Responses to "Death of Innocence"

Hey Energy Fountain

You did raise a very valid issue here but the problem would be "Will Anybody bother?". Parents are so proud to show off their talented children in reality shows that they are willing to cross the line or few rules in parenting which we were subject to us at our age - like no makeup,designer or revealing outfits, blow dried hair and even plucked eyebrows till you are 'old enough' and that 'old enough' age was when we got into college....

When I look back at few of my old school pics I wish I could hide under neath the bed, I looked so pathetic with my over sized specs, old fashioned hair style and dressing sense but hey I was still a kid then....no fashion diva...

Recently there was an offer in one of the very popular beauty parlours here - 50% off on facials for kids aged 10 - 15 years of age...OMG..Can you believe that? But it is the truth of today...We cannot ignore it...

Worryingly

She Pebble:(

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hey you fountain girl,

I agree... Innocence has been lost and buried under debris. Though I love to see lil girls dressed up in cute outfits, it is disturbing when I see them in sexy clothes. I also cringe when kids talk like grown-ups. Its an absolute pleasure when they talk their age. I don't know how we stop them, or to what extend can parents control and influence their kids' lives. These days even 5-year- olds have a facebook account. Anyways, it was a good read girl:)

Ciao

Just outta the bed

Couch Potato

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Energy Fountain.....

Don't worry..... we are in no way old fashioned or ancient ... it is just that our mothers allowed us to enjoy our childhood to the fullest.... In the race for the survival of the fittest...  the limit gets crossed ...children get misguided and parents fall for it...Children are great imitators... they don't understand the right from the wrong... also, agreed that it is difficult for parents to control everything around  kids .. but parents and elders need to teach the young minds that this is not reality and that childhood comes only once...

Right now feeling disgusted watching a five year old trying to dance as 'Sheila' Ki Jawani in a reality show.... OMG she is even trying out the  Dhak Dhak movements..... I dont mind kids dancing for the song.. but they can dance in their own style right! .... why do they race to their Jawani at this age?????

- Yours Agile Serenity.......

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Yes she pebble the trend is disturbing and I don't know what should be done to stop it. And couch potato even I know kids having Facebook accounts, i thought only 18-year-olds were allowed to open an account, or  I just imagined it?
Thank you Agile for empathising with me, I think we should thank our parents for letting us live our childhood to the fullest :)


love u all
Energy Fountain

Death Of Innocence

I was seeing pictures of one of my niece, oh boy! she looked awesome, and she is hardly two-years-old. Yes! she looked awesome, not adorable. I was trying to figure out what was so different about the pictures, but then I gave up, telling myself “you and your eye for details!”

Few days later I saw this picture collection on Yahoo called “celeb moms”, Tanuja with Kajol, Hema Malini with her daughters, Sridevi with her daughter, and Sushmita sen with her newly adopted second daughter.

Kajol and Esha looked glamorous, nothing new, it’s part of their profession, but Sridevi’s daughter who is not even 15 years old, looked as if she has been ripped off her innocence and is getting ready to step into the Bollywood. But Sridevi looked pretty content showcasing her daughter.

And at that very instant it hit me like a bolt from blue that my niece’s picture had this uncanny resemblance with Sridevi’s daughter, no, not looks wise, but the way she looked devoid of innocence, the way she was been dressed in those fashionable gowns, which in earlier days we used to see actors wearing while walking down the red carpet.

Who is to be blamed for the death of innocence? kids, their peers, or their parents? I think it’s started by the parents in the initial years and later on the children take over the highly taxing responsibility of looking glamorous. Otherwise how do you explain a two-year-old posing like a Miss Universe Contestant (I might be sounding sarcastic, but I am still trying to get a hold over it).

When I look back at mine or my brother’s childhood pictures, we looked so innocent, even our school and college day pictures did not have a pinch of those ‘lights on you’ effect.

I remember the only thing for which I used to go to parlour along with mom as a kid, was for a haircut. And the first time I got my eye brows done was after I finished college (does that sound like I come from the stone age?). But neither my mom nor my friends had at any point of time said that I should have lotions and cosmetics dripping from top to bottom. My mom always laid emphasis on hygiene and being presentable, but never on being glamorous.

But these days ‘glamour quotient’ seems to be a very important part of one’s social profile. I see these little girls all dressed up like Aishwarya Rai, so I wonder what kind of pressure Sridevi’s daughter might be going through to look her best.

Earlier the stages in a person’s life were childhood, teenage, adult, and old age. But now childhood, teenage, and adult phases seem to have been clubbed. It actually worries me, I just hope that when I have my daughter I would not behave like those celeb moms!

