JOIN USThere was a time when the month of December used to send jitters to children and youngsters, to introspect on their behaviour over the past year because Santa Claus rewards only those kids’ who have been good. But that does not seem to be the case anymore.
“Santa is my neighbour who dresses up with a big cotton beard and stuffs pillows to make his belly look big,” said Amith, a sixth grade student. With each passing year, the belief in someone extraordinary who travels in a sledge, run by flying deer over the moonlit night seems to be ambiguous.
The changing time has brought about rationality and a logical approach which has restricted imagination and put it within barriers.
“Deers’ can’t fly a sledge. Only aero-planes and rockets can fly and I’m sure Santa would not use it because ‘petrol’ for the aero-plane is very expensive,” said Elton, a seventh grade student. Reality is now coinciding with the imagination and this makes children analyse every detail to ensure that a given situation is plausible.
This is a positive approach to deal in the future, but why hasten-up the process and face the harsh reality. Anyways in a couple of years time, the changes will occur, said a senior citizen.
“I’ve read that almost 80 per cent of a child’s creativity takes instances from its fantasies. Don’t we all seek for children who are creative and think out of the box? Then, why take away such basic fantasies which give them joy?” said Prakash, a Psychology student.
A vast majority of the youth here used to look forward to Christmas because ‘Santa Claus is coming to town,’ but now it’s just another vacation which the school declares a holiday and the regular protocol will be, being glued to television programmes, playing computer games and interacting on Facebook.
The blissful moments of unpacking the Christmas tree and decorating it, getting out the Christmas star (a signal for Santa) is on a decline as this is taken over by reality, where the sole person to liven up Christmas although a charade, was the glue that held together this entire celebration.
The old-man who dresses up in red, with a big belly flouting into houses through a chimney after everyone is asleep carrying a bag full of presents and laying down a few by the Christmas tree may surely not exist but that does not mean people will seize to believe in him.