Thursday, August 9, 2007

Are you forgetting to have fun?

Remember the first day you learnt to ride a cycle? And the way you took your new bike to school to show it off to classmates? And long, leisurely schooldays when you returned home with a bunch of friends, riding your cycle through green by-lanes, on the roads, and explored everything possible, prodded in every nook and corner with your good old cycle? There will be a ‘Tcah! What days!” on your tongue right now, as you slip into the memories of the ‘good old days’.

But that’s the funny thing about our old men and adults. We just live on memories, thinking, always reminiscing. For instance, you might sit and brood on the way you had fun on your cycle as a lad, when you ought to realize that you are still living, your bones are still strong (perhaps even a little stiff due to meager exercise), and it is still possible to go out there, into the beautiful open, and ride a cycle again, and enjoy the feel of the wind on your face. But the sad things about Indians is that we stare a lot (Look at that old man, he still rides a cycle!), and even if you want to do the things you want to do, people will stare, point and comment. We have established well-defined rules as to what a kid ought to be like, and what an adult should do with his or her life. That’s really sad, we should abandon the system, because everyone should be allowed to enjoy their lives, no matter what.

My ‘Indianness’ always intruded when I saw strange things in America.
“Old women swim?”
“Oh my gosh! Look at that man! He watches kid’s movies!”
“Man! That women is sixty and she drives a car everyday?”
“ Is it really an old man who just trekked a mile into the forest?”
You see, our old men don’t do that. Our old men sit and home and sleep, think of their ‘good old days’ or read philosophy. I see very few exceptions who are still working. Admit it, most of us love ice-cream and chocolates, but some shy away from ice-cream, because ice-cream is ‘for kids.’ Our adults don’t read comics, don’t watch Disney, don’t swim, don’t cycle (for high school kids, you know), don’t go for the roller coaster ride with their son at the fair…but some just pretend to be serious men, when there heart craves to have fun, just like they did when they were kids.

I firmly believe that life is always beautiful when we view things through a child’s eyes. Life should be utilized to the fullest, and people just forget to have fun as they grow up. Well, you can be sure, that, in this nation’s teeming millions, there is a girl who will grow up to become a fun-loving adult. And that’s me….you can be sure.

3 comments:

Mysore Madhu said...

And I will give you company.

I still look up at the sky every time an aeroplane flies overhead.

I still look at the Yediur lake to see the little cormorants swimming around or spreading their wings on the banks.

I still love my ice-cream.

I still enjoy Tom and Jerry, Popeye, Mr. Bean, Takeshi's Castle,etc.

I would still love to ride a bicycle (Unfortunately I do not have one in Bangalore)

While in Mysore, I would stop my moped whenever I spotted a high flying spec of an airplane until it when out of sight.

I requires an open mind and an acceptance of the fact that it is these little things that makes us relax to enjoy life.

And I am what you might call an ADULT (Mid forties)

Madhukar - VU2MUD

Maddy said...

i was wondering a bit before i wrote this. unfortunately or fortunately nostagia has its place. time goes by and we are forever trying to recreate it, not just the events that we loved & shaped us, but also the ambience or 'mahol'.
my son tells me often, you are such a kid when i watch movies & cry, when i read or watch comics, when i monkey / fool around..there will always be a child in us. that wont go away.

parijata said...

There are always exceptions, but I think I tend to agree with you, not about adults (I am one, you see...) but about old people. Indeed, I feel older after returning!

Our friends in the US, a couple probably in their late forties or early fifties, happened to scale Mt.Whitney. Near the summit, they met a 73-year old man, who had hiked all the way, with his daughter. On his birthday, they were on the summit, where the daughter played 'Happy Birthday' on the violin for her dad. Now, imagine carrying a violin along with so many other things!

I am pretty sure I will not see such old people in India. I do not want to grow into a grumpy and cynical old woman. But time will tell...