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Calvin - My Friend


I wont reiterate my love for Calvin and Hobbes. I have mentioned about them in August (here is the link to the previous post).
This is one simple cartoon but as always I like to analyse the smallest of things. For me this has lots of life lessons embedded within.
Firstly the childhood innocence - you do what you feel like, when you feel like and where you feel like. Nothing, absolutly nothing besides having fun and getting tired and delerious matters. In this case Calvin is enjoying the task of simply nailing the coffee table.
Secondly the apathy when you grow up - you start possessing things - that are valuable in kind but these actually bound your spirits and self as you are always worried about them. Here the apathy on the moms face is evident as her possesion - the table - maybe prized - is being damaged.
Lastly the question "Is this a trick Question" - the ultimate quiz - that we all have in life. In all our daily grind, emotional shrouds, and physical labor to make a living - we do not see what is apparent - we forget how to live - we keep trying to coax, cajole and try to find answers where sometimes none exist.
Some people might see this as a losers attitude - but I differ, I see it as self pride - you can only do so much - beyond it just let it all go - it will come back if it is meant to be - if not like the old sufi song
"सितारों से आगे जहाँ और भी हैं " (there is a world beyond the stars) "
- there will be another door open.
One should always ask that kid within you - the simple questions -it does not mean that we have to behave like one just keep that spirit alive - I experienced it first hand recently what it feels like to be a child again.
Let me know your input while I play with my dear friend Calvin

17 comments:

Phoenix said...

thanks for your comment..i greatly valued it...i do wish you would come back again and give ur comments.....

as for your post...
as i kid i used to hate being a kid..i wanted to grow up..i still do...but what i really really miss about being a kid is like you said..."you do what you feel like, when you feel like and where you feel like. Nothing, absolutly nothing besides having fun and getting tired delerious matters".. when we grow up,our parents seasoned by society treat us the way society wants us...girl-never should sit with their legs apart,donot play on the road with boys,dont hug/cry/touch or even stand close to a guy..and i could go on forever....in childhoos this sense of gender and what is appropriate was not applicable and in a way was so much better...

its almost like reading whats on my mind,things that i haven formally acknowledged it being there...

Shyama said...

yayness... im completely, head over heels, in love with calvin n hobbes... bill watterson is a genius...

as for me, i wish we cud all be lyk peter pan n his lost boys n never grow up n live in our neverland forever... nice post.. :)

cheers!

ceedy said...

@phoenix
thanks for visiting. hope you go my message @ your blog.
keep visiting as we can share new insights....there is still a lot to learn about life

ceedy said...

@shimmer
growing is part of the journey that we all have to undergo....there is no option (atleast not yet) to be timeless.....
it is how you undertake the journey, the spirit with which you handle all obstacles and joys....it what keeps us young at heart....
thanks for visiting...keep peeking

Anonymous said...

yeah... it almost feels like asking God: "Why have you created me and my miseries?", and He replies: Is that some sort of trick question or what? ;)

Compassion Unlimitted said...

//what it feels like to be a child again//
The child in us should never go to the background,it should always be in the forefront..life is then most enjoyable..Happy Diwali
Nice write up
TC
CU

Phoenix said...

you are right when you said if parents werent there to protect us we would have been in far more trouble...i knew you would bring up this point...what i meant was,why initiate the sense of gender from the time the child doesnt even know the difference between a girl and a boy...it harms in a way you know...we have been spoken about it by our profs at college too and i agree.. parents during our childoood are there with us 24*7 to prevent any mishap...and they should be too..but no use killing the innocence ..there is a time for everything... Indian society sees a frank discussion between parents and their children as unthinkable..but with time i do hope that this scenario will change...we should be able to talk anything and everything to them and vice versa.... there shouldnt be this thing.. "you are a girl you hould not talk about this.."

Phoenix said...

you are right when you said if parents werent there to protect us we would have been in far more trouble...i knew you would bring up this point...what i meant was,why initiate the sense of gender from the time the child doesnt even know the difference between a girl and a boy...it harms in a way you know...we have been spoken about it by our profs at college too and i agree.. parents during our childoood are there with us 24*7 to prevent any mishap...and they should be too..but no use killing the innocence ..there is a time for everything... Indian society sees a frank discussion between parents and their children as unthinkable..but with time i do hope that this scenario will change...we should be able to talk anything and everything to them and vice versa.... there shouldnt be this thing.. "you are a girl you hould not talk about this.."

WritingsForLife said...

I agree with every word, these are my principles of life as well. I try not to lose the childhood charm!

Wonderful post :)

ceedy said...

@puchatek
Thanks for visiting, do keep coming.
I agree that we all ask this primal question, but the fact is life is a beautiful journey if you can control your emotions. (though it is tough but possible)
Instead of looking at the whole of your existence, look at each constituent part of your self......and how they function together to make you a whole - give you that identity, you will sense that inner beauty and the question might really not be needed to be asked.

ceedy said...

@compassion unlimited
Thank you for the comment - the idea is when one says that the child in us should not go in the background, the general opinion is that "grow up" you are not a kid anymore...
I agree with you - its the spirit that needs to be kept alive.

ceedy said...

@phoenix
There is definately a thin line between being protective and being overpowering. This difference is what makes or breaks a relationship no matter what kind.

ceedy said...

@raaji
Thank you and dont let that spirit die

KP said...

glad to see that child within u still alive...not may ppl..keep that alive...happy diwali to you all the bloggers!!!

annie said...

Hapyy Diwali..wishing u luck and happiness in the future.

Pri said...

u r right...we all crave to let out the 'kid' within us at times...
the innocence of childhood, the carefree attitude, no responsibilities, the curiosity without a pretence...ahh tht was life! :)

Anonymous said...

C&H are funny aint they ?