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Climb Every Mountain And Use Your Wi-fi

Discussion in 'Cheeniya's Senile Ramblings' started by Cheeniya, May 12, 2017.

  1. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    Chennai is in the midst of the gruelling heat of summer. People avoid going out during the hottest part of the day and the streets look deserted. At my age, I avoid going out during the day even if the weather is kind. Today has been an unusually hot day and I just switched on the AC and stuck myself in like it was a cocoon. I just switched on my computer to listen to some music and I chanced upon this song from Sound of Music:

    Climb every mountain,
    Ford every stream,
    Follow every rainbow,
    Till you find your dream

    A dream that will need
    All the love you can give,
    Every day of your life,
    For as long as you live.

    I first listened to this song a few decades back and I didn’t give it much attention then. I just dismissed it as yet another church song but listening to it today stirred my heart. It brought to my mind the powerful oration and writings of Abdul Kalam to keep dreaming and I was struck by the similarity of thoughts. I remembered someone telling me that dreaming lifted you to a sublime level but day dreaming just destroyed you!


    When I was just out of college, my mother wanted me to become an IAS officer like my elder brother. My father who was working in a Bank wanted me to become a Bank officer. I was for a while preparing for the IAS exam and in one of the model English papers there was a question on Nursery rhymes and their significance and that was the end of my desire to become a Government officer. I suddenly remembered that question on Nursery rhymes today and I searched the web for some information on Nursery Rhymes. This was what I found about ‘Ba, Ba, Black sheep’:

    “Aw, how sweet -- a talking sheep with enough wool for everyone! Talking, generous animals must be the most appropriate fodder for children’s literature yet. Of course, there are some unpleasant theories as to the meaning of this rhyme. Perhaps the most convincing is that it dates back to feudal times and the institution of a harsh tax on wool in England. One-third would be taken for the king and nobility, and one-third for the church, leaving little for the farmers. Some early versions evenend with “But none for the little boy / Who cries down the lane,” emphasizing the apparent complaint about the demands of the “master” and the “dame.”

    Similar explanations were given for every conceivable Nursery Rhyme!


    I was just thinking of the Tamil rhyme in which the mother pleads with the moon to come running without stopping anywhere and climbing mountains if needed to bring jasmines for her child. My mother used to sing to her younger sister’s son about the making of Dosa and what struck me as most significant was the sharing pattern of dosas! It gave four for the father, three for the brother, two for the sister and one for the child and that they would all sit together and eat them with ghee and sugar in joyful unity! It was how subtle messages of harmonious living were imparted to the children.


    I do not have to tell you about modern children’s addiction to cell phones and computers. If a child gets a little difficult to handle, the mother dumps a cell phone with the kid and it becomes instantly quiet. I have seen houses where each child is confined to its own corner engrossed in a cell phone. They hardly converse with each other unless it is to share a ‘good one’ with other children. That’s about the only time that they talk to each other! I have no doubt that new rhymes to suit their high tech life will follow. ‘Cell phone, cell phone, have you any jokes?’ will replace the Black sheep rhyme! They will have no time to climb every mountain!


    upload_2017-5-12_13-45-44.png upload_2017-5-12_13-46-2.png
     
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  2. Suja9

    Suja9 Silver IL'ite

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    Nice post Cheeniya Sir. The cartoons sums it up very well.!! :)
     
  3. ojaantrik

    ojaantrik IL Hall of Fame

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    Hello Cheeniya,

    I half-read a news item today that coffee joints are being visited by couples who don't chat with one another anymore. Instead, they concentrate on their cellphones. The only way to make them converse is to remove wifi facilities from the shops. Ambani notwithstanding. I know this is not much of an fb. But you asked me to be short. I am pretty bad when you ask me to be careful about length.
    oj
     
  4. PushpavalliSrinivasan

    PushpavalliSrinivasan IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Mr Cheeniya,
    Only parents or grandparents are to be blamed for giving children cell phone and I pad.
    As soon as our s-I-L comes home our one year and eight months old ggd would ask for his phone. Of course she has learnt lot of rhymes and with action she will sing the rhymes perfectly. But she also likes to play hide and seek with her ggf.

    During our childhood we had only radio at home as TV also came very late.

    As I sit in the balcony in the evenings, I see peope are walking and talking on cell phone on the road.

    Change is the law of Universe that is constant.

    PS
     
    Last edited: May 12, 2017
  5. shyamala1234

    shyamala1234 Platinum IL'ite

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    Dear Cheeniya sir,
    Present day scenario.....youngsters do not dream as said in Sound of music. They just want, at least most of them want to study what makes them earn more money or which would land them in America (now the scene may be a bit different) . They do not think much also. Cell phone or smart phone is playing a dominant role in their lives. Dominant is a simple word...addiction is the right word. Not only for children for their moms and dads also. I see in Ramakrishna Math, Hyderabad. There is a School of languages and students have to off the mobile and is compulsory. After the 2 hour class when everyone comes out they breathe oxygen which is deprived for two hours .
    Nursery rhymes...I never knew that they have so much of inner meaning. Thought it is only to teach children pronunciation and rhyming words. Or parents can ask their child to recite them in front of guests or visitors how cute their child can recite! 3 or 4 year kid cannot understand and neither their teachers can understand.
    First this deaddiction of mobiles or any screen should start from parents. They do not know what they are missing!
    Good one. I enjoyed reading it.
    Syamala
     
  6. LakshmiKMBhat

    LakshmiKMBhat Gold IL'ite

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  7. jayasala42

    jayasala42 IL Hall of Fame

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    Sometime back there was an advt in TV.the lady is in labour Room.The child refuses to come out.A distinct voice is heard.It asks for a promise from the mother that she wiil bring WIFI connection.When the mother nods,the child comes out.We can't go back to bullock-cart age.We have to live in this changing world, however much we dislike.
    jayasala 42
     
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  8. Anusowmyan

    Anusowmyan Gold IL'ite

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    when we enjoy the benefits of advancements, then we need to bear with this too. what to do? no other go.........
     
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  9. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    @Suja9
    Dear Suja
    Good to hear you say say that it's a nice post! Of the two cartoons that I have posted, I do not like the one on the left. It is what is taking a joke too far! The one on the right is not a joke. It is the stark really! Quite a few fatal accidents in Chennai are caused by people walking in busy roads while engaged in animated conversations on phones.
    Sri
     
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  10. Cheeniya

    Cheeniya Super Moderator Staff Member IL Hall of Fame

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    @ojaantrik
    Of course that was not much of an FB! Merely because I made a statement about my difficulty in reading long posts or FBs, you have been targeting me with your one line replies! This is unfair. I only said I find it difficult to read long posts but it was not an embargo! I love reading you, long or short! Coming to WiFi, whether it is a boon or bane can be answered only when the kids of today grow up. Till then let's keep our fingers crossed!
    Sri
     
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