Little Jumping Jacks

The fascination that kids have for jumping around is something that I have never really been able to understand. Yesterday a couple of four year old nephews of mine had come over to my place. Since these kids were meeting most of us in the family after a long time, they spent the first 10 minutes in hiding their faces behind their mums. The 11th minute was the beginning of what I’d put in a simple term – chaos. Yeah, both the kids would spontaneously come up with little strategies of where to jump from, how many times to jump, the distance to be covered etc. One moment they’d be jumping from the top of the dining table down to the floor, next they’d be jumping on the dining table for about 100 times, next on the cot, from the top of the sofa, cousin’s lap, computer table, study table. Basically not one jump-able place was left uncovered by them!

The apartment that I live in was subjected to a mild tremor not only because the kids were running around, but also because on a couple of occasions I might have tried to outsmart them by running faster :$ I also figured that one of the reasons why earth quakes occur is that little ones all over the world must be jumping around at the same time with the same frequency thereby causing resonance. And with the adults running after them only helps in causing an increase in the intensity of the earth quake. Yeah I know it’s a silly thought :P

Anyway, looking at the kids jump reminded me of those days (not too long ago :P) when I was a kid. Yeah, I used to jump like a maniac and out of every nook and corner of the house. During the first few years after my birth, we stayed in a house that was on the first floor. I proved to be a big menace to the people downstairs by giving them sleepless days and nights with my jumping prowess. It was not too long before my parents understood that no amount of yelling could stop me and hence we ended up moving into an independent house where I could jump to my hearts and legs’ content :D

I was never aimless when it came to jumping. I would set extremely competitive targets for myself like covering a distance of about 8 ft (roughly equal to around 5 or 6 square tiles) on the ground from the top of a table when I was barely a 4 footer. And the distance to be covered only kept increasing by the minute. I also used to imagine that if I achieved this target, somehow somewhere some superpower (maybe God) would be impressed with this “special ability” of mine and reward me with a 1st rank in the class examinations without having to study much. And now, as I write this, I realize I want several things from life at this point like – another onsite trip, an MBA, a visit to the UK and other places across the world, oh yeah ( I almost forgot!) clear internal certifications etc. The wish list is just endless!! One important thing I have to mention is that I want the people (family and friends) whom I love so much to be always there at every friggin point in my life. So now, what should I do in order to get all of whatever I have mentioned above?? Well, maybe I should jump from my cot (which is at one corner of the room) to the other corner of the room. Okay * looks at the heavens and whispers a silent word of prayer* So here I go... *JUMPS*


Ooouuuuch!!! Oh oh :(

PS : I did not succeed too many times in getting a 1st rank (most of the times a 2nd rank holder :@) but yes, I did succeed in winning the 3rd prize for my house on sports day in the high jump event when I was in the 9th std :)