MISSING SOMETHING?

Is this generation missing something? No doubt today’s

kids are better off than us in every conceivable way, be

it technologically or economically.

But arent they ignorant of the little pleasures of life?

In my childhood I could spend a whole day just watching

the hustle and bustle of a railway station-the trains

chugging along, the babble of a million voices, the

mélange of smells, attacking our senses all at the

same time. Train journeys were meant to watch the

ever-changing landscape swish by through the celluloid

of the window. Sure, books, cards, board games were

taken along, just in case, but never saw the light of the

day in the coach.

When I say the best of my childhood days the first

thought that enters my mind is the power-off nights

when the entire neighborhood spills on to the streets-

the adults exchanging notes about their day, the

adolescents sharing their secrets away from the eyes

and ears of their parents, the kids outdoing each other

in creating a racket-a festive element in the air that

lasts until the EB bestows its kindness on the locality.

As kids we used to accompany my father to the

vegetable market. The compensation for putting up

with the discomforts of the noisome cacophony of the

place was usually a parrys toffee. But if the trip takes

a longer time or the load is heavier than usual we were

treated to a gas-filled balloon each. The bags would be

weighing in both our hands and the balloon’s thread

held by the teeth. Throughout the long trip home we

took care to hold on to the precious thread. Father

would deliberately keep asking us something or the

other provoking us to open our mouths and let go of

the gas balloon. Bringing our spoils home was in itself

an adventure.

I cannot imagine today’s kids sitting idle on a train

without their books, ipods, laptops and whatnot

and still complain about getting bored.

Walking to the market, what was that??

Its as if we run on electricity too,

no-power days are literally so.

Where have all the little pleasures gone?

Do our kids even realize it?

But then only if you have something

will you miss it when its gone

Ignorance is bliss after all!