Growing Up

People always ask us to grow up. Don’t be a child they say. But what do they mean when they ask us to grow up? I have tried to fathom this question several times and I have always failed to get a satisfactory answer. I am tall and big now, is this not growing up? Not exactly. People expect us to act all grown up and this concept of growing up also varies from person to person.

My very close friend once asked me when I will grow up. I said tomorrow. Well, you can guess the effect this answer had. Growing up to many means to act like adults. You are now free to do anything you like. You are expected to be suave, polished, be politically correct, behave in a particular manner and even talk in a particular manner. When I told my friends that I neither smoked nor drank, they asked me to grow up. When I ran out into the pouring rain in Delhi without an umbrella and splashed around in the puddle, they asked me to grow up. When I went to the market in my pajamas, they asked me to grow up. When I begged the girl whom I loved to stay, they asked me to grow up. When I watched Tom & Jerry Show, they asked me to grow up.

Now, if I listen to my friends and decide to do what they say and grow up, I shall have to drink and smoke, stay dry while it is raining in Delhi (which is rarely), always dress up when going out, be emotionless and stop watching cartoon and having a good laugh. If I do all this I shall be grown up according to my friends. But if I do all this I will not be able to recognize myself. I shall be doing my best to become someone else and stop being myself. I am not a kid. I know what is proper and improper. I shall obviously not be nagging and try being a kid. I am just being myself which others do not seem to like. Everyone wants others to be like them. I love to be with people who love cartoons, chocolates, and love to be creative and original. Why should I be like everyone else.

Growing up, to me, means to be mature – mature in your outlook towards life and society, mature in your thoughts and actions, and mature enough to handle your own problems. Whether you love to watch Pokemon or Pingu or you are crazy about ice-cream, really does not matter. It is these idiosyncrasies in us that make us unique and individual. If we always try to be what others want us to be, we will never be ourselves, in the process losing our individuality and creativity.

Grow up, I say, but do not give up what you love to do. Grow up, I say, by looking at the world around you and appreciating it for what it is. Grow up, I say, by maintaining your integrity and following your dreams. People who ask us to grow up and be like them have long stopped being individuals, stopped being human and stopped being interesting. Grow up, I say, in your thinking and outlook but remain a child in your heart and soul. Only then will you live for the joy of living.