Finding fun

Ring in the new

P.S. Thangkiew

Some readers may recall an earlier story (Ring out the old), I had penned about the sad demise of an old departmental premises that housed legendary establishments such as Mahari and Sons. With the demolition of these old heritage buildings, old associations and cherished experiences also fade away. Similarly, if one were to extend the argument further, one could claim that a seemingly settled way of life also disappears when impacted upon by technological advancement. Yet, conversely as we welcome the 21st century, we take into the credit side of our existence, significant advancements in our quality of life.

The perils of mainstream

This is the age of mass production. Whether it is mobile phones, clothes, cars and individuals everything is mass produced. Did I just say individuals? I do apologise. To be an individual means to be distinctive. Can we then look and see, as to what is distinctive about us all, who are part of this wide and engulfing current, known variously as the mainstream or the rat race.
Our world today is both exciting and scary: exciting because one has so many career options and scary because not all of them are lucrative. In this era of materialism, where success is defined by our ability to acquire things, our inability to do so may cause us to be labelled as ‘losers’. Since none of us want that tag, it appears imperative that we win or at least stay ahead in the rat race. How much sense that makes becomes clear, from a not so light hearted sticker which reads, ‘You may have won the rat race but you are still a rat’. Of course some of us may even fall into the cat category, since we may have the ability the clear the MBA exam, by the same acronym. However, cat whiskers or not, all of us dance to the sweet jingle of money. That being so, is there anything markedly individualistic about us?

Children Psychology

A child’s brain is just like a blank paper or a blank CD. It will copy the surrounding environment or whatever it observes.

There is a world wide example of Mowgli, from the ‘Jungle Book’ written by Kipling. Mowgli, the hero of the story was a human child but he was brought up by a couple of wolves. He always wandered with the herd of wolves as a part of that and all his friends were the wild animals from the forest. So later this human kid turned into a wolf, not physically, but mentally and psychologically. This happened because his brain absorbed the environment under which he was brought up.

Whenever a child is born, he is unknown to the world. He starts growing slowly; developing his body organs slowly along with the brain and other sensitive organs. After that he starts trying to understand the world and the environment he is living under. This way the rest of the phases of life continue.