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. 

(Image: www.illustrationsof.com)

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. 

(Image: www.shutterstock.com/video)