Life

No I am not delirious, I am not on dope and I have not had a drink too many!!

In my complete senses and I think the quality of life we have today sucks BIG TIME!

I can hear angry retorts to this comment of mine. You cant say this, dispensable income has become more, you go out in cars instead of public transport, we have over 200 television channels to choose from and above all we have the boon of the modern day – internet that comes along with a booty like facebook, twitter, google, gmail so on and so forth that bring the world to your finger tip.

But in this flurry am still looking for that simple life I had as a kid. When all that was expected was to finish your homework and daily lessons, a maximum of an hour with ones books. There were no tuitions, no extra classes, no jam packed days with extra curricular activities thrown in like that was not extra but intrinsic, no gadgets to occupy your simple mind and no summer camps!!

In fact summer holidays were meant for a short holiday with family before settling down to innovating new games and reinventing the old ones. We stayed in the sun all day playing all kinds of stuff. On a day when we did not get a brainwave on the games, that day was reserved for tree climbing, bicycling and picnics. A lot of the games we played are not known today.

Today’s world is on a fast forward mode. Like Wordsworth said, there really is ‘no time to stop and stare’. Children are sent to school at an age when they are yet teething ask why and we hear, oh they have to learn to mingle with children their age and the play school is the best place for that. So basically at 2 we pack the lil ones off to school so that we can get a breather from the hectic schedule of baby on board. That by the way is just the beginning. From class one itself the rat race begins. Why are you not first in class? You need to concentrate more. Don’t waste time playing. It is in grained in them that nothing but class first is good enough and everyone who does not stand first one is a loser.

To make things worse we do not give them as much as a moment to breathe in a day. School, tuitions, singing / dancing, tennis, swimming and what more have we. The child is not given a moment to spare a thought on what exactly gives them pleasure. It’s more like cattle out on the field. Summer vacations are not spared either. They are wasting too much time at home so it’s better for them to go to a summer camp. Why don’t we think that the child may just sit at home and come up with some phenomenal ideas, he will make friends that will go with him for a lifetime and above all he will learn to life his way.


Growing up is pity! Thanks to the worst year, the demon in disguise - the boards. I recall having gone for my boards after watching a movie the previous night. I yet did fairly well and of course if working and pocketing a decent salary is being successful then may be I fit in there as well.

Boards means cloistered in a room burning the mid night oil and mugging lessons. It’s a year of SACRIFICE! That’s what the parents tell their children, sacrifice on worldly pleasures to immerse yourself into your books this one year so you can attain no Not Nirvana but an engineering seat. Any other course will not do!

There is many a time we lose our tender little ones as we see the rat race take the child’s breath away. This happens since the child has no sporting spirit and is taught that success is the only way of life. Failure even once means you have no chance to live.

Is this worth it? Why not allow our children to explore the big world and spread their wings. What is better to have a child who failed once or not have them at all?

Memories

Social networking has done wonders! It brings back people whom we long lost thanks to the course of life and its different directions. There are many such friends whom I have had met after decades. The euphoria in meeting someone you lost and catching up is indeed charming and nostalgic!

This afternoon I was chatting with one of my friends whom social networking had brought back to me. After we found each other we exchanged phone numbers, spoke to each other, and caught up on all the lost time. Ever since his once in a while scraps and my replies has been the mode of communication.

The common thread that ties us together is OOTY! Yes that’s where I grew up. Amongst the lush green hills and ripples of the lake, white sheet of frost in winter and colourful flowers in summer. Long winding roads that had Mother Nature dressed in her most beautiful, luring you to fall in love. And fall in love you will. With the place and the people, warm, friendly, childlike and ever ready to help!

While talking to each other we of course took another trip down memory lane. We were talking of how we first met, thanks to a Rotaract Club meeting we were going to in Kochi (Cochin then). It was just after the results of my 12^th boards and I was at my depressed worst since I had not fared too well. A friend had invited me to this trip saying it would at least serve to distract me.

Believe me though this was so many years ago, I remember every small detail from this trip. But incidents and people from later in life are not so well etched in my memory. For instance I do not recall names of many of my classmates from my masters in communication class (MOP Vaishnav).

This fact was brought to the fore while I was talking to this friend. We went into finer details of who all were there on the trip, who all sat together. What we talked and even where we got off to eat!

From the time I had this interesting conversation with this friend of mine there is only one thought predominantly playing in my mind.

Why is it that we remember some parts of our life like they occurred yesterday while a few more (even if recent) just vanish into thin air?