Ahmed was fond of playing sports. Every day, he used to go to the park to play with his friends in the afternoon. He and his friends always freshen up after playing physical games like cricket, football, tag, hide and seek, etc., for around two hours in the park. They made their days interesting by choosing different games for each day.

Ahmed really enjoyed his routine until one day when he came to know that his father was transferred to another city, which meant they had to relocate. At first, Ahmed was excited, but being transferred to new a city meant new location, new school, new friends and new neighbours. Which also meant that he would no longer be in as much contact with his friends as he was now. This made him sad, but he could not change his circumstances.

After some time, the whole family shifted to Lahore. Ahmed tried to get used to his new home and city, and one day he thought of going to the nearby park. Upon reaching there, he saw a couple of old people walking and a couple of toddlers playing with their parents. There was no one of his age group, so he decided to go to look for people of his age in in his neighbourhood.

He rang the bell of one of the houses. A boy of his age opened the door. Ahmed was excited to see him. Ahmed introduced himself and asked the boy if he could come and join him play football. The boy showed no interest and replied that he was already playing football on the smartphone with his online friends.

Ahmed didn’t lose hope, he thought maybe someone else in the neighbourhood would come and play with him. So he went to another house and rang the bell. The door was opened by a servant. Ahmed asked if he could talk to someone in the house.

The servant replied, all the family members present are either busy or sleeping.

Ahmed felt dejected, but since there were many houses in the street, he thought for trying one more time. A few houses away Ahmed saw a boy, a bit older than he was, sitting on the stairway of his house, but he seemed to be engrossed in something. Upon reaching near, Ahmed saw the boy was hunched into his mobile phone in his hands. He went closer to the boy, who even didn’t notice someone coming closer to him. Ahmed noticed the boy was playing some game.

Ahmed was sad, but still decided to speak to the boy.

“Hey, my name is Ahmed, I am new in this neighbourhood. Do you mind if I sit with you for a while?” Ahmed asked cheerfully.

The boy looked at Ahmed and reluctantly replied, “Yeah, okay!”

Ahmed sat down beside the boy, but he found it awkward as the boy got busy with his mobile phone again. So Ahmed got up immediately and said, “I think I should drop by some other time.”

The boy was glad to hear that and said, “Yeah, sure, come some other day.”

Ahmed sadly walked back home. Since he never played online games, he wondered, “How can phones or tablets replace physical games?”

Ahmed tried on the next day, and even after that, but everyone refused to play with him. Ahmed became disappointed. His parents noticed Ahmed’s sadness and asked what the matter was.

“I don’t want to live here! No one plays with me,” Ahmed declared with dejection.

His father smiled and said, “What’s wrong if no one is accompanying you. You are your own team. Play, run and observe nature,” his father said in a reassuring tone.

Ahmed was reluctant, but the next day, he went to the park again. This time, he saw a girl of his age sitting on a bench with her grandparents. Ahmed had his football with him, so he went to her and asked if she wanted to play.

It was as if the girl was also waiting for someone to play with. She was overjoyed at this chance to play in the park.

After playing football all evening, both the kids shared their feelings about physical games and discussed how can they involve other kids with them. That night Ahmed discussed the matter with his father to get him some tips and they ended up with a plan. According to the plan, his father called all the kids of neighbourhood to his house and said to them, “There is a mystery gift for you in the park, whoever finds it first will get to keep it.”

The kids were very excited and ran to the park. All the kids were searching around, under the benches, under the thick grass, in the pots and everywhere they could think of. They could not find anything that seemed like a mystery gift. They all got very tired and ran to Ahmed’s father, who was musing on a bench noticing everyone.

“Where is the mystery gift?” asked one of the tired kids.

Ahmed’s father said to them, “It’s okay if you haven’t found anything that seems like a mystery gift to you. But tell me your experience. Didn’t you get involved in having fun with each other while searching? You kids were running after each other, looking closer to the flowers and plants while searching for the gift? Didn’t you enjoy yourselves in the park?

“Yes, it was fun! We came here after a long time and I hadn’t met my neighbourhood friends in a long time,” one of the kids chimed in.

“Dear kids, that was the mystery gift I wanted to give you – the chance to play in the park with each other and enjoy yourselves. You are meant to play not with your phones, but with your mind and body. You need to sharpen your mind and body, and this is only achieved by playing physical games. Smart phones do not make us physically smart. For that you have to play games physically,” Ahmed’s father told them.

Now that he had developed some interest in the kids, he told them about the many benefits of playing outdoor games. Soon most of the kids realised the importance of playing physical games and felt that playing with kids in person is more enjoyable than playing with online friends. The kids then promised to come every day to play in the park.

Ahmed was overjoyed to hear that as this was his dream come true. He realised that with a little smart thinking and effort, we can always make the changes that we want to see in our surroundings.

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 7th, 2022