Stumped by Innocence

Well all those who have stumbled upon my blog ... let me warn you there are hell lot of craps lined up but I have not posted up probably very soon but not today.. The other day I was wondering whether kids of today are really innocent that we expect them to be. I have seen such a lot of superficial comments that really makes me think that slowly but surely kids are being corrupted and becoming more and more world wise ... by which I mean, that the innocence we look in kids, that non-malign open heart feeling is lost. However three incidents reaffirm my faith that there is hope and corrupted innocence is innocent too.

During one of my Pune trip, I came to Alka Talkies. Now when I used to stay in Pune, it was one of the two halls that used to screen English movies. I bet I paid more time in Alka than in my college so u can imagine my nostalgic feelings. So we bought tickets Die hard 4 and suddenly this street urchin springs up and asks me for some money. His excuse like hadn't eaten the whole day and kind of stuff. Now please I can't be fooled, but I look at his face - a cute one and offer him all the change I had. And lo, he takes the money and starts jumping and says now I am going to watch movie too!!! Shows me some folded 10 Rs note that he had collected from others. Innocent isn't it? Corrupted by society but innocent!!!

The second incident happened a few years ago... I happened to attend a party thrown by one of my parents acquaintance much against my wish. It was such a bore as I barely knew anybody there. Now, this party had only one attraction - our host's stunning daughter. "Rascal", you say. Thank you very much! I had nothing to do so I offered to help our host by offering to ensure that her young son drinks milk - Sadistic pleasure. So here starts my trouble, after trying everything and failing miserably I took my last gamble. I switched on cartoon channel and referred to the strong body of some super hero. I go on GA GA over his strong body and said it came from drinking milk. Then I pointed to my body and said I don't have a good chest because I didn't drink milk. The young chap was showing interest. And then came my master stroke, I said, " You know when you drink milk half of it goes to your right chest and half to your left chest so you great strong muscular chest. The more you drink milk the more muscular and prominent chest you have." Mission Accomplished!!! the young chap was drinking milk... Suddenly he stopped. I asked what happened - he said, "bhaiya us hisab se to didi to sab se jyad doodh peeti hogi" Roughly translated in english, "Bro by that logic my sister must be drinking the most of milk". I simply stood up and ran away. Innocent again!

Third incident involves my younger brother.. He had just been admitted to school in Lower KG and on his return from school on the second day, I still remember the conversation we had. And his monosyllables haven't changed till now. ( he is STD 10 )
Me: school mein kya hua? ( what happened in school?)
Bro: kuch nahin (Nothing)
Me: Miss kuch boli? ( Did your teacher say something?)
Bro: haan boli ( Yes she said)
Me : kya boli? ( what did she say?)
Bro: budhu! (stupid!)
Me : kyon? ( why?)
Bro: hum nahin likh rahe the (I was not writing anything)
Me: (Hugging him) Agar samajh mein aa nahi raha that to pooch lete. Agali bar samajh mein nahi aye to pooch lena fir likh lena. ( if you did not understand you should have asked your teacher. Next time ask her and then you write.)
Bro: (Angrily) roj roj kya " A hi likhte rahenge. Do din se sirf A. Hum budhu hain ki woh hai? har roj A! bas gussa ke hum sabn likh diye A-Z. ( everyday should I write only "A". Since 2 days I have been writing only A. Am I stupid or she is? everyday A! So in anger I wrote all . A-Z )

Cruel On our part to teach a toddler A, B without him knowing what it means. It's like donkey's work! Sadly enough it still remains the most used method and perhaps the only way!!!