Growing Up

As a child, I expected growing up to be a mere aging process

Not a rollercoaster as it is turning out to be.

Childhood heroes are not expected to be heroes forever.

I knew that they would lose a bit of their sheen.

But not lose it completely as many did.

Fairy tales were not supposed to become true.

But one did not expect reality to be so disconnected.

And turn out to be scary atrocious nightmares.

You have not grown up till you lose a few friends.

Said a wise person.

But I was not prepared to lose so many

Even when losing them turned out to be the best thing.

Your children are not your children.

They come through you yet not belong to you.

Wise counsel from Gibran.

Yet I was not prepared when my children had a life of their own.

In whose regular scheme of things, I did not often appear.

I used to laugh whenever my mother said

One day you will get old, have kids of your own then you will realize

Now that I have reached that age 
It is my mother who is laughing.

And I say the same to my children

Hoping I will get to laugh once again

Twenty years down the line.

You want unconditional love - go get a dog.

I wrote in one of my blogs.

This was true for five years.

Was I prepared for the day when I had to put him to sleep?

I wish I can say that I am still recovering.

Truth is I shall never.

Growing up appears to be a case of always looking forward to

School to college to job to money to marriage to children to property

Scooter to the car to a fancier car to a bike for show

Before long, you realize you are longingly looking back

At the carefreeness of childhood.

In the early stages, I was nursing an impression

That one had to be either emotional or strong.

Then life gently kicked you to remind

That one must be emotionally strong.

We may not save money, but we save time honey.

We have e-TESCO for groceries and Amazon for everything else.

The wise would invest it on books and train to become fitter.

But most opt for Facebook or opine on Twitter.

With a bit of clairvoyance

Zuckerberg could have named it Facepalm 😊

It was only Reader’s Digest & India Today that sent me

“Redeem now, Encash the prize, renew the subscription” offers by post.

In the face-off between the irresistible and the immovable

The latter usually won the contest.

Today’s digital world and data mining mean

The war of attrition is a loaded dice in their favor.

It breaks my heart to delete, each day, the missives

Of my well-wishers who offer me

Bride, hair, fortunes and better genitals.

Irrespective of how many emails I delete

They are there again the next day

Which often reminds me of

The myth of Sisyphus.

As much as the new life that I found on growing up

Disappointed it managed to surprise too

Not too infrequently.

The days of composing an epistle

Sending it by post and waiting interminably gave way to

Instant communications and live chats.

Psst.! 😊The technology can’t be blamed when I picked up a

Yellow sweater when my daughter wanted golden.

The best of the technology can’t still make

Men see more than a few basic colors 😊

Poor dad! Rest in peace.

Must have been such an ordeal planning holidays without

Booking.com, Airbnb, Tripadvisor, Cheapair, credit cards and car rentals

I do not know when I last handled money in physical form

Life without my debit card is on chloroform.