Friday, November 14, 2008

Childrens Day

A Happy Children's day to one and all!!

Is Children's day only for Children? is it not for us so called adults?

We might be generally called as Adults, but I believe true katte boys are really "Children" :-) Other than the physical element of "age" are there any other characterstics to define Children?

my thoughts on characteristics of children which are NOT RELATED to AGE factor are

Children are always happy.
Children do not worry about future.
Children know how to ignore past.
Children has very less care/attachment for worldly things.
Children are bubbly and full of energy.
Children Play.
Children Learn.
Children spread happiness around.
Children do not understand/believe societies rules.
Children make there own rules.

Not sure if this concludes the list, but I guess I got bored listing the characterestics :-).. Let me stop here and say, guys do you thing these characterstics possible for us to have? For me it is a big YES, YES, YES.. We can and should have all these characterstics to be called "True Katte Boyz" ....

But thinking more, for what, under the sun, have we lost some of this characterstics? I believe we must be really crazy to have lost some of these good characterstics. This writing is about, trying to understand how and why we lost it.

Some of the obvious reasons which come to my mind are ,

When we were children, we didn't have responsibilities. But as we grew we were pushed towards the grind of the society, which made us think towards "How to Live Life".

After writing the above line, I just went back (Scrolled up to be precise :-) ) and saw the characterstics again. That is when I realised what big Crap I had been writing. We had responsibilities when we were children. We were supposed to go to school, study, get good marks and all that crap. But did that stop us from enjoying our time? Guess what.? Big NOOOoooo!!! We balanced, the societes needs and our own needs so wonderfully well with a single goal of enjoying life!!!

I now think the biggest lie which we tell to ourselves is, "We have got more responsibility now"..

I think the reason is more of, "we have forgotten how to balance our needs". We are such big LOOSER'S that we have forgotten ways to enjoy life...

While having my lunch I was still pondering how do we bring balance... It just happened that, the below example came to my mind, (I was lucky to have a conversaiton with a colleague on this just a week back)

We have all played cricket during our kid days. It was more of a very normal activity was to play cricket everyday. Relating to the thoughts above, we always had different types of constraints to play cricket. The reasons were big to kid standards, Parents not well-off to buy stuff, not enough friends, not a field near house etc. etc..

Constraint: We didn't have a bat
Solution: We would create a bat out of a piece of wood, bark of coconut tree, the examination cardboard (famously called as RUT :-) remember guys?) ... at the end of the day anything strong enough to hit a ball would do. If nothing else we converted our Hand to Bat and played Hand Cricket. right?

Constraint: We didn't have enough members to play a game
Solutions: We played box cricket, we played one sided game (only offside runs only), we didn't have runs on backside, we always created our own rules according to the place, people etc. We always made the game competitive. We played on road, galli, field, house garden.. where not? what not?

If all the above were not there, we played Tennis. We played Lawn tennis in a junk field with Hands. We played table tennis without a table. We created our own tennis called Box tennis. If more people, then created our own rules and played "Not Named" tennis. Nothing was a constraint. At the end of the day we played and we enjoyed. In summer we played cricket in the house, with a ball made of small cloths put in socks. :-)

If a westerner sees the variety of the cricket we have played, he might get psyched out I guess :-) but who knows, they might have different varieties.

guys, I think the key thing above is, we knew how to ADAPT to scenarios thrown by the world. We always adapted with the Single goal of "Enjoying Life".

If I consider the same scenario today, we have stopped ADAPTING and started whining, cribbing. We whine and crib about office, boss, colleagues, family, traffic, cricket team, football team (is there one?) and oh! how can I forget the biggest target of all "Our wonderful political system and government." These are all facts of life, how can we even crib about this?

These are as big a facts as "My parents didn't buy me a cricket bat". Don't you think so?

On the contrary inspite of all the constraints we had when we were physically children, "we never cribbed", "we never whined".. We just went on living and enjoying life. In short we did good "Timepass" :-) (How can I NOT bring this phrase into context :-) )

Guys, at this point I am not sure, how and why we lost track. If I could think of why, I promise to update this article. Please provide your thoughts also on this.

Though through out the article I sound like, "we have lost all". I guess the scenario is not that bad afterall :-) all of us still have some of the characterstics of the children in us, this is what keeps us going. Else, we would have been in a mental hospital by now :-) . It is just that, I was thinking, how beautiful our life will be if we had all the characterstics of children.

