A Question

World’s growing. And so is the competition. And with it, grows the fear to lose. Everybody wants to be on the top and the way they choose to do that is by putting down the other.

You read in books, you see in movies, and you wish time would fly back to; when kingdoms were fought for yet the boundaries were maintained; when pride was of utmost importance yet failure was accepted; when men were the sole bread-earners yet women were treated with admirable obeisance; when friends spent their whole lives playing/studying together yet never forgot to greet each other with respect.

Have those old golden days of rank, respect and royalty really disappeared in the smoke of sarcasm and crudeness? Have people no sense of friendly yet courteous humor? Do feelings take no priority? Do women not get distinguished anymore? Are friends of no value?

Has the world become too mean or is it just the pessimist in me talking?

...kya itna burra hoon mein Ma...

Taare Zameen Par - It's a story about a little boy who gets sent away to Boarding School because his parents think he's being deliberately disobedient. While he's there, a teacher at his school discovers that he's dyslexic and uncovers a hidden talent for art in the little boy, that everyone else had ignored.

I have always wondered what it would be like to be sent away from home and to go to Boarding School being a little child. My parents (mostly my mother) were adamant not to send any of their children away before they were big enough to decide for themselves and I always thank the powers that be for that. But the more I think about it, the more I begin to wonder what it must be like for children to be sent away from home for half their lives, some before they even enter their teens.

I know, and have heard the popular arguments. Boarding schools make children tougher and more disciplined. They've got better skills when they come out into the world. But isn't that what parenting is supposed to be about? Preparing your kids for the world, molding them into responsible adults? The truth is, I have never been able to understand why people have kids if all they want to do is make their own work easier and send the kids away. How can parents like that ever say that they have actually had a say in bringing their kids up?

It's just like that certain section of parents who have nannies for their kids, right from when they're born. Why do you have a baby when you can't give it everything you've got? I understand that there are careers and people have to make ends meet, but I would be devastated if my baby drew more comfort and security in a stranger's arms. I find that's the saddest thing that any mother could do to herself. Careers can wait; the childhood of children once ruined will never be restored.

Perhaps working till evening and returning home to play with the kids, is how working parents imagine it to be before they bring another human being into this world; but once the responsibilities, of work and of children, increase manifold, boarding schools/nannies/grandparents become the main and major part of the picture. Do parents have the right to deprive the baby of his rights just to reduce the burden? Does money/career undermine another life; life which is a part of their own?