Height of Innocence

It was a sunny afternoon. The scorching sun was depleting whatever wetness witnessed over the roadside platform. I parked my bike by the side of the road and proceeded to the shop which was open luckily. I went inside and finished my little purchase within few minutes (I was alone, otherwise few hours won't have been sufficient) When I got out of the shop, I noticed a woman in mid-twenties giving some instructions to a child, apparently her son, aged around Three. The dress she wore spelt out that she is a begger. The boy never wore anything. The woman was feeding him food in a small dish. I went near my bike with the small luggage and lifted my leg to start the bike. Now, the boy ran towards me and within a moment he grabbed my left leg and started the dialogue, which his mother had instructed so far. "Sir, I have not eaten for two days, sir, I am very hungry, please give me paise, sir...." I was perturbed by the kind of act the boy performed. But I managed to cool myself and given him the paise that he asked for. The boy collected the paise and started licking his hand, which contained some food. I could see the innocence in his eyes while he was lying even without knowing that he was telling lie. I could only empathize that, how a kid gets to learn the hard lessons of life.