Do children today even experience a REAL childhood the way we did??

I studied in an all-girls convent school with 50 uniformed girls in a class. I remember all of them distinctly by type—- the chatterboxes, the enthu cutlets, the Mother-may-I’s , the bright-as-a-pennny ones, the book worms, the notorious back benchers, the ones who always were on the track field, the ones who sucked up to the teacher at all times (remember the kinds who would sit in the front bench, clean the teachers table, get them flowers, carry their book to the staff room), the Barbie doll clones(we actually had girls who would brush their hair a 100 times), the rebels with a cause  , the rebels without a cause ….. Among the sea of children dressed in Blue&Blue uniforms the only thing that differentiated us were our qualities. The same qualities that we remember someone for to this very day and the same qualities that attracted one child to another sometimes laying foundations for life long friendships 

I cannot even begin to imagine the pressure of being an introvert  kid in today’s overly extrovert world where kids as young as 5 have Facebook profiles. I bet it brings with it an untold pressure to look a certain way, act a certain way and most certainly to have a FUN life wherein you take “FUN VACATIONS” which you prove is “COOL” by bombarding everyone with Instagrammed photos.

………………. it brings me back to a saying by Steve Furtich which inspired this post – “The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel” and in my opinion what is Facebook if not a documentation of every person’s HIGHLIGHT REEL.

I have a friend who recently told me he let go of his Twitter account because he used a software that let him measure his online time and he realised he was active for 17 hours a day on Twitter and Facebook. Where does that leave one time to live a REAL LIFE and make REAL MEMORIES??

Dont get me wrong… I do have a Facebook account infact I used Orkut too back in the day  …. I still log in to FB once a week to be bombarded with new born babies shot at 100 different angles , expectant parents kissing their pregnant wives belly, photographs of a broken iPad and a description of how it broke, a dude posting a picture of the toast and omelette that his new wife made for him a week after their wedding  .

Most recently I saw a woman, who at best can be called an acquaintance posting a picture of her husband holding her during labour and thanked him in the middle of labour “ON FACEBOOK” – It read like this “Hubby love you for holding my hand through the most beautiful moment of our lives — Pray for us everyone” …. the horror continues – the photo immediately got 124 likes and her online “friends” immediately started commenting as follows – God Bless You , Congratulations, You in labour?? Which hospital are you in??  —————- isn’t there anything called PRIVACY anymore?? Isnt it beautiful that there are moments that 2 people share and the world is not privy to??

I do understand the value of social networking …. The recent protests that followed the beastly act against a 23 year old girl in Delhi gained attention due to Twitter, the arrest of a politician in Hyderabad on charges of sedition was made possible due to public outcry over various social media platforms, the uprising in the Middle East even the raid in Abbotabad that executed Osama Bin Laden’s were first reported on Twitter. While I am at it I couldn’t hurt to mention that even the rise of the phenomenon called Justin Bieber is due to Youtube.

It is a force that cannot be denied and as they say “with great power comes great responsibility” but more often than not what I see on social networking sites is “UNNECESSARY DRAMA”.

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A sight from my past confronted me last evening………..

and I immediately wanted to scream “BANTAAA??”(in Kannada) … (according to my Hindi speaking friends it was AAYA KYAA?? in their respective households) …. .. brought this up during lunch at work today and everyone had their own stories to tell about the “ANTENNA”. The crowning accessory of every TV owning home in the 80’s and 90’s.

The Antenna that brought back memories

Each story was more hilarious than the previous one. Everyone seems to remember manually turning it 1 millimetre at a time so that we could get a CLEAR SIGNAL. So the routine was as follows …. switch the TV on…. if the signal is not clear run to the terrace …. climb the ledge and hang on for dear life … brave the raw earthly elements namely the sun, the wind, the thunder , the lightning (I may be completely exaggerating  here  …… )  move the antenna one mm to the right …. scream … BANTAAA?? … if the answer was in the negative … you move it another millimetre…. if the signal quality worsens then you start turning it mm by mm in the opposite direction ….. then when you hear a positive response to you AAYA KYAA’s .. you run downstairs and watch Chitrahaar…

Imagine as  you plonk down in front of the TV to watch Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan …. a naughty gust of wind would change the painstakingly-checked-rechecked-triplechecked-antenna-co-ordinates and all hell would break loose …………. The drama that unfolded after this would be equally worthy of being directed by the dear Mr.Ramanand Sagar himself………. remember when the two arrows would take up an entire serial slot of time to collide with each other in mid-air and nullify each others effects….. and both parties who let the arrows loose would dramatically say “Chee” and slap their thighs 

I went to the terrace and consciously scanned the rooftops in my neighbourhood. All that I saw were a range of Dish TVs , Tata Sky antennas…………………… Finally found one house at a distance that still housed the old antenna but in a poor condition.

On that note …… BANTAAAA???? 

People can be likened to food ….

….. or fruits specifically. The girls have been discussing this at length in the most recent mail chain. Prav detests STRAWBERRIES …According to her, it was always the most incredibly goodlooking, red, unaffordable fruit and when she eventually ate it…………. it turned out to be the biggest disappointment ever. Don’t we in life also come across such situations where we build people up in our head and present such a glorified image of them to the entire universe, then in reality when we do interact with them and get to know them better we see them for what they are and feel disappointed. On the other hand they could turn out to be a yumm Mango too!!!

