The art of doing nothing....
In the movie office space(which btw is a classic movie), peter gibbons (the guy's name in the movie) would be asked by his friends: What would you do if you had a million dollars? For which he would reply- I would do nothing.
That is precisely the point of this post-There is joy in doing nothing. When I see the kids in this generation (now I sound old), they have lost the art to do nothing. This can be partly our mistake - jostling the kids from painting classes, to music classes, to kumon, to balavihar - Their day is chunked up into activities. In fact some parents overdo by making the kids go to Sunday school at the local temple(concept borrowed from christianity). The kid needs to be doing X at any given time or if there's nothing he/she sits before the TV or if they are older there's the Wii or Ninetendo DS.
I remember sitting out in the verandah with a cup of coffee staring blindly at nothingness in the hot afternoons of Madras. Or watching a east-man(I think that's how you spell it) color movie that's atrociously boring but since there's nothing better to do - just watch it. Or the times when we look at the street dogs, or the ants or staring at people on the streets. This was not only restricted to the kids who didn't have any responsibilites but my neighbourhood mamas who were vetti on the weekend afternoons will hang on the gates and watch the road passer-bys. So you may ask what have you accomplished - Just a sense of calm and serene that today's kids are missing out.
But again, not to contradict my post, I don't think the kids or the parents are to be blamed entirely. We mean well for the kids - We don't want them to waste time and the entire system which includes the school is very activity oriented. The children belonging to this generation are very analytical - They will tell you they are bored and will not follow some instructions just because you are elderly - You do need to reason out with them. So very understandably we are in a age which is different from what it was. This has also trickled to us- the older generation - We too have lost the art of doing nothing. If there is one weekend which I have no plans - I would first rejoice, then scout around for things to do but I almost always end up calling someone for dinner/lunch making it a busy weekend. Well, I guess it would be nice if someone came by and asked me to do nothing for a while - i would grab it. How I wish I could go back to the days where I would sit in the verandah and gape/stare at nothing.
I have trouble making Arya sit doing nothing because sometimes I think he should be able to do that. I don't even use the word timeout nowadays but just tell him to sit doing nothing because I want him to enjoy doing nothing.
Anyway the point is that times & lives are moving fast - Things happen in a certain way because that's the day and age we are in. Our kids cannot do the things we did and neither will their kids do the things that they do.
So just savour each moment because down the line this will your most enjoyable one. Accept the generation gap and move on....
That is precisely the point of this post-There is joy in doing nothing. When I see the kids in this generation (now I sound old), they have lost the art to do nothing. This can be partly our mistake - jostling the kids from painting classes, to music classes, to kumon, to balavihar - Their day is chunked up into activities. In fact some parents overdo by making the kids go to Sunday school at the local temple(concept borrowed from christianity). The kid needs to be doing X at any given time or if there's nothing he/she sits before the TV or if they are older there's the Wii or Ninetendo DS.
I remember sitting out in the verandah with a cup of coffee staring blindly at nothingness in the hot afternoons of Madras. Or watching a east-man(I think that's how you spell it) color movie that's atrociously boring but since there's nothing better to do - just watch it. Or the times when we look at the street dogs, or the ants or staring at people on the streets. This was not only restricted to the kids who didn't have any responsibilites but my neighbourhood mamas who were vetti on the weekend afternoons will hang on the gates and watch the road passer-bys. So you may ask what have you accomplished - Just a sense of calm and serene that today's kids are missing out.
But again, not to contradict my post, I don't think the kids or the parents are to be blamed entirely. We mean well for the kids - We don't want them to waste time and the entire system which includes the school is very activity oriented. The children belonging to this generation are very analytical - They will tell you they are bored and will not follow some instructions just because you are elderly - You do need to reason out with them. So very understandably we are in a age which is different from what it was. This has also trickled to us- the older generation - We too have lost the art of doing nothing. If there is one weekend which I have no plans - I would first rejoice, then scout around for things to do but I almost always end up calling someone for dinner/lunch making it a busy weekend. Well, I guess it would be nice if someone came by and asked me to do nothing for a while - i would grab it. How I wish I could go back to the days where I would sit in the verandah and gape/stare at nothing.
I have trouble making Arya sit doing nothing because sometimes I think he should be able to do that. I don't even use the word timeout nowadays but just tell him to sit doing nothing because I want him to enjoy doing nothing.
Anyway the point is that times & lives are moving fast - Things happen in a certain way because that's the day and age we are in. Our kids cannot do the things we did and neither will their kids do the things that they do.
So just savour each moment because down the line this will your most enjoyable one. Accept the generation gap and move on....
Labels: art of being vetti, Generation gap, growing old
posted by Sangeetha at
3:03 PM
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