A Facebook Face-Off

A light-hearted look at a son’s attempts to bring his mom back from the dark side...

By Jacinta Correa

Last night my son was supposed to call.

He didn’t.

That’s not unusual…. he’s a man of few words, you see.

He reads a lot… talks a lot less.

I recall an evening at his apartment in San Francisco.

He looked at me, engrossed in my Facebook world, and said with irritation, “Do you have to be poring over that FB stuff all the time?”

I looked up equally irritated and said. ”What do you want me to do?”

“Read a book” he said promptly “This one. India After Gandhi: The History Of The World's Largest Democracy. By Ramchandra Guha. It’s good.”

“That’s boring” I said.

The irritation increased tenfold.

“You’re saying that!! You introduced reading into my life. You said, ‘Books are magic!’”

Goodness me! That was 25 years ago when, like any mother, I would wax eloquent about the joys of reading, to get my six and seven year old kids interested in the written word.

But now, I did something unusual for me… I stayed silent.

He continued, irritation unabated, “Mama, I’m so disappointed in you. You just can’t give up things that are important...that were so important to you.”

I’m old and weary now. I hate reading serious stuff. What good does it do, anyway? Just makes you depressed. But, again, I stayed silent.

Next morning after he had had left for work, I picked up this contentious , boring-looking History book with that resigned what-things-we-do- for-our-kids feeling, and browsed through it. Well, it was far from boring, actually. In fact, it was riveting!

That evening after dinner I commented “The title, the Iron Man of India for Sardar Patel seems pretty apt.“

“Absolutely!” my son’s face lit up, “You know Ma, his uncompromising and tough stand in the unification process  brought all the princely states on board. If it weren’t for his determined attempts, the map of India would have been so different.”

Examples and elaborations followed. My husband switched off his round-the-clock ‘Criminal Minds’ serial and joined in. (Albeit with a resigned look)

Then, an animated debate over the merits and demerits of Jawaharlal Nehru’s decision to build giant sized Iron and Steel plants with foreign aid followed.…were they a huge drain on a fledgling economy or did they succeed in laying a strong industrial foundation for India?

How regressive was Indira Gandhi‘s decision to nationalize Indian Banks, or was it, in fact, a brilliant idea, that finally steered bank funds into rural India?

Is the author right in suggesting that India is no longer a constitutional democracy, but a populist one?

All in all, a very lively evening with assumptions challenged, opinions shared.

So o.k. son, I don’t hate serious stuff that much.

O.k.  I’m not that old and weary.

And o.k. maybe things aren’t that depressing, really.

And yes, I’ll concede serious reading and intellectual discourse can be informative and stimulating.

But Siddhu, sweetheart, Facebook is so much FUN!!!! 

About Myself

Never realized how much I’d love teaching high school kids until a friend asked me to fill in for her, at a school in my hometown, Thane. Graduating with Economics (from St Xavier’s college, Mumbai) was supposed to take me into the high echelons of banking or business. But, like they say, ‘Life’ is what happens to you while you’re busy planning it:)

Never had a moment’s regret at changing course, though. Armed with a B.Ed degree in English language teaching, I pursued my new found vocation and got the best of two worlds when my school principal asked me to teach both English and Economic classes in school!!

I love reading poetry, listening to old Hindi songs, drinking cups and cups of chai, making glitzy powerpoint presentations, creating photo collages, designing interiors, and my latest love is …..Pinterest...ing. - :)

I’m passionate about Human Rights, Sustainable Growth and Reforms in Education.

My favourite Quote:

 “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” Albert Einstein

Postscript by Minoo:

P.S. Thanks Jacinta for this very entertaining post.  Siddharth, good luck with trying to cure your mother of her Facebook addiction.  I checked the stats and they don't look promising in this regard - apparently women drive 62% of daily Facebook activity, 68% of Pinterest traffic, comprise 53% of Twitter users and tweet more frequently than men. Women also tend to be active across multiple social platforms, which explains why just when you thought you had it with your mom's Facebooking, you now have her Pinteresting to contend with as well.

P.S. 2: Readers....are you a regular Facebooker?  What kind are you?  Take the quiz.

P.S. 3: As always, thanks for reading and have a great day.

This picture is taken from Jacinta's Facebook page and is a table piece she created with fruit from Rosie and Mohammed's farm. Enjoy.