No mobiles!

Mark paused. Now reaching his mid-sixties, grey-haired and beginning his sunset years, he was enjoying quality time with his two grandchildren. He had retired and was now enjoying his free time immensely.

                                                              Timothy and William, his two grandchildren, were listening carefully to him. He took a sip of his freshly brewed coffee as he paused.

                                                              "Have a bite of the chocolate cake your Grandma has baked for you." They started to take huge bites of the cake as they demanded,

                                                              "Tell us more, Grandpa, tell us more about what happened to you in those days?" they asked in unison.

                                                              Mark smiled as he relived his past in his storytelling. "We had to walk to school in those days. There were some omnibuses and the like, but not all of us could afford them. Me and my sister used to walk to school every day, both ways."

                                                              "Really? No school buses like for us? Or Dad dropping you in his car?"

                                                              "No. We walked."

                                                              "Just the two of you?"

                                                             "My sister used to go to a different school from mine. Both of us had some friends from our schools. Some four or five of us used to walk together and go."

                                                              "Wasn't it dangerous to walk all the way, Grandpa? What about speeding vehicles and road crossings?"

                                                              "Oh! in those days we had less traffic. The roads were few and we had special crossings for kids. The Policeman used to help us and stop the traffic till we crossed the main road."

                                                              "Wouldn't you feel tired by the time you reached school?" asked Timothy, looking intently at Grandpa.

                                                              Mark smiled as he responded, "No Tim. We used to have a good breakfast and start. Our Mum used to make sure that we have a good breakfast before we set out to school. We also had to carry our lunch in a box."

                                                              "What? No canteen at school offering fresh and hot meals for lunch?" piped in William.

                                                              "No Willy. We had to carefully take what Mum had packed for our lunch. But it was great fun sharing our lunch with friends. Occasionally, even our teacher also would join in. It was great fun. We all ate a little bit of all the different lunches our mums had sent."

                                                              "Really! That must have been good. What do you think, Timmy?" William asked.

                                                              Looking thoughtful, Timothy asked, "I heard from Gram the other day that there were many poor and homeless people in those days. Where any of your friends from poor families, who could not afford to bring their lunch? What about them? Would they feel left out?"

                                                             "Ah! This is what I wanted to tell you both boys! Listen to me now. We did have a few boys who were from poor families. Most of the time they could not get their lunch. In fact, they would come to school famished because sometimes they had no food at home for anyone."

                                                              "How dreadful? How could they walk to school and sit for classes with empty stomachs?"

                                                              "Let me tell you what we did with Richie and Paul. They were twins from a poor family and would always ask us for some food as soon as we meet in the morning. Even before the School Assembly. Both they and some of us would come to school a little earlier."

                                                              "So, what would you do?" asked Timothy eagerly.

                                                              "This is how we managed. My friends and I used to ask our mums to pack a little food extra and give us. We used to give that food to Paul and Richie. Even at lunchtime, we used to share our food with them."

                                                              "Then you guys would have less food to eat for your lunch. Wouldn't you also feel hungry then?" asked William.

                                                              "Somehow, boys, our food, as we shared and ate with these fellows, sufficed for all of us. We all used to feel satisfied and happy to share."

                                                              "Was it a miracle? We heard about how a young boy shared his lunch and the Lord Jesus blessed and fed some 5000 people with it?"

                                                              Grinning widely, Mark replied, "That' s a good way to connect, Timmy. Actually, it was not a big miracle like that. One thing was that we used to pray and ask God to bless our food before we shared and ate it with all these fellows. So, it was enough for all of us."

                                                              "That sounds wonderful Grandpa! Small miracles daily? I am sure you all must have become good friends later in life too?"

                                                              Mark paused again as he recalled them. "Yes, boys. Richie worked hard and became a Pastor. he is with a church down South. Paul has gone as a missionary and is serving the Lord in Africa. They are in Botswana, serving the Lord. God has blessed them abundantly. We still are in contact through email and WhatsApp."

                                                              "Grandpa, Grandpa, what a great childhood you had? Our school days seem bland in contrast?"

                                                              "Things are different now surely boys but remember to have the Word of God in the center of your life, then God will give you good memories to treasure too. One day you will be sharing your own memories with your grandchildren," said Mark with a twinkle in his eyes, as he drained his coffee cup and gazed lovingly at them. Both looked at him with dreams in their eyes.

"But Grandpa," said Timothy as he remembered something, "Is it true that in those days you had no mobiles, no internet and no Google?  No nothing? What about Candy crush and the other computer games? How did you all manage as kids in those days? Please tell us."

                                                     "This calls for some more cake and coffee," said Mark as he sent the boys to the kitchen with the empty plate and his coffee cup. They came back in a few minutes with reinforcements.

                                                     The lovely smells of coffee and freshly baked cake competed with each other as they wafted up to the noses of the grandfather and the kids. They sighed contently. Mark picked up his cup and started sipping while the boys each took a large slice and started eating. Silence reigned for some time. The only sound was that of the sipping and the munching.

                                                     Fortified by the coffee, Mark started speaking.

                                                     "In those days, when I was the age you are in now, we didn't have smartphones. Neither did we have games as you call them now. But we had a lot of fun. We went out and played in the streets and on playgrounds with our friends. Yes, we used to go and play physically. We used to get dirty too and get scolded by our mums!"

                                                     "But how would you do your homework without Google or the Internet to help you?"

                                                     " We used to listen carefully in the classroom. Then if we had a doubt we used to go to the library. We had a small one at home and a larger one at school. A much larger and better one was in the Town Hall. In fact, that was my favorite haunt when I was in school. Oh! what a pleasure it was to go to the library and sit for hours together!"

                                                     "Yah! I heard about something called an Encyclopedia. What was it, Grandpa?"

                                                     "Oh! That was our Google then. There were some 27 to 30 volumes, each one huge and having thousands of pages. They had all information then available put forth in a systematic fashion. Alphabetically. We just had to select the right volume and browse through it. It took some effort from us but was very rewarding. I remember stopping by and reading other pages as we were searching for an entry. That was my favorite distraction!"

                                                     "But Grandpa, how would you play? No Game boxes and Play stations?"

                                                     "Oh, we used to have fun playing live games outdoors. We would play baseball, football, and cricket. And other folk games like hopscotch, hide and seek, and what not. They were so exhausting. Our Mum used to send us straight for a bath after we came home. But we enjoyed every bit of playing with friends. All our games were live."

                                                     "What would you do if it snowed or rained outdoors Grandpa?"

                                                     "Good question, Willy. Then we had a store on inboard games: Carroms, Snakes and ladders, Monopoly, Ludo, Scrabble, Chess and so on. My favorite was snakes and ladders. We used to go up and down many times before reaching the goal. Even Monopoly was very engaging. We used to play Scrabble sometimes with grownups too! Those were the days, indeed."

                                                     Mark went off into a reverie, reliving his past as a child in his grandfather's home. The boys William and Timothy sat in awe as they considered how their grandpa’s childhood was.

                                                     "I didn't know you all had such an active and fun time when you were kids Grandpa. I always thought that life without the internet and smartphones or Tabs would have been boring and monotonous! Looks like your lifestyle was even better than ours now!"

                                                     "It was Timmy, it was, indeed. We didn't even know about smartphones and the like then. And books, I forgot. My favorite pastime was to read books. I used to read all sorts of fiction and science fiction was my favorite genre. I was a regular in the Town Hall Library. Every time I used to borrow books and return them. The Librarian was fond of me and used to let me borrow new books even before cataloging them. Of course, I was faithful in returning them."

                                                     As the two little boys listened to him and thought through, values were being passed as a legacy through the generations.