Urban truths

S is back from an English exam at school.

'How did it go sweetie?' I ask

'Good' (that could mean anything ranging from ‘not great’ to ‘slightly better than terrible’)

'What went wrong?'  (I assume it was slightly better than terrible)

'Today we had to write an essay on ‘A visit at the bookfair’' S says with disappointment

‘What was the problem with that?’ I ask

‘Mom I have never been to a book fair’ she stuns me.

(What!) ’Didn’t you have choice?’ I ask after regaining composure

‘Yes, I did; the other topic was ‘My train journey’. (Another one that would have stumped her).

I realised my daughter, like most of her city-slicker friends, would have been at her expressive best had she been given topics such as visit to the mall, visit to a birthday party, my experiences at a slumber party(I didn’t know what that meant till mine got invited to one), trip to a foreign country, visit to a gizmo shop or a day with my computer.

She even stood a fair chance with ‘The rise and fall of the Berlin wall’ or the ‘Culture and traditions of ancient Gaul’ But tell her to write about a book fair, she draws a blank!

Train journey? Another blank. I don’t remember the last train journey we took as a family. There is no place we want to visit that is less than 2 hours by flight, or more than 5 hours by car from Bombay, so a train is virtually redundant in our lives.

Coming to think of it, there are many other ‘classic essay topics’ that would draw a blank from these kids – ‘A visit to my native place’ would be one (but in all fairness, our native place is a small town in the hinterlands of Tamilnadu where no one from our family currently lives. Even the ancestral home has been auctioned off).

‘My garden’, ‘Visit to a post office’ and ‘A letter to my grandmother’ would be others.

Right until this moment I was very proud of my achievements as a mom. I read to my kids every night, buy them encyclopaedias, ration their TV viewing to an hour per week, make them watch classics like ‘Sound of Music’, make sure they know the Ramayan, I even take them to the friendly neighbourhood bookstore often enough...

Yes,the bookstore, where the stocking pattern is 60% toys and 40% books. Children’s classics are usually relegated to the missable top or bottom racks. The ones at eye level are stories about princesses and fairies or beautifully packaged Disney books, most of which come with a free DVD, just in case the kid doesn’t want to read the book version.

I felt like a complete failure right now. It was time for some urgent course correction.

I know what my project for the coming weekend would be. I will hunt down that book fair in Bombay, even if it in the remotest corner of the city’s boondocks and spend a day with my kids there.

And come summer, native Tamilnadu is where you will find us (Sorry kids, that holiday in the Alps is not going to happen anytime soon)

‘But we will be spending 2/5ths of the holiday in the commute’

‘Nobody we know lives there, what will we do for....’

Sorry, I am not about to be bought with logic or facts. My mind is made and I stand by it (for once!)

This summer is going to be all about building character, as Calvin’s dad might have said.

If not, it will still be worth the grades in the next English exam.