Ten things you might find common between your child and you as a child...

Wish you all a very Happy Children's Day. Today for some reason I was remembering my childhood and was reading back the posts I had written long time back about my frisky and adventurous childhood memories- Childhood Discoveries, Teachings and Lessons...

With changing times plays, priorities and lives of children today have changed as well. But a few things may never change. There are times when you find a stark similarity between your child and your childhood . Here I have tried to point out ten such adorable similarities that have passed on between the generations...  

...and you smile during these times thinking back about the fond memories of your childhood!

Didn't we believe the same???

That is the time when you are amused and awestruck!

We all sail in the boat!!!

We all had a colorful home at sometime in their lives!!!

I remember doing this a lot of times...my mom does too...those guests do too... Gosh!!!

I have heard a lot of stories like this, as a child, as an adult... Can you relate to this?

A child with scissors is a child on the job!!!

Ready...Smile...Click!!!

Happy Birthday to all November-Borns.

Could you relate to above situations? Can you add more to the list?

Wish you all a very happy Children's Day again! 

P.S. There is an online community RapeRoko against rape and abuse. Do join the cause and create awareness:

Satyamev Jayate- Female foeticide!

Back in June, 2008, I wrote an article about rapid decline in female ratio: “Why more boys are being born to girls?”. That time, I studied much about the problem and thoroughly studied the cases, articles, statastics which were depressingly shocking.

Causes being:

1. Illiteracy

2. Traditional Mindset of people for male child.

Even the educated, wealthy and so called mordern mindset of urban people doesnt help them in offgaurding their desire for a male child. When today I saw Satyamev Jayate, everything from past that I studied about flashbacked before my eyes. I don’t know how this program will do. I don’t know how many of us who are into female foeticide will understand the problem and stop ourselves from murdering those upcoming lives. The case studies, which were presented were  heart-tearing stories. We have to spread awareness as much as we can, killing a life inside us is not the solution to our desires. How can we become anti-girl child after being born to women, being a woman, having women as our sisters/mothers/friends/wives/beloved in our lives. Nobody is God here to decide the fates of soon to be born lives on the basis of their gender.

We should not forget that if the parents of our mothers decided the same long time back, the devils and vampires like us, living on the blood of girls wouldn’t have been born!

A lady in the todays episode, living on the street  said a very beautiful thing, “We’ll accept the child(soon to be born) be it a son or a daughter, as a blessing from God irrespective of it’s gender.”

 I don’t need to present the same statestics, and studies which were presented in the program, I need to register my support for the cause. We don’t need any gender bais society, we just need children around us, who will giggle, laugh, play around, add beauty to the life and after growing up they’ll make this world more beautiful. Both blue and pink together add that bloom and charm to the world. Alone, its a monotony!  We can pledge, we will never promote such a bias in and around our lives, we will try to cure this sickness of minds!

I wish... “Satyamev Jayate!” 

Waiting to see what other 11 episodes will throw light upon...

Childhood Discoveries, Teachings and Lessons..

This Story revolves around Me, Rochana (my sister), Shweta(a family friend, we fondly call her piku), Jai (piku's brother) (we often used to meet on Sundays for which we used to wait eagerly), Shine and Karnika (prep friends).
We were a bunch of kids always ready for some mischief. But on the other hand we also used to treat ourselves as young Einsteins.
I dedicate this post to our childhood learning and to our friendship. Love you guys! Enjoy the Post. :D

1. Cloth Supply Machine
Lemme start with Shine, my friend from prep school. She was a child genius. Her dream was to make a machine which will be a box like and will have a handle to rotate. Utility- we can store a long cloth (like saree) from one side and when we will rotate it's handle we can get the supply of that cloth from the other side.. Today when i think about it, i feel it will be a good machine for the supply of handkerchiefs. Anyway, we used to talk about it for long hours on the terrace of Shine's house.

