Once Upon A Time...

Once upon a time, “Once upon a time…” was what every child loved to hear. It was what every adult loved to say. “Once upon a time…” then caused such a flurry of excitement… all eyes, ears and minds were aligned in rapt attention. Whether “Once upon a time…” was read aloud from a book or created on the spur of the moment, it kept a child’s mind captivated for hours in a whole new exciting world. But what has happened today? “Once upon a time…” has become yet another cliché; extinct like many other things. No child seems to be excited to know what happened “Once upon a time…”. “Once upon a time…” has now become boring and old-fashioned - thanks to the cruel invasion of technology. Alas! “Once upon a time…” has now become an elegy. Once upon a time, “Once upon a time…” soothed a crying child. It was a soporific for a restless one; a bribe for a fussy one. It sobered a naughty one and rewarded a well-behaved one. Chatting, gaming, texting and tweeting have now reduced it to redundancy. The television and the internet – the offspring of technology are certainly its sworn enemies. Children are engrossed in surfing television channels and socializing on Facebook, Orkut and the like that they have no time absolutely for “Once upon a time…” Robbed of their childhood innocence, creativity and imagination, children morph into adults even before entering their teens. And they want to be adults without any responsibilities. If only we could go back to “Once upon a time…” again, We could all live happily ever after again. 30/7/2010 9: 45 am