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A birthday for all kids!
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On Children's Day yesterday, a six-year-old had two interesting takes on why we have a special day for kids
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For all the nostalgia and the wistful sighs that adults heave about their `carefree, innocent childhood', everyone secretly knows that being a kid sucks. — Photo: K.R. Deepak
SIX-YEAR-OLD SIMONE Prabhu has all the answers. "See, Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India. So he was a great man. And he liked children. So his birthday is Children's Day." With the calm logic typical of her age, Simone gives the official reason why every November 14, millions of children drag themselves to school to be subjected to another day of rituals and playacting, when all they really want is a holiday. (Yesterday was one, but a Sunday.)
Think about it. For all the nostalgia and the wistful sighs that adults heave about their "carefree, innocent childhood", everyone secretly knows that being a kid sucks. Nobody takes you seriously, you have all kinds of fights with your friends, your shoes never fit, your cousin's toys are better, et al. And all the talk of "no responsibilities"? Sheesh, have you ever tried not giving in your Kannada homework? The only kids who really have it good are infants, and, well, it's kind of wasted on them.
So why do we "celebrate" Children's Day?
For starters, we're not the only ones. Japan even has different festivals for boys and girls. Tango No Sekku or the Boy's Festival on May 5 has traditional families putting up carp streamers and samurai dolls, symbolising strength, power and success for their little fellas. Hinori Matsu, the Girls' Festival on March 3, sees ceremonial dolls being displayed with peach blossoms. (Officially, though, Children's Day, or Kodomo No Hi, falls on the day of the Boy's Festival. Yikes!)
Universal Children's Day falls on November 20 to commemorate the date of adoption of both the Declaration on the Rights of the Child (1959) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). And whatever anyone might tell you about Children's Day being nine months after Valentine's Day, in India, it's still Nehru Jayanti. A day to commemorate the man's love for children, and his concern for their welfare.
But I suspect that it's not really all about the welfare of the child. A sixth of India's children never go to school, and of the ones who do, more than a third don't make it past primary school. Over 50 million children in India are employed in some form of child labour, many in hazardous work.
For more than anyone else, then, this day is for all those who are no longer children. For those who sigh an "if only I were a child again", who shake their heads at the injustice of childhood being wasted on children. Children's Day is that one time of the year for us to know once again, vicariously, what it's like to be a kid. It lets us remind ourselves that we too were children once, and not so long ago either.
And Simone had another, entirely different, reason too — one she whispered in my ear in secret:
"It's called Children's Day because all the children were made on that day, and it's a birthday for all of them."
And that's why we have a children's day.
ROHINI MOHAN
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