HIDE TO SEEK
Hide to Seek As a child, I loved playing hide and seek. But I never really hid. I was always the first to be found — sometimes on purpose, sometimes because I simply didn’t want to disappear. I was scared of being hidden. I wanted to be found. My cousin used to tease me, “Aadima, you don’t get it. The one who’s caught first doesn’t win.” But to me, it was never about winning. It was about someone looking for me — finding me. As I grew older, I learned to hide better — in rainwater canals, in overhead tanks, even once inside a well and a washing machine. I learned the rules of the game. I learned how to stay unseen. And when time changes, the games change too. We stop playing hide and seek. --- During a recent locked-in weekend, I watched my nephew and niece play the same game with the neighbor kids. There were only four of them. My niece insisted that I cover her eyes while she counted. I watched the others scatter — especially my nephew, the youngest of all, who hid best. Once, I...