Microstory 85 – Taking it for granted
It was Arijit Singh’s birthday. As a family, we are ardent fans. So my wife started playing hit lists from Amazon Music. One particular song caught my attention. I asked my wife, “Which movie is this from as I liked it very much and it was recommended by one of my friends as well.” She responded with a cynical look, ” I have told you several times about this song and you have not heard it from me”. That was a perfect time to drop my guard and show my vulnerability as she was right. I realized that somethings in life requires a perfect setting. The song was ” Dil Hi To hai”. I shifted my heart from taking it for granted to accepting it with gratitude at that moment.
Microstory 86 – Quarantine musings
Our daughters made us see movies like Baadla and Moana. I liked Badla so much that I told her that we should have seen it in the theatres. To which my daughter rightfully said, ” Dad I had told you that we should go and see”. There was a good 15-sec silence from my side. Then I realized that it was the time I was recovering from my hospitalisation. Next movie was Moana. I liked the movie and the song ” See how far I ‘ll go“. From our side, we recommended seeing Lion King ( I had seen in my last US trip). It was also discovered that my elder daughter liked ” Mere Mehboob” song which was sung by Rafi and performed onscreen by Rajendra Kumar with so many emotions. I thought teenage girls will dismiss the song and that was good learning for me.
In these times it is a very important factor to keep your positivity up. My younger daughter asked my wife one day, ” What is the meaning of the word Positive”? It was a struggle to give her a convincing answer. We decided to check for the actual meaning on google.
Microstory 87 – Small is the new Big
My younger daughter said, ” Can I have some peace”? clutching her hands on her head. I was checking and auditing her toys and how she is managing her room and table. Later that week on a Sunday she was wearing a very different dress and when we started looking at her, she said, ” Don’t judge me”. Her way of speaking up was something which we have not seen in the past. I guess this is the way the younger sibling decides to make her presence felt. She demands her rightful place now by speaking up to make matters easy for her. As parents, this is the time you will remember those old days when our parents will ask you to stay silent if we have to speak up on any matter outside your arena. I took her out after 2 months down for a short walk around the apartment. During the walk, I told her that I will get her a mask for kids. She said, ” Can you buy a mask for children”. She further added I am no longer a kid and she explained the difference between a kid and a child.
Microstory 88 – Point and Click
My elder daughter logged into an Udemy course and I was taking her through those 4 steps to get into the course. She clicked on the first few pages and then came a page. She skipped the one page as it was not mandatory. But I asked the reason why she skipped that page. Pat came the reply ” I had to type in a lot of details”. All the earlier pages had radio buttons. Welcome to the new world of teenagers as they like to only point and click. Typing will soon become a thing of the past as voice assistants will also come into the play to create a new experience.
Microstory 89 – Freedom to Free
On April 14th my younger daughter woke up pretty early. We later saw that she had put on the television. She went up to my wife and asked her to put the channel where our Prime Minister was going to speak. We were curious as to how she got this news. She waited for the speech and sat down for 15 mins. By the time PM declared that lockdown is going to get extended till May 3rd, all hell broke loose. She wanted to know if our locality is in the green zone and hence some relaxation. She was so tired of sitting at home that she was waiting for freedom to free herself. Her mood turned sombre and we had to finally shift her mind as she started listening to Hakuna Matata.
Microstory 90 – Explore to drill
My younger daughter was exploring all the drawers in the house. She figured out finally tools and utility drawer. She started picking one thing at a time and started looking at how she can play with it. My wife is an expert in fixing things at home and I could sense her anxiety when my daughter picked the drill bits box. She transferred all the drill bits into another circular box and she converted that drill bit box into her pencil box neatly stacking it up. She was depressed when we asked her to put it back. I recollected Dr Neil de Grass Tyson’s words about letting kids explore and asked her some questions as to what was appealing to her in that toolbox. I realized that the mechanism of opening and closing the box was interesting for her.
Microstory 91 – Life is not fair
My younger daughter kept asking why Irfan Khan died?
She had recently seen his last film and we could sense the emotion inside her. My elder daughter gave the response that ” Life is not fair”. My wife explained to her the reason for his death and explained about the type of cancer. As a family, we had seen Piku together and we enjoyed it very much. The day he passed away it affected all our moods and that was seen when we all sat down in front of the TV and saw some of his old visuals. My elder daughter summed it well. She said, ” Here is an actor who is so effortless in acting and we feel he is natural”. My wife mentioned that he makes it effortless as he puts in hours behind the scenes. My comment was that Irfan was an actor par extraordinary and as a person, he was liked by all. His take on the quote when life offers you a lemon , make lemonade will be remembered for eternity.
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