It’s been almost 2.5 years that I wrote last. I have been thinking for long that I need to write, but the desire failed to take shape. Today finally, I mustered all my interest and said "If not today then Never". I think most of life's situations are like that. We need to decide and move ahead with it.
This blog may not be coherent in its flow of thoughts, but what am planning to write is about the children of today. When we were young, we used to go to school, be loaded with books and home work, play with neighbors back from school, have dinner & go to bed. We used to wait for one "Chitrahaar" / "Chitramaala"/ "Sunday afternoon or evening movie" / "Oliyum Oliyum", etc. I remember well - we had to get special permission from my dad for watching the weekend movie when we had exams. (As the TV wire would have been cut off). During holidays, we used to go to our grand mother's place or aunt's place and that's it.
Today, education system is no longer linear. There are so many options for the parent to choose - Open School, Traditional Method of education, Montessori,etc. More the option, more the confusion. As a parent, I encountered this couple of years back (as early as my daughter was born). The situation was similar to LASIK surgery; there were only apprehensions of what would happen in the future without any solid proof / case study.
It’s not only parents but the children of today are loaded with so much of information in the school, environment that the pressure to win the race is there in them from the very start. Today the topics of discussion in schools range from “How was your weekend”, “Where did you go for the weekend”, “ Which movie did you see”, “ Which restaurant did you go”, “ Blur Café in Sathyam is good”, “Which Country are you going this year for your vacation”, etc. Am sure, I did not discuss any of these till my college days and trust me I did not know where Blur Café was till couple of weeks back. (Though am a native of Chennai). Imagine the amount of pressure (peer) that these kids are put through by the schools, parents, society and thanks to proliferation of media. I feel bad for them on one hand for the pressure imposed on them and on the other hand that they are not enjoying life as we used to and they are in a venture to build their Brand Image. The taste of pepsi cola @ 50ps, sweet candy @ 25ps, Arisi mittai, Ice Cream that was brought by the street hawker, Soan papdi on the beach still lingers on my mouth. Added to these were curd rice and maavadu that used to be fed by our grand mother / aunt / mom for all of us (all cousins), Vadams, Imli from the trees, pampering by grand parents, etc...Served as the topping of the cake. Today these kids do not get any of these.
As I am writing this blog, there are numerous thoughts flashing in my mind – some answered some unanswered. A single post is not enough to share all of them. I need to keep writing to share those thoughts frequently. Going back to the statement I made when I started this post, “If not Today then Never” – I decided, let me at least think, write about these young adults and do something for their good. At the end of the day we need to “ENJOY LIFE”
