Children's Tales

Kids - it is amazing how every hot girl finds them cute, an elder just melts in front of their demands and the most depressed of the depressed have a reason to smile when they are around. The best part is how almost every child in the age bracket of 3-7 years in endowed with this rare gift and the worst part is how they just lose those traits when they grow up, just like you and I did, or are in the process of doing.

I am fortunate to be in the elite company of two six year old children at home. No matter how tired I am or how evil the world has been to me, I can always go back and find my chill pill. A dose of an hour suffices to cure any wounds the world has inflicted on my frame of mind. Now when I face the daunting prospect of them not being around me in the near future, I realize the possibility of an irreplaceable vacuum being created in my daily routine for one to many reasons.

Like today afternoon, when I returned home after college, my cousin told me "Bhaya, do you know India was bowled out for only 76 runs. Ekdum bekaar score." I acknowledged the fact that it was a poor performance by the batsmen but he thought otherwise. “It was all because of Kumble. Kal baarish padhi thi, to usko subah batting lene ki kya zaroorat thi. So foolish.” I was left speechless.

Kids today are surprisingly updated with what is going on in their world. Moreover, they even have their own perspectives, which I doubt we had at that age. Yesterday, I was informed by my cousin about the falling value of the dollar. I couldn’t help but ask him who told him and he replied he had heard his dad talking to someone over the phone. Wow, talk about paying keen attention.

Another fine afternoon, around a year ago, this question was put up to me from no where, “Do you have a girlfriend?” I was speechless not because I didn’t have an answer. I was in complete awe. “No,” I answered, “I don’t have the time to look for one.” Pat came another googly, “Then what do you do in the recess? Woh to free time hai na.” Now I was speechless because I didn’t have a smart answer. So I redirected the question to him. He proudly accepted the fact that his bench-mate is his best friend and she is a girl, so he has a girlfriend. She even kissed him on the cheek. I reconfirmed and the answer was the same. My jaw dropped open. When I called my sister to inform her of where today’s kids have reached, he screams “Ullu banaya!!!” God save tomorrow’s parents!!

These kids are no less at debating too. Tired of seeing them watch cartoons all day, I told them to see channels like Discovery and Animal Planet once in a while for they can learn more from the shows on them. I asked him, “What did this cartoon about these funny ghosts and mindless screaming teach you?” Like always, the reply came spontaneously, “It taught me to not be afraid of ghosts because it is a trick people play to scare you.” I couldn’t question the logic because he had deduced a proper conclusion for the episode. Sigh! My job just got tougher and I had to go on and sit through an entire episode of ‘TV with Teeth’ narrating to them what the documentary portrayed.

Gone are the days where kids needed to be told grandma’s tales. The bat-ball and dolls are long forgotten and the mobile phones and laptops are the new must use ‘toys.’ You can’t bribe them with a chocolate because they always have a stock of their own. Kids are no longer kids. They are just innocent adorable devils!!