Being Passion Inspired

"Do you even know math?", quipped sonny to his dad in the most sarcastic tone and body language. This came in just moments after a discussion they had about how difficult it is to build trust and how easily it can be broken. So naturally, Daddy lost it!   So, what does math have to do with trust?   Back after a refreshing morning walk, he saw his son finishing his exercise routine in a tiny 15 sqft. space next to his bed. Noticing him comfortably placed under the fan, lying on his side and doing his leg raises, the father asked him why he was cramming in that space, in the presence of a 3000 sqft. open terrace! "Mommy doesn’t trust my workout, when I am out of her sight doing it in the terrace!", said sonny and continued to justify it further with, "I am doing it here so she can see me in action and that will help me win her trust back".    It was funny, but his will to regain her trust is likable. "You aren’t going to get the real benefit of exercisi...

"Can you narrate your research finding instead of reading out from your mobile?", I quipped. I did this as soon as my mid-teen daughter started reading out the Google search definition of 'cloudburst'. My witty and quick remark did not go down well as it led to an outburst. It was her turn to tell a story in the storytime ritual, which we started during the COVID lockdown. There was a cloudburst the previous day in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh, in India, that had caused a lot of casuality, of both life and property. So, I asked her "to do some research" about cloudburst and "narrate her finding" in the storytime. And, I instructed my son to help her with her reseach. Idea was for all of us to learn something about nature as part of our storytime ritual.  Being a child who follows instructions to the T, she did exactly that. But, she focused more on the "research" part than the "narrate" part of my ask. She, apparently, spe...

"It was the idea of his great grandchildren", said the greiving son who had recently lost his father. I learnt from him that his father lived to 94 years and was active and happy till the end. All guests who came for the condolence prayer meet received a fridge magnet. It had the old man's picture and the following text, "An inheritance is what you leave with people, a legacy is what you leave in them".   It was quite obvious that the old man had left a deep and lasting impact on his family. The impact was felt and I could not stop but admire the creativity of those young minds to design the souvenir. It also made me think what would be the legacy I would be remembered for! 

"That's not possible. Why are you guys wasting your time watching this?", poked my wife who had a religious upbringing. "Ma, just watch. It is fiction and about superheros. Just enjoy the series", said my just turned teen son just as I expected he would! Thanks to the pandemic we had taken up watching webseries on Amazon Prime OTT as a family. The latest in that was "The Flash", a fictional superhero who is portrayed as the fastest man on a parallel Earth". He saves the Capital City from other dangerous meta-humans. Meta-humans are characters with supernatural powers who got created as a result of a, construed, explosion of a particle accelerator (super machine) designed for time travel experiement. My digital native teenage children were absulutely in awe with the possibility and the concept of The Flash. While my son admired the superhero his elder sister liked the script and characters! Both, for a change, teamed up to support the science behin...

"Well, the walk-to-time ratio was low, so I asked her to pay less", said my teen daughter very casually. She opted for Economics in high school and I was glad to see her apply it in real life even before she left school. Atleast the lingo!  A fornight back my daughter responded to a SOS call by a neighbour for help. It was to take their old ShihTzu for its night walk. I came to know after a few days that the neighbour decided to give my daughter some pocket money for the service. Although the teen was not keen, she accepted when the neighbour insisted. I believe they settled for ₹75 for every walk night.Cool deal! It was payday and my daughter informed me that I would be receiving ₹500, in my GooglePay Account, from that neighbour. I was curious as the sum did not add up. When I enquired, she said the amount was for 10 night walks and she asked the neighbour to reduce the money to ₹50. Now, I was even more curious. "That is nice of you my dear, but what made you to ask h...

"Will you eat a plate of papaya fruit to prove it?", I asked my 11 year old son on our walk back from his treat at McDonalds. The kinetic energy from his anger powered his tired legs to accelerate towards the hotel we were put up in Coimbatore. He absolutely hates papaya fruit!  It was 6 months into the great lockdown in 2020 and we were all suffocated indoors. When my neighbour said she was driving to  Nilgiris to visit her ailing mother, I jumped at the opportunity and accompanied her. I had some work in Coimbatore and thanks to the homeschooling year, I packed my son too!  We had a wonderful 5 days together and did some cool things. My son was exploring his other interests as the COVID19 lockdown had virtually put a stop to his passion; football. He developed a keen interest in eSports, like million other kids of his age. So much so, he wanted to quit football. A passion for which we had made a joint decision to discontinue main school and pursue homeschooling.  I...