The Happiness Factor
Recently I got a fwd mail about the toys we cannot forget..Yes ,Machinga Pambaram,Olla pambe,OlaKanada,OlaPipi,Ola watch. Hope you guys remember those, which our grandparents made in an instant when we throw a tantrum for a gift.(For the benefit of the non malayalees,these are the toys which we can make from coconut palm leaves).
Speaking about toys, I was just reminded of shopping for toys for my 2 little nephews(1.3 yrs old).Yes my sister is a proud mother of 2 little heroes(yes they are twins ) who can make the baby in Baby’s day Out look like cute angel if naughtiness is the topic in question. So, I was busy shopping for these young men in all the shops you can imagine Landmark,Lifestyle,Archies,Odyssey. Toys in these shops, I tell you, they cost you this month’s and next month’s salary. I was after a spider Man stuffed doll(He is my favorite character) ,but when I saw the price tag which had astronomical figures on it (which I doubt I am literate enough to read),I was wondering If I ask Tobey Maguire to come down an enact for my nephews, it would be cheaper.(Ok, I agree I am exaggerating :) ).Finally ,after much of weighing the options with my purse I settled on a sizable doll of Winnie The Pooh which will sing Happy Birthday if you squeeze it .(as if my 1 year old heroes know what Happy Birthday is….).Please don’t ask me the price because I am not saying… :( .Any way with this in hand, I head home hoping to amuse my little nephews. When I give this to them ,One guy is just frightened out of his wits seeing this furry thing which he had never seen in his life and starts screaming ,bringing the whole house down(Yes there are people who are scared of soft toys :) ).My sister gives me dirty glances, picking him up, because she had very recently pacified this guy from yet another fit of bad mood. I just move out ,looking around as if nothing happened in search of the next guy. Now here I saw some hope because he was quite amiable with poor Winnie(I was wondering if it would survive one more rejection) and was even dancing when it was singing Happy Birthday. Well the bliss was short lived, he was very soon doing his Ananda Thandavam on poor Winnie. Within minutes Pooh was heavily mutilated with his snout ,ears plucked out and its sounding mechanism was thrashed beyond recognition. There goes my expensive gift in drain :) .Well, I was in fury ,but let’s face the fact, that’s what babies do. Breaking things is their second nature and they don’t ask the cost when they do so.
Well after this episode, I was very cautious while buying toys. Being in IT ,and staying in a metro like Chennai ,I forgot some very basic things with which children play. Whenever these great guys trouble my mother(their grand mom) in the kitchen she simply hands them down a vessel and a spoon. They start drumming on this assuming themselves to be direct descendants of Pallavur Appu Marar :) .They remain engaged for hours together. When we are busy buying kids Beyblades and Ben10 stuff, their granddads will make them machinga pambaram within minutes ,which lasts longer with 0 investment.
I took my nephews to Ulsava paramba(it’s a sort of fair for temple festival),which is a perfect haven for kids to get all kinds of stuff. My nephew was quite adamant to buy a pipi(small whistle),which I knew will not last an hour in his hand, but it cost me only Rs 10 in comparison of the hundreds which I may spent for the same thing in some mall in Chennai with a brand name stamped and with all stuff like non -toxic ,safe for kids(I wonder who is safe from whom :) ) etc etched ,on it. Just then I was reminded of Master Card slogan :
There are some things money can't buy. For everything else there's MasterCard.
I realized its quite true that money can’t buy everything.Atleast not the gleam of happiness in my nephew’s eyes when he was piping away happily in his small brittle pipi.
Speaking about toys, I was just reminded of shopping for toys for my 2 little nephews(1.3 yrs old).Yes my sister is a proud mother of 2 little heroes(yes they are twins ) who can make the baby in Baby’s day Out look like cute angel if naughtiness is the topic in question. So, I was busy shopping for these young men in all the shops you can imagine Landmark,Lifestyle,Archies,Odyssey. Toys in these shops, I tell you, they cost you this month’s and next month’s salary. I was after a spider Man stuffed doll(He is my favorite character) ,but when I saw the price tag which had astronomical figures on it (which I doubt I am literate enough to read),I was wondering If I ask Tobey Maguire to come down an enact for my nephews, it would be cheaper.(Ok, I agree I am exaggerating :) ).Finally ,after much of weighing the options with my purse I settled on a sizable doll of Winnie The Pooh which will sing Happy Birthday if you squeeze it .(as if my 1 year old heroes know what Happy Birthday is….).Please don’t ask me the price because I am not saying… :( .Any way with this in hand, I head home hoping to amuse my little nephews. When I give this to them ,One guy is just frightened out of his wits seeing this furry thing which he had never seen in his life and starts screaming ,bringing the whole house down(Yes there are people who are scared of soft toys :) ).My sister gives me dirty glances, picking him up, because she had very recently pacified this guy from yet another fit of bad mood. I just move out ,looking around as if nothing happened in search of the next guy. Now here I saw some hope because he was quite amiable with poor Winnie(I was wondering if it would survive one more rejection) and was even dancing when it was singing Happy Birthday. Well the bliss was short lived, he was very soon doing his Ananda Thandavam on poor Winnie. Within minutes Pooh was heavily mutilated with his snout ,ears plucked out and its sounding mechanism was thrashed beyond recognition. There goes my expensive gift in drain :) .Well, I was in fury ,but let’s face the fact, that’s what babies do. Breaking things is their second nature and they don’t ask the cost when they do so.
Well after this episode, I was very cautious while buying toys. Being in IT ,and staying in a metro like Chennai ,I forgot some very basic things with which children play. Whenever these great guys trouble my mother(their grand mom) in the kitchen she simply hands them down a vessel and a spoon. They start drumming on this assuming themselves to be direct descendants of Pallavur Appu Marar :) .They remain engaged for hours together. When we are busy buying kids Beyblades and Ben10 stuff, their granddads will make them machinga pambaram within minutes ,which lasts longer with 0 investment.
I took my nephews to Ulsava paramba(it’s a sort of fair for temple festival),which is a perfect haven for kids to get all kinds of stuff. My nephew was quite adamant to buy a pipi(small whistle),which I knew will not last an hour in his hand, but it cost me only Rs 10 in comparison of the hundreds which I may spent for the same thing in some mall in Chennai with a brand name stamped and with all stuff like non -toxic ,safe for kids(I wonder who is safe from whom :) ) etc etched ,on it. Just then I was reminded of Master Card slogan :
There are some things money can't buy. For everything else there's MasterCard.
I realized its quite true that money can’t buy everything.Atleast not the gleam of happiness in my nephew’s eyes when he was piping away happily in his small brittle pipi.
very true ritu!! btw..ur blog is awesome! great attempt...keep rockin dear!! :D
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteawesome, so here it goes....
ReplyDeleteYou name it... facebook, youtube, streaming content, web 2.0, blogs, Information technology, podcasts, hoardings, advertising, marketing, ipods, electronics, - fundamentally, education and entertainment has to be blamed for you forgetting what you liked the most when you were a kid ::)