Generation & Patience

 The occasion was release of the movie MI -The last reckoning, which i wanted to watch in the renovated IMAX screen at Mirage cinemas Mumbai. It was after a long time that i was required to travel alone by train, a journey of approx 3 hours. I had done this in past in my college days & it did sound crazy to travel to Mumbai from Nashik (my home town) 'just' for a movie, but then i convinced myself that its something like this, that keeps you young!, so here i was on Panchvati express travelling to & fro on the same day.

  Frankly speaking, i always think that travelling by train (as against driving yourself) gives one a leisure time to Introspect, observe & sometime learn a lot. As soon as i settled down in my seat, a family of 7 started settling around me. One small girl of 10 years and her grandmother seated themselves next to me. The father had seats on the backside of the bench & he requested if i could switch seats, i sheepishly declined as i had the 'window seat'. Soon this lass inquired weather i too was a Gujarati?. As i clarified that i was a Sindhi, the grandma enthusiastically stated to the girl how there was not much of a difference. this immediately established me as one of them. this meant i was privileged(on insistence) to share every meal that was to come, even the bread butter sandwich which was reserved for this girl, who was my friend by now. She had initiated the conversation and i knew I'm in for a pleasant ride.

in no time she borrowed her Nani's (Maternal grandmother) phone and started playing with it. I thought this is going to be the same as the journey i took in the morning where a lad of same age, sitting next to me, was deeply engrossed in his mother's mobile games of fighter jets all the time. But the sparkle in this girl's eye's told me that she was more open for socialising. It may even have been on purpose that she opened snapchat app and started using the filters and giggling on her images. I started with small talk, asking where do they stay, which school & grade she's studying in.  I had always been fascinated to see and try the filters in Snapchat but never had the chance to try on myself.   So i showed my interest to try out some filters along with me. She was excited to do that and we clicked some really funny images. Nani, in the meantime was getting irritated with her being engrossed in the mobile, particularly disgruntled when we tried the zombie/ ghost filter. Soon the phone was whisked away on the pretence of some work. 

Soon her sister, who was younger by 2 yrs approx holding a book labelled Rich Dad Poor Dad. i was impressed but soon learnt her true purpose. She got a set of pens and started drawing lines on the last blank cover page to play Knots and Crosses. Now this would be fun i thought, it started well but soon both started to play ahead, take double turns and complete the game. The same happened with another game of drawing lines and completing boxes to claim houses. There was a distinct lack of patience to steadily work their way up. In the meantime she got the mobile back, so this time i thought we'll play some games on the mobile. yes, she had an array of games lined up for 2 players. We started with Ludo, which was my childhood favourite and had seen many college students playing it too. However in this version of 2 players there were 2 houses across and only 2 paths connecting them to the centre. I mean where did the fun go away of going all around. needless to say she beat me in first game and we were up to another game of golf with obstacles, she tried to beat me 3 levels but somehow i managed, which wore her out and soon we were to another, yet another game and gave up on the mobile games soon. 

This left  me wondering that why we couldn't stick to single game. at the risk of sounding very old, i couldn't help but compare to the games we played in our childhood. Even we were restless but somehow i feel while finishing every game like the houses on paper, the ludo and the snakes and ladder, made us wait for our turns and gradually achieve the targets in spite of the setbacks of being downgraded after being bitten by snakes, or being beaten by opponent in ludo. It made us learn to wait! may it be for other players turn or most importantly it taught us to Fail / Loose. As against that, the present day games on mobile are instantly gratifying.  May it be the game which the lad was playing in the morning train, which was of fighter jets or the one which this girl was playing of Temple Run. it requires and train agility but what does it teach? i know one may preach that games are for pleasure & not learning, but just look where it is getting us? the habit of instant dopamine rush is not only addictive but is taking away the power of patience and thus resilience. whether it is the problem of Gen Z/ alpha or the problem with designers of toy is a different debate. 

We can see this in every aspects of life; career, life, & relationships. We judge today's youth with shallow relationships but it is nothing but an addiction to instant gratification. if one doesn't working out, soon one is looking for options. there's no denying that earlier people usually suffered in the process of working out but  that doesn't mean we should run for other extreme. in fact the ratio of sadness and depression is all the more high today. It also reminds me the way in our childhood while playing cards with all generations, no one got concessions and your sibling or your elder is going to be ruthless in winning. it certainly pained but very next moment we're sharing an ice-cream or someone is tending to your difficulties. it somehow imbibed patience and resilience which goes a long way in building a character.

Meanwhile my friend was forced to slow down in a rather harsh way by receiving a tight slap from her nani, for using the mobile continuously. She was very taken aback and hid herself in nani's duppatta for a good 10-15 minutes. It was heartening to see the father explaining to nani how one should not physically beat children as they keep it in their memory permanently. On one hand i was feeling bad too as i was somewhere accomplice to it & also ashamed of checking my mobile for catching up social media. Also,this was an old fashioned  way of implementing discipline, which again one may have different take on it. However my friend clung to her nani although her mother and maternal aunts were there & of course a sensitive and considerate father. i knew she was resolved soon, as she took up playing UNO this time with her sister and mother. Also i caught her sister actually reading 'Rich Dad Poor Dad' earlier. So all is not lost after all but that is the beauty of childhood. 

Needless to say, i helped them to alight the train and locate the elevator, i owed them more than that for including me to be a part of their family, which was reflecting in the broad smile my friend gave with that sparkle in her eyes while waving Byes.