Laugh at Thyself!

This morning a bunch of small kids, all of them my eleven year old son’s friends trooped in to my house terribly excited about something. When asked, the oldest of them exclaimed to my son, “My Dad has bought a pup for me, Kevin we want you to have a look at it…it’s soooo cute.” You know how girls, especially the young make the cute part really sound cute. My son who never misses a chance to be out with friends got doubly excited in turn. Unable to contain his excitement he rushed out only to be told by his ever watchful mom to have his bath first. My son had just returned from his Karate class. The kids said they would wait till then. Not to let them feel bored, like a Good Samaritan I engaged in a polite conversation with them. “So, Varsha, feeling happy you got a pup?” The girl smiled charmingly saying, “Yes Uncle, my dad actually felt bad that we would be bored during the vacation as we are not planning to go anywhere and he thought a pup would be a good company for us.” A pup only to tackle the boredom of vacation ….Sounded a little strange to me. Animatedly, she went on to tell me the colour of the pup, the place where her dad got it from and finally asked me what to name him. I asked her in turn the same question. Another young kid in the bunch volunteered. “John.” I said, “Hey, that sounds cool, but isn’t that your father’s name too Varsha?” Before she could answer, the boy who suggested the name continued, “Yes Uncle…but don’t you think the dog would feel related to the family if it has the same name? That is why we thought of that name.” Although it sounded logical the name certainly didn’t impress me either for obvious reasons. During all this I did not forget to admire the patience of the kids, waiting to take their friend along despite the fact that the cynosure of their talk was elsewhere. My son finished his bath by then and all of them, as elated as before, hurriedly left the house. I could not believe that a small little thing as a pup would draw so much fun and excitement. I recollected a poem by Tagore I’d read long ago about how ‘small, insignificant' things of the adult world mean so much to the kids. My reverie was abruptly interrupted as I saw my son walking back into the house, annoyed and irritated. "What happened? You are back in a jiffy.” At times it pays off to use their kind of language, you see. Hiding his disappointment that was bordering on anger he said, “It’s Fool’s day today, and they all cheated me.” It took some time for me to appreciate the elaborate preparation the kids had made to execute their plan… a very well executed plan, indeed! They did not fool my son alone; they fooled me too in the process… a double whammy! As I sat smiling I could clearly see the hurt in Kevin’s eyes. I comforted him saying it was a harmless prank played by his friends and explained how important such pranks are in one’s life and especially among friends and family members and how one should take it sportively. One of the most difficult things in life is to laugh at oneself, I told him. Perhaps all of us know it but none likes to do it. Absence of this virtue, I’m sure will make everyone’s life miserable. I don’t know how much of it he understood but he seemed a little relaxed. But I was quite confident that he would understand the necessity to practise that virtue one day, if not today.