Glimpses of a Golden Childhood - 1

This lock down has taught many things to us Humans, especially Indians like me. Many people have been experiencing a variety of experiences according to their lifestyles & living conditions. 

Many a times, during the regular, normal days of the past, most of us must be thinking, "Only if I would have the time, I will, at leisure, pursue my hobbies like painting, dancing, singing". We longed for that free time at a stretch to pursue & fulfill our hobbies without any interference. Now, as everyone is having this free time at a stretch, many are actually pursuing their hobbies. Many are painting or drawing & uploading their work on whats app or facebook. All these days, I have been thinking. I should write more & more. But, some sort of thinking constantly gripped me & writing somehow seemed to have vanished out of my mind. 

Today, I just happened to catch hold of a book named "Glimpses of a Golden Childhood". I always used to feel that people who listen to OSHO are somehow related to the stubborn Hindu baba kind of thing. A totally useless thought. I had many encounters with people who are die hard fans of OSHO. He has an altogether separate & a huge fan following. My limited thinking always kept me away from what he thought, from what he told & what was written by him or on him. One of the biggest fan of OSHO is my husband. Although there are more than dozens of books on him, in my house & quiet an impressive photo of him printed, framed & hung on one of my rooms, I have always ignored this great & highly impressive personality. Till I got hold of this book. 

So, as I read this book, I will describe my incidences which I recollect, after I read his chapters, one after the other. In no way, the current post & the ones which come in the order that follow, are in any way my interpretations of what I have read. Its just that I kept recollecting some of my own incidences as I kept reading & some random thoughts that came along, that I am penning them down.

OSHO: Everybody talks of his golden childhood, but rarely, very rarely, is it true. Mostly it is a lie. But so many people are telling the same lie, that nobody detects it. Everybody says his childhood was golden, but it is not so. People only think their childhood was golden because their youth is rotten; then their old age is even more rotten".

I remember, I had just passed my 12th standard exams in the year 1997. That was probably the last long vacations I could have probably enjoyed. No tensions, whatsoever. God alone knew what the results would be. As at that time we never had any entrance exams to enter Medicine. The entry was based on the candidates score in either Physics, Chemistry, Maths (PCM) for Engineering OR Physics, Chemistry, Biology (PCB) for Medicine. My father always felt, I never put any efforts to score in my 12th standard board exams. So he suggested that I give Pre-medical test (PMT) to gain entry into medicine. He bought the necessary books & was constantly after me, day in & day out. He made me study the whole day, made me go through those books & spoiled the entire fun of the vacations.

Just two years prior to these 12th standard vacations, I got a similar long vacation after giving my 10th standard board exams. And at that time it was my mother, instead of my father. Learn cooking, learn this, learn that. Means, you cannot learn under tension neither can you perform. To learn & to display, you need peace. This I guess, my parents never understood.

Probably OSHO thought on similar lines. He said, "My Nani was ready to go to any length just to help me experience myself. The way to know is to experience for yourself; it is not be told. That's when parents become nauseating: they are continuously telling you".   

Real time experiences teach you. An experience will teach you to plan & to implement. Most of the planning & implementation is done by the parents on behalf of the child. Most of us, at least in India, implement the plans of our parents needs & dreams.

But after reciting my childhood incidences, after comprehending them till date, have I learnt anything? Probably no.

OSHO had pleasant memories of this grandparents who took care of him during his growing up years. He recollects, "My grandfather not only loved me but loved everything that I did. And I did everything that you could call a nuisance. I was a continuous nuisance. The whole day he had to listen to complaints about me, he always rejoiced in them. That is what is wonderful and beautiful about the man. He never punished me. He never even said a single word like, 'Do this', or 'Don't do that.' He simply allowed, absolutely allowed me to be myself".

I do not bother sometimes what my son does. He is in his own world, blissfully thinking something, reading something or playing something, till I realize, I have been missing him. During the COVID-19 pandemic lock down, my son's school has started online sessions. It is a new experience, for both the school administration as well as for the parents & their kids. So while these zoom sessions started, in the initial days, every kid started chatting in the side chat box. The admin put restrictions on the chat. You could only chat if you had to ask the teacher some doubt. In the quest of asking something to the teacher, my son typed a few words which was not clearly understood by the teacher. She thought that my son is acting mischievous & scolded him. One of Yuva's friend & her mother called me to complain about his behavior. (These mothers have all the time. I thought, as I am a working woman, I am extremely busy. But nowadays, I have realized, household work keeps you extremely busy too. It's a mystery, how these housewives have so much time to see & interpret what others are doing & also simultaneously complain to someone totally unrelated). So, on the third call of their's, I finally talked to Yuva. I repent not reading this book earlier. Had I known OSHO's Nana a bit earlier, I would have guarded my actions & my words.

So, the fun is just letting every person be the person who he or she actually is. Interference spoils this fun.

Readers, its been a long post. So, we meet next time, probably in a few days to come. With the part 2 of this series. With some more of my experiences.