THE TIMES HAVE CHANGED... AND, THE GAMES, TOO







Pic.: Ashok Ahuja

There was a big smile on my face, a while ago, when I saw what a 14-year-old had shared on FB:
 
‘MOST OF THE STUDENTS GET LOW MARKS’, it said in big-bold letters at the top. 
At the bottom, it said, in big-bold letters, again, this: 

 ‘BECAUSE OF THIS MARK’!


Yes, in between stood a smiling, curly-haired boy – Mark Zuckerberg!


Well, Zuckerberg was smiling, perhaps, knowing well how kids, and even little babies, got on board his bullet-train – Facebook – ticket-less!


This little lady – who will be giving her SSC Board-Exams coming March – is very busy: I have lost the count of the requests she has sent me to play, of all the games in the world, this: ‘Find Your Secret Crush’!


Ma’am, I have taught you ‘Personality Development’…  You know I will be 57 next July… You know my son might get married in a few years from now (Hope, he doesn't read this Post!)… And, you want me to find out, who is my secret crush?


Anyway, sweetheart, you make me feel very young. Thank-you so much!


And, this young-lady, who is in eleventh-standard, is busy, too: She has been relentlessly sending me requests to play – ‘Diamond Digger Saga’!


Incidentally, I have taught this madam, too, ‘Personality Development'!  “Dig deep ma’am, dig deep. But, dig deep right under your own feet, rather, right inside your own heart.  That’s the old saga of ‘Acres of Diamonds’ I have narrated to you, much before you started digging for it here… on FB!


And look at these uncles and aunts, dads and moms, grandpas and grandmas… They are busy, too. Open your account, and behold, their requests are waiting for you, from dawn to dusk, to play -  what even  Gods must’ve been smitten with – ‘Candy Crush Saga’!


Some – many of them are teachers like me; many of them are doctors, advocates, engineers, architects, businessmen, counselors and you name-it-he-or-she-is-there – are curious to check how and when he or she will ‘die’!


Seriously, why on earth, one wants to know that? I can understand, if one is curious to know when and how he or she will marry etc. Yes, Linda Goodman was so sweet for us… She made ‘horoscope’ famous, not ‘horrorscope’!


I remember, a year ago, one of my dear students, who was doing her MBA, had shared her ‘death status’. Her fast friend wrote furiously: “Have you lost your senses?”


“Nahin re,” the young-smart-lady pacified her angry-friend, “Just some T.P!”


“What else can it be?” I smiled.


Likewise, I hear those uncles and aunts, dads and moms, grandpas and grandmas – and not to forget our little-ones and young-ones – saying:


“Nahin re… Just bored!”


The times have changed; and, the games, too… But, one thing has not changed at all: we all want something to ‘kill’ our time… some T.P. to beat our boredom…


Call it an ‘escape route’, if you like…



GERLAD D’CUNHA



Comments

Lalit said…
TOO GOOD GERRY. APT! - Lalit
October 17, 2014 at 9:36 PM
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