Harm-o-nium

A seven-year old boy came up on stage and began playing the harmonium. His was a filler act between the main performances. The first performance had highlighted the importance of having a hobby and not being a bookworm so you could develop an all-round personality. And of course there was the current rage-of-the-season three idiotic message: Follow your heart, only then will you succeed and be happy, delivered with suitable doses of Bollywood song and dance that had the audience clapping and foot-tapping.

The boy played the harmonium with expertise and concentration. The audience, comprising parents of performing kids, used the break for chatting and catching up with their neighbours, unwittingly transforming the harmonium music into a background score like music played in a crowded café.

The boy played on, oblivious to the chatter, oblivious to the irony that the audience that had clapped loudly in favour of hobbies, passion and all-round development had no interest in the real thing.