I participated in a Face Book literary group's call from members to write prose and poetry on the same subject. The exercise seemingly was to clearly distinguish the differences between the two.
The organizers stated that "Prose is more like a message quite uncomplicated, even natural, without pretense and ambiguity." Poetry, according to them "on the other hand is very expressive. It is not straight forward,there is a lot to be implied, left to the interpretation of the reader" A subtle hint was there in the write up that poetry was superior.
I took part in the challenge for the fun of it and may not engage in any such exercise in the future. I choose my mode of communication depending on the need and the mood. I do not subscribe to what to my mind is 'Artificial discrimination', given the fact that these days prose poetry is written and accepted. For this exercise I only had to write the prose version as the poem was written and published in this blog sometime in 2015.
Winner (Prose)
Raju,
all of seven years was a darling not only of his parents and extended family
but of his teachers and friends at school. He was such a bubbly kid, always
smiling and so full of life! Last Thursday he took part in a singing
competition at school. He was delighted to win the second prize! His class teacher
hugged and kissed him. Friends came up and congratulated him. He felt so very
happy.
Although
the event happened in the forenoon, he was not able to enjoy the food at lunch
time. He was excited about going home and telling mom the great news! Soon after school, he ran to the auto to be the first one, all ready to go! As soon
as Raju reached home, he rushed to the living room. “Amma, I have won the
second prize in singing competition!”,
he announced proudly. Radha was engaged in knitting a sweater. She did
not look up but simply said “But how did you miss the first prize son? You sing
so well.”
Raju
went to his room hiding his disappointment. Next time, he would tell Amma only
if he won a first prize. The whole day he was feeling happy and proud as a
winner. Now, he no longer felt like a
‘winner’.
Winner (Poetry)
Little Raju ran excitedly
to his mother
his little face beaming
with happiness and pride!
"I won the second prize
For singing Ma!”
“Ok, ok, but why not the first prize?
how did you miss that?"
His smile disappeared instantly
He was no longer feeling
A winner…
Hmmm very well said. It is parents themselves who place a burden on the child. Spontaneous joy and a warm hug at the child's achievement would have done wonders. Instead, the child will grow up thinking he is not good enough. You have depicted this so nicely in your writing, Rajeev!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much chechi for your insightful feedback! As you point out "Spontaneous joy and warm hug" goes a long way in building the confidence of a child.
DeleteParenting skills need deliberate effort to develop like any other. Poor mother could not deal with or understand the insensitivity of impulsive thoughtless response.
ReplyDeleteMay 8f she had trained herself she would have said "just wonderful. Feel so proud of you. And may next time you will be the first. Sure you can. And you will too. You are a wonderful singer I know." Hugs.
Thanks a lot Padmini! As a psychologist and counselor, I knew you would relate to this post and give some solid advice to parents, which you have done here!
ReplyDeleteHearty congratulations! Well done!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot Deepakji!
DeleteRaju's story is the one example of parents' insensitivity to the feelings of children. The parents are unaware of the damage they are doing to their children by their irresponsible behavior. This message should reach as many people so as to ensure that such things do not happen in the future. Congrats sir. Keep it up
ReplyDeleteThank you Mr Shivkumar! so happy to receive your feedback!
ReplyDeleteTrue that the expectations of the parents deviate far from the kids. The budding kids world is full of fun and frolic yet winning a competition is much more. Perhaps we might have gone through this in the childhood too but lost in the fading memory. Thanks for rewinding the memory lane. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot for responding and sharing your thoughts sir!
ReplyDelete