Growing Up With Disney Poem by Gagan Khurana

In a world before weight settled on my shoulder, before clock rule my days & bills filled my mailbox, before disappointment learned my name by heart.

I remember when problems dissolved with bedtime stories, when 'may be tomorrow' always meant 'yes'.
When story still had the power to erase every hurt completely.
When 'forever' felt real, not a fleeting illusion.
When every 'bye' promises a tomorrow.
When Mummy's eyes understood everything without a single word.
When pinky promises were sacred contracts.
In that sacred sanctuary of childhood, when the world still wore its Sunday best and miracles felt like daily occurrences, Disney didn't just enter my life, it became my life.
Disney characters weren't just cartoons for me, they were the melody of my earliest emotions, my friends in a world of giants, my first lantern bearer in the dim corridors of hope.
Every story became a gospel, I carried into playgrounds, classrooms, lazy afternoons and bedtime prayers.
Those animated voices didn't just speak, those voices tuned the strings of my heart and every poem, I write today is their lingering chord.
Each Disney tale became a compass pointing towards the person, I dreamed of becoming; kind like Cinderella, adventurous like Ariel, royal like Simba, curious like belle, courageous like Aladdin and strong like Hercules. They didn't just entertain, they educated my young heart in the curriculum of wonder, teaching me that happy endings weren't fairy tales but destined for those who dared to believe. Those sacred hours shape the adult waiting quietly within me.

*Simba* taught me when someone feels quite inside, they need company more than words. *Timon and Pumba* gave him this gentle grace. I learnt staying with, is the truest and kindest form of care.

*Baloo* taught me to rest. To laugh without a reason. To feel okay.

*Beast* taught me that love is not a possession,

It is a permission,
to leave without guilt,
to choose without fear,
to be free
and still be loved.

*Belle* taught me true love is not sudden and loud,
it grows the way poems do,
line by line,
until understanding feels like home.

*Donald Duck* taught me that getting upset doesn't cancel kindness and the last voice is the one that matters.

*Huey, Dewei and Louie* taught me that growing up is better together. I learned that childhood is happiest when curiosity leads and laughter follows.

*Cinderella* taught me hope doesn't need grand miracles, sometimes it rests in the song you hum while waiting and how softly a heart stays good, when it has every reason to harder.

What remained was never the story, but the echo it left behind.
They shaped my responses, not my recollections.
They taught me how to meet the world with care instead of caution.
Only much later did I realize, I had been practicing life all along.

© Gagan Khurana