THE CHINESE WHISPERS
When our
little-ones get bored during their two-hour PD sessions, they want something to
light-up their hearts... Some short movie, some songs-videos which can make
them dance, some quiz, riddles or jokes and, mostly, some games.
Because I want them to become leaders, overcome their shyness, I
always encourage them to come out with their own stress-buster ideas. Believe
me, they come out with plenty... It's always games galore... Right from Dumb-charades to Chinese Whispers.
They enjoy.... I, too.
Last afternoon,
while they were playing 'Chinese Whispers', I wondered if they knew
that's how almost all of us went about communicating in our daily lives. There
were about twenty-five of those little ones, all below age 13. The little
lady in the first bench here whispered something into the
little-fellow's ears, next to her. The message
got transmitted from ear to ear till it reached the last
brat's ears there on the other side of the room. It was time for 'breaking' the
news.... "Kareena hated Katrina," announced the brat with a grin.
"What?" the lady who first planted the news exclaimed, "It was
'A dull Saturday'! "
The room had turned into a zoo, by
now... each one was trying to tell what he had heard from the other!
Well, there is nothing 'Chinese' about this game...
that is played by kids all over the world... And, kids we all are, you see! We
get our news and messages like this way - from the grapevine... through the
broken telephone wires... We hear only what our eardrums filter... We pass only
what our lips wish to whisper...
We rarely bother to check the 'truth'...
Who
cares... It's fun, anyway!
But, at the end of the day, the
kids were happy, full of laughter... It was a dull Saturday... till someone broke the sensational news that Kareena hated Katrina!
Who cares, who hates whom... as long
as one is able to laugh it out, and loud... and, laugh even more because that's
how we go about our daily communication...
The Chinese must be laughing at us - we fools!
GERALD D'CUNHA
Pic.: Malabika Ganguly
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