It's amazing how kids are a lot more camera friendly today than they perhaps were. or shall i say, than WE perhaps were. I was always a conceited lil brat, even in my younger days, but i do remember some of my classmates shying away on that sacred class photo day. While some of us were engaged in the all important battle to be in the front row, most weren't too amused by this annual ritual. Although now when i say the words "smile" to my four year old niece in simla.. i get a strut, a pose, a smile missing two front teeth... that's held for just as long as it takes me to click.. and then almost instantly that broad smile has disappeared! It's all for the cameras.. heck its ONLY for the cameras!
In her younger days, we'd fool her. say smile- camera.. click with our bare hands.. but unfortunately for us, kids gets smarter a wee bit faster than you'd probably like them to. THIS they understand. The fact that, when the small hand reaches 8 and the big one- 12 ..its time to sleep is most conveniently dismissed as "way too complicated!".
A trick that most adults have perfected as well. I remember learning in college, the phrase selective hearing, the kind we engage in .. when we want to avoid that glass of milk mum's going on and on about from the kitchen. It's the kind we engage in, when we anticipate our "special someone" talking about things that may end up in a fight and worse spoil a good night of love making. And more importantly its the kind most bosses engage in.. during those appraisal meetings when your faults are in the foreground.. and your achivements.. are.. pretty much what the small and the long hand of the clock are to my lil niece!
The trick , as one slowly discovers.. is to say the stuff that people want to hear first.. and then very quickly .. before they can go into the selective hearing mode.. say the harsh truths they want to avoid.
p ;)
first published:January 14, 2007, 23:35 ISTlast updated:January 14, 2007, 23:35 IST
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I was in full force, trying to do a 'hindi chini bhai bhai' dance on Christmas eve in Singapore. trying to make some singapore- chinese dance to "kajrare". Of course the fact that everyone from the grandmother in the family to the teenage daughter had a fascination for the big b made my job simpler..... all but one member of the chini family remained largely unimpressed with me. Until of course i said "camera" and there i got a full blown chinese smile..... ! Somethings .. they all understand!
It's amazing how kids are a lot more camera friendly today than they perhaps were. or shall i say, than WE perhaps were. I was always a conceited lil brat, even in my younger days, but i do remember some of my classmates shying away on that sacred class photo day. While some of us were engaged in the all important battle to be in the front row, most weren't too amused by this annual ritual. Although now when i say the words "smile" to my four year old niece in simla.. i get a strut, a pose, a smile missing two front teeth... that's held for just as long as it takes me to click.. and then almost instantly that broad smile has disappeared! It's all for the cameras.. heck its ONLY for the cameras!
In her younger days, we'd fool her. say smile- camera.. click with our bare hands.. but unfortunately for us, kids gets smarter a wee bit faster than you'd probably like them to. THIS they understand. The fact that, when the small hand reaches 8 and the big one- 12 ..its time to sleep is most conveniently dismissed as "way too complicated!".
A trick that most adults have perfected as well. I remember learning in college, the phrase selective hearing, the kind we engage in .. when we want to avoid that glass of milk mum's going on and on about from the kitchen. It's the kind we engage in, when we anticipate our "special someone" talking about things that may end up in a fight and worse spoil a good night of love making. And more importantly its the kind most bosses engage in.. during those appraisal meetings when your faults are in the foreground.. and your achivements.. are.. pretty much what the small and the long hand of the clock are to my lil niece!
The trick , as one slowly discovers.. is to say the stuff that people want to hear first.. and then very quickly .. before they can go into the selective hearing mode.. say the harsh truths they want to avoid.
p ;)
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