Let us reduce their "Burden"

More than three decades ago, I arrived with family in Shimla (hill station and capital of Himachal Pradesh) for a week's vacation. Lodging was booked in a hotel near the bus stand. The hotel building was too near to hire a auto or taxi, but carrying luggage with two small kids was difficult. There were groups of workers helping travelers with their luggage movement. All of them carried bundles of ropes with them, around their shoulders. One of them approached me with offer to take our luggage. I showed him the hotel and asked for the amount to be paid for moving the luggage. He agreed to take the items of luggage for a stipulated charge. I mentioned that what he was asking for was high. He smiled and suggested that I give whatever I felt like after reaching the hotel. He called out a friend to help him out with the luggage. The purpose of carrying the rope with them dawned on us only then. The items of luggage were bound on his back using the rope. Another worker took the two kids on his shoulders. We were asked to walk behind them. The strain of walking on a steep gradient at 7200 feet above sea level was well understood by us by the time we reached the hotel. On the way to the hotel we could see workers carrying heavy items like two gas cylinders each and even refrigerator tied to their backs. After reaching the hotel, we paid the two helpers more than what they initially asked. What looked as a small distance was indeed a difficult climb. 

Watching farmers and workers carrying heavy gunny bags filled with grains or other items was a common sight, when we were young. Forklifts have generally taken over this job now, but manual labor is still used in bus stands or railway stations. Suitcases with wheels have made life easier for travelers, but difficult for those who make a living by carrying loads. Backpack bags have become very popular over the last two or three decades. 

The most common sight of backpack carriers we now see are school children. The fortunate ones who travel to school by cars or even dedicated school buses are a different proposition. But the kids carrying the heavy school bags in public transport face lot of misery twice a day. For some of them, it is difficult to enter the buses or get down from them. Their body can get in or get out, but not their bags. They have to face scolding and ridicule from some of the passengers in the bus as well.

I visited a children's hospital in Pennsylvania recently. One of the display boards carried an interesting piece about backpack injuries to children. Heavy backpacks can result in serious injury to the spine and can have long term consequences for children and adults alike. Heavy backpacks cause over stretching of muscle-ligaments in the spine. When the initial over-stretching progresses to the next level, it results in micro-tears in muscle-ligament attachments. Thus initial strain leads to sprain. Internet gives pictures of how a backpack bag should be used to avoid these strains. One of those pictures is given here.

The hospital has given some sound advice to parents about "Backpack strategies for children". They are easy to follow and can protect the kids from serious injuries. They are summarized below:

• Total weight of the backpack should be not more than 10% of the body weight of the child. (For adults it could be 15 to 20%)
• Backpack bag of the right size should be chosen for the child. That could mean changing the bag every year in the initial years.
• Backpack bag should extend not more than 4" below the waistline of the child.
• Only absolutely necessary items are to be kept in the backpack. This means checking the contents each day instead of sending the bag in a routine manner.
• The backpack bag should have well padded shoulder straps. This puts less pressure on young collar bones.
• Straps should be adjusted to give a balance to the weight. In other words, one side should not sag in relation to the other.
• Heaviest items should be kept closer to the back, when the bag is put on the back of the child.
• Weight should be equally distributed in the backpack bag. Keeping heavy items on one side is to be avoided.

If the child complains of back pain, it is advisable to check the above points instead of giving usual remedies like applying some balm on the shoulders and back.

The position is no different when we see adults using backpack bags. Many use only one shoulder for carrying the bag. This can also put extra strain on the back bone and spine.

Come, Let us reduce the "Burden" on the children as well as ourselves!

Blessed are those.......

The head of the family has an important meeting or function to attend that day.  He is up early, finishes all the daily chores quickly and gets ready to catch the earliest mode of conveyance to reach the venue of the meeting or function. A carefully chosen set of all white dress is kept ready for wearing on the occasion. He is all dressed up and ready to go. Something tugs him from behind.  He turns around to find a pretty little face smiling at him. His grandchild is pulling his dress and looking up at him. The child was playing around in the house and its entire body is dirty. So are the hands. The dirt has now firmly been transferred to his all white dress and makes a striking impact at first sight. There is no way now for him to go out in that dress. He has to either change the dress or answer everyone who sees him as to why the dress is dirty. He is in a quandary.

He shouts at the grandmother or mother of the child. The admonition is all the more severe if the grandmother is nearby. "You are so careless. See, what your grandson (or granddaughter, as the case may be) has done. My dress is all dirty. How can I go out now in this dress?  I have no time to search for an alternate set and change over. You are causing unnecessary problems for me. You are always like this." Shouting is reserved only for the grandmother or mother. The child is not to be scolded. He picks up the child and embraces it unmindful of adding further dirt on his now half-dirty dress. The urgency of the meeting or function is temporarily forgotten and he continues to play with the child for some more time. Other things can wait but not the moments to be spent with the child. 

