Friday, September 17, 2010

About festivals and Kids

It's festive season all around Maharashtra. At least in Mumbai, people are celebrating. Loud music is playing at every corner. An NRI friend called me and became so damn nostalgic after hearing the loud music that he didn't even realize that he was on phone with me! But well, I can give him that liberty when he is already missing the Ganesh Utsav in Mumbai. 

I visited a few friends' too who had Ganeshji at their places. It's always amusing to see the decorations, enthusiasm and spirit of Indians when it comes to celebrating any festival. This time around, Ganesh Chaturthi, Eid and Jain festival (Paryushan) fell on the same day. Each and every corner of the city was decorated with lights, there were smiles everywhere and no rains. Now, it's difficult not to feel happy in such a festive mood. Yes, the heavy rains, gloomy weather and bad mood turned all happy happy thanks to the festivals.

But the happiest and most enthusiastic person is my niece. She is too young to even know the difference between human and God, but still, each time the music plays, both her hands go in the air, and each time Aarti starts in the neighbourhood, she starts clapping. If she sees Ganeshji, or any other God, she lowers her head and folds her hands. She does the same when we switch on the lights. None of these has been taught to her. She does it after observing people. This has made all of us very careful. We make sure we do not shout at anybody or or use bad words (we anyway do not use bad words, but we do not even use the words idiot and stupid), we talk to her about everything and she even understands quite a few things! Phew!! Kids today are damn smart!

But my mother has taken her "understanding" to a different level altogether. My niece is now a days hooked to some TV serial called Utaran (pardon the spelling mistake, if any!). She becomes so very happy the moment she hears "kya hoti utaran"! I didn't know what to do about it, so I got her hooked to wavin' flag by K Naan :P She even enjoys CID (which I love watching) and Cricket. She is not an avid viewer of TV though. She watches it for a few seconds. If she smiles, that means she likes it, if she throws tantrums for no reason whatsoever, it means that you are supposed to switch off the television as she does not like the sound of whatever is playing!

Any age group, kids are very smart these days. I happened to visit a mall a few days back. There were many rides like train, horses, cars and such rides, but the maximum crowd was near the bungee jumping board for kids. Kids were going mad there. First they were crying for their turn, and then they were crying to come down. I made a friend click a few photographs of that place. I use a non-blackberry business phone with no flash in the camera. Thus I had to ask him to click those snaps :)


Above: the empty train and Below: the empty horse ride



Ah, the kids gaming zone had the heart game too. Aim and win :D

Toddlers also wanted to bungee jump :)

11 comments:

  1. like the narration
    i also like CID.
    yes now a days kids are very smart.
    like the pics

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  2. Festivals brought some solace to incessant gloomy weather. Glad to know :-)

    Good pics.

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  3. Totally agree Neha.. kids these days are too smart.. even my cousin she talks like a big girl even though she is so small. She listens to everything we speak and then repeats them.. Love the festival season. I am so glad I am back in India this yr after missing the festival season for so many yrs! :)

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  4. very nice pictures.. I am glad that festive brings so many things for kids also..

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  5. Oh yes! festivals have that kind of impact on all of us!! :)
    Kids, now a days... they are made with special design!! Too fast and ahead they are than kids of our time!! :)
    CID?? I find it's laughable! They have access to national finger database and have the most modern gadgets in their labs with multi-coloured liquids, which the actual CID would have never seen even in their dreams!! :P
    Sure it is high on entertainment factor. :D

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  6. Kids are really, really smart. They light up any occasion!
    Even I like that 'Kyaa hoti utaran' song. But beware, don't let her watch that serial, please! I hope it's just the title track she loves. I was once addicted to the show. It can give you serious mental problems. Trust me! :D

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  7. Best part of childhood : "You don't belong to any religion"

    Smiles :)
    Prashant

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  8. kids these days are very smart... :) even I love CID :D
    nice clicks :D

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  9. You could have posted some pics of niece too. Wish a happy festive season

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  10. Kids are so different now a days. They are more smart, naughty and stubborn and over worked.

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  11. Festivals are great. I love all the rituals and and the festivities. Thats wat I miss the most here..

    Yes kids are really smart theses days. I am amazed at my 10 year old son and how much smarter he is than I was at his age...:-)

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