In our lives we take things for granted and we assume
a lot. This is exactly, what happened with me when I was taking a class with my
children (evening school), we were just talking about Gurpurab and what it
meant and that it was a birthday for Babaji. The next natural question that
followed was, when was their birthday. What followed next stumped me.
Imagine, a class of twenty-two children all five or
six years old sitting and looking and
then the non-stop barrage of answers. One of them answered and said his
birthday coincided when they went on the annual pilgrimage to Baba Balak
Nathji. The next one proudly answered it was on a Thursday (veervaar in Punjabi).
Children born on this day are lucky according to folklore in Punjab, because it
is the day of the Pir. One of them said, proudly he was born when it was
vaadiyan (the time of the year when we cut wheat in Punjab).
These innocent answers, which these little kids gave
me, had me smiling and also made me realize how jaded, I had become with the
world around me.
I presumed immediately that the kids would know when
it was their birthday; they would answer and tell me the particular day and the
month. It came as a surprise only one of them knew, his birth date, April 15th.
The rest were all smiles and just had vague answers about when they were born. They
just had no clue and were quite oblivious to it and were happy about it.
This was in complete contrast to the children who
belong to cities, with parents who were educated. They all know when they are
born, how old they are and what their birthdays should be. The trend varies
from theme parties, ranging from Frozen and Elsa for girls and the super hero
themes for the boys, gifts from Hamley’s, return gifts that are so expensive,
theme parties in entertainment centers or at farms in lush green settings.
In fact, more is spent on these birthday parties than
what is the average annual income! I am not being judgmental or cynical or even
smug with my observations. This is what is happening in our societies, this
plagues us and it’s a rut and there seems to be no way out of it.We all are so
caught in this rat race where we compete with an unknown image on a pedestal
and we all try to ape and be one step ahead of the other ! Is this the world we
want to leave our children? The children live and imbibe and soak this
environment and when they become too materialistic and indifferent to us and
the values we wish they had, we have no one to blame but us .
The sweetest I heard from my innocent bunch was when
one of them pipes us, I don’t know when its my birthday but I know that when it
is I get toffees from the hatti (village shop) and pastry !
I wish life was so simple, and we could all strike a
balance and enjoy the simpler pleasures of life !
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