Childhood is the most penned stage of human life, It is a favourite subject of most of the writers and moviemakers... Why? I t may be because, the feelings and mannerisms of a child is innocent as they have n't seen the corrupt and dark face of the world....
I am a member of a big family...Big means, in my city, we have some relations with all other families... I love visiting the rural areas of Trivandrum, especially, the place where our Family Temple is situated. We now live in a much polluted urban area of the city. So the picteresque locations, small hills and streams fascinated me very much. But the main attraction, for me, is the deep and natural love of my family members, especially my Grand grandparents'. I was awestruck by the way my Grandparents and Parents were treated by their cousins. I could n't help smiling when they shared their old school days and their games.I could n't believe that cousins can be this much close. I understood that there are people who are not like machines....
I too have cousins. When we were in small classes we were so close. We waited for the vaccation eagerly and planned our programmes well in advance. We used to make a list of games and I being the lonely one used to carry all my toys with me. And once we are together, without even wasting a single minute, we would start our activities. We were close... We had no competions between us.
But as the years went by, I could see the bridge that was being built between us. We slowly started asking our marks... That was the beginning. If my sister scord 98, I wanted atleast 98.5. Then came the number of prizez. Next was the comparison of our beauties..... All these flamed our egoes. And it was complete when we started comparing the salaries of our parents.... Ofcource, I am also a culprit. These egoes were there in my mind too.
But I wonder, why this didn't happen to my grandparents? The fast moving world, changing lifestyles, increasing competitions- all these may be blamed. But it is really unfortunate that due to materialistic feelings, the present generation (including me ) is ready to break their family ties. Even now, when we meet, my cousins try to be friendly with me and vice versa. But that blanket of love- that intense, deep and warm love has undoubtebly vanished...........maybe forever..
