now we have so much,…
Life was so simple, when we were young,
whatever little we had was there to enjoy.
With time, somehow I had forgotten those moments
Lost within the struggles of balancing ambitions with achievements
then I read or hear something
and it will all return, leaving me to wonder how could I have forgotten …
As children we played with whatever was available,
if one of us had a oft-repaired ball that wasn’t leaking,
it would be football.
If someone had a tennis ball and a cricket bat,
we played cricket on roads
with bricks (11 to be exact) stacked as wickets,
didn’t ever stop us copying the moves of our sporting heroes.
If we went visiting friends or relatives
we never made a prior phone call
just because we didn’t have a phone,
nobody else did,
We just went to others houses and knocked.
if they weren’t in, we came back home,
having a bite somewhere on the way back
just the trip there and back was as enjoyable.
When others dropped in
for a visit without informing,
the unexpected surprise would double the welcome.
Shopping was buying
what was fresh and affordable,
shape, size, colour of the produce was not important
now I stand bewildered in front of supermarket shelves,
unable to makeup my mind,
more than once walking away empty handed.
We had new clothes
once a year for Durga Pujo, our annual festival,
that too, at the the local store,
the same place every year;
and was always given the one choice
from amongst garments that were two sizes too big,
so that they would last another year.
When our neighbour bought a radio, he played it loud.
it wasn’t considered a sound disturbance,
it was for all to enjoy the early morning transmission
of the recitation of hymns from the scriptures Devi Mahatmyam
unofficially marking the beginning of the festival.
Of course there was only one radio ’station’.
And when he bought fluorescent tube lights,
we all took turns to visit and admire.
On the day of the festival,
us friends would meet
and show off our baggy shirts and shorts drooping below our knees;
(what is now accepted as fashionable!)
proud of their crispness and of the smell of the new fabric.
We never had much,
there never would be a second choice,
everything had a value, nothing got wasted.
Whatever little we had we were happy to share
and we enjoyed it all to the full;
now we have so much, we have forgotten how to….
bendtherulz said this on March 7th, 2007 at 13:28
The moment I read these lines…somehow it felt as if I have read it before….I can totally relate to this post…I grew up in such a tiny district of India it came into prominence when India first tested Nuclear bomb- before that we were so obscure…! Atleast my childhood was so unsullied and unspoilt by the excess of all the things.
I wore all the cast offs from my siblings ( be it books/ clothes) Somehow it didn’t matter those days..I don’t think kids like that sort of thing any more….they would not touch even a year old their own clothes even if someone pay them….after all it would be out of fashion…lol…!
Yeah now even -I wouldn’t dream of going to anybody’s home without making prior appointment ( see its appointment – even words have changed their context)
Somehow I try to be not a hoarder…or covet….which is fancy on the Road …however its so difficult !!
little indian said this on March 7th, 2007 at 14:18
thanks bendtherulz.
life was so simple
there was so much fun
everything had a value,
and we were taught how to value things.
now I wonder
how did it all change
and all within one generation?
inel said this on March 7th, 2007 at 23:44
Now we have so much stuff and clutter and so little time … for reflecting, for relationships, for doing nothing in particular.
Even when I look at some blogs, I see so much clutter: nonsense spilling over the screen, drowning out the rare gems and true messages (like yours).
Then I remind myself I prefer working online because the clutter is contained … at least it does not spread all around the house like sheets of paper do.
Kids are wonderfully refreshing companions, because they do not carry the baggage that adults do. They do not have meetings for the sake of meetings, and opinions to make themselves sound important. They are more naturally in tune with their spirits than many adults are, and yet, nowadays many kids have been “trained” to be materialistic too.
Your post reminded me of my childhood in Wales. It was not India, but our values were similar. We just turned up, or people turned up on our doorstep. We only went to town on Saturday and church on Sunday and school the rest of the week, with no homework until we were in secondary school. Playdates were easy.
Not so now. It is hard to find other kids that are available for my kids to play with, even booking appointments a week in advance. Birthday parties are extremely hard to organise because everyone is so busy. When I was a kid, these problems didn’t exist!
little indian said this on March 8th, 2007 at 16:09
inel thanks for stopping by.
I do not greatly mind the clutter or nonsense,
as in them I can still read the workings of the human mind.
I do hate the aimless Copy & Paste put up just for the heck of it.
I came into blogging because I am fascinated by the human mind,
I want to know about people
their strengths and weaknesses, virtues and the vices…
their principles or lack of it,
how they think and reason and react
their own observations and conclusions
above all I want to know about their own experiences.
If I want to read verbatim what someone else has written,
which has been put up at a random
with no apparent purpose or message,
that is a wastage of my efforts.
I can do it easier through the RSS button.
Someone (I forget who) wrote these lines in a Bengali poem,
…”wherever you see ash
blow it away
for you may find underneath it
a philosopher’s stone”…
So here we are, blowing away dirts and ashes
looking for the touch of something precious.