His departure is delayed further and plans for the day are disrupted.

*****

The door bell rings. Head of the family is busy with some important task. He frowns and hurries to the door to open it. He finds someone elderly and dignified standing at the door. His expression changes immediately.  He prostrates at the feet of the guest and brings him in by holding his hand. The guest is seated now. He calls all the other members of the family. Mere mention of the name of the guest changes their expressions and all of them pay their fullest respects to the guest. He is treated as a messenger of the god they believe in.  When the guest is finally ready to leave, the head of the family says with folded hands, "Our long time wish is fulfilled today. We are extremely thankful for your visit. We are fortunate to have your "Paada-dhooli" (dust on the feet, meaning your visit) in our house. We are indeed blessed today!"

*****

Kavikulaguru Kaalidasa has no hesitation to say that the first one above, with the dirty dress, is indeed the blessed one! The second one is blessed too, but the bounty received by the first one is no less than the other. This is a scene from his celebrated work, Abhignana Shaakuntalam: 

King Dushyanta has gone to the heavens to support and assist the King of Gods, Indra, in fighting his enemies. After the victory in the war with a substantial contribution by King Dushyanta, Indra has instructed his charioteer Maatali to take Dushyanta in Indra's personal chariot back to his kingdom on earth. On the path of the journey, they pass through Sage Maareecha's ashram. They stop to pay respects to the revered couple. While entering the ashram, King Dushyanta sights a young boy fearlessly playing with a lion cub. 

They boy forcefully opens the mouth of the cub and tells the cub, "Yawn and open your mouth widely. I want to count the number of teeth in your mouth". His mother's friends forbid him from forcing the cub. They exclaim that the name "Sarvadamana", meaning tamer of everyone, is justified for the boy. They offer him an alternate toy, a peacock. He is not interested in it and does not let go the lion cub. (King Dushyanta does not know that the boy Sarvadamana is his own son and Shakuntala is the mother. He does not also know that they boy will, in due course, become famous as Bharata chakravarthy and our land will be known as "Bharata", getting its name due to him). Dushyanta exclaims:

आलक्ष्य दन्तमुकुलान् अनिमित्त हासैः  अव्यक्त वर्ण रमणीय वचः प्रवृत्तीन् |

    अङ्काश्रय प्रणयिनस्तनयान् वहन्तॊ धन्यास्तदङ्ग रजसा मलिनी भवन्ति ||  

Aaalakshya dantamukulaaan animitta haasai

             Avyakta varna ramaneeya vachahpravrutteen,

Ankashrayapranayinah tanayaaan vahanto 

             Dhanyaastadanga rajasa malinee bhavanti

"Children smile for no reason.  When they so smile, their pearl like teeth peer through the mouth. When they talk, the words may not make meaning and yet we understand them. When you hold them, the dress gets spoiled due to the dust present all over their body. But the ones who have such muddied (dirtied) dress are the real blessed ones!" 

*****

There is a big difference between the blessings brought in by the two (the child and the elderly guest) in the two instances discussed above. In the second instance, the elderly guest has dust only on his feet as he walks erect. The head of the family receiving him, therefore, says that they are blessed by his "Paada-dhooli".  But the first one is even better. His grandchild is playing on the ground and its whole body is covered with dust. Hence Kaalidasa uses the term "Anga-rajas" as against "Paada-rajas". This is the subtle difference the Mahaakavi makes in his interpretation.

There is another important dimension between the blessings brought in by the two discussed above. The elder one has attained the position and the capacity to offer blessings due to leading a long, dignified and pious life devoted to serving others. The child does not bless us nor understands even the meaning of "blessing". But it is in itself a package of blessing sent from above!  It is truly blessing personified. This is not just a blessing; it is a symbol of continuity of life, its eternal charm and unending pleasures. 

The Little Girl's First Book

Schooling and Education has undergone a tremendous change in the last five decades.  Of course, it has been undergoing change constantly over several centuries and the last few decades is no exception.  But for us, having seen three or four generations in the past decades, changes that have taken place make an interesting study.  In our childhood days, schooling was something that hardly caused any worries in households.  The number of children in each family was large enough and provided sufficient examples to teach the early lessons in Arithmetic.  There was neither any need for queuing up near schools before the child was born nor planning for a child after ensuring that a seat will be available three years down the line.  Children were considered as an integral part of a family's wealth and every new arrival was treated as a new chapter in the Lord's scheme of things.  Nobody said "We cannot afford children" in those days.  If anyone grumbled about the high number of children in the family, an elder member of the community would admonish him or her instantly.  "People ask you how many children you have.  Not how much wealth you possess!" would be the refrain.  Basic concern for the families was providing food for all.  Other things were secondary and assumed to take care of themselves.

