A cliche called Growing-Up

It was a summer vacation from school when we had a show called FUN TIME at 12 noon on TV. It was the most entertaining part of our summer day. It had cartoon shows and other serials that all the kids in my compound used to discuss about when we finished our evening mohalla cricket....sometimes the hangover used to last to the next day morning's session until it was replaced with the next highly awaited episode. Even the kids who wanted to play all day long in those hot suburb afternoons would retire to their TV sets for FUNTIME...some would be lucky to get out again at 1 pm after the show ended...but only to find a lack of quorum to have a decent game....they would play nevertheless. We finished that summer vacation and FUNTIME was on no.1 on all our lists to tell when we got back to school....suprisingly it made it to everyone's list back at school...except a Sathish who had to go to Guntur for his vacation and didnt have anybody to inform him about the show...also probably Vidya since she was the class topper and it was not expected that she watch TV...she had to complete the coming year's syllabus to top again... 3 months passed by..the Quarterly exams happened...and then the mid semesters and then the Diwali Vacations came over....many of us prayed for the show to return....some even spread the rumours that it will start again....everyone was posted about these events till the school closed. The show didnt start....it was rumored that many schools havent closed down yet for vacations and the show will only start once all the kids have a vacation running...but a week later we were more interested to choose our crackers from a limited budget that our parents had allocated. Soon the school reopened and the other semester also ended....and now the expectations were high....we all needed this show to make the vacation memorable. I used to switch on the TV set everyday at arnd 12....but only to find the 'machchar' screen....dots of black and white...no transmission...Doordarshan no longer wanted entertained us. We learned to live with it. ........................... Around Ten years later....we were in college....pursuing a Professional Course...hardly knowing what it all meant.. yes we had dreams...we were taught to dream in school....not many learnt...but I did...a few that I know also did... We dreamt it all.....the anger, the hatred, the happiness, the lows and the highs...the life....some of us even dreamt about peace. These were all just dreams...or in a very Pirsig way - ghosts - that we were trying to chase. Ideas that fancied our senses....sold to us in a beautiful package by the media, the institutions of whatever....the system. And we bought it all....not knowing completely about it....some of us still continue to buy it. It is required that this trade goes on, this is what the system has to offer..and unless there are takers, the system would collapse. When Tyler Durden ran around with his Project Mayhem to start his own small revolution....his answer to the apathy of millions of adults dead in their ROUTINE life.....we were the first ones to talk for it....to justify it....it was our own personal victory over the system. This was just the start....I didnt know what we were getting into... We watched the men of Rock n Roll live their lives in the fast lane...followed every detail in awe....we read about the people who tried to do things differently...and stood out after they died. We watched Vivid, MilfHunter and NaughtyAmerica to know what a woman could do, to believe how great an orgasm could be....we watched them all.....just to get an idea of what sex is all about....dreaming for a day when the on screen action would occur. And then one day....we no longer were in college. We were successful to become part of a much bigger..organised....complex...monstrous SYSTEM. It had a friend called ROUTINE. We thought we had an idea of what it would feel like...to work in 9 to 5 job for 5 days....looking forward for the weekend. We were wrong. We didnt have a gig like the Europe tour of the Doors, we didnt fight out our dislike for the Monster called Routine, and the women never came.... The complains started within a fortnight....but it took a long 2 years to come to a point where I could understand fully that this is not going to change, start making my way in this scheme of things. AsExplainedbyaJunkie was correct to elucidate that this very period is called Growing Up when an amateur starts to come to terms with his situation....and understands fully...his scope, his limitations and starts shifting gears accordingly. Dylan said that a lot of things exist and will continue to exist irrespective of his liking. And he wishes to simply acknowledge this fact. All the children finished school with beautiful memories despite being let down by Doordarshan during one summer vacation....