once upon a time, in a land far away, lived a little girl... ok, ok.. i admit that was a bit too much... well, it was actually sometime in the late 80's, and the land was india...
there lived a little girl though, whom this story happens to be all about... like most other little girls, she grew up on a diet of fairy tales and fantasy...
one day she had gone over to the neighbour's house to play, and her playmate's little brother was busy with a colouring book. the story reaches a crucial point now, when the boy, deciding he needed assistance, asked our little girl what colour he should use for a suitcase in one of the colouring book pages.
maybe the girl gave it some thought, maybe she didnt. (it was a long time ago, remember ? the itty bitty details are forgotten.) what matters, is that she told him, "blue" . yes, blue, for a suitcase. it doesnt seem like such an outrageous idea now, but it was the 80s and it was india. suitcases came in black, brown, or maybe, grey. off-beat colours werent so common. (especially among the middle class indian traveller whose primary reason for travel was still pilgrimage !)
when the parents of the boy looked at the colouring book sometime later, they thought the idea of a bright blue suitcase implausible. maybe even impossible. whatever it was, they lost no time in teasing and making fun of the little girl and her idea. despite the girl insisting that it wasnt such a bad idea, and maybe she had even seen them somewhere. anyway, the family for whatever reason found it to be amusing, and got a real kick out of making fun of the poor girl and her idea.
fast forward more than two decades later. much water had flown under the bridge. luggage came not just in blue or green, but pink and purple. with polka dots and animal prints and houndstooth. with cartoon characters. practically any colour you wanted. the little girl (who was not so little now) crossed the seas and spent hours sitting around and people-watching in airports in different countries, different continents. and boy, did she see a sea of luggage in every colour imaginable... and her thoughts often went back to that incident, and that family, which for some reason lingered on in her memory despite the years.
moral of the story : never make fun of a child's creativity.
never ridicule a child's idea, just because it seems funny to you. you never know.
dont belittle a child just because you have lost touch with the child in you.
and most importantly, if you cant say something nice, say nothing. zip.
update : when i wrote this post a year ago, the pics i had posted above was from a sale flyer dropped in our mailbox. (which i photo'ed, cropped and posted)
yesterday i had accompanied friends who were luggage shopping, and i couldnt help smiling to myself when i saw suitcases in the brightest possible colours - so took some pics so that i could add them here. (pics are mobile-camera quality though, and i'm no good at taking pics with a mobile.)
there lived a little girl though, whom this story happens to be all about... like most other little girls, she grew up on a diet of fairy tales and fantasy...
one day she had gone over to the neighbour's house to play, and her playmate's little brother was busy with a colouring book. the story reaches a crucial point now, when the boy, deciding he needed assistance, asked our little girl what colour he should use for a suitcase in one of the colouring book pages.
maybe the girl gave it some thought, maybe she didnt. (it was a long time ago, remember ? the itty bitty details are forgotten.) what matters, is that she told him, "blue" . yes, blue, for a suitcase. it doesnt seem like such an outrageous idea now, but it was the 80s and it was india. suitcases came in black, brown, or maybe, grey. off-beat colours werent so common. (especially among the middle class indian traveller whose primary reason for travel was still pilgrimage !)
when the parents of the boy looked at the colouring book sometime later, they thought the idea of a bright blue suitcase implausible. maybe even impossible. whatever it was, they lost no time in teasing and making fun of the little girl and her idea. despite the girl insisting that it wasnt such a bad idea, and maybe she had even seen them somewhere. anyway, the family for whatever reason found it to be amusing, and got a real kick out of making fun of the poor girl and her idea.
fast forward more than two decades later. much water had flown under the bridge. luggage came not just in blue or green, but pink and purple. with polka dots and animal prints and houndstooth. with cartoon characters. practically any colour you wanted. the little girl (who was not so little now) crossed the seas and spent hours sitting around and people-watching in airports in different countries, different continents. and boy, did she see a sea of luggage in every colour imaginable... and her thoughts often went back to that incident, and that family, which for some reason lingered on in her memory despite the years.
moral of the story : never make fun of a child's creativity.
never ridicule a child's idea, just because it seems funny to you. you never know.
dont belittle a child just because you have lost touch with the child in you.
and most importantly, if you cant say something nice, say nothing. zip.
update : when i wrote this post a year ago, the pics i had posted above was from a sale flyer dropped in our mailbox. (which i photo'ed, cropped and posted)
yesterday i had accompanied friends who were luggage shopping, and i couldnt help smiling to myself when i saw suitcases in the brightest possible colours - so took some pics so that i could add them here. (pics are mobile-camera quality though, and i'm no good at taking pics with a mobile.)
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