Yesterday, being out and about with my mom and buying a water bottle, evoked a lot of childhood memories. I can say, and am sure all would agree, that childhood was one of the best(est) days of our lives. Loving and loved by all. The carefree lives, the innocent laughter and the ability to make everyone bow down before us with just a downward curve of the lips!! Who wouldn't want to be that powerful ;)

Childhood, where the greatest joy was watching 'good morning disney' every Sunday. The sole competition was in possessing the latest toys, stylish pencil box and a really cool tiifin box and water bottle. We fought on whose mom was the best and whose dad was the coolest. We fought, we sulked, we cried, we laughed and then made up. No resentment, just pure, innocent and loving memories.

But alas, the transient nature. Waits for none. Correctly depicted in his poem Leisure, W.H Davies says,

What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,

And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can

Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

We grew up and broke all ties with the carefree world that we once were a part of. All that we see now in front of us is the cold, ruthless world where people are in for a cutthroat competition and nothing more. Everybody is busy outdoing the other. Some even derive pleasure out of other's misery or failure. Striving for excellence is desirable. But what if its at the cost of others? Will that still remain desirable? Gone are the days where if our fellow playmate fell down we used to rush upto him to help him. Now? Well today we don't have enough time to even call up a close friend and ask them about there well-being. Is this what development is all about? Is this what a fast paced world is all about? Is it that we don't have enough time? Or is it just that we don't want to make any time?== And while you are reading this, I guess you must have already arrived at the answer. The materialistic thirst seems to be have gripped everybody and not a single soul is spared.

Blame the society for it? Well, who makes up this society? It is 'US' and no one else. It is we who set the rules. In order to change it, we need to change. We need to come out of the timy cocoon that we've built for ourselves and see that life exists beyond 'US'. Our world just doesn't comprise of 'ME' and 'MINE'. We need to be more sensitive towards others needs and wants. We just cannot and should not close our eyes to the problems that others are facing. Rather we should do all that is possible on our part to eliminate that problem. Only then we can strive towards a better and responsible society. It is true that we cannot go back to being a child anymore, but we can always try and keep within ourselves that little innocence, that joyous laughter, the unbiased love alive.