I guess that’s how life is served, a bowl full of cut fruits which have all ripened at their own pace  (and some most definitely haven’t ripened)….. Thankfully I got a generous sprinkling of NUTS on top!!!

There is nothing like an Enid Blyton book …….

………….to make a day when you are ill start looking all better again (in my opinion)

Found my 2 decade old battered Famous Five book and as I stayed in bed all day and read the adventure that these kids went on ….. it made me see life in a more happy and positive way. My favourite part was this passage:

“A wonderful smell came creeping into the little dining-room, followed by the inn-woman carrying a large tray. On it was a steaming tureen of porridge, a bowl of golden syrup, a jug of very thick cream, and a dish of bacon and eggs, all piled high on crisp brown toast. Little mushrooms were on the same dish.

‘Toast, marmalade and butter to come, and the coffee and hot milk,’ said the woman, busily setting everything out. ‘And if you want any more bacon and eggs, just ring the bell.’ “

Got me thinking of a discussion I had with someone who is a new age mother a while earlier , who was of the opinion that Enid Blyton books hold no relevance to a child growing up in todays world and that there is no real take back value in these books. I distinctly remember thinking that only an ADULT with such a strong sense of self-importance would be capable of making a statement such as that ……. I believe a child any age in any generation would find the idea of going off with their friends during their holidays, giggling silly with their friends, gorging on yummy food, playing pranks, solving mysteries(atleast in their small imaginative heads) extremely exciting.

I remember watching the movie on Enid Blyton and though I have my reservations about the woman and her choices , I especially remember one statement where she says ” I dont care for any critic who is over the age of 12 and they love my books”

Such clear Perspective.

HANGMAN – My Blackberry today suggested I add this app ……

……. the minute I looked at it I could help but be taken aback and let myself go back in time to be swept through the corridors of my school. When teachers had their weekly meetings or when we had a free hour or just when we were too bugged to be bothered to listen to what the teachers were going on about ….. HANGMAN was the game to be played.

I cannot remember the last time I played this game…. must have been in my 5^thor 6^th grade….. but when I played today I felt the same sense of panic that if I click one more alphabet wrong …………….

♫ Its the most wonderful time of the year……with the kids jingle belling and everyone telling you

………………….. “Be of good cheeeeeeeeer” ♪ ♬

ITS HERE !!!! December is finally here in Bangalore City!!! The pink flowering trees in full bloom all over the city seem to be announcing the arrival of the most exciting of months. (if you’ve been all that busy to observe , stick your head out of your high-rise buildings and take a look)

Outside my home in Jaynagar

Our tenants (a very nice Goan couple) sent us 2 bottles of homemade wine yesterday (Scooby and I have very charmingly convinced our parents that only one bottle was delivered to our place—– Before you run off to make a hasty call to those inquisitive people at Scotland Yard I’ll shine some light on the mystery at hand ……….. You know we are not sure about how it happened, but somehow  we finished the first bottle down to the last drop in 2 sips each… and 2 sips each again before the bottles reached the Dining Room)

Anyways if you haven’t got enough clues yet … CHRISTMAS is round the corner. Walked into office singing “Its the most wonderful time” …. It was fun when Marel joined me mid-chorus and we finished the song…. what a start to a Monday morning 

Between updating my Holiday season reading list……to adding my favourite carols on the music list to listen to on my way to work….. the Catholic Club party invites…  the red wine…. the beautiful winter clothes … wonderful winter clothes SALEs ….. the white wine….. decorating the Christmas tree and the BRILLIANT NIPPY WEATHER …………………

My 2011 Christmas Eve picture

It’s the hap- hap- happiest season of allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll…………….. ♫

The younger sibling introduced me to this interesting app called SHAZAM ......

......... which identifies music that is being played instantaneously. It immediately got me thinking about the days when a part of a tune I remembered from a song I heard somewhere, would plague me for days and I would keep singing it, lest I forget the song.

I immediately ran downstairs to the room where we have our old cassette player and picked up the many tapes that are still sitting collecting dust on the shelf. Holding those tapes , I almost felt like I was transported back to a time when we used to buy blank tape’s and borrow the original cassette from some friend so that we could collect songs. I had one of those tape recorders which are a double player. Which means I could put the original cassette in one player and the blank cassette in the adjoining player and hit record. Made me quite popular with my school girls (I was quite in demand for my recording services)

The exercise that was undertaken before any singing competition at school was of mammoth proportions. It required an endless regimen of rewinding-and-playing-the-song-until-you-get-the-lyrics-right. If it didn’t require too much rewinding, we would use a pencil strategically inserted into the tape to rewind just a ye bit. As I was rummaging through the shelf I remembered something...... a hazy memory which suddenly became a very vivid memory. I ran back upstairs to rummage through my cupboard to find an old diary in which I have painstakingly penned down lyrics of almost 50 songs ranging from Maine Pyar kiya to DDLJ. I don’t think I did it right, because some of the lyrics I have written make absolutely no sense whatsoever. ;)

My brother has just found our treasure trove of GnR song tapes  and sitting in my room listening to O Sanam (by Lucky Ali) on a tape recorded during my high school days............... :D