HUM BHI AGAR BACCHE HOTE

Birthdays are fun. A day filled with good wishes and cheer. A day spent among loved ones, having a blast. A day actually when you do not mind being a year older! And, birthdays for kids is a time of frolic. The kids feel like Prince or Princesses enjoying all those attention.

Arohi and Anika, the famous and the favorite twins among the people who know them, celebrated their birthday yesterday. They turned four…..should I say fearsome "four"! They have grown from being cute, cuter, cutest and also naughty, naughtier and naughtiest! If there is any other superlative for these adjectives, they will outgrow them too.

The party had everything, tattoo artists, nail art, magic show, games and dance for kids. Totally a fun filled time for kids…..and platter of food to match. Both, kids and their parents had loads of fun….wish I could continue being a kid!

Childhood is such a short lived period in one’s life. Children do not want to be ruled, they want to assert themselves, and they want to break free. They want to be independent and grown up. What is being grown up?

Kids, let me tell you this, the grown up world is full of confusion and madness. You kids can get away with anything and people will only say –“so cute”, “so sweet”, or “so naughty”. Your mistakes and you being a brat are attributed to your childishness. But, the mistakes made by adults are used as yardsticks to measure their worth.

Buddha says –     Right Thought,

                           Right Speech,

                           Right Action,

                           Right Belief,

                           Right means of Livelihood,

                           Right Effort,

                           Right Memory,

                           Right Meditation……….. (I copied this right out of my son’s text book)

And within this framework you have to have a LIFE! Grownups are always judged by people, we are judging them too. People measure you; you are measuring yourself against others. You want to rebel but you conform. You have to live sensibly, think sensibly and act sensibly.

This song by Des’ree sums up aptly -

“You gotta be bad

You gotta be bold

You gotta be wiser

You gotta be hard

You gotta be tough

You gotta be stronger

You gotta be cool

You gotta be calm

You gotta be together;

Time asks no question, it goes on without you

Leaving you behind if you can’t stand the pace

The world keep spinning, you can’t stop it if you try to….”

Tough being an adult…where as I like to act goofy, dance in the rain and not be embarrassed if I am being watched, sometimes talk to myself in public and not mind people staring at me as though I am nuts, smile at strangers, play in the mud, be ignorant, be simple and unassuming, no biases, no expectations…..the list is endless…but in short, I would like to be a kid without a care in the world just like the princesses  Arohi and Anika.