Childhood: Lost and Found

01 October 2020

Mumbai, the city of fulfilling the dreams was never a quiet place. The busy roads, honking of vehicles, people rushing towards railway stations to catch the local trains, people going to work, everyone wants to work at faster pace. The 21^st century is all about accomplishing more and more. With hustle- bustle all around, one can estimate how time flies in the “City of Work”. One can yearn for stillness but the time flies. No second is same as previous one; repercussion of being surrounded by workaholics all around.

With sea facing house, Oberois live near the sea which is adorned by the huge expanses of saline water on one side and city chaos on the other. Oh! The balcony door of Oberois is open, so let’s enter their world via this. With the cool breeze, the white linen flows and we get the glimpse of the house.

The house is filled with lots of commotion, which is a common sight when there is presence of young kids who are in their early years. “Hurry up Neil, you are running late. Finish the glass milk. The school bus will be arriving anytime soon”, said a lady in her thirties. The boy is playing with his Play Station. The lady with long silky hair is none other than the mother of this twelve years old boy Neil, Mrs. Smita Oberoi who is making things ready for her school going kids. While Mrs. Oberoi is busy with Neil, her nine years old daughter, Rayma is playing a game on the tab. Rayma’s entire concentration is on the baby doll game which she is playing instead of getting ready. Her uninterrupted concentration breaks with her mother’s voice when she calls out her name. “Rayma, can you hear me? It is already 7:45 and bus would be coming at 55. Come out of your room and have your breakfast”, Mrs. Oberoi calls her out again.

Neil and Rayma are both kids of one of the popular and established businessmen in the city, Mr. Kartik Oberoi. He owns working offices in various cities and towns all over India, establishing a chain of food outlets. Mr. Kartik is not only wise but also quite practical. Despite being at such position, he’s grounded and humble. His wife Mrs. Smita Oberoi is a knowledgeable lady too who always does things for the betterment of the family. She is a famous blog writer under the name of ‘Captain of Oberois’. Both husband and wife are modest and kind hearted. Working for the betterment of the society is something that comes foremost for them. The children go to the most prestigious school of entire Mumbai- Lotus Valley Public School. Initially both were the toppers of their respective classes. From Pre-reading the lesson to be done to seriously prepare for tests made them the shining stars in the school. With time, they got familiar with the technology which was previously used by them for research and study related material. As a result, both got addicted to these electronic gadgets- Television, Laptop, Computer, Tablet, Mobile Phone, Play Station etc. The kids who were mostly found playing in the park and the beaches were now glued to their sofas and beds. The young blood in them which could be utilized for productive works was being wasted and they became no less than couch potatoes. This craze not only affected their academic performance but also changed their lifestyle. The changes that happened were not at all good signs.

Finally, after Mrs. Oberoi’s repetitive calls and the fast ticking of clock made them ready for the school. While Neil is tying his shoe laces, he calls for Seema, the domestic help of their house “Seema aunty… we are running late for the school. Give us our tiffin boxes quickly. Look, the bus has arrived at its stop. Fast… Faster… Fastest please!!!!” After 8 AM, the chaos which was created is nowhere to be seen. Mr. and Mrs. Oberoi sit on their imported Aqua designed arm chair while sipping their coffee. The coolness from sea enters the house and creates a pristine atmosphere amidst four walls. Both have their seating, facing towards the sea, in order to nullify the commotion with the peace and serenity. Breaking the silence, Mr. Oberoi starts the conversation, “I have noticed from past few weeks, both Neil and Rayma tend to spend a lot more time with these electronic gadgets rather than playing out or doing something productive. Rayma asked me to buy her new tennis racquets for them to play, but she doesn’t play with it. Not only this, I even tried to have a talk about this with both kids. Alas! Everything in vain. They didn’t even pay heed to what I was saying.” Kartik Oberoi seems quite disappointed. Listening to her husband, Smita Oberoi couldn’t stop herself to talk more about this situation, “Exactly, this sudden and drastic change is all because of these gadgets. Kids are now so lazy and procrastinate every single task that I assign. Last week, even their respective class teachers too addressed this issue. To my surprise, this scene is not only at our place but at most of their friends’ homes as well. Even their parents are fed up. I really wish everything gets back to normal soon as this pandemic time has also made them glued to their screens. If we start discussing on this topic, then you won’t be able to reach your office on time.” Both Mr. and Mrs. Oberoi share a grin and continue enjoying their morning coffee, facing the morning sunny yet hopeful rays.

The behavior of the kids remained same, nothing changed. The thing that only changed is their addiction, which increased with each passing day. Every step taken by parents could not bring out any great difference. Now, Kartik and Smita Oberoi wish for something magical to happen which could change the kids for good. 