Response to 'I am Angry and Hurt'

@She pebble...to say that I can understand how you must be feeling would be a lie. Though I have been to your only twice, I have such beautiful memories of that place. Reading your post I could not imagine of anything else at that place, and you must be having a treasure trove of memories for sure.

will be there for u always

Energy Fountain

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@She pebble,

Though I haven't been in your place, I can imagine what u would have felt. Even I grew attached to the places I live. Not just my home though.  And whenever I have stayed away from home, I have missed home a lot. Its not that I missed my family. Yep, I missed them. But it was not enough that they visited me. I really wanted to be home.

Hugssss

Couch potato

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 @She Pebble,

It must be awful to be going through this. I am sure that you would always have sweet memories of the place in you mind... Who knows in another 10-15 years you may be able to recreate a home to which you might develop  similar attachments..

Hope all your dreams come true

Agile Serenity

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Love you guys for understanding and feeling for what I went through and in a part still go through.

I understand that I have to move on now and like @agile said the new place could have special memories for me in few years...

Love you all always

She Pebble

I am Angry and Hurt!

As I scanned through the Pictures for the last time, my eyes welled and however hard I tried I couldn't stop the floodgate and what surprised me the most was my soft wails. I heard myself sobbing uncontrollably. The Echo reverberated in my ears and it just told me I hadn't cried so loudly in years. Thank God! I was all alone as if Nature connived with the Psyche of my mind to ensure I burst out when I had no one to be comforted. But did I really need somebody to comfort me? No! I am so hurt and so angry that no amount of consolation could balm my blistered soul.

As I was casually talking to a friend at another friends' party, She happened to introduce me to her Boss whom she learned was from my native place. You really cannot measure the swell and the pride you get when a total stranger you meet actually knows your family, your relatives, have mutual friends as you and finally knows your house and its location (not the Google map one)...He exclaimed "What a beautiful house that was! and added, "I must say you were quite lucky...having had the privilege to stay in that house for so long, after all it kinda 92 years old rite...and went on to list a few other information oblivious to me...now how the hell did he know all that..and remember that all these details were not on FaceBook or on a Google search...my my....

It always make me wonder how interested the people in Kerala are in other's  personal details be it names, events, secrets or other vital information.....Well! Leaving all that...He said, "In today's date if you were to built such an old fashioned house like yours with such beautiful wooden ceilings and such spacious rooms, then no doubt it would run into crores and then he dropped the bombshell, a piece of information I had no idea about.."you know last week I passed your house and was so sad to see it smoothed down, bulldozed, and now I really cannot Imagine that place minus your house...The rest of the words felt deaf to my ears as all I could make out was his mime demonstration...my friend sensing my shocked demeanour pulled me aside.

She asked me, "Are you alright?" And all I could give her was blank look as I asked myself, "Am I Alright? and my mind shouted, shrieked, screamed to her..Hell no!!"But I didn't hear those words coming out.

As I climbed the stairs to my house his words reverberated in my head, "smoothed down, bulldozed"

My home, where I grew up. Spent most of my life and a place I always could be myself; stretched my leg as I lazily sat on my Appacha's antique chair with an arm and a leg rest, reading an M&B, my room which had posters from top to bottom, which I myself had to pull down when my brother legally inherited it(The day I got married). The countless visitors we had as our home was at a prime location and so easily accessible to any person who wanted to drop in....And not a day would pass when my mom would not have to make an extra cup of tea for a visitor.

The mango tree at our backyard which blessed us with small juicy mangoes that even before the mangoes were ripe we would get requests from friends, neighbours and relatives for their share, the countless times I stood staring out of the window looking at passerby's on cars, buses or pedestrians....That house was not just another structure, It had so many memories etched, the countless cries, bouts of happiness, naughtiness, all the nitty gritties of life that the roofs and the four walls were witness to.....

One day my parents simply decided to put the house on sale as they were tired of the next to main road life and there was also a possibility of Road widening and other headaches if the new government that was taking over then would bring in place..Within a month's time - An individual made an irresistible offer as he saw our house (actually our piece of land) a prime location for his commercial dreams...In a span of 2 months all the formalities were done and the ownership was transferred.

He bulldozed my memories, my home, and is building his commercial one there..I wouldn't really blame him, He is just a business man after all who invested such a huge amount.....But it's my home that's no more....I wish I had that money to give to my parents to keep them from selling it...It's just that moment when I felt had I been filthy rich????

But I really cannot blame my parents too, they were just being practical, when they decided to move out at the right time....But what about those zillion hours I spent of my life there? Does it have any value at all????

Who cares??? I am sure my new house can never match up to my bulldozed old home.