2. The Discovery of the Main source of Water
This Discovery was associated with another child genius i.e. me. There was a nice decent lawn in the front area of our house, where one could find leeches, earthworms, centipedes and other varieties of insects. My mum showed me some black leaves turning into leeches after pouring water over them. (they gain size, after getting water) So during my routine excursion around my house, i came across a black leaf. I brought water from inside my home and poured onto it, and yes it was not a leaf but a leech. now i thought of feeding it with sugar (just as ants) i poured some sugar on to it and to give it something salty i poured some salt over it. And the moment i poured on the salt, it started melting. Yeah! So this is the discovery. A few days later, Shine and chikki came over our house, i demonstrated the same thing after finding a leech. and Came on to the conclusion that there is a mountain of leeches somewhere, and somebody pours salt on them and we get water in our taps after that... :D

3. Who has the Longest small intestine?
Me and rochana used to create some art pieces and used to exhibit them in our room and make every guest visit the 'Picasso Gallery'. It had some models (like volcano, Iglu, Paper Aquarium), Paintings (fevicol paintings, glass paintings, colorful canvas comprising modern art :)) etc. ) and things like that. Our friend Piku, on a fine sunday evening told us that cockroach has got the longest small intestine and we decided to collect some facts to include some "Do you Know?" in our next exhibition. We did it. The next sunday she informed us that no! Its not the cockroach, its the frog. When we asked her that how can it be possible as we are bigger than them, she very calmly said because God has made them so. Their intestine is very thin and a frog can Jump very high only because its intestine helps him do that. Sounds logical. For once, I just want her to track the person who fooled the poor baby and hence us! We confidently included it in our fact sheet, giving all possible explanation to the elders.


4. Discovery of the 11th Planet: Smiley :)
During one of the days with piku, she told us something very strange. She just got to know from some kind of a freak that scientists have discovered two more planets beyond Pluto, however the name of 10th planet just flew away from her mind but the 11th one is SMILEY. My sister was curious and excited and learned it by heart, though I relied on the world around me and being more interested in the things that are in my reach and less concerned with GK.
Hence, when the teacher in my sister's class asked about the newly discovered 10th planet in our solar system, she raised her hand and overflowing with enthusiasm, cried out "Miss, I dont know the name of 10th planet but 11th is the Smiley." :) It was her teacher's turn now to bring her back to earth. She shattered her heart by saying arrogantly "no, There is nothing like that, who told u this?" And smiley died for that time but its still there on our faces whenever we remember about it.

5. Tradition of vomiting among mesopotamians:
Again the source of enlightenment was piku :). She had a strong GK (We believed so). Another of her teachings that Rochana fondly shared with everyone everywhere was about mesopotamians. We were informed that they eat alot to the extent that they are filled to the throat and after that they vomit the whole food. Its just their tradition and there is nothing scientific about it...

6. The Remains of the Previous Births:
Again the light was shown to me from my dear darling P. She asked me purposefully "Do you know why newborns close their hands till a certain time?"
Me: Ummm No (puzzled)
P: This is b'coz they have memories from the last birth. And closing their fists means they don't want to let them go, and thats why they cry.
Me: Wow! How do you know? (impressed by her knowledge of different things, i certainly cherished a friend who can not only play with me but also tell me the hidden secrets and mysteries of the world.)
P: yaa... Umm. Somebody. (she said suddenly)
Me: That is why every newborn baby cries.
P: Yes. And when i grow up and get a baby, i will keep his fists closed till the time he learns to speak.
My mom overheard the conversation. She joined our world.
Me: Ma, do you know?
Mum: I didnt know (she moved her face to P). And if he remembers his previous birth he will go to the place he belongs to!
P: Oh! Then i will not do this, (changing the topic) But do you know if we don't run we will gain so much fat and will never get to enter from our doors, we have a very fat girl in our school. and her parents are very very very fat, so fat that they had difficulty entering the class. Lets play red cross now...

Washroom Blues!

I today want to divert the attention of blog readers towards something, which is obscurely placed in the society, not much into consideration, but parents of today are facing the problems and parents of tomorrow will deal with much exaggerated form.

Everybody wants to give their child best schooling available where can they learn good things and make good friends and excel in every field. Normally the school buildings of a kid in first standard and kids in 12^th standard are same. Now this is what the issue of concern is!

Washrooms

Washrooms in schools narrate the stories around in the same way as the headlines in footer of news channels flash. I’m sure they do the same everywhere!

