After completing a considerably long period of my life serving as a teacher, if someone asks me what is the difference between the gone generation kids and the present generation kids, my answer will be 'nothing too much'. For me, it is true, though there are many differences if we try to find out more specifically- they are more creative, technically more aware still lacks some sort of discipline and sensitivity etc, etc. Even these findings are true to some extent, in the inner core they are kids, the children without much anxiety, but still anxious to know about the things in his/her own way, full of imagination, without much inhibitions to speak out or do the things.
In the initial years of my career, I really found it difficult to deal with small kids and really felt the language they speak is alien to me, the things they do are strange to me,.....But once I accepted them as an integral part of my life, things started to change in the best possible way. Now, I can understand their words without even spoken, read their emotions from their eyes, get into their level of imagination which is quite hard at first.... from there I started to love myself as a teacher.
Once while walking along the main road in Kalpetta with my kids, they came into my notice-a couple with two cute boys. They were travellers from a foreign country, which I don't know. It was a festival season, some ceremony was going on in the Mariyamman Temple. A lot of people were there in the town, actually, people from nearby villages were there to attend the festivities. The ambience was full of loud noises, colourful balloons, toys, sweets and lots and lots of people. The local people, most of them were from the tribal communities, were really enjoying the colours and sounds.
As we were walking along the crowded footpath, we met the same family again, this time both the boys were having small toy cars with them. the locally made, cheap but colourful ones. Their parents were talking with someone and the boys were engaged with their toy cars and they were riding their cards on the imaginary road which was built on their bellies....
Looking at them I felt. The universal quality of INNOCENCE which we attribute to children still exists. The boys from a different continent, hailing from a rather high economical background think and act like the boys we see in our small villages. No compulsions, no inhibitions. They were cool and comfortable.
Children are always children, they think almost in the same way, unless and until the elders intervene in their thoughts and actions.
