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01:48 PM
Bikram Vohra
JournalismPakistan.com
December 26, 2014
Did you have a nice Xmas? I did. Was with other grandparents competing for the crackers and the sweets and the funny hats with the grandkids. Missed one set of the family who are in Muscat for a clan get-together but it is a day for fun and generosity and the granting of little wishes and they were having a great time there.
I am 65 and in sight of the next milestone and my Xmas gift was a G-force indoor helicopter that flies. I tore off the wrappings and was ecstatic. I have never ever got a flying model. I always wanted one. In this world of Ipads and Iphones and blue tooths (teeth?) and wireless gizmos simple toys have got short shrift.
I remember when we used to play with rosewood tops and marbles and bet toffees on the Steve McQueen game of flinging coins to see who got nearest the wall without touching it. Those were such great times, a dinky toy of a Spitfire with one wheel broken, a catapult made by our own hands, a fallen kite, trophy to the victors, a train set that went round and round. And an aunt who would give us a Braino set which had questions and the light went green if you got the answer and that was our computer.
And I am like a little kid this morning planning to fly my chopper through the drawing room. But the assembly makes IKEA look easy so have decided to wait till both sons-in-law and daughters are here so they can teach me. And if Gautam is not flying his A 380 (real) maybe he could pop in and lend a hand.
I have gone to the box and stared at it several times this Boxing Day morning and feel like a little boy again. I got a toy, I am over the moon. And for those who don’t know Boxing Day from any other it is the day after Xmas when the wealthy landlord and the landed gentry would summon the poor workers to the Big House and serve them leftovers from the day before in boxes. The idea was nothing should go to waste. And it was sort of shared a bit imperiously, but shared all the same. So this morning, if there is turkey left over and the trimmings, don’t pour it down the chute, share it.
Except for my helicopter.
PS: If I get impatient I’ll get my 4-year-old grand-daughter to teach me… she has more flying hours than I.
(The writer is a Senior Editorial Advisor of Khaleej Times and the paper’s former Editor. He has also been the Editor of Gulf News, Gulf Today, Emirates Today and Bahrain Tribune)
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