Here is the thing.
Well, Sachin was having a sleep-over at our house in Deep River on Friday 04 October 2019 while his parents and Sitara scooted off to Ottawa – as Sitara was attending/visiting the Carleton University Faculty of Engineering and Design next day on Saturday.
We had fun night enjoying the company of our 10 year old grandson (Sachin) , enjoyed with him a game of Monopoly while watching the Indian TV program called ” Kaun Benega Crorepatti ” in Hindi — which translates to ” Who will become a millionaire “. He was well behaved , focused and keen in his game as well as following the TV program (with English captions given) . He quietly went to sleep at around 10.30 pm .
Next morning ( on Saturday ) he got up , freshened up and had his breakfast – without any adult interference or help. He knows where to find his daily needs at his nana/nani place.
What impressed me about him is that right on time – like being on cue – he disengaged himself from his favourite TV show at 11.00 am and started getting ready for his ice hockey practice . He put on all necessary clothing for skating , pads & other gears including securing it with tapes where necessary.
So we trotted off to the Deep River Arena at about 11.10 am – him pulling his big bag (with skates, helmet , gloves & other skating gears) out of the house . He loaded the bag on to the car – saying to his nana that he can handle all that. Of course his nana helped carrying his Hockey stick and water bottle
At arena, he pulled the bag into the arena building and found the room where he is supposed to put his skates on and get ready for his practice game. Well finally he started getting ready -all by himself – not giving his nana any grief . However , he did get stalled when trying to put and tying his skates on. He had realized that though his nana tried to help him tie the skates but really cannot as there was the need for pushing the skate flaps under the protection pads and then tying the lace tight. His nana had never done that. However, as always there are good people around so his nana asked a young man ( who I guess was a skating coach ) to help out . He did so and had skates on properly . After that he handled himself and put on other gears such as his helmet and gloves before getting on the ice.
When the practice was over – Sachin was in the change room and by himself removed his skates, gloves , clothing etc and put these well in the big carry bag and hauled that to the car and loaded it onto the car by himself. All so relaxed and without any stress. Nana was really impressed by his independence and responsible behaviour.
Now compare the above story to another 10 year old boy many moons ago. This boy had gone on vacation (during school break) to his nana/nani home in Thika from Mombasa . It was exciting visit but the young man had not much to do in those days. One day he wondered off away from main area of residence to a store room – all by himself as quietly as he can. There he sneaked into items in the store room – just being curious or being naughty !. There he found a pair of scissors . Well what one do with a pair of with a scissors. The young man became creative and what he did was interesting. Luckily he did not cut or damage any of his nana/nani stuff. But he did was rather funny yet not very responsible. He cut his hair on his head – trying to be a barber . He felt so happy and thinking he achieved something .
He then came out of the store area and come over to the main residence and his younger uncle ( ShantiMama ) saw him – he must have had a great laugh The younger boy looking ridiculous .
However, ShantiMama was concerned – so he took the young boy to a real barber in town -to at least trim the hair as best as can be . That’s the end of the story.
Who was that young 10-year old boy many moons ago in Thika. Of course that boy was Sachin’s nana (that is of course me) – who was kind of a bit naughty or adventurous without much thinking . In those days , kids had not much planned structured activities and not much responsibilities except to play and find activities – self made -to pass time.
What a change one can see in two generations !