Relive Childhood

Archana, a lively young mother always looked forward to celebrations at her home. She would decorate it as per the occasion and invite guests. It was her son, Ayushman's fourth birthday, and she invited all his friends. The little ones looked very cute in their colorful attire and their birthday caps. Their excitement, babble, and restlessness resembled a flock of small birds chirping all around. Their innocence and happiness are a treat to the eyes.

Then came the time to blow the candle and cut the cake. Once it was done, Archana and her husband fed a small piece of the cake to their son. His friends followed suit and each one thrust a piece of the cake into his tiny mouth. In his ecstasy, he couldn't deny anyone. After a few minutes, he threw up all over his new dress. The ones standing close to Ayushman cupped their hands under his chin and collected whatever he was vomiting. Another rubbed his back. A third gently patted on his head and another cleared the matter from his shirt. They instinctively did all this before Archana appeared on the scene. I was spellbound to watch those four to five-year-old kids, without any contempt towards a filthy vomit, instead of drawing away from the child they were all helping him in their own little ways. The point of discussion here is, "Can we expect this from elders?"

Children are not only innocent and curious but also optimistic and joyful and essentially happy. They are in short everything adults wish them could be. Childhood is a benign, pure unblemished stage of our lives. Most of us are empathetic, helpful, and oblivious of deception. It is often observed that when competitions are conducted in schools children applaud and appreciate prize-winning candidates. They do not exhibit jealousy that others have been rewarded. We even watch TV reality shows, when a little one is dejected due to elimination all the other participants encircle around him and share his state of mind. Our eyes automatically get moistened to see the little ones hug the eliminated participant, console him, and motivate him to perform better the next time.

The naive nature of children is conspicuously visible in the fact that kids know no discrimination. Gender, caste, color, status, educational qualifications are no barriers to their oneness. It is said, God resides in children, is that the reason for their naivety? The metamorphosis from childhood to adulthood is common for all species. In humans, this physical transformation gives rise to behavioral changes too. We often leave behind our endearing childhood qualities. Advertently or inadvertently certain unwanted character traits creep into us. Often what's shocking is instead of attaining maturity as age progresses we lose our sense of judgment. Our attitude, communication, thinking, and most important our behavior take a complete somersault. Most of the adults become competitive, which is good no doubt. But the healthy competitive spirit takes a backstage and the "I" takes a priority. As a result, jealousy sets in. We cannot accept another's success and ego grips us. Negativity is high and we don't mind hurting others by way of talk. Our levels of understanding drop down considerably and we give way to unnecessary bickerings. The adjustment and accommodation mentality is wiped out and we do not mind winning even by arguments. When it comes to a tiny matter like wishing another we wait for the others to wish us first and then only we reciprocate. Those who reach the topmost rung of the ladder of status are the ones who are most difficult to handle because they often forget the roots from where they arose.

We, elders, quarrel about caste, color, race, region, religion and create a rift between ourselves. For once we do not look back that when we were young and especially in school we shared all our things with each other particularly our tiffin and stationery unmindful of the background we came from. Instead of becoming role models for our children, we confuse them with our weird behavior. One of the many laudable characteristics of kids is that they are transparent. Nothing is hidden amidst themselves. Whereas as soon as we grow up we keep everything confidential and a few even develop ulterior motives. Some of us enjoy backbiting and gossip. We even derive pleasure in degrading and trampling another. Satisfaction in trivial matters, happiness for every little thing is often only a child's cup of tea.

Children mingle quite quickly and easily with people around them. Perhaps that is the reason kids gain popularity in the localities they reside in. Whereas adults who cannot earn respect demand and command it. Why do we change so much? What harm if we retain our innocence, our unbiased nature? Or have we entangled ourselves in the mire of adulthood that we ourselves have created to an extent that we cannot emerge out of it? It is not always mandatory to teach children, we can also learn from them. Let us work on things people cannot take away from us --- like our mindset, our character personality, transparency our entire being. Let us readjust refocus, reset and restart as many times as we need to. Let us recollect our good innocent childhood qualities and make them a way of our lives. We attract people by the behavior we display. We keep them by the qualities we possess. We lose them by the attitude we show. Childhood is a golden period

of our life, that we can never get back to. It is the best of all the seasons of life and the longer it lasts with happy memories, the stronger the emotional stability in adulthood. Childhood days are the most cherished days of our lives, where we enjoy little pleasures. Experiences in childhood must help us to shape our future. Let us mature with our age and relive our childhood.