“Seriously, Shah Rukh Khan? You think standing on top of a building with open arms while lip syncing the lyrics of a song will help you land a chic as hot as Katrina Kaif?” This was me ranting about the overly gestures showcased in Bollywood movies.
Okay, let me rewind a bit. I was at PVR, Juhu watching ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ with my mother, forcibly. Yes, I was forced. Otherwise there is no logical reason for me to spend three hours of my life watching a Hindi love story. I’d rather sleep, or play FIFA. But I sadly found myself staring at Shah Rukh Khan make love to Katrina Kaif on celluloid.
So there I was, thinking to myself, “Which girl would ever fall in love with a guy who is making himself look so stupid?” But then, guess what? Katrina Kaif came out of nowhere, and while running, launched herself into SRK’s arms. I almost let out a ‘You’re kidding me, Katrina?’ but I managed to control my emotions. Hindi films make girls look so easy-to-get, don’t they? I decided that I did not want to watch the movie anymore. I thus unlocked my phone and refreshed my Twitter feed, then started playing Temple Run 2. Don’t judge me! I’m sure you’ll would have done the same! After all, I had to do something to kill the remaining 50 odd minutes left in the movie now, didn’t I? Anyways, now begins the actual story…
I glanced sideways, and saw a no-more-than 5-year old boy sitting next to me. A cute little toddler in his school uniform, with his feet dangling in mid-air as he sat on the sofa while sipping water from his water-bottle hanging around his neck. He was with his mother, who like mine, was deeply engrossed in the film. Just like me, the kid too was completely uninterested in the movie, and by the looks of it, was trying to figure out from which exact corner of the theatre is SRK’s voice actually coming, as the complexity of the acoustics in the theatre threw him off a bit.
He saw me looking at him, then he saw the open Temple Run 2 game on my phone. He looked back at me, smiled, and then shied away. He repeated this process once again. I finally realized that he might be wanting to play the game on my phone. But then I started thinking rationally. He’s a mere 5-year old, the kid probably just got attracted by the bright colors on my phone screen.
Then he asked, “Can I play Temple Run, bhaiya?” Okay firstly, let me reinforce something. He is a 5-year old! Unless he is an adult trapped in a toddler’s body, there is no reason why he should be knowing what Temple Run is! Once again, I reiterate, he is a 5-year old!
His polite request threw me off a bit, as I stumbled towards an answer. “Ha? Uh..yeah, sure..” I said, as I was still recovering from this kid’s wealth of knowledge. I lent him my phone, pretty confident that he would fall off the path, or be eaten by the big ogre chasing him in the game. But I was in for a big, big shock.
He started playing Temple Run 2. He swiped his tiny fingers on the screen of my phone, with a look of he knew exactly what he was doing. He evaded trees, he ducked under fire, he collected coins… he just kept on going.
As his score multiplied from thousands to lacs, my level of shock and disbelief grew exponentially. Soon after, that little cute looking, water-sipping, shyly smiling kid broke my high score. Yes, I got owned by a 5-year old kid. This kid, who can barely manage to put words together in a sentence, is showing me how it’s played. You can picture the utter humiliation this bloke put me through within a span of 10 minutes. He showed me the finger, by swiping his finger on my phone. I had nowhere to hide.
I somewhat found solace when I got home after the movie, still recovering from this culture shock. I asked myself, ‘How advanced are today’s kids?’ and before I knew it, I fell into a deep state of thought…
I only remember fragments of the 5-year old me. When we were that young, we probably couldn’t tell one color from the other. Today’s 5-year olds have already memorized the colors of the rainbow.
We used to come home after school and take homage in our parents/caretaker’s arms. Today’s kids take homage in their iPads, PlayStation or Xbox consoles.
Little things like Power Rangers and GI Joe action figures, Pokemon trading cards, tazos and the undisputable BeyBlades were the mecca of happiness for the 5-year old us. Nowadays, kids settle for nothing less than Angry Birds, Temple Run and the Ben 10 TV show.
We have grown up worshipping the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Amitabh Bachchan, and given them a near God-like status. Today, we see little kids sporting jerseys of Manchester United and Barcelona who perhaps think that cricket is passé.
If our teacher/parent would say that ‘2 +2 = 6’, we would have simply learnt it that way without thinking twice. We were innocent. We did not know the meaning of a false statement. But today’s kids look for reasoning, and make the decision for themselves. These are certainly giant strides in the development of the adolescent brain.
One thing is certain, there are massive changes in today’s kids. They are way ahead than what we were back then at that age. I honestly wonder what is taught to them in nursery nowadays.
Even as I conclude this piece, I cannot help but visualize the little guy back from the theatre, sitting in his classroom, singing in unison along with his classmates – “A for… Apple. B for… Blackberry…”
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