"Mamma! Can we have a couple of more balloon bags...such big ones?" My kid looked up with raised eyebrows, questioning round eyes and pouted lips.
Having already bought two packets, one each for my two children, I was out of my reasoning mind to comprehend this new demand for more. I squatted down and looked at him with the same round questioning eyes as his.
He unhesitatingly squeaked, "I need loads of them urgently."
Now I was running out of my patience thinking about all the people waiting behind me at the till. I was about to say that we can't go back to pick more when he waved two packs right in front of my face leaving me flabbergasted.
I pushed the cart out of the store with my kids standing on it, squished between me and the trolly, having a jolly good ride to the car park. On our way to the car, I couldn't help asking my child the necessity for so many balloons.
He simply said, "The teacher told us that cars create a lot of pollution on our planet. We must use public transport or cycle around." Pausing for a while he continued enthusiastically, "But I have a better idea. We can attach balloons on the top of our house and float away in the sky to go anywhere, just like that old man did in the movie Up!"
Clueless, the ripened logic inside my grown-up mind exploded. I could only nod in a 'yes' when my sweet-pea asked innocently, "Isn't it awesome to move around with our house? We won't have to wait at the traffic lights and we would never get stuck in the traffic jam. And it's pollution-free." He obviously had all his valid points for the motion.
It's beyond any explanation of how everything in life seems doable and practically possible when we are children. Not only the world but the whole Universe seems to be within reach. Belief in self is paramount. The hungry neurons in a child's brain seem to run wild in all directions picking up every single detail that meets the eye updating this new being with the world that he/she has landed upon. In this all-consuming state of grasping knowledge, a child finds learning and implementing - a natural way of getting around with Life.
A hand made paper boat is as good as a real boat in terms of its efficiency to float on water. A paper plane is none less than a high-speed jet to soar a kid's mental agility. Be it puffing up of a chapati, flour turning into a dough, sugar dissolving into the water, boiling water escaping into vapour, a light bulb going on and off by pushing a button, a 'remote' controlling the functions of a television/toy car, a magnet sticking to the fridge, or her own image being reflected from the mirror; a child's verve seizes it all. That's the school of Nature which is entirely practical in teaching the art of living. First-hand experience of everything leading to experimenting and discovering.
Later in the evening, watching the pictures of the Moon halo in the night sky, I couldn't help feeling a halo of thoughts circling my head. In the process of growing up, where does that conviction disappear? Where does that spirit of a child who believes that she can build a rocket one day to blast off in the space diffuse? A boy who thinks he is going to build a time-machine to smoothly go through the wormholes, or invent the gravity-defying flying ship, loses sight of his aspirations as he dashes out of high school to face life and people. A girl who believes that she can run on the tracks and touch the finish line quicker than the others loses the gait of life in the looming future. A little girl who pencils her love in adorable miss-spelt words, that she proudly calls her 'poems', eventually shuts herself up in a sealed diary. Dreams and aspirations can't be just virtual toys in the hands of kids only. So where do they disseminate in the run of life? How do most of us drift away from our conviction and fervour? I am sure most of us are so busy running on the pre-made paths that we don't even flicker to think if we are traversing towards or drifting away from what used to pull our childhood imagination.
Losing faith in your dexterity is the easiest way to lynch yourself. Here comes the big question - Why do we need any mob lynching in the first place when most of us are shelling our own selves by the bullets of dubiety? I should not be targeting only the individual here for this assassination of potential and belief. A lot goes into this annihilation of dreams and doability as we are going up in sizes of our clothes and shoes. The contributors' list is long starting from one's family, peers, community and the nation itself. Those teeny weeny negations to kids like, "No, you can't do this", "Stop it", "No, you can't have it"; grow ugly handcuffs of disbelief, restraining their amazing hands and minds alike. The school curriculums are not much of a help either most of the times. 'Go by the books' is the motto there. Then hops in the all-pervading and over-riding society. It's a big battle of grades irrelevant to a child's own strengths and weaknesses. All these actions work together to spawn an equal reaction of shutting down an individual's insight and endeavours. Bye-product of all this churning is a person with shrunken dreams and low self-esteem.
Only if we deflect ourselves from this zombie race of preset goals and paths, we can zoom out to have a bird's eye view of what's going around. It's arduous, yet possible to leash the horses of the 'not-so-chosen' life that we live and switch to our primal flights of fancy. Something that's embedded in our DNA can never go wrong. On this Children's Day let's go looking for our childhood persuasions and set life right one step at a time. No crimson revolutions required here. Only well-thought unhurried retreat to what spurred our interests in our childhood can get us closer to that confident kid chasing his wishes. Finally, it's a cliche but apt to be said here that until the last day you live it's never too late to start afresh. It's not a sin to prioritize yourself first when most of us keep ourselves last in the list. On the lighter side, let's hold the list upside down, please :) and bring back the all-achieving spirit once again.
Happy finding and bringing back the kid in your lives.
Happy Children's day!
14 November 2019
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It's a late post but I would love to hear back from you about your plans on a journey to bring back home the child that you were. Please do not miss the comment box.
Thanks,
Alka Tiwari
Wish life was all that easy ... Beautifully written as always alka
ReplyDeleteI agree Life is not easy but not that difficult too Kalpana that you can't set it right. Thanks for your continued appreciation dear.
DeleteYou make me spellbound by your write-up. It too just want to hold the list upside-down and move ahead with self-confidence which as a child I had within me.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ria...and this is the only life we know, so go ahead and for once hold the list upside down. You'll see you've turned your wishes back up on their feet to run :)
DeleteAlka this is an excellent write up, though its very difficult in this present scenario to act accordingly but definitely we can incline towards this to bring back child within ourselves...
ReplyDeleteTrue, difficult does not mean impossible. We must always try hard to bring back whatever gives true meaning and joy to our life. Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteTruly relevant in this age. You have put your thoughts together beautifully.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your kind words :)
DeleteRead it so late, sorry!!
ReplyDeleteBut, just can't stop admiring your selection of adjectives which convey exactly the most pertinent emotions
I am glad you read and liked my expression Preeti. Thank you so much for splashing the comment box with your approving words.
ReplyDeleteDear Alka,
ReplyDeleteI can only feel a great surge of emotion as I read this! Simple expression yet profoundly evocative and rightfully nudging us in the direction we ought to engage our eyes. Your writing comes from such depths it instantly becomes soul-food! A rare gem on how you wish childhood to be perceived and a clarion call for holding on to it's forever charm...Keep writing keep mesmerising. You've got an eternal fountain of creativity waiting to gush out...
Hello,
DeleteThanks for such sparkling and gushing praises...When readers like you come back with words so fat with emotions and positivity, I feel blogging worth it. Such expression of acknowledgment means a lot to me.
The section about telling children "no" or "stop that" really caught my attention how that can cause one to suppress their dreams or lead to low self-esteem. Makes me think of my past and if this had an impact on me; also makes me think about my child and how it may impact him. Very well written, Alka.
ReplyDeleteDear Christina,
DeleteYes, we all need to actually step back and reflect on the way we treat and speak to our kids. Sometimes casual well meaning 'No' impacts their little minds strongly and subtly moulds them into shy or sometimes less confident individuals. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.