15 October 2020

After returning from their offline coaching classes around 12 PM, Neil and Rayma just head towards AC and switch it on. Both seem quite worn out. Smita Oberoi rapidly serves them fresh lemonade prepared by her and asks them about the day. They both tell that during their studying hour after 10 AM, power cut was there in the coaching institute. Due to which, ACs were switched off and all classes had only fans working. Hearing this, their mother responds, “It’s not only your institute but the entire Mumbai and some districts of even Thane are facing this massive power cut. Even in our house there is no electricity, some of the appliances are working on inverter. Sadly, this inverter would last for couple of more hours. Most of the generators and inverters have been used to provide electricity to the emergency wards in hospitals and COVID treatment hospitals.” Hearing to their mother’s statements both remain stunned. They did not know how to react because most of their gadgets would work on electricity and without charging, they couldn’t last for long time. After having lunch and viewing TV, they both went to take nap with AC on.

After half an hour, the cool air coming from AC stops. The temperature of the room fluctuates. As a result, both kids wake up with annoyance. The irritation is quite evident in their voices as they call for their mother. As soon as Smita rushes to their room, Neil starts complaining, “Mom, what’s this? Why have you turned off the AC? Now, the room is so hot. Please tell why did you do this?” Their mother explains them that she has not turned off the air conditioner, in fact even inverter’s battery finished. “Now, we cannot do anything except waiting for the light to come. Emergency wards would be functioning on inverters and generators, even the State Government has issued an order in this regard”, explains Smita. “WHAT!!!! Like seriously what?” roar both the kids in chorus. “If that was the case, I should have kept my gadgets on charging. My tab and phone are dead”, says Rayma in low volume. Even Neil feels helpless as now he could not watch television or play on computer.

Both brother and sister are super annoyed, eagerly waiting for the power to come back at the earliest. Trying different paper-pen games to pass their time, but in vain. Both even go to kitchen to help their mother, but rising temperature due to gas stove makes the heat unbearable. Not only this, Rayma and Neil are so upset with this situation that they run towards the idol of God placed in their house. They pray to God to give them freedom from this problem, by joining hands.

Around evening, Smita takes them to the park so that they can refresh themselves and could feel cool breeze and greenery. As soon as they enter the park, they run towards the swings. After such a long time, they came to the park and played there. An hour spent there was the happiest hour for the kids in the entire day. While returning, Rayma and Neil insist their mom to pay a visit to Aman and Jaya, the children of Seema, their house maid. “Mom, can we go and meet Aman and Jaya? It is quite long that we have not met them. I want to know how they are doing. Moreover, what would they be doing during this power cut! Please say yes. Please….”, requests Neil. Hearing them, Smita smiles and agrees to take them to Seema’s house which was nearby. As they are about to approach the house, they see Aman and Jaya playing some game while running around. Laughter of these children echoed in the area, making it more lively. Seeing Neil and Rayma both run towards them and greets Smita.

Aman and Jaya are kids of same age as of Neil and Rayma respectively. Their mother works as domestic help in houses of Mumbai, while father is an auto driver. Both are bright kids but aren’t much fortunate to go to top notch school, but go to government run school of that area. The house in which they live in is not a very big area. The clothes covering their body are some regular clothes brought from cheap weekly market. Gifts, tasty dishes, new toys are things which they only get to see on some special occasions or festivals. Life is not bed of roses for them but it does not snatch away their smiles. They still wear those beautiful curves on their faces in challenging times too. Complaining and nagging about things is something that they have not learnt, what they have learnt is to appreciate what they have. They are satisfied in what they have and thanking God for giving things which many don’t have.

While the children are having conversation, Smita goes inside their house to meet Seema. Both Neil and Rayma ask out of curiosity that what they were playing and how are they managing the things in this power cut. Hearing their question, both Jaya and Aman smile and explain about their game. “In our locality, power cuts are very common but we don’t stress about it because we still play and at the same time help mother with her household chores. We spent most of the time outside in the park playing so power cuts don’t hamper us much. Yes, sometimes these cuts act as obstacle when we need light to complete our home assignments. To prevent such situation, we complete our home work during day time in natural sunlight and even prepare for next chapter”, explains Jaya. Listening to them, both Neil and Rayma get impressed and realize that being deprived of resources could not take away the zeal they have to study and gain knowledge.

On their way back home, Rayma and Neil tell their mother what they got to know from Jaya and Aman. Not only this, they even realized that every thing has a value attached to it which needs to understood. Neil adds on, “We were so wrong about approach towards life. We have much resources but we never valued them and took them for granted. We used to be very serious about our studies initially but with time, this addiction of games and gadgets deviated us from our correct path. What we only used to do was to complain and crib. So wrong were we…” Rayma could not help her saying that, “Mom, we promise you that we would not be glued to these gadgets all day. We will assign a time slot where we will use them for leisure. Moreover, we would go to park and even beach to play outdoor games. No to being couch potatoes!” Hearing such knowledgeable words from her children, Smita smiles and explains them the art of time management. On her way back home, Smita Oberoi decides to write about this day in her upcoming blogs to help other parents who are stressed with children using gadgets all day.

PS- On 15 October 2020, Mumbai and several parts nearby it faced a massive power cut which ultimately led to power outrage. The electricity returned after 10-12 hours in some areas. Some agencies report the reason for this power cut was due to some foreign trojan or malware interruption in the automated power supply to Mumbai.