Last week I'd been to my relative's place. I am not sure of what name to give to the relationship..they are not cousins. What would you call your elder brother's wife's elder sister and her husband? They have two kids - both girls, one around 8 years old and the younger one about four. We were watchin TV, it was Asianet - a malayalam channel, and they were showing some talent hunt stage show that was held in Bahrain. There was this girl on stage, wearing a sleeveless shiny top and tight black pants, and she was dancing like Christina Aguilera in Dirty. If you have not seen that, then picturise Beyonce Knowles in any of her songs. If you have not seen Beyonce dance either, then you've really missed out some of the best posterior moves in humankind. Let me just say that this girl on tv, who must have been around 18 years old, and probably had her proud mother watching on, was doing a lot of shaking and grinding on stage. Now the whole family was watching this show, and so were these two kids..After seeing the girl on tv flash her armpits one time too many..the younger one asked her dad,"Won't her armpits smell?". Her dad didnt have an answer. And not too suprisingly, she who flashes her armpits was one of the two winners.
Sometime later, the elder girl asked me, "Do you know what yesterday was?" Well, "yesterday" was Valentine's Day and "yesterday" had come and gone as uneventfully as most other Feb 14's of my life. But I didnt want to tell her that. So i innocently replied, "Yesterday was the 14th of Feb".
" I know that too,but do you know what is the importance of the day?"
"No I dont, what is it?"
"It was Valentine's Day"
"Really? What is Valentine's Day?"
"What do you mean what is Valentine's Day? It is a day like Republic day, independence day, Christmas and Easter..just one such day"
"But what do you celebrate - Independence day we celebrate India becoming independent, Christmas the day when Jesus was born..so what do you celebrate on Valentine's day?"
Ooh, but here she couldn't say anything! Just eight years old and the girl was
blushing!!
Kids - they may not always say the truth , but they sure pose some interesting questions, and yes, they are getting much smarter these days. Reminds me of the time when i was in the 12th standard, and my cousin brother had come to India for his summer vacations. He was in the 5th grade or something- he was a kid too. Once during that vacation, he showed me "the finger" and asked me with an all-knowing grin, "Achaacha, do you know what this means?". Of course he had a sore middle finger for the rest of the day!
The times arent changing, we are just getting smarter at an earlier age. But would that make us duller at an earlier age too? I wonder...
Sometime later, the elder girl asked me, "Do you know what yesterday was?" Well, "yesterday" was Valentine's Day and "yesterday" had come and gone as uneventfully as most other Feb 14's of my life. But I didnt want to tell her that. So i innocently replied, "Yesterday was the 14th of Feb".
" I know that too,but do you know what is the importance of the day?"
"No I dont, what is it?"
"It was Valentine's Day"
"Really? What is Valentine's Day?"
"What do you mean what is Valentine's Day? It is a day like Republic day, independence day, Christmas and Easter..just one such day"
"But what do you celebrate - Independence day we celebrate India becoming independent, Christmas the day when Jesus was born..so what do you celebrate on Valentine's day?"
Ooh, but here she couldn't say anything! Just eight years old and the girl was
blushing!!
Kids - they may not always say the truth , but they sure pose some interesting questions, and yes, they are getting much smarter these days. Reminds me of the time when i was in the 12th standard, and my cousin brother had come to India for his summer vacations. He was in the 5th grade or something- he was a kid too. Once during that vacation, he showed me "the finger" and asked me with an all-knowing grin, "Achaacha, do you know what this means?". Of course he had a sore middle finger for the rest of the day!
The times arent changing, we are just getting smarter at an earlier age. But would that make us duller at an earlier age too? I wonder...
12 comments:
Sad, isn't it? We now encourage kids to do the shake but teach them that talking about love is embarassing, and thinking about sex is a crime.
Yeah, I agree with 3inone. The early development should be all round, not just restricted to certain topics of our liking.
Neway, Happy Birthday!!!
Happy Birthday? Shain? Oooh. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Actually I dont think that they are getting smarter...just more aware...and i cant help but continue the discussion...well there are advantages of keeping kids in the dark about certain things..when they come of age..they'll get to know everything...sumo...imagine a 7 or 8 yr old asking you questions on sex....how are you going to explain everything to that kid???
and finally...many happy returns of the day..shainu..or shud i say happy new year ;)
@all of you - Thanks for the wishes! I'd have had a bad bday without these virtual wishes :-))
@3inone- I think that people think that its ok if it gets you famous..its the glamour quotient which prevents parents from reining their kids in..but would you call an 18 year old a kid??
@Sumo - Same as above..i would think that the 18 year old wdnt be called a kid,but yes..i do see parents encourage their kids to well..dress the part..esp in metros like Mumbai and Delhi..
@Riaan - You shdnt be keeping kids in the dark..perhaps you cant talk about the whole process of mating(!)but neither can you convince them with some half baked story that would hv worked on us when we were kids..so how do we tell them half the truth ??
@all of you..my question remains..if kids become more aware at an earlier stage, will they dull down at an earlier age as well? Will their minds get saturated by the time they are 50??
my cousin once asked why Hollywood actors keep kissing each other only the lips all the time. he said it was boring. he was eight then.
I dont think they will become saturated by the time they are 50. and yaa.... kids sure know a lot more then we think they do... just think back and try to recollect how much each of us knew when we were kids, that our parents never even dreamt that we would know......
and like i have said before, no body wants to talk about it, but everybody wants to do it :)
Such a shame that we stay kids for such a short time but remain boring adults for such a long time...
Shain, I agree with mac. Adults have no idea of the things kids know.
I remember sitting under the dining table with a cousin, both of us hidden by the table cloth and overhearing an extremely graphic account of somebody's 'husband' problems. Sure, most of it passed us by, but you bet it made us curious enough to find out! My aunts are already dead,otherwise they'd die of mortification if they ever knew that we knew what they thought only the two of them knew. And today's kids have a lot of legitimate sources of information.
@Nandhu - that's a prodigy you had on your hands buddy!! :-D
@Mac - I agree that kids know much more than we give them credit for. But i still get a feeling that perhaps later on, by the time they hit the 50s or so, they will get saturated..there is only so much of information you can take, isnt it??
@Sundancer - A big shame indeed..esp when i think of all the attention i used to get from good looking women when i was that age :-D
It's so much harder to get a kiss now!
@3inone - You were hiding underneath the table??? They actually fall for that stuff????? They dint notice??? God! Imagine what our plight would be..esp when u think of all that kids have access to..webcams, recorders...hell!!
@nandhu
hope your cousin got over this since girls normally dole out other kisses only after a lot of kisses on the lips!!!
@shain
We were always under the dining table. no idea why none of the adults ever threw us out. they should have :-)
Always look under tables, behind doors etc before you decide to drop quick kiss on girlfriend's cheek!!! there will be some snotty 8 yr old lurking there and she will blackmail you until she becomes a teenager and gets blackmailed in turn by younger cousin who was hiding under the dining table.
And heh heh, if at 28, you have not figured out how to get a kiss easily, well.........
lol 3inone! but i'm afraid i dont have much to boast about in that area :-D
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