NO KIDDING

There are certain things that are powerful enough to thwart me in a second. In a moment I feel like leaving that place at once. One such thing is encounter with precocious children. Well, I have always loved kids and I love them when they share their little sweet secrets like how they managed to open the packet of chips noiselessly, how they managed to sharpen a pencil without a break in its point, how they managed to remove the blade of the sharpener or how they shared their tiffin with that stray puppy etc but I do hate it like everyone else does when kids show an irritating maturity and start teaching the elders or start speaking on topics they are otherwise not supposed to think about, let alone discuss. I do get irritated when they crack adult jokes but that’s just a momentarily reaction of mine, somewhere deep in my heart I get worried and tensed about where our kids are going? Needless to repeat, kids are the mirrors of society, so in short what is our society teaching the kids?

Parents take pride when their children are seen exhibiting such a behavior. Mothers delight when their little girls win local dance competitions by dancing ‘ditto’ as Bipasha of Omkara or Kareena of ‘bebo main bebo’. Parents encourage their kids to take part in all the reality shows originally designed for adults. Recently I saw a humor show on a leading TV channel where kids were seen cracking frivolous jokes with adult overtones. These kids might not know the exact tenor of the act but parents certainly do. I agree that our education system is faulty and cumbersome, it’s a very Herculean task for any child to carve out a successful career but that does not mean turning to reality shows for an easy way out to world of money and fame, even if a short-lived one.

Do notice that most of the time little girls are dressed up in the miniature version of clothes that we see in films. Glittery and short dresses, often with fashionable cuts and high heeled stilettos are the most common. Ask any child to sing a song; high chances he/she will start off with some funky bollywood number that can befuddle or stun you. Often you’ll regret for that request of yours.

I happened to read an interview of a leading child actor. He was anything but a kid. This little boy has a girlfriend, goes to clubs and loves his personal ‘space’. I was simply dazed. Even after accounting for the advancement in technological awareness in the modern society, this seems a bit too much to accept. When I and most of us were of this age, we did not even know half of the things going around. Studies, games, DD and food made up our world. It was much later we came to know about relationships and all that. Take any ad review, like those coming in Brand Equity or Mint. Most of the ad people tag certain ads as video garbage because the kids can be seen what the adults are supposed to say or do.

Sometime back I remember meeting some family friends. We were all chatting and the kids were playing, when the little girl (she was of 4-5 yrs then) spotted her kid brother playing with a dupatta and started laughing out loud, screaming from one corner of the room “oye, tu apna sex change operation karale aur ‘poora’ ladki banja” (u get a sex change operation done and u’ll be a full woman, emphasis on poora or ‘full blown’) and after that for the whole day all the kids were seen repeating this joke in all the possible forms. Surprisingly this did not embarrass their parents, who were giggling all day at the audacity of their children.

Unlimited unchecked access to TV and internet, and lack of the necessary amount of parental time is definitely making kids grow up fast.

Yes, innocence is lost.