THE EASY WAY

"Get the ball!" Ethan runs towards the ball,along with his friends. It's a bright Sunday morning. The street is full of joyous cheers and ecstatic energy. Kids from different neighborhoods meet in this middle alley on Sunday mornings. As expected, many vendors too, join the party on the alley to attract as many kids as they can to their stalls. Every Sunday, the alley converts into a circus for the children. Stalls of toys, cotton candy, lemonade, savory snacks, kids have everything nice available.

Ethan runs towards the ball with excitement. He is the fastest kid in this vicinity. He sprints past the competition, grabs the ball and throws it high into the sky. "Catch it if you can!" Screams Ethan as he watches. The ball soaring high up in the sky and then descending at a blinding pace. Two boys start running towards the ball from opposite sides to catch it. As expected, they bump into each other and the ball comes crashing down, between both of the kids. Everyone points towards both the kids on the floor, and a roar of laughter erupts from the alley. The kids on the floor, pointing at each other, laugh hysterically. "Hey the ball, it's busted!" One kid notices the ball lying flat on the surface. "To the Toy Man" all the children start running towards a toy vendor. He sits across the alley, waiting for this exact moment.

The kids swarm the vendor's stall grabbing and trying out each toy. Even if they can't buy everything, they want to experience them all. Amongst the mob, Ethan's eyes starts scanning every toy. He wants to get something different from the others. A toy catches his gaze, something bright white, sparkling under the morning sun. He moves closer, determined to get that before any other kid. He grabs the toy, which is stuck under a fire truck and a train engine. In one fast sweep, the toy comes out into his hand in all its glory. He goes to the vendor, gleefully extends his hand with the toy, "Uncle how much for this?"

20 YEARS LATER.

Ethan wakes up, his alarm clock buzzing. It's a Sunday morning. The very Sunday mornings he used to cherish. But today, he has an important client meeting. The boss has swarmed him in work for the past 2 weeks, only to reach the final judgement day. His eyes look exhausted, weary and demanding some rest. He looks at his project file, as proudly as he used to look at his high thrown ball. Finally he can rest after the presentation today. He gets ready, his suit ironed to a crisp. And for the final touch up, he opens the drawer and takes out something. The bathroom light makes it shine white and bright. He looks at it and sighs.

Ethan's presentation goes pretty well. The client is happy, boss is happy, it's a good way to finish up the hectic 2 weeks. On his way back home, he makes a quick stop, enters a building and comes out with an envelope. He reaches home, gets comfortable and then opens the envelope. 

He kept gazing at the content of the envelope, a drop of water stains the piece of paper in Ethan's hand. Simultaneously, a second drop emerges and the third follows. Ethan is neither moving nor making a single sound. The only sound in the room is of drops, from Ethan's eyes onto the piece of paper. It was a report, his report. A positive one for cancer. His eyes continued to cry. But his smile. His ear to ear smile, which made him famous, made him climb up the ranks, his perfect happy smile, stayed intact. With shaking hands, he reaches over his smile. Then clips out from behind his ears, and the plastic smile falls off from his face. His frowning lips trembled in pain as he cried, screaming, in agony, in loneliness. He looks at the plastic smile, still the plastic teeth shining under the bed lamps light. The mask he found in his early days. The mask which helped him hide his true self, now felt like a burden. He sobs, looking at the mask, "Maybe, you were a mistake"

Nowadays most people wear these. A smile to mask their pain and sufferings, bottling it all up so you don't look weak. Ethan too, mesmerized by the simplicity and efficacy of this from the moment he saw it in the toy stall, bought it. It's the easiest way out in any situation, to hold a smile and pretend you are fine. But what we all don't know is pain is like a virus. Keeping it in only helps it to grow more, corrupting everything, our mindset, our thoughts. It's easier to let it reside inside you and hard to express it and let go of pain. This plastic smile resembles the mask of "I am alright" which every one wears. Which ultimately tends to hurt themselves. The norms of the society judge people. Telling males it's not manly to cry and soak up the pain are empty cans of advice. It make the loudest noise but are actually worthless. Pain is a virus and only genuine, authentic smile is the anti virus. People are called social animal for a reason. Share your sorrows and amplify the happiness. Break the plastic smiles off your faces as it might be easy, but it definitely ain't effective. Express yourselves, because often the widest smiles hide the deepest pains.