Another episode in the series of the Bookworm Mobile Outreach Program, was on it’s way to Chimbel after rigorous planning by Krystle, Terence and I. As always, we were greeted with 3-4 children running behind our bikes right as we entered the the doors of the closely knit community of Indiranagar.
The book chosen for the day was ‘Antonio’s Lucky Day’, a folktale from Mexico . This story follows a young boy, Antonio’s endless chain of dreams after he sees a rabbit while on his way home and plans to catch it. But sadly, his dreams remain just dreams but the hope in his eyes towards those dreams turning into reality, never but once flickered. The story acted as a catalyst in triggering oooooh’s and aaaahhh’s and lots of giggles from the children who listened as Antonio continued dreaming about his wedding and his life, there after. They all face – palmed themselves when they realized that they were all just dreams.
After the read – aloud, we all wrote about our dreams and shared them with the group just as dear Antonio had shared his dreams with all of us. My dream of buying my grandparents’ old house again for them was one that mixed with many more dreams that the children themselves had in mind. Eleven years old Naziya wrote about how she dreams about cooking fish every day for her family, including her three children. She couldn’t help but blush while sharing this with the other children. Eight and nine years old Taskin and Tasmiya respectively, wrote about how they wanted to build a house for their parents and live in a joint family in the future. Quite a few of the tiny tots shared about how they want to become rich someday and one of them even wrote about how she wants to eat fruits every day. Towards the end, we had all gotten to know each other a bit more deeply and had felt a sort of connection towards each other, as well. 
8th of March, 2017 at the Chimbel Community Library taught me about how even such little minds have great optimism and dreams for the hope that I saw in all their eyes that day, was something so beautiful. I would never be able to thank Antonio enough, for the same.