So in the kids carnival I had been invited for storytelling to the kids. It was a big opportunity for me as I was seeing instant reaction of the kids as I was telling them stories from my books Grow Up Messy! and The Santa’s Gift. Here is series of dialogues that a few of the kids had with me.
Me: Did you ever got a chance to climb trees?
Kids: But why do we have to climb trees?
Me: No. No. You don’t have to. You see kids enjoy plucking mangoes from the tree and that too when the guard is having his siesta. You see thats what Misry and her gang of village kids use to do in the lazy summer afternoon. Its fun. (I stressed the last word a bit)
Kids: But maam, we don’t have mango tress around so we guess we are going to miss all the fun. Anyways what happened next.
Me: And then …..(I could see their gleaming with happiness as if they were part of the gang)
Kid: Ouch! Didn’t she get hurt when she fell down from the Machan?
Me: Yeah it did hurt her but you see she had landed on the sleeping guard and woke him up.
Kid: OMG! She should run then.
Me: Blah blah ….So Misry goes to Bheeu’s house to looks at the goat kids.
Kid: A goat?
Me: Yeah a goat. Haven’t you seen one?
Kid: I don’t remember seeing one.
Me: (googled for Goat) Here see this pic.
Kid: Oh this I have seen. They are bought young and fed very well until they grow up and then one day they are chopped off.
Me. Silent.
Living in big cities these kids haven’t come enough closer to nature to undersand the beauty of it. I wish this generation gets to have more fun outdoor without any props and gazattes like the kids in the 80s and 90s .
Paromita Goswami 