School washrooms are full of encrypted names, quotes, wraths, rage, etc. Well yepp, this is the area where today’s blog post will throw light on. I was talking to one of my near and dear relative. And she is facing the washroom blues. By washroom blues I mean her 8 year old daughter has been absorbing the part of vocabulary, which she is expected to know in her mid or late teens. Courtesy: washrooms in her school. Of course when the building is common and children below 8 have to share their places with the teen youth, this is the outcome! Dodging the questions from 8 year old curious and persistent mind of a child is not only difficult but nearly invincible task. Explaining the meaning on the other hand is a problem in itself! Is the little mind ready to get exposure? Will it be able to digest it?

Is their any solution?

Buildings for different age groups should be divided, transport facilities can also be broken into groups for different ages, and knowledge should be imparted into teenage minds in a healthy and mature manner, and they should be make aware of the negative outcomes of scribbling the words not appropriate for small children. Lastly, washrooms can have stone walls or marble walls, where scribbling will not be easy, if it provides any solution. Imparting knowledge in a healthy way and at the right age is necessary to keep the young minds clean, to restore their innocence and to avoid maturity before time.

Evolution

She is an eight year old kid.. Here old really means OLD.. The time has passed on so much.. and i feel i was really a dumb fellow who never talked maturity and sense till i was 20.. even now i hardly try to make sense in day to day life! :P i love my brain too much to bother it with seriousness..
So i met her for the first time, on 23rd Jan this year, in a train to Shimla. She is daughter of my father's friend. We two families went for snow hunt, which was a failure, as it didn't snow and climate was very much like that in Delhi.. After we came back, we have been watching snowfalls in news like a hungry hound wanting to enjoy it..


Nothing much to tell about Shimla, as everybody here must be knowing good deal about the place, or else one can Google it. This blog should provide something thats not Googlable!

Like always the place and company of each other made this trip memorable. But i would dedicate this trip to her, who added zing to the whole affair. Her name is SALONI..
I was awarded with the title of GEELI didi, even before we started interacting (GEELI means interesting in her vocabulary)
Glad My first impression was good..
i as usual played too, to keep my impression intact. And people around were watching us (me, her and my sister), playing silly games, singing rhymes and shouting and giggling.
As i started knowing her i discovered she is really big in terms of her thinking and conversation skills, and i was way back!!
She has one dream when she'll grow old and go to college one day, dressing smartly, and that day some boy will come before her and their hearts will fly high!! She interrogated me about why i left my work and upgrading my studies to which i said i wanted to.. Her reply was there can be two reasons either u want some guy to approach u and then your hearts fly out too or else u want to stay young like a model always :-/ .. i had no answer.. Phew!! i need some friends of her age to keep up with the pace of young mind's flow. She convinced my parents and her parents to get me married as according to her i am above 20 and i should be married!! lol i was feeling as our souls have been interchanged as i'm very much of her age and she has evolved too high!
Every time i tried to cheer the the environment by saying or singing something, she used to say "u have grown up, don't create a scene here ", that sentence used to boost me up to make more noises.. ha ha ha.. She believes in love marriage, and her mother convinces her hard, that there is no concept on this earth of love marriages and parents search match for their kids.. ha ha ha.. Poor mom!

belated happy republic day
This was the first ever live parade for me, where i was sitting amongst other proud patriotic spectators. My republic day was well spent in Shimla, although i missed the live republic day parade of the capital on television, but it was nothing less.. sitting there and watching the celebration was a different experience altogether.

P.S.
1. I would love to add some friends of 5-10 age group on social sites like facebook or orkut. Im sure these age groups might be having accounts there! This is known as evolution of LIFE!!
2. A place one should surely visit and check out in shimla is center of advanced studies.

The Age Of Innocence..

