The neighbour's kids were bursting crackers, just for fun. Nilay and Kavin were initially annoyed by the smoke and noise - their default reaction to crackers. Then they went and joined in for a bit.
Once done, the kids† cleaned up the street together. Kavin claims that you can't even tell that crackers were ever burst on that road. He says that in Gurgaon they'd just mess up the place and leave it like that.
I've put an inordinate amount of effort into moving to Goa. But it is moments like these that pay me my dividends. I'm not saying Goan society is perfectly casteless or classless. But the absence of indentured labour or vulnerable poor, coupled with greater civic awareness, means that every mess you make isn't automatically someone else's problem. I am hopeful that Goa will erode some of the sense of entitlement that the kids would have absorbed growing up in NCR.
† For both the bursting of the crackers and the cleaning of the streets, the neighbour's kids took the lead and my kids merely followed. That's kind of the point of the post - if my kids already had these values perfectly in place, then we wouldn't need to move cross country for them to learn.
Once done, the kids† cleaned up the street together. Kavin claims that you can't even tell that crackers were ever burst on that road. He says that in Gurgaon they'd just mess up the place and leave it like that.
I've put an inordinate amount of effort into moving to Goa. But it is moments like these that pay me my dividends. I'm not saying Goan society is perfectly casteless or classless. But the absence of indentured labour or vulnerable poor, coupled with greater civic awareness, means that every mess you make isn't automatically someone else's problem. I am hopeful that Goa will erode some of the sense of entitlement that the kids would have absorbed growing up in NCR.
† For both the bursting of the crackers and the cleaning of the streets, the neighbour's kids took the lead and my kids merely followed. That's kind of the point of the post - if my kids already had these values perfectly in place, then we wouldn't need to move cross country for them to learn.