Bored Games...

Bored Games...

The summer vacations are round the corner. There I go, reminiscing again!

The standard celebration after the last exam was to rent a bicycle for 2 hours and cycle all over the place like a madman. 

Holidays meant playing Cricket every morning and evening. The afternoons were spent playing carrom, cards, monopoly, book cricket or just yapping with friends while sitting on the stairs or on the terrace. 

We became members of libraries to borrow books and comics. Books played cupid when boys used that as an excuse to chat up with the girls next door. 

Our parents used to take us along to visit some relatives. In those days, we really had no choice. The ‘pehchaan kaun’ aunty would quiz me with the “Do you know who I am?” and would just not take no for an answer.  It was always a difficult question to answer, especially with a mouthful of Mysore Pak.

Then there was this Uncle who would give me this big hug and ask me my marks. He would then proceed to ask me my ambitions. I was 12 and the only ambition I had at that time was to somehow escape his hug and questions.

Sometimes I used to sneak down and try and make friends with kids in that building. One kid and I got talking about Cricket as usual and he asked me what my highest score was. So I said “42”, recollecting my monumental innings in last week’s underarm game. He gave me that condescending look and said “My highest score is 218 not out, what are your best bowling figures?” I smartened up and said “You tell me first”!

Without TV and the internet, we did get bored. I used to sit by the window or in the balcony and do nothing for hours. I am still good at it. The only problem my parents had with me doing nothing was that my mouth would be open and they used to remind me to shut it. Sometimes I used to complain to my Mom “Amma, bore addikaradu...”  The literal translation is “Bore is hitting me”. She used to look up from the Dosa batter that she was grinding and advise me gently “Ni bora addi”! This means “You hit bore back”!

Times have changed. Summer vacation now means putting our kids in all sorts of classes and making programmes so that they are not bored. Parents want their kids to be some all conquering ,Piano playing, bollywood dancing, Tennis and Taekwondo champ.

 Kids are exposed to various activities because the facilities are available and the parents can probably afford it nowadays. Most kids also drop out of some of these activities because of boredom or lack of interest. We, as parents, also believe in not forcing them to do anything that they don’t like. We don’t even force them to come along to places or activities that they are not interested in. Maybe it’s a scar from the past and we don’t want our kids to endure what we had to when we were kids.

We want the best for our kids and we are doing everything to keep them happy.

In today’s age, other than the activities and classes that we arrange, they have hordes of entertainment on their finger tips, with TV, internet, video games and electronic gadgets.

But I wonder if that’s a good thing? If the children are constantly engaged in stuff that they like to do and get everything instantly, what happens when they are forced to do something they don’t like or something boring later in life? What happens if they are stuck in a job they don’t like or a profile that is boring and they don’t have any choice? What if they don’t get what they want instantly? Can they cope?

Will they have the virtue of patience, the tenacity to grind it out while doing something they don’t like? Will they have the doggedness to overcome boredom with a smile?

I feel that our parents, inadvertently, helped in building our character. 

Boredom, in my opinion, builds your personality.  Sitting and doing nothing for some time helps increase creativity.  Spending time alone is also great for introspection.

As a wise man once said “Spend some time alone, If you cannot enjoy your own company, how can you impose it on others?!”