Life is a game - play it.

                                                     

 "what are you doing bro?" I asked my fully grown infant brother. No response. I'm talking to a wall.  My bro is known to get himself lost in the seventh heavens while reading and gaming, so much so that mundane pleasures and pain no more deter him. Just to prove my theory I pinched him for a good measure. No ouch. No AAAH. He jerked his hand silently and his super Mario fell in to the valley of death. ARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Now came the reeling response.

"You know, you are one of those morons who wakes up a person just to ask him what he was doing" he rebuked me. Just to prove his point I laughed like the bad piggies of angry birds and asked "what are you doing bro?"

"Naren said life is a game. Play it. I'm following the verses of this great man. Thats all" he replied.

"Naren? as in Narendra modi?" I asked sceptically.

"As in Narendra Nadh Datta alias Swami Vivekananda" he divulged. I grunted like the Godzilla of temple run pulling the I-pad from his grip and hit the play button. The only way to spend some quality time with my bro is to disturb him in a Dexter and DD fashion.

"why don't you live up to your age?" I asked him as I jumped in my seat along with my Mario on the screen.

"Well! I'M a kid at heart" replied cheekily grinning ear to ear like the Tom with horns and a arrowed tail. I jumped again but my Mario on screen didn't. Game over. I feared my carotids will tear apart with hypertension if I played on a marathon like my bro. And he calls it recreation and relaxation. God only knows how! My bro seized the moment and snatched the I-Pad on a pretext to demonstrate me how to play dextrously without getting hurt. But I guess the stars are all against him for the day. Both of my nephews, a 4yr old and a 2 yr old, popped up from nowhere and snatched the I-Pad.

"I Vaanth tempal run" the 4 yr old said switching the game. I realized he is an expert player. He played as if the I-pad were an appendage sprouted beyond his fingers ever since birth.  Like father like son I thought. But unlike my brother he would even look up from the screen and respond when he was spoken to with an ease of a 'Master of the game'.

"When did he learn to play so well?" I questioned my brother.

"It's in the very blood and genes" My brother replied with pride. "Ever since he was a baby he would get perked up with the windows Logo and its back ground score as I switch on the lappie. He would watch me play with all his attention and before I realized he mastered it".

The segment of my brain where I stored My Nelsons textbook of paediatrics tantalized me. I thought may be its time to rewrite the books.

Milestones of the 20th millennium:

1 month: Coos and turns head in response to sounds like windows logo.

2 months: Follows the path of a flying angry bird up to 90 degrees.

3 months: Follows the path of a flying angry bird up to 180 degrees.

                 smiles and laughs at the bad piggies.

4 months: Plays with A/C remote when placed in hand. Tries to reach out for the I-fone. 

5 months: Holds I-pad with both hands - bidextrous grip.

6 months : Drops I-pad when I fone is offered.

7 months: Transfers I-pad from one hand to other to hold an I-fone with the other

8 months: Sits n watches the laptop for hours

9months: Uses fingers to punch buttons and swipe the touch screen.
1 year: Graduates the gadgets and tutors the parents in case they have any doubts.

Breaking my chain of thoughts my brother persuaded his son to allow him clear the stage where the kid is blocked for eons. The kid smiled saying "The game is not about winning nanna. It's about playing and enjoying". Having said that he switched the game to "Yangry bards". He sent the bird in the reverse direction just to see his 2 yr old little brother roll in laughter along with the pigs.

My nephew taught us 'Geetha' his style. Karm kar. Phal ki apeksha na kar. That day I learnt how to make my super Mario jump without worrying about his death or my defeat.