Festivals are rejuvenating. And travel during festivals is an even more interesting thing. Especially if you are the kind who loves to watch people. People from different walks of life come on board the same bus/train you are traveling in and the atmosphere resembles a mini world. You have that perpetually nagging old man who has enough experience of the good times to earn the right to criticize. Then the lone traveller sitting aloof drowned in his thoughts. The group of friends who, with their discussions, keep you informed of all the important news going on. And then there are always a bunch of kids hanging on to their kin watching with an ecstatic yet surprising look on their face, happy about the new environs they are in, yet feeling insecure about the unknown people around them. Of course, no description is complete without the cell-phone-to-the-ear guy who keeps chattering away, generally a bit louder than he would otherwise.
If you are in a contemplative mood, watching all these people would give you enough food for thought to write about it. So, here I am :)
Not all of that, but one particular thing caught me. There was this two year old kid looking around and suddenly his mom thrusts a cell phone to his ear and asks him to say 'Hi' to his maternal uncle and then to ask how he is etc. The poor kid repeats her words verbatim clueless about what he is doing, nevertheless with a tinge of excitement, seeing his mother all cheerful. Does the two year old kid know what he is doing. That there is an uncle far away waiting for their arrival, and he is "talking" to this uncle whom he can't "see"? Does his imagination allow him to feel that the communication is real?
What about the same age kids before the advent of the cell phone? Did they have the same imaginative capacity, except that they couldn't display it.
Or do the new tools that come up in this scientific age bring out skills hitherto unknown at that age?
Big questions! As long as the kid is happy talking on the cell phone, I don't mind.
Wishing everybody a very happy new year. 2011, in a way, resembles the word ROLL. So, hope everybody has a 'rock and roll' year and I hope the posts in my blog also roll..
If you are in a contemplative mood, watching all these people would give you enough food for thought to write about it. So, here I am :)
Not all of that, but one particular thing caught me. There was this two year old kid looking around and suddenly his mom thrusts a cell phone to his ear and asks him to say 'Hi' to his maternal uncle and then to ask how he is etc. The poor kid repeats her words verbatim clueless about what he is doing, nevertheless with a tinge of excitement, seeing his mother all cheerful. Does the two year old kid know what he is doing. That there is an uncle far away waiting for their arrival, and he is "talking" to this uncle whom he can't "see"? Does his imagination allow him to feel that the communication is real?
What about the same age kids before the advent of the cell phone? Did they have the same imaginative capacity, except that they couldn't display it.
Or do the new tools that come up in this scientific age bring out skills hitherto unknown at that age?
Big questions! As long as the kid is happy talking on the cell phone, I don't mind.
Wishing everybody a very happy new year. 2011, in a way, resembles the word ROLL. So, hope everybody has a 'rock and roll' year and I hope the posts in my blog also roll..
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