Santa Claus Concept

One of the biggest lies that is told to the little ones in the whole world must be about Santa Claus.  But it is also one of the cutest and sweetest one.  Children really look forward to the gifts that Santa would bring for them.  The carols sung during the Christmas time convey so many lessons for the kids to pick up.  The best carol ever in this regard that we were taught to sing in the school by none other than our beloved Anoop Ambrose Sir, Robert Sir and Ralf Sir was :

"Hey you better watch out

You better not pout

You better not cry

I'm telling you why

Santa Claus is coming today.

He sees you when you are sleeping

He knows when you are awake

He knows if you been bad or good

So be good for goodness sake."

The first stanza prepares the ground by warning the child that it will be futile on his part to unnecessarily pout or cry because Santa won't like to see him doing so.

So if one wants Santa to bring for him, his desired gift he needs to better follow the instructions and stay happy.

In the second stanza I remember when I used to sing it in class III way back in 1973 - 74 I used to understand the fact that the writer of the carol has been clever to let us (the kids) know that Santa comes down to see us when we are asleep and knows when we are 'awake'.  So this way no question rises that why we can't see Santa.

The writer further also tells us that like a super magician Santa knows whether we have been bad or good throughout the year.  Because of this we as kids would surely try to follow all good habits in order to impress him.

I feel this one lie must have helped millions of kids in the entire world to follow the right path.  Why can't people of different faiths follow the same technique with their own kids by using their won Gods and characters ?

S.S. Thaper

01.08.2018

Giving up on Milk Bottle by Babies

When Lying is Good !

Giving up of Milk Bottle by my Daughter :

As every other child my daughter Navleen Kaur too at the age of around 2 and a half years loved her milk bottle and was reluctant to give it up.

My wife Rina and me had to do little bit of planning so as to get her give up her milk bottle.

Once when we had gone to the NTPC Hospital Jamnipali I had requested one of my friends (I'm unable to recall his name) who was working as a Pharmacist in the hospital to ask us to submit the milk bottle when we would go to him to get the medicines in the presence of my daughter.

So when he did so he specifically conveyed to Navleen Kaur that she needs to submit the milk bottle next time to which she had agreed. When we went to the hospital next we remembered to carry all her milk bottles in a bag and had pretended at the medicine counter that they were submitted.

From that day onwards she never demanded to drink milk from the bottle. 

Thankfully in those days online shopping wasn't as rampant as these days.  Else I'm sure at around 2.5 or 3 she would have suggested to order for the milk bottle through Amazon or Flipcart !

Sukhwnat Singh Thaper

31.07.18

Advantages of living with parents even after crossing 50s

1.      Feeling of being a child still prevails.

2.      We still can call out 'Mummy', 'Papa'.

3.      We always have someone at home.  We don't have to lock or open the house.

4.      We remain perfectly disciplined when we go on outings with our parents.

5.      We can keep visiting the past and relish all the good things and also talk about bad experiences which really help to make the bonds stronger and also make us strong.

6.      We remain health conscious.

7.      Parents take care of the garden as well as the pets.

8.      We can rely upon their rich and vast experience at any given point of time.

9.      They are rich source of spiritualism.

10.  They prove to be an excellent link to connect us with our own children (their grand children).  They convey to them episodes from our lives which we may not even think of sharing.

S.S. Thaper

03.07.2018

Eat well or Granny will become ill

Bharti Mam conveyed that as her younger daughter, who is in class VII was not into eating properly, her mother had told her a fake story of having met a sadhu in the market who had asked her, "I think you have a grand daughter who is not eating properly ?"  To which she had to say, "Yes". 

The sadhu said, "If your grand daughter continues to do so then very soon you will fall sick and then pass away."

This scared her daughter so much that out of her real love and concern for her grandmother she started eating well.  Such fake stories at times if they can solve our little but important problems are not bad.  Later of course when the child will grow up she will love her grand mother all the more for telling her a tall tale.

S.S. Thaper

31.07.2019

Drinking water and thanking God, Before Sleeping in the Night

I can recall the time when my sister Manjeet Kaur and I were very young. Our youngest Mamaji,  Inder Singh Lamba, had come over to our place in Jeypore Odisha.

One night before going to sleep he had narrated a story to us about why it's important to drink water and thank God before we go to sleep.  He had told us that if we go to sleep without drinking water then our soul may go out of the body in search of water.  At home naturally the only place where the soul would go was the kitchen area.  Those days drinking water used to be stored in earthen pots or copper vessels with a cover on top.  The soul would open the cover and get into the pot or vessel to quench its thirst. 

He had said that it was important for the soul to return into the body in a stipulated period of time, say 5 to 10 minutes.  If it would fail to do so then next morning the person would be found dead.  Now normally, he had assured that, the soul would return to the body after quenching its thirst.  But by chance if someone else also happens to go to the pot to drink the water at the same time and then covers he pot with the plate then the poor soul wouldn't be able to escape the pot and return to the body.

This narration hade my sister and I so scared that till date we are in the habit of not only drinking water before hitting the bad but have also developed the habit of keeping small filled water bottles around our pillows so that in case thirst wakes us up we will have water around us to quench our thirst.

Though the story of the soul going out of the body was a fake one it has helped us to develop a good habit to drink water and thank God before sleeping which is good for both our health and the soul.

S.S. Thaper

31.07.2018