail body. The woman was stopping every passer by and was literally begging to him- “Sahib, please buy one flute. Its only for one rupee. Sahib, my boy hasn’t eaten for the past two days. Please buy at least one flute so that we can buy food. I and my child will bless you. Lord Ganesha will bless you. Please, just one flute.” But nobody brought them. The children were more interested in buying plastic toys that ran on battery and could be operated with a remote. No one cared about the flutes that the poor woman had painstakingly made by hand after staying awake for an entire night, just so that her child could get some food.