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Sunday, November 9, 2014

Bits & Pieces 3


Great Expectations

The seven years old child of an acquaintance bears the brunt of his over-ambitious mother’s unending aspirations. He already attends three or four classes including swimming, music, self-defense and craft apart from school and tuitions. The lady proudly flaunts his abilities in front of every other guest esp. relatives and often forces him to sing-that-song or show-that-stroke, making a museum of sorts out of the weary child. Moreover, she chides him when he isn’t in the top three or four in academics. I think this is a bit too much. Also, the most important thing she has failed to notice (unlike all others) is that, her child never smiles and always keeps a poker-face. To me, he seems more like a tired, confused and sleep-deprived scientist, lost in his own thoughts and equations. To make the matters worse, she is not on very amiable terms with her ever-busy husband. Hence, the entire time and energy is unfortunately directed towards her only child, along with the load of her great expectations. 

Sanitary Shift

I have been noticing a trend of late. Remember those sanitary napkin ads where burly mothers would come and murmur to the audience how this or that brand saved them from embarrassment. Now, for last five years or so, preteen and teen girls have replaced those middle aged aunties. The protagonist is always a perky school or college going girl who uses the brand, mostly because she likes it and goes for that movie date wearing stark white trousers, smiling cheerfully with her boyfriend. Moreover, these ads have become very graphic too with capacity displayed by literally pouring the blue liquids into the product. Although this accentuates a research that girls are hitting the puberty fast but sometimes I think that some of these ads could have been a bit more subtle and classy. Too much showing of sanitary products (and their details) gives a yucky feeling, especially if you happen to watch them during meals and/or with elders.  


Blame Game

Someone told me about an incident that happened in her neighborhood. A young mother was indecently handled by the hot-bloodied son of an affluent builder, in the community park. The lady, coming from no less a background complained about this to the boy’s father who, instead, blamed her for inciting his son’s youthful feelings. He accused her of spending all her spare time in the park on the pretext of her toddler and attracting boys by giving them ‘wrong signals’. A verbal spat followed and for a few days, the lady stopped coming to that colony park but the father-son duo remained as shameless as ever. Now, this requires attention. No amount of wealth, class and education are enough to change certain deep rooted perceptions. In our society, if a girl is manhandled, she is looked down upon for titillating the ‘young hearts’ and calling for all the trouble. This attitudinal shift is the most important thing and such teachings come primarily from the family itself. Unfortunately, it seems this shift will take forever to arrive. 


30 comments:

  1. 3 beautiful articles. Parents push the kids and want them to be number 1 ranked student and multi talented. If all parents want their kids to be number 1 who is going to be number 2? If everyone wants to travel in a chauffeur driver car, who is going to be the chauffeur?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi SG

      Thank you! yes, very true and children end up killing their own dreams to fulfill those of their over ambitious parents.

      Delete
  2. The first story , I could really relate to. These days Talent have become the feed to competition and not nurtured to ones passion or choice.
    The third story cleasrly define the word preception, and the second ,embarassment.
    Nice post :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi MM

      such parents drive their kids crazy!

      yes, I agree.

      Delete
  3. first one..sad to say that today most mothers are like that and children are loosing their childhood fun.
    last one.........shift will come only if all women teach and inspire the men, boys in their family to be well mannered and respectful to the women.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Renu

      Yes, every mother wants a know-it-all super genius. Yes, such teachings come from the family basically but where parents will have such a thinking, kids will do nothing different than this.

      Delete
  4. You have raised very valid issues. The third, disgusting behavior of the father and the son. I think the mother should have lodged a police complaint.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ruby

      Thanks a lot! In India, police harassment is one more issue so people avoid approaching cops even when they should

      Delete
  5. That child truly deserves to have the chance to be a child.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The first issue is relevant and parents most of the time seem to ignore the fact that the kid needs to be happy .. its not their happiness but building up a strong personality. ..
    I see this here among parents a lot ..soccer class , karate class swimming class and every class but no happiness still!.. tired and exhausted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Harman

      I agree, happiness of the kid does not matter at all. parents just wish to flaunt their child's talents everywhere these days.

      Delete
  7. I loved each of these articles which are relevant and thought provoking...
    Good one!

    ReplyDelete
  8. yes true , such are the ways of our society I am disturbed reading the last one.. wish things changed ..

    Bikram's

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Bikam

      thanks. Change seems to be too far now.

      Delete
  9. You pointed these out quite well ... what the society needs is basic education and awareness, in all spheres ... only can we have a better understanding of things.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Amrit

      Thanks a lot! yes, education is the key but this change in attitude will take some more time.

      Delete
    2. totally agree abt d sanitary pad part..i had written abt t some tym back..y do they have to show t very graphically with the blue liquid and stuff...everyone knows it,rite..may b they can just show their product cover or smething and leave t like that

      Delete
    3. Hi Nikhil

      yes, it looks so annoying and yucky. Subtle ads, it seems, have become a thing of the past

      Delete
  10. Hi Ankita, how are you? your writing stye has evolved over the years. well done.

    I just came around blogger to check what is happening.

    I am annoyed by the third article of yours. This shows the basic erorrs in our social makeup. Although people have begain to take a stand and speak up. I am optimistic.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi UA

    I am fine, how are you? nice to see you here after many months :)

    yes, that incident made me annoyed too

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ok this "Sanitary Shift" is something I feel strongly about too. I mean why do they even have advertisements for that :@ Let alone what they show in them... I don't understand the purpose of it... And even awareness can't be one of them, we have a lot of that...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Rupasi

      yes, they do not need to show that much. Subtle ads conveying the main attributes of the product and the idea do just fine esp for these products.

      Delete
  13. All the three things you mentioned....The over burdened child....the sanitary ads and the blame game...all very true!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Three completely different incidents and issues. :-)
    1. This is the case with many well-educated urban dwelling parents. They want their kids to excel at everything. Never once considering what the kid really likes or wants. They treat their kid(s) as if they are their prized possessions or trophies.
    2. I never gave much thought about the sanitary pad ads,but always wondered why there is no single good commercial for condoms. None of them explain why it is needed. Who cares about flavors or dots? I will never understand.
    3. This is the result in most of the cases. Blaming victims for everything. No wonder he was that boy's dad. Assholes breed assholes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kanthu

      Thanks a lot for reading! yes, almost every family wants a superman these days and in all this, the feelings of the child are always ignored. Yes, children are exhibited as trophies, well said!
      you are right, such things come from parents only and when the father himself is an asshole, what can we expect out of the son.

      Delete
  15. At least parents should understand their children...I can't imagine a mother doing this to her child. But it's true. I have an aunt who takes pleasure in torturing her own kid. Now the kid is grown up but out of emotion.
    All three are very good and well observed. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Namrata

      unfortunately, most parents understand only their own ambitions ans dreams that they load on their tired children. Such kids usually develop a disliking for their parents and often lose emotional connection with them.

      Thanks a lot :)

      Delete