Schooling in our childhood days began at the age of five or six.  There was no concept of pre-schooling and pre-pre-schooling.  In rural areas, Government Schools were the ones available and met the requirement.  There were no issues about the availability of seats.  Like the proverbial "Pushpaka Vimaana" (an airplane that expanded its seating capacity as and when passengers entered it and always had one seat vacant for the next entrant), schools accommodated any new student without hesitation.  The school fee was also nominal and the concepts of "Freeship" and "Scholarship" were taking care of even this minimum fee in most cases.  There was no requirement of school uniforms and some students were lucky to have an acceptable level of dress on them. Uniforms became the norm later on in High Schools, say from eighth or ninth year of education.  Once admitted to first standard at age five or six, a reasonably agile student could reach a level of High School education.  College education was a luxury and only a fortunate few got that distinction.  A graduate was more scarce than "Doctorate" scholars of today.  The situation was slightly different in cities and some private educational institutions were available.  But the overall situation was nearly the same as in rural areas.

Early schooling, known as primary schooling, had only one book to study each year.  Written mostly in local languages, once prescribed as a text book it was in force for several years.  A single book was used by many siblings and was often sold as a second-hand book when there were no other children at home to use it.  Carrying lunch box to school was unknown and school bags and baskets were not heard of.  Early schooling was with a slate and chalk-piece.  Local language and arithmetic were the basic subjects taught at schools.  Teacher was a God for the students and disciplining the students by beating with sticks was an accepted norm in society.  In fact, parents would meet the teacher and tell him to take care of their ward, meaning an additional dose of reprimanding and beating. A student complaining of beating by a teacher at school was assured of another generous installment at home. Home work was indeed very little as there were no books for doing it.  Fortunately for the students, slates provided a limited area for assignments. Student notebooks were indeed a luxury and many children finished their education without using even one in their life.

The contrasting events of today and the amount of preparation to receive a new born astounds us.  Inquiries about schooling facilities starts immediately after the newly-wed couple return from honeymoon.  Some, of course, may decide that they never will have kids to avoid all the resultant problems unmindful of the fact they miss the innumerable pleasures of being parents and thereafter grandparents.

I chanced upon a neatly printed and bound book recently, presented to an expectant mother by her friend.  The title of the book was "Thank heaven for little girls".  This was going to be the first book of the little girl and it was waiting for her even before her arrival.

• The book - "My baby book" - starts with details about the mommy and daddy of the baby and their history since their birth.
• Then there is provision to record the family trees of the mother and father, going up to the arriving baby's great grand parents on either side.
• Details of the arriving baby's initial details follow, including the expected date and actual date of arrival.
• It chronicles the first reactions of the would be parents and the many preparations made by the parents for receiving their baby.
• it records the guests present at the "Baby shower" function and the gifts they presented.  (Do not go to a "Baby shower"function without a gift.  Otherwise it will be "NIL" against your name!).
• Then there is a page for recording the details of the "day before"and all the excitement that it brings to those who were there to "see my arrival".
• The next page puts on record the actual arrival and incidental details including the name, length, weight, color and what people thought "what I looked like".
• The child's birth certificate and tiny prints, hand prints and foot prints, are imprinted thereafter on the soft page that follows.
• Headlines of World news, National news, Local news on the day the baby was born is written down on the next page.
• Two pages are reserved for the "homecoming" and those who waited at the home to receive the baby with the gifts they brought with them.
• The world around the baby with even the price of a measure of milk, diaper, gas, car, computer, and even babysitting rates can be noted down in different pages.
• After immunity chart for mentioning dates of various injections and inoculations, growth ingredients are put on record month after month.
• The recordings continue till first day at school after which other books take over!

If you look at it physically, it is just a book or just another book.  If you view it with feelings, well, it is much more.  It is a chronicle of beginning of a new life and nature's continuity process.

