Of Parents and Children

The news these days is full of murders and deaths and on any given day, I think 'bad' news items far outnumber 'good' news stories. Though one can never become completely immune to such bad news, we do get desensitized to a certain extent when we read the same kind of news again and again everyday. But then one story comes out of nowhere to get to us such that the feelings it evokes are almost physical. Today's news of the death of a San Francisco man in Oregon was just one such story for me.

To recap, the man, his wife and 2 kids aged 4 and 7 months had been missing for a week after a Thankgiving vacation in the Pacific Northwest. The wife and the 2 children were finally found 2 days ago and search continued for the dad, who had gone on foot to find help. Tragically, he was found dead today, 7 miles away from his family. Maybe it was the fact that I've been following the story since the beginning; maybe it was the fact that 2 children were involved; or maybe it was the fact that the wife and children being found alive led me to hope that the man would be found alive too. Whatever it was, the news story about the man's death made me feel pretty down today.

I, for one, can't even start to imagine the hardship the family went through to even survive more than a week in those brutal conditions. But in its own way, the story is an example of the bond one shares with one's family. Having only limited food supplies, the mom nursed her 2 children and kept them alive while the dad braved the cold to try and find help so that his family could live. That's what family and parenting is all about, isn't it?

May his soul rest in peace...

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And now for the other end of the scale... you all know that one of my pet peeves is parents bringing their children along to films unsuitable for their young minds (here's my earlier rant on the topic). My trip to see Dhoom 2 last Saturday night was proof that our North Indian counterparts are just as bad(or maybe even worse) when it comes to this.

Nights in the Bay Area these days are really cold and this was a 9pm show. Still, the youngest kid that I saw at the theater was probably 4 months old. He was bundled up and sleeping but is it really necessary to bring such a young one to the theater? When we're told that babies are not supposed to be exposed to loud noises, is Dhoom 2, with its techno score and heavy beats and loud music, really a good choice for a 4 month old?

But the worst was yet to come. About half hour into the movie, there a pretty loud and audible thud as a kid apparently fell to the floor. Having raised 2 kids, I'm quite sure that the noise I heard was the kid's head hitting either the seat in front or the floor. The child obviously started crying very loudly. But the mom did not take him out of the theater or even stand up! She kept consoling the child(while, I'm guessing, continuing to watch the movie), rubbing the kid's head and asking the child to stop crying. One of the first things one has to do when a small child falls is to check for bumps or bleeding. How the hell can she check for those in the darkness of the theater?! Is it too much to ask that she go out to the lobby where there is light so she can make sure her child is OK?

Sad...