To end the article key thing we need to learn is to "Learn to Adapt to Scenarios". Just like we were in our child hood days. We just need to re-learn how to "Timepass" and we will become true katte boyz.

-- Madhukar Hebbar

15 comments:

Atmaram said...

Great post Hebbar
Lovely taughts
I totally accept when I am with katte boyz i feel like a child, LONG LIVE KatteBoyz
Lot of us claim the responsibilty tag as cover which you have ripped apart in your post
the best I have to agree is your comment on losing focus on the BALANCE about things in life

Really really good one

VidyaShankar Harapanahalli said...

Read your article... It has come out well. There is one famous quote, "When I grow up I want to be child again!"

I will reciprocate with one, as I have first hand information. I had to gone school today along with my son.

Today it was Fancy dress occasion at my son's school (no competition).

My son had put on a Military dress. Scenes at school were refreshing. Baala Krishna eating biscuits, a crying and confused maharaja, A cute angel...

Good going Hebbar, Now Man Brooker is just three feet away!

Keshava said...

Nijaa Maga, vayassu aagodhu, Dehakke maathra, Manassige alla. Maanasikavaagi naavellaroo MakkaLe.The more we feel young at Heart, the 'Child' in us, springs into action, which makes us feel the real Happiness. Nice article, kaNo. KannaDadhaa MakkaLella ondhaagi banni, VSS koDo thiNDee na, #$%^@ muchkoNDu thinni:-)

Gulmohar said...

EGjactly. At times, I laugh at myself about this horribly simple irony - when we were kids, we didn't really have enough stuff within us (basically brain power, our brains were also kids) and still we were happy. But now, having reached good capacities of our so called brains, we are making our lives a mess!!

So, in other words, we are not really using our mental abilities in the right direction. Logically speaking, if we were to explot it completely, at worst, we should be happier than when we were kids.

VidyaShankar Harapanahalli said...

Gulmohar,

I agree with your comment, iff, if you replace WE with I :-) he hee he

Gulmohar said...

Oh yes. I should have. It is I I I and I

VidyaShankar Harapanahalli said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
VidyaShankar Harapanahalli said...

ಕ್ವಾಪ ಬೇಡ ಕಂದ !!!

Gulmohar said...

yen nanga?! Aiyyo illa sir, nangyake kwapa? No Kwapa, only Grappa (this is the only ugly drink I've tried till now:-)

Shetty said...

Good one Hebbar!! I almost forgot how we used to 'improvise' under any constraint.

And I agree with you, its not all that bad!! As we evolve (not grow) our motivators change. Let me give an example.

Remember any of these old Rajkumar movies, As kids we waited just for the 'Sahasa' (fighting!!) As you grow you like to follow the story, as teenagers the music excites you and now its the depth of thought in the lyrics.

We dont have to behave like a child to feel like a child. We need to find the 'motivator' that gives you the 'kicks'. And keep in mind the 'Motivator' keeps changing as we evolve so we need to continously catch-up.

Keep Walking!

VidyaShankar Harapanahalli said...

Prasad,

There is difference between being childish and childlike.

We can grow and still be childlike.

Refined taste and approach does not mean you have lost childlike qualities.

On lighter side, We do 'keep walking' on every Friday, why don't you join us sometime...

Shetty said...

Vidyashankar,

I am well aware of the difference. Besides, 'childlike' is a much sought after feminine attribute especially among eligible Indian men ;-)(Ask hebbar??) and thank you for the invite, it will be my pleasure one of these weekends

Still

Keep Walking!

Madhukar Hebbar said...

Mate, thanks for the terms "Improvise" and "Evolve". I guess both these would reflect well in the article.

Childlike, Childish, whatever actually doesn't matter. What matters is the "kicks" as you say.

Sorry, not sure about the other question you asked me :-) Me less experienced in the subject :(

Thanks for all your comments everybody...

Madhukar Hebbar said...

Oh! Understood the question now mate :-)

Me will whole heartedly like the childlike characteristics in female.

There is no fun being serious and correct ;)

Ananda Teertha said...

beautiful taught maga, i really cherish those memories!!!!!

i feel those days we did not have any logic we just followed our instincts and things were fine.

aslo we were not worried about the society, what people taught about ur deeds and cared a damn shit.

I liked what u said, making our own rules. now we are tied by so many constraints we hesitate to make our own rules and just follow what is generally accepted by others. u try to adapt to the situation rather than changing it for ur convenience.

lets try to bring out the child in us. we will be a happier lot than what we r now