Dear kids, now I understand you better...

It’s been a few days since I planned to write to you, kids. Yes, my kids, your kids, and all kids. The only qualification that I possess to write this article is that I've two kids of my own and I live most of my time in the world of kids; yes, in a school.

I don’t know if I made a mistake by calling the school, the world of kids. But I am sure that kids are kids because they make their world wherever they get together.

Don’t you worry kids. This time ‘Kolavery’ is not towards you. I really took some time to think of you and tried to put my feet in your shoes. I failed. I am able to observe all of you, understand you a little bit, but surely I don’t want to be a kid like you.

A baby is a bundle of joy sent from Heaven above. So many visitors and so many gifts arrive in no time. So many people to care and so much of attention make a Baby World at homes. Everyone awaits impatiently the first look, the first smile, the first tooth, the first word, the first step, first Birthday, etc. Slowly, come the books filled with pictures, stories, songs and what not. Loving parents are already on the lookout for the most important ‘Seat’ for their kid; a seat in LKG.

The hunt for the best school starts. Though they are admitted in LKG, the XII results are consulted to assess the standard of the school. Again, the standard of the school comes from hard working students who study, mug-up and repeatedly prepare and write tests and bring laurels to their school.

Prior to LKG, is the dearest and costliest Play School (Pre-school). To get an admission in a good Play School, the child has to be smart. Smart parents make them learn English and GK and sometimes before reaching the portals of a Play School, they appear in the newspaper for their memory skills, known as ‘Child Prodigy’. Some kids are not allowed to spend time even with their grand-parents lest they learn their mother tongue and age-old stories. A huge shopping is done to get the best CDs of nursery rhymes and fairy tales. The kid is made to repeat everything like a parrot and asked to perform before any visitor (to get over stage fear!).

In addition to English and GK, there is an intensive potty training too. The best I liked about the potty training was a cassette which says, “Don’t tell your kid that it is shit, tell him that it is gold fish”!

The well trained kid enters the LKG after a year at Play School. You are really lucky if your kid has never cried to go to the LKG class. We can watch the slow degradation of health and spirit in a kid after joining the school. Though LKG and UKG stand for Lower and Upper Kindergarten (Children’s garden) most of the KGs are filled with thorny bushes and stony grounds which make the child suffer. With a heavy load of home work, the task of reading and writing A to Z, and 1 to 100 (in digits and in letters) is achieved in no time.

Clustered inside classrooms without being given enough of physical activities, many of them become gossip mongers and bullies. They discuss anything under the sun and bully others and get bullied by others. Those who do not belong to the category of kids who ‘love to learn’, their ‘Road to the Calvary’ starts there. It is not easy to deal with the pressure of learning and getting disciplined at that tender age.

Reaching home is no good news either. Some of them are sent to a tutor to do their homework. Exam time is hectic as they must revise the whole term portion and write it several times at home, before they perform it in the class.

In the journey towards dispelling ignorance, in most of the cases, what is lost is innocence. They look pale, tired and unhappy. They grow up through various standards year after year without knowing even the fundamental things they ought to know. They reach X STD with the blessing of ‘All Promotion’ rule of the Govt and sit in the class like scapegoats.

The intensive training starts for the X Board Exam. As they are taught only to follow rules and to obey orders, they wait for someone to announce a test or to make them do a work. They act like robots, which are operated and controlled by the elders. They go for morning and evening tuitions, spend 8 to 10 hours at school, and prepare for the daily cycle tests at nights. Those who distract themselves with TV and internet are caught and redirected to proper channel.

They take a break from stress in the XI STD as they are all big and smart enough to control their parents and to deal with the teachers who try to make them work. By the time they reach XII the scenario changes, fear grips them as they feel responsible for their life-changing Board Exam. The additional courses to train them for the entrance exams of various professional courses are also added to the daily routine. Grey hair, dry skin and headaches become common among these adolescents. Some would’ve become clients of counsellors or patients of psychiatrists.

Then comes the college, which many kids feel that it is worse than schools. Each college wants to create name and fame for discipline and results. But by this time the kid would’ve learnt all the loop holes to escape stress and find a way to their own happiness and enjoyment. Many times these kids choose dangerous risky paths and they don’t have anyone to help them out in crises. The most unfortunate ones break their wings, fall down and die. A few tears, a few prayers, soon they are out of many hearts that they thought they lived in. Most of the kids are victims of the pollution of this world and products of the systems that society has created.

I don’t write this article to blame anyone for anything. I just want to say here that no matter what you have become, there is still a responsibility in each one of you to do your best in each situation. Instead of blaming anyone, pick up the little goodness that you possess and develop it and acknowledge and appreciate the goodness in others. It is still possible to remove negativities of all kinds and bring back the joy of childhood. Kids, you can’t wait to be happy till the world changes for the better. Instead, if you learn to remain positive and happy, you can think of a possible way to improve the systems of society for the future generations. 

I wish the adults, especially the family members and teachers, are not too judgemental towards the kids and would help them out in their crises with love and empathy.

Keep smiling!