Magic Steps

Two weeks ago, I went to Bandra (a neighborhood of Mumbai) to help out with a volunteer's photography project at one of Akanksha's centers. She had been conducting lessons on photography with the kids, and I went to help her take all 12 of the kids around their neighborhood (which is very commercial) to learn how to take pictures. The kids were between 11 and 14 years old. 

We all had a great time!

One of the things the kids had told us they wanted to photograph was the "Magic Steps" in a popular market district. As the other volunteer and I had no idea what these were, and had never heard of them, we said "sure" and followed the kids as they made their way around the market, choosing what to take pictures of. 

Then, as we passed by an open-front department store, the kids started pointing and exclaiming, "the Magic Steps!!" Lo and behold was an escalator. 

Ah, the Magic Steps! 

We all went to the base of the escalator, and one kid was chosen by his friends to be the photographer. The other kids, with bright smiles painted all over their faces, approached the bottom of the steps and waited for our "go". Then, when the photographer was ready, the other kids hesitantly but excitedly stepped onto the moving "magic steps", and turned around to give peace signs and pose extravagantly with each other.

Snap! Flash! The kids cheered and turned around to await the final step at the top, then jumped off like kids on a playground. 

Then I noticed one of the girls was still standing next to me - a quiet, 12 year old girl, grinning silently. When I asked whether she was going to ride the magic steps, she just looked at me in expectant smile, and said she was scared! 

So, I took her by the hand, and we walked to the bottom of the steps. I counted aloud "1, 2, 3!", and she stepped onto the moving stairway with me, and enjoyed the ride. I coaxed her to take the final step off the stairs at the top, and she was relieved and excited that she had managed to use the escalator. 

As this all took place, the other volunteer and I stood and smiled at each other, both of us in awe that the "Magic Steps" had turned out to be an escalator. We relished the absolute glee that radiated from the kids as they happily, yet responsibly, took part in using a technology that children their age in clean, tree-lined, well-lit neighborhoods likely experience on a weekly or monthly basis. 

And so, the Magic Steps became an exciting part of modern life for us as well.