Growing Up...

The villain was being bashed up left, right and centre by the hero. Rajinikant, or Superstar, as he is affectionately called by his fans, was having a field day. The movie was rather a damp squib (I can imagine some fans' blood pressure climbing if they come across such a statement!), but not for us back then. We were enjoying the movie, and my cousin was literally jumping up and down in the small space between the rows of seats in the theatre. The theatre itself was not remarkable, but the experience for us was. The reason: we were a bunch of middle school kids (my jumping-jack cousin was a primary school kid) out for a day having fun.

Cut to the present: most of us would not recall this incident, and none of us would go to the same theatre, and certainly not to a similar movie. We are now grownups, and so have become more mature, sophisticated, and even complicated. The theatre probably has grown up too, I guess, by adding better sound equipment and cooling systems.

I recalled these thoughts when I had visited my home last month. The locality too had grown up in a way, if you would call increased traffic, congestion, more buildings, eat outs, stores and people, as an improvement. Similar to us, the area was more mature, sophisticated and complicated. In short, the city grew with us.

My school started as a single two floor block housing sections of students at each grade (I was then in the first). We had a lot of playground space and fun. Eventually, the school too grew along with us, adding a few more blocks, an auditorium, and some cricket and volleyball infrastructure. By the time I graduated from the school, it had changed beyond recognition. Today, 'beyond recognition' seems to be an understatement, since I myself could not recognize the place, after having spent some 12 years of my life in there! So many kids, faculty, and buildings, so complicated.

My country's economy is posting an impressive 9% growth rate every year. When I was young, that number would barely wheeze past the 3% mark (not to mention that our school economics books would tout that as a really impressive and ideal growth rate!). Over the years, as I grew up, the country too grew, slowly and steadily. Today, the (relatively) grown up country has more of everything, but has also become incredibly complicated and sophisticated.

The reader must be wondering why I am trying to draw some parallels here. Let me confess that though I am drawing parallels between the growth of my city, school, country and myself, there is no deep reasoning behind it. It is just an observation that along with myself, so many aspects of my life have changed as though they were all marching in tandem. Doubtless many will have observed the same things, so I will not be so conceited in claiming that these growth stories coincided only with mine.

A few minutes well spent in fleshing out these thoughts!

Grownups

They say, the older we grow, the wiser we become. There are innumerable equivalent sayings for this statement in all languages and all regions. One conjures up mental visions of a distinguished looking person with white hair, each of which denotes infinite wisdom, upon reading this statement.

Do we really become wise as we become older? Upon pondering this question, I conclude it is not necessarily true. Of course, one might ask what exactly 'wise' means here. Answering that simple question requires a lot of wisdom. Do I have it? I do not know. Do you have it? Since you are a reader of this blog, I have to conclude that you do. Now, is that a 'wise' conclusion? Not necessarily. I conclude that the reader is wise, so as to not cause offense. But a wise person may not base a conclusion on such considerations.

Let us put this poser to a young person who is, say, all of five years. Would this person's conclusion be the same? Not at all. Since this person is young, (s)he would not understand the niceties and protocols we as adults follow. So, this person's conclusion would be more direct and simple, and may return a verdict of 'not wise'. When we are young, the world is black and white, without any shades of grey. One either likes something or does not. There is no 'Oh I should not offend this person, so I will pretend to like it, and later express my true feelings out of earshot'.

There are innumerable examples to support this. When I was young, I was playing cricket with a few of my (grown up) relatives. We had a good game going, but there was a point when I called one of the players (my grandmother's brother, actually, a really nice gentleman) a 'cheat' in front of everybody. I did so because he had been bowled out, but did not give up his bat. To me, that was cheating, and hence the verbal outburst. There is no way I would do that now, since I am an adult, and we adults do not call a spade, a spade. But, as an adult, would that be a 'wise' choice? No, because it is cheating, and yes, because the person is so senior that respect comes first.

It is not possible to be truthful always. Remember Jim Carrey in "Liar Liar". For those who are not familiar with this film, Jim Carrey is a lawyer who lies his way through life, till one day his son wishes that he speak the truth for one whole day. The travails of the truthful lawyer is captured nicely. This film highlights why we use euphemisms and politeness to mask our true feelings.

That said, I myself cannot help but follow politeness in life. Calling someone a 'cheat' would land me in trouble, even if I were right.

And kids always wish to be grownups!

Enterprising Tata...Or Pax Indica?

A simple act like purchasing some tea bags can trigger emotions within oneself. Hard to believe? See the bottom of this photo...


In 1600, Britain laid the foundation for Pax Britannica and the Raj with the East India Company, an economic enterprise. Are we now reversing 347 years of colonial conquest of India by Britain? Looks like it, does it not? Tata Tea bought British tea giant Tetley in 2005. This was followed by the acquisition of Anglo-Dutch Corus Steel by another Tata group giant, Tata Steel. Tata seems to be on a roll, especially with British enterprises. I certainly felt gratified to see the words "A Tata Enterprise" on this pack. What next? Will the phrase be associated with two other icons of British industry, namely Jaguar and Rover? Only time will tell. Pax Indica, anyone?