I would like to begin this week’s article with few quotes, quotes both from famous people and not so famous and very common people like you and me.
“Talk to your partner and stop letting inboxes, likes, comments, retweets ruin what you have built”- a well-known relationship expert.
“My grandson is home for a short break, meeting him after five years and soon he would leave to a different country for higher studies, have so much to talk to him but hardly able to bring his attention to me from his gadgets”- A grandmother and neighbor.
“The best and peaceful time of my life was during the shooting of my latest movie in the interiors of Ooty because there was no cell phone network and hence no virtual connectivity” – A famous female cine director of Malayalam film industry.
“How many game apps do I get to download on your phone during this vacation” A six-year old to his mother.
“We would not want to make it for wedding, they are too crowded and we feel that those uncles and aunties are all old school and we don’t find them cool”- teenage kids to their parents for a wedding invite.
“Is this what you guys do when you come out with friends regularly?” That was me asking my friends seeing them tucked up to their cell phones all the time as we all met over a coffee.
Now pondering to all these statements and drowning into my thoughts was wondering, Isn’t childhood meant to be all about cherishing memories? Let alone childhood, life itself would be blank and meaningless if we don’t create memories and moments for us to cherish.
If we don’t see a purpose in the bonding and connecting to people around us, related to us and our family & friends and extended family members, what purpose do we find in connecting to people miles away from us in the virtual world?
This reminds me the lyrics of a ghazal sung by the music maestro Jagjith Singh, “Woh Kaagaz ki kashthi...woh barish ka pani…” The lyricist has so beautifully brought in the emotions of an adult missing the various aspects of childhood…
Floating paper boats in rains, listening to grandma’s stories, playing outdoor games, playing with butterflies, birds, going to ancestral home, craving to meet grandparents and getting pampered, waiting to meet and play with cousins, etc.
This makes me wonder, will our children have the same memories to cherish? Will they know where they belong to? Will they feel connected to their routes? What are we passing on to our next generation? Do we need to bring about a change in our approach? Should we stretch beyond our responsibilities to help our children connect to the world around them? Answers to these questions and much more in my upcoming article.
(The author is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Learning Arena, an e-learning company)
