Monday, January 01, 2007

Grandma’s stories…

Everyday before sleeping my daughter asks her grandma to tell her some story. My Mother tells her some story which is invariably a mixture of already stories. In these stories there are some stories which are quite high in demand from my daughter. One of these is where a cunning cat eats everything in the world. She keeps on eating everything and everybody till she meets a Donkey who punishes the Cat. This story is told with all the songs to narrate the sequences. These songs are very humorous and they have a rustic touch to them. I should say this kind of storytelling is nothing short of blessings to small kids.

My daughter has now started making stories out of the stories she has already heard. She makes stories out of everything she experiences. Now days she narrates more of her stories than listening to Grandma. I am the one who has to hear now stories from both of them- my fifty five years old mother and three year old daughter.

Symbolism….

Yesterday whole night the World was busy welcoming the New Year. It’s no doubt the day which is celebrated by the maximum people world over. Invariably everybody celebrates this day with a high degree of enthusiasm. This celebration can be safely termed as a World festival.

The normal middle class citizen is the one who aspires to be at his adventurous best during such occasions. He wants to celebrate this day like no one else. He looks for all kinds of options possible. He goes through advertisements in paper for New Year bash in 5 star hotels and alike. He then tries to analyze which of these will give him the maximum joy. Almost 90% of the times He may not choose the star hotel option. Then he surveys other options. Pubs, Discos, Resorts, Farm-houses: all of these are weighed against there ability to provide the maximum joy quotient.

Suppose he is able to select his option for New Year eve celebrations. Now the next big dilemma stares at him. Who will accompany him to his selected venue? For Bachelors this question becomes very tricky as some of these venues don’t allow stag entry. Even if they allow no sensible guy wants to be all alone when he wants to celebrate something. This is the reason maximum bachelors end up celebrating this day at there rented homes with there friends. Typically money is pooled for the D-day. Depending on the earning level the quality and quantity of alcoholic drinks differ. Provision is also made to have some snacks with these drinks. Dinner is invariably sourced from a near by restaurant. For fun thing the ever howling Music Deck with extra size speakers always come handy for these occasions.

For married ones the bottlenecks are different. This has all to do with the wishes and fancies of “better half” in the relationship. Slowly and steadily we are seeing a decline in the community activities for any celebration. This is the sad point in all this Hungama. People are becoming more self-oriented for any celebration. The real charm of togetherness with one’s own community seems to be declining. May be these are signs of changing times. Any way who cares…

May God bless you all readers with abundant joy and fun in the coming year. Have loads of fun and spread happiness all around you. Happy New Year 2007