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Delhi Government Formation: Elections in Delhi reminded me of my summer vacations and the kid brother, who survived hot & sultry summers and busy adults in the family by inventing new ways to get noticed. Rewind to those long summer holidays in the 1970s, when more often than not, there was no power and if there was power, the voltage was so low that the question of using desert coolers didn't arise. ACs were only available in metros and the well to do in muffasil towns had desert coolers or mats made of Khas to keep the environs cool. In any case even the refrigerators didn't work most of the time, due to power failure! So while young ones were forced to undergo the mandatory siesta to keep them away from heat and mischief, adults settled down to a card game called "open rummy", played with at least three packs of cards, or more if the number of players was more .
It was a fairly complex form of rummy or so it appeared to us young kids at home. As the name suggests, cards lay open in various kinds of sequences that we didn't understand. This game irritated us even more because while its elaborate nuances panned out, we were completely ignored! None of the adults spared a glance at us and insisted we all take a nap, despite the sweltering heat and silent fans, till evening set in and everyone could be allowed to venture out and play seven tiles, cricket or other forms of outdoor games. Kids and young adolescents were not allowed to play open rummy.
But the more we were prevented from joining in, the more determined we were to spoil the game for Mom and Dad, Bua and Phoopha or Dadi and Nani. And invariably the afternoon round of open rummy ended in chaos, with the youngest brother spoiling the game by ruffling up the cards , creating mayhem and destroying the neatly and sequentially laid out game! Lot of brouhaha would follow this catastrophe but it served its purpose. Adults had to end their addicting yet laborious game and concentrate on making lemonade or lassi or milk shake for the hungry and angry youngsters and set them free to run and play outside.
Similar was the case if Carrom was being played by not- so - young kids. The youngest always wanted more attention and the only way he knew how to get it, was to disturb the board and the tiles on it! So well settled in California now, the kid had this terrible habit of spoiling whatever game was planned for the afternoon, by whichever set of people, adults, grandparents, aunts and uncles, didis and bhaia's. It was his job and mandate to disrupt the game. While we suffered silently when confined indoors by adults, he chose to resist. Obviously he didn't play any of these games or rather he was NOT allowed to play these games. No body took him seriously! He was too young; didn't know the rules of the game; couldn't partner anyone meaningfully blah blah. A 100 other reasons were invented to keep him out. But always, without fail, he proved he couldn't be dismissed lightly, because he had the Gumption, Power and Skill to destroy the game, single handedly! Whenever he disrupted the game he would be admonished and some would even urge him to reassemble the board or rearrange the cards, but he would run as far as he could because he didn't know how to do it! His expertise lay in sneaking quietly upon a well set game and destroying it, not in reassembling it!
Cut to the present: Fed up with the lack of attention to their demands, some young kids in Delhi got together and spoilt the game being played out by seasoned elders/political parties! They shied away from starting a game of their own, when challenged to do so, because they didn't know how to do it! They have now been offered help by the oldest of them but who knows, how long that helping hand will remain! But just as my kid brother learnt all the ropes of the adult games and went off on his own, to play his own games and succeeded, it is my belief that this set of new kids on the block will create their own rules and play the game their way. Adults will simply watch from the sidelines, regret that they ignored them for far too long and didn't frame the rules properly for the benefit of all when they had their chance! Bravo, kids, carry on! The whole nation is watching and I DONT mean the TV version of "The Nation"!
1S
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It was a fairly complex form of rummy or so it appeared to us young kids at home. As the name suggests, cards lay open in various kinds of sequences that we didn't understand. This game irritated us even more because while its elaborate nuances panned out, we were completely ignored! None of the adults spared a glance at us and insisted we all take a nap, despite the sweltering heat and silent fans, till evening set in and everyone could be allowed to venture out and play seven tiles, cricket or other forms of outdoor games. Kids and young adolescents were not allowed to play open rummy.
But the more we were prevented from joining in, the more determined we were to spoil the game for Mom and Dad, Bua and Phoopha or Dadi and Nani. And invariably the afternoon round of open rummy ended in chaos, with the youngest brother spoiling the game by ruffling up the cards , creating mayhem and destroying the neatly and sequentially laid out game! Lot of brouhaha would follow this catastrophe but it served its purpose. Adults had to end their addicting yet laborious game and concentrate on making lemonade or lassi or milk shake for the hungry and angry youngsters and set them free to run and play outside.
Similar was the case if Carrom was being played by not- so - young kids. The youngest always wanted more attention and the only way he knew how to get it, was to disturb the board and the tiles on it! So well settled in California now, the kid had this terrible habit of spoiling whatever game was planned for the afternoon, by whichever set of people, adults, grandparents, aunts and uncles, didis and bhaia's. It was his job and mandate to disrupt the game. While we suffered silently when confined indoors by adults, he chose to resist. Obviously he didn't play any of these games or rather he was NOT allowed to play these games. No body took him seriously! He was too young; didn't know the rules of the game; couldn't partner anyone meaningfully blah blah. A 100 other reasons were invented to keep him out. But always, without fail, he proved he couldn't be dismissed lightly, because he had the Gumption, Power and Skill to destroy the game, single handedly! Whenever he disrupted the game he would be admonished and some would even urge him to reassemble the board or rearrange the cards, but he would run as far as he could because he didn't know how to do it! His expertise lay in sneaking quietly upon a well set game and destroying it, not in reassembling it!
Cut to the present: Fed up with the lack of attention to their demands, some young kids in Delhi got together and spoilt the game being played out by seasoned elders/political parties! They shied away from starting a game of their own, when challenged to do so, because they didn't know how to do it! They have now been offered help by the oldest of them but who knows, how long that helping hand will remain! But just as my kid brother learnt all the ropes of the adult games and went off on his own, to play his own games and succeeded, it is my belief that this set of new kids on the block will create their own rules and play the game their way. Adults will simply watch from the sidelines, regret that they ignored them for far too long and didn't frame the rules properly for the benefit of all when they had their chance! Bravo, kids, carry on! The whole nation is watching and I DONT mean the TV version of "The Nation"!
1S
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