~ Reflections ~

The toughest part of managing a child, besides getting them to eat right, is to get them to sleep :) Oh yes, you might be dreary and sleepy, but that doesn't seem to rub onto the child, or ease them to sleep. Often, one might rock oneself to sleep before the Tiny Human finally dozes off. It makes me wonder if I was as much a pain to put to sleep. With time and experience, each of us develop our own styles and techniques to achieve the ultimate outcome.. no judgement on the means to the end :) :D I've finally found a list of songs which seem to help in the task, without realizing that these songs have become my favourites anyway ! Here are the top 5. 5. Surmayi Akhiyo Mae (Hindi, Movie: Sadma) : Somehow Yesudas singing this song to you seems to be the perfect recipe to call upon sleep. Needless to say Gulzar weaves magic through those words. 4. Sapnon ke Ghar ki  (Hindi, Movie: Daddy)  : This is one is definitely one of the best of Talat Aziz. Hadn't heard of the lyricist ...

We are simpler and more honest people when we are younger... what is on our mind is what comes of our mouth... the blatant brutal truth...  added to that, we never bothered filtering any information with our family/loved ones. But it seems like the older we become, we put in a lot of thought into everything we do, be it a simple good morning to conversation over coffee.... cheerful banter with friends or simple things to be shared... till a point where the thinking becomes over thinking ...  The joy of sharing suddenly becomes a well thought out exercise.... thoughts to be shared are treated like burdening the other person, wondering if the would affect the person too much (or maybe not at all)... leading to muted conversations and longer silences... The urge to share thoughts is replaced by the thought of whether to burden a person... We know the issue is important, and yet we assume it isn't vital for the other to know.... Simple uncomplicated words and conversation...

In the hope of helping them, we take their independence away... With the wish of making them feel safer, we hold their hand all the way... Little to we realize that we are actually stifling them... Not letting them do what they want, the way they want... Though the article in HT i read yesterday, by Namita Bhandare talks about the other end of the spectrum, the emotions are the same...

I bounce around enjoying my time Jumping over fences, kicking stones... I don't care what people think, infact it doesn't even occur to me to bother thinking... Then suddenly, I grow up.. and I feel I realize the stares all around... I realize that girls are not supposed to jump fences & kick stones I am not sure it is good to be aware.. or if it is better to not care... 'cause the society seems to penalize you either way..

What I miss about my childhood the most (of course I miss the idea of not having to assume any responsibilities... duh..) is the freedom to think. Not like I've been chained to an outlook, or that an attitude has stuck to me.. But the supposed logic, and practicality that we tend to attain with age (is that what is erroneously called wisdom ?!?), is what is responsible for our lack of ingenuity... the lack of thinking out of the box.... We have regimented our outlook and thought process with dos & don't, the right & the wrong, the reality & the dream...  And somewhere, maybe unknowingly, we inculcate the same in our children... So when they ask why they can't fly, all we say is that they'll fall down on the ground... without realizing that we are actually clipping their wings...