Is present ever enough..???

I was about 6 years old, a little more than a toddler, barely reaching a grown-ups waist, and was waiting for my school bus at the bus stop. A few meters away, a grown up girl from the same school was passing by (she didn’t need the school bus, a BEST Bus worked for her). I gazed at her. I knew that girl. She was a prefect. I looked at her and I thought, when I can achieve such kind of authority… To look good... To feel grown-up… How good it would be to be a responsible girl in others eyes….. When will I grow up??

Then, it felt that grown ups have a better life. They could live like they want to, dress like they want to. Had a lot of money, could shop all they want to and wouldn’t even have to ask anyone’s permission for doing so!

Now, I have grown up…. And I think, kids are way better… the biggest worry being completing homework, which doesn’t look so scary now. We could dance when we were happy and cry our eyes out when something upsetting happened and no one would think of you as a nut-case. Parents would be there in everything scary… and now it’s the other way round.

Now it seems that schools were more than torture. Games, competitions, teachers day, Christmas, children’s day were all meant for us to celebrate. The homework (that apparently looks very easy now) doesn’t seem to be such a scary thing anymore!

I have everything that I wanted to have… freedom, independence, money, no homework.. in fact no studies, no one to shout at me… etc, etc……!

But is the present acceptable…. Now that I have what I wanted, I suddenly start feeling that it was better earlier, when……

Deadlines wouldn’t be that deadly. Maximum the teacher could do… was punish me or give me some extra homework. It wouldn’t affect my job or career in any manner!

Money was limited in supply but I got whatever I wanted… Now, I have a lot of money (compared to what I had ofcourse… I am not even closer to Mukesh Ambani…. Or for that matter close to most of his management)… but I am also expected to be responsible enough for using it efficiently… kinda distribute my salary as soon as I get it…. Now its used for what I need and not on what I want!!

Freedom had a few restrictions from parents…. But it was anytime better than this freedom which is more influenced by external factors than the simple care from my parents…..

Dancing, singing, drawing, playing were considered to be important activities for development and not waste of time….

Only sizes that held importance were the heights compared to your next door pal and the sizes of answers compared to your nearest competitor…

Numbers were of great importance… number of pencils/pens, number of toys, number of friends in your group (followers I guess!), number of prizes that you won….. number of teachers who you like… number of pets that teachers had….!!

Actually numbers are still important…. Number of degrees you have taken…. Number of zeros that your salary has…. Number of employees that work for you…. Number of mobile phones you have…. And the most important…. The numbers that you are getting for your BOSS (bottomline… J ) !!!

Running was a sport…. Now, it’s a necessity…. (a different type of running actually….but running still)

Animosity got over with a simple sorry or better… with goodies (chocolates, toys…. Everything is welcome!!). Well… I still haven’t figured out what helps to get over enemies now….

Actually to think over it… this life is pretty good in its self… pretty happy… I have a supportive family… I still get whatever I like, progress is good… it gives a little boost to my morale and ego… I don’t have to study if I don’t want to… animosity can still get over with a simple sorry….

It is good…. Its just that I don’t find it satisfactory… when I was a kid… the pressure of homework and scores seemed to be too much… so I never appreciated the freebies that came with it… now there are other pressures that block my head… thus I can see the goodies of the past and the difficult part doesn’t seem so bad anymore… obviously because I have got over it now!

At the end of it…. the Present is never enough… the Past seems more interesting and the future more intriguing….!!