Alert young brains

Human brain has fascinated all those who have studied it; be it men of medicine, psychologists or philosophers.  Research in this field is throwing up more information on the development of brain in children.  Scientists say that a three year old baby's brain would have formed about 1000 trillion connections, which is twice as many as adults have!  It is said that baby's brain is super dense and for the first ten years of development, the number of connections formed is much more than in adults.  After the age of ten, in a process called "Pruning", child's brain gets rid of extra connections and gradually the connections shrink to half the original count.  It is for this reason that young children are capable of learning complex rules of grammar and understand their mother tongue very fast and with little exposure.  It was possibly for these reasons that the practice of evening oral lessons were imparted to children some decades ago.  Children were encouraged to play outdoor games till sunset.  Immediately after sunset children were called in, asked to freshen up and start the oral lessons and recitations under the guidance of an elder person in the family.  In fact, we were taught Amarasimha's "Naamalinganushasana", popularly known as "Amarakosha".  It was nothing but learning an entire dictionary by heart. What was learnt at a tender age was useful throughout one's life.

Amarakosha was recited by almost every child five or six decades ago.  There were even more wonder kids.  Many families in Pune were teaching the young kids to recite entire text of some important works.  Pundit Athalekar of Pune is said to have had trained his young daughter, in the 1960s, to recite Panini's "Ashtadhyayi" and "Bhagavadgita". One person who had seen this personally has recorded that given a sutra she could  immediately give its number.  Given a number, she could give the rule.  Given a word, she would recite all the sutras containing that word.  She was only eight or nine years old and did not understand the meaning of the rules at that time.  But what was learnt at that age would have been understood and assimilated later on in life.  There is also a claim that three year old twins recited entire Ashtaadhyayi!  There are many child progidies who excelled in music like Ravikiran of Gottuvadyam and U Srinivas of Mandolin fame.

We all come across young kids who have remarkable clarity in their thinking and fantastic communication abilities.  Some thirty five years ago I had been to Hubli with two of my friends.  We were invited by one of our friend and colleague there to his house.  We had probably spent some ten minutes in their house when his four year old daughter called me and took me to the backyard of the house.  She showed me a creeper and asked me what it was.  It was a cucumber creeper with several cucumbers, big and small, some of them ready for harvesting.  As I was enjoying the fine spectacle of the plant with so many cucumbers she tugged my hand and said, "Hey mama (uncle), don't be fooled by the fine cucumbers. Do not think of eating them.  They are all very bitter!".  Later that day we were served lunch with a dish made of cucumber.  She was sitting on the opposite side and I just looked at her.  She smiled and said, "Mama, you can eat this cucumber.  Don't worry, it is not from that plant.  These cucumbers have been brought from the market".  The way she connected the two and communicated has left a lasting mark in my memory. She was just four year old.

Another experience I had was with a child of four years again.  This girl had started going to LKG (Lower kindergarten) and after two weeks in the school had started liking her school.  She was enthusiastically explaining about her school when somebody asked her, "Will they admit me in your school?  I want to join your school".  She was not prepared for this question.  She thought for a moment and then confidently said, "Yes, they will admit you when you become small like me".  She had probably heard elders telling her that she would be entitled to certain things when she grows up.  Just as she gets certain things when she gets older, admission in her school should be possible when older people grow small!

The latest instance is one in which I was not personally present, but told to me by a young mother about her son who is not yet four years old.  She was driving her car with her son and mother-in-law.  As she was negotiating a turn in busy traffic, the boy said "Mom, there is some smell here".  She was surprised and told him that the smell may be outside on the road.  A minute later he again told her "Mom, the smell is increasing".  She was concentrating on traffic and a minute later she also felt there was some burning smell.  When she checked carefully she found that the smell was coming from the Air Conditioner in the car and now the smoke was coming thick and fast.  She parked the car on the side and got out of the car with all the documents and important stuff in the car.  Mother-in-law had also got out of the car with the boy.  Just as they got out of the car, the car caught fire and there were flames on the front seat and dashboard.  The boy immediately told his mother, "Oh, there is a fire in the car.  Call 101 and ask the Fire Brigade to come".  There were some construction workers nearby and they put out the fire by throwing water brought in pots used at the construction site.  He had a question for his mother, "Why are they bringing water in the pots?  Where is the hose? They have to use hose for directing the water".  A couple of policemen arrived on the scene in a few minutes.  He had one more question now.  "They do not look like fire fighters.  They look like police. Are not they?".  It seems the children were taken to a Fire Station by the school teacher some time back.  He had put into practice whatever he had learnt during that visit here, and more importantly, without panicking and showing remarkable presence of mind.

Scientists say that the first few years of a child go by very quickly and advise parents to touch, talk, read, smile, sing, count and play with the child as it helps in the child's development.  May be it helps adults even more, by making them learn much more with the additional incentive of unlimited joy of watching their children grow.