Rashmi's Space

Simi was running late. School would let out in ten minutes and she was nowhere near it yet! She was drumming her fingers on the steering wheel praying for the signal to change soon when her phone rang. It was her Dad. That surprised her; as her parents knew most of her schedule and this wasn’t their usual time to call. But even before Simi could decide whether she should pick up the call, the signal changed. Later that day, after Simi had picked up her son, ran a couple of errands and taken a scheduled client call; she was just about to settle down on the couch with a cool glass of water when her phone pinged. On checking it, she was surprised to see five missed calls and several WhatsApp messages, all from her Dad! Worried and hoping that everything was alright with her parents, Simi called home. “Hi Dad, just saw your messages and your missed calls, everything alright?” she asked as soon as his phone was picked up. “Yes, yes, everything is alright. I just wanted ...

“Whoa! Did you see that?” the little one screamed, astonished! “Hmmm,” “Dad! Check this out! Quick, its going to disappear, Dad!” “Oh wow! Yeah, hmmm,” (without looking) And then there is silence. Wondering what’s going on? Ok, let me give you the complete picture: This story is about a father and his son. The father is a promising young go getter climbing the corporate ladder; and because he hardly gets any time to spend with his little one through the week, he has brought his son to the park on a weekend. The child, delighted as he is to spend time with Dad, has spotted a squirrel scurrying to a tree to stash the nuts that it is holding in its tiny hands. The squirrel is running away fast and the boy urges his father to look at this amazing sight! His father though, is busy texting on his smartphone. He answers in monosyllables, and actually fakes it when he says “wow!” without even looking up from his phone. He thinks he has gotten away with it and ...

"Mom! Can I please download a game, mom? Please!!??" I am on a bus and I hear a child ask his harried mother this question. The mother, who is working furiously on her iPad,  is only too happy to let the child choose a game and downloads one for him. A few minutes into the game, the child is bored. "I am bored of this game, mom! Lets download another?!".....sound familiar? Most parents can relate to the above incident, and those who don't are either not parents yet or are blessed with children who know better ;-) We hear children as young as three, four and five years of age, keen on (and surprisingly, even knowing how to!) download games on their parents' smartphones and tablets or iPads. Though, as youngsters ourselves, even we were fascinated by video games and computer games and even agreeing that it is natural, it is still a bit of a concern that our children, very young children, are caught in the lure of these games. But if you ask me, the que...