Saturday, September 18, 2010

As we grow up

Remember how when you were young, you couldn't wait for mum to come pick you up after school so you could tell her everything that had happened that day at school? And how you would repeat the same story to the first 5 people you met word-for-word?

Ok I don't really remember it, but I've seen it in kids that age. Then you reach your teens and suddenly, your parents become your worst enemy, who are out to embarrass you and basically destroy your life.

On Halloween last year in Canada, I was staying over at the house of a local gujju family. Late at night, after Trick-or-Treating was over, we had to go pick up the younger son from his friend's house which was only a few streets away. We decided to walk there so that we could look at the decorations people had put up on the way.

On the way back, the kid was basically a whirlwind, talking about all the fun that he'd had going around the neighborhood, how he'd gotten more candy than the rest of his friends, basically describing in detail every insignificant detail of the day, all the while rolling on his sports shoes.

I brought up the topic with his mother of how kids change as they grow up, and she mentioned how her daughter, who was in her teens now, was totally closed off. Don't come into my room, don't touch my stuff, don't tell me what to do.

When we got back, the little man sat and counted his horde for the day, then separated it into the different types of candy. I felt so nostalgic watching him do that. Reminded me of how I used to separate GEMS into the different colors and eat the colors which were more, so that I would end up with a fixed number of each at the end.

Where does our innocence go once we grow?

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