Looking below the Cover

I was on my way back from office and was waiting at a signal. There were two little boys selling magazines at the crossing. They were going to every car and reading out the long list of magazines they had in an effort to sell a few. None of the people at the signal seemed particularly interested in their magazines.

The two boys came to me and started repeating their long list of magazines. Like all other people at the crossing I too shook my head. They kept standing by my car for a little longer than usual and then slowly moved ahead. Surprisingly, they did not approach the car behind mine and stood at the rear of my car. I heard the younger one tell the older one, "Go ahead! Ask her. She won't say anything." The older one hesitated a little but then came back to me. "Isn't this the Nano, the cheapest car?", he asked. I was quite amazed at the awareness of the boy. I smiled and answered, "Yes, you're right. How did you know?" The boy pointed to the magazines in his hand and said, "I read it in the magazine." He then told me that he went to school in the morning and sold magazines at the signal in the evening.

Somehow I felt very happy that this little boy could read the magazines that he was selling. He had empowered himself to read, study and be aware. Though he did not have much, he was still making full use of the meagre resources that he had.

How many of us would have made a similar choice? Would we have had the inquisitiveness to look below the cover or would we have just blindly sold the magazines and earned a few bucks? Is it about being too busy to learn something new or is it just not feeling the need to learn any more?