Grow Up Kiddo...!

I remember, back when I was a kid, my parents, tutored me to respect elders. They almost made me feel like they are from another planet, and they are not accustomed to kiddish customs. Just one small badly timed comment in their vicinity would earn me a few, lets see, unpleasant rewards! I'm pretty sure, most of us have had this drilled into us in one way or the other.

When we were in school, the whole class used to whine in chorus whenever we got homeworks, or bad marks in exams, and then get really judgmental on the teacher. Some teachers we universally hated, and some we just loved. Yet, they were elders, and not our kind. Some thing kept us apart, talk in class, don't do your assignments, or involve yourself in some sort of mischief, and you may very well be on your way to corporal punishment, or even worse, a date with the principal - the supremo of their kind.

Now I am in college, and I can say with confidence, we are still kids here! Just today, we were supposed to get the results of a recent test, and turned out the teacher was not generous with the scores. The hallway was rife with dejection, resentment, and huddles discussing the unwelcome attributes of the teacher involved. Another teacher who gave pleasing scores was drawn up for a comparison, and things fell short of forming a fan club for one and a hate club for the other. Still, we were kids there, mischief could get us in to trouble. Though corporal punishment can be ruled out safely, the 'D'ate with the principal again, gets scarier than school days. They were definitely not our kind.

All this took me back to an event in the recent past - a visit to my school, some five years after seeing it last. Some thing was very different, you would know if you have gone to your school after many years. Visiting those classrooms where you have spent more than half your life, reliving every memory that comes out of your mind as a reaction to a bombardment of familiar sights and faces. It was magical. I really loved meeting almost all the teachers that day, no matter who they were. They were visibly older and some were even shocked to see me, taller and looking, well.. all grown up! But there was no barrier. I could probably get away with anything I said that day with probably just a smile and a laugh. No principal to worry about, no notes to the parents to dread. It was great. But was i 'grown up' then?

Just then, I saw one of my former teachers installing discipline into a bunch of eighth graders. I could almost see myself among them. I could predict every word she was saying, including the accent, it was like sown into my brain! And then I imagined what would have been running on the minds of those "kids", and the answers were not far away. I felt a strong urge to meet as many kids as i could and give them gyan about what I had seen so far, but then i restrained myself. Where's the fun if they don't learn it by themselves. Moreover, they most likely would not understand a word of it! I came back that day with a piece of mind i never had before. Suddenly, they were not a totally different kind.

Pulling myself back to the wretched hallway, i realized we were thinking no different than we were kids. There was still the cribbing, and all the complaining. Wondered where i would be a kid again some ten years down the line! Probably in an office, or may be an in-law's house on a comical note!

All this makes me ponder, do people really grow up? And how exactly is growing up defined? Whenever i see a person these days, i spend a moment to see the kid in them. They are all just right there in front of us! All of us smile when we see two small kids quarreling over a trivial issue or push each other around. But then why are things so different when the same thing we behold in the so called grown ups? Every argument, every expression of surprise and wonder, every fight on the street involving grown ups, usually tend to evoke a different response than when we see kids do the same. I feel that people never change throughout their lives. All their childhood attributes stick on tightly, and come out during the right sort of circumstances, be it school, college or a work place.

So should i try and smile away my lecturer the next time she held me up for not doing something..? Yeah Right..!! The next thing i know, i'd probably be on a freaking death march! I guess we are meant to crib. It gives us some amount of comfort that cannot be substituted by other means. After all, aren't we just kids? Theres still lots of time to grow up.

The next time i see someone older than me staring me in the eye and giving an all knowing smile, i am sure i would be like a small kid looking at candy through a glass box, which is not meant to be opened. It's all right there, but yet out of reach. But they are so attractive, shiny and colorful wrappers and all...

Kids will be kids, and they rock...!