When we look at children, why we never envy them or why we never have ever lasting fights.. Even after scolding them, why do they forget things in a split of second and when at one moment they are fighting, arguing with us or being scolded by us, at the very next moment they come back to us to play, demanding love attention and care from us..
certainly they are the souls untouched by world's cruelity, greed, need of power and fame.. they are the richest and purest souls that demand nothing but love and a bit of attention.
Yes children are one of the most vibrant color of life. Being with them means loud screams, naughty deeds, awkward talks, senseless games. In nutshell being with them means being lively, being oneself, without faking it at all.
So its a party, if we have such a guest at home anytime. For all of us. When u see a child and you want to be friends with him/her. First thing, look into his eyes, and give him a nice wide smile.. If he smiles back at you, you are already friends, or else if he is shy, he'll keep looking at you to make sure your smile is genuine.
Though Its difficult to please a child sometimes. But they can melt stone hearts in seconds with certainly a small and innocent smile or else they'll look at you with their beautiful eyes as if they have never seen somebody like you. And with just one look, you'll know they love you.
So while i like them alot, and i like life in them, i like the pure souls away from any kind of dust and all, they are a miracle.
And why am i writing this post about them? may be because i have been through age of innocence like everybody else and my interactions with them make me think hard about them. They are for sure source of energy in me.. some times when i see them in dreams, i wake up so fresh.
There are infinite stories about beautiful interactions with them. But a different story of difficult challenge i got sometime back. Not all kids are as beautiful as flower petals. Some are real difficult to spend even a mintue with. They are stubborn, they are born fighters, they cry and cry to make you work as per their will. And worst is you can't scold them hard, can't shout at them, as they are your relative's sons or daughters. I met somebody like this some months ago. And i soon realised after 10 minutes that this is going to be difficult for me. And so i am not going to enjoy my visit here and would try to ignore the upcoming visits soon. I tried to be patient for one hour.. I know how to tackle them, i was confident enough like always. But things didn't work out. With love and patience falling afar, i got one fiseable solution. Ignore her. Tell her i dont like her. This is something children are sensetive to. I knew it and this is the trick.. It worked for another 10 mins.. But my sister, she did her best. She scared the hell out of her. It went like this "Mujhe badmaash bacche bilkul pasand nahi hain. Aur jo mujhe pareshaan karte hain, wo mujhe kabhi bhool nahi paate." (with her eyes wide open, she has big eyes,) And so that kid looked at me confused and scared a bit. I caught it. I said "Last time one child irritated her to the core, and she slappend her so hard, that she got scar on her face."
So by the time we were there, she was simply nice to us, kissed us, soft-spoken, without creating any further problems. And a compliment with her mother made our day. She said "She likes you". lol. So heres solution to tackle diificult ones, we discovered few weeks ago ;-)
But rare are the kids like that. And mind it never try something like this with all of them. As all of them are naughty in their own ways. Keep this for toughest cookies. That is what age of innocence is all about. Blended with variety.. :)

Special children

Parenting Special children or the children with mental imparement is the toughest job. A person with mental retardation has to have both significantly low IQ and considerable problems in everyday functioning. Mental retardation may be complicated by several different physical and emotional problems. The child may also have difficulty with hearing, sight or speech.Most children with mental retardation can learn a great deal, and as adults can lead atleast partially independent lives.It is very important that the child has a comprehensive evaluation to find out about his or her strengths and needs. Since no specialist has all the necessary skills, many professionals might be involved. General medical tests as well as tests in areas such as neurology (the nervous system), psychology, psychiatry, special education, hearing, speech and vision, and physical therapy are useful.These physicians refer the child for the necessary tests and consultations, put together the results, and jointly with the family and the school develop a comprehensive treatment and education plan.
Early diagnosis of psychiatric disorders in children with mental retardation leads to early treatment. Medications can be helpful as one part of overall treatment and management of children with mental retardation.

Causes: there can be numerous causes for mental impairment..
1. Sometimes disability is caused by abnormal genes inherited from parents or errors when genes combine.

2.Mental disability can result when the fetus does not develop inside the mother properly. For example, there may be a problem with the way the fetus's cells divide as it grows. A woman who drinks alcohol (see fetal alcohol syndrome) or gets an infection like rubella during pregnancy may also have a baby with mental disability.

3. If a baby has problems during labor and birth, such as not getting enough oxygen, he or she may have developmental disability due to brain damage.

4. or it can be due to Iodine deficiency(affecting approximately 2 billion people worldwide, is the leading preventable cause of mental disability in areas of the developing world where iodine deficiency is endemic.), malnutrion(Malnutrition is a common cause of reduced intelligence in parts of the world affected by famine, such as Ethiopia.)

5.The use of forceps during birth can lead to mental retardation in an otherwise normal child. They can fracture the skull and cause brain damage.

6.Sensory deprivation in the form of severe environmental restrictions (such as being locked in a basement or under a staircase), prolonged isolation, or severe atypical parent-child interactions.

These children are special in true sense. they are like flowers who need proper care and attention, extra love and affection to grow and to survive. These are always so pure hearted and so untouched by the world's cruelilty. educating them and making them partially self independent is toughest but remarkable job.

Love them..