Continuing Adventures of Nivid

05/21/2007

Continuing Adventures of Nivid

There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.
Willa Cather

When last we looked in on our favorite Mumbai preschooler, Nivid ("Parent Alarmed by KFC"; ExchangeEveryDay, July 18, 2006), he was fascinated by KFC's plastic toy prizes. Now we encounter Nivid on summer vacation. His mother, to keep him occupied, is playing for him the DVD of Cinderella. Here is his mother's story of what followed:

"First of all Nivid 'did' see the whole film but looked disinterested and impatient. I hoped he would be more enthusiastic, firstly because Cinderella was one of my favourites as a child, secondly it's a classic and every kid around the world has usually loved the story of Cinderella, and thirdly, I had spent a 100 bucks on it!

"On seeing no positive reaction from him, I prodded him a little bit about what he felt about the film...here's what he said:
'It's a girly film, I didn't like it, and secondly, the story is all wrong!'

"Girly film ...I understand, but why did you say the story is wrong? What is wrong?" I asked, curious. (What could be wrong anyway, it's a classic, and classics are classics, not wrong!, I thought)

"'It's fully wrong! The part where the clock strikes 12, and everything goes back to how it was before..the carriage turns back into a pumpkin, the horses into mice, her party clothes into rags...only her glass slippers don't turn into anything nor dissappear...YOU KNOW WHY?' he said, hands on his hips, and chin up, his most militant posture.

"Why?, I asked...realising he seemed right...

"'Because, if they did, the story would not go ahead and they wouldn't be able to find Cinderella the way they did, and whoever wrote the story (and is probably turning in his grave right now) couldn't think of them finding her any other way... so they kept the glass slippers. It's wrong... totally wrong...' he muttered and walked away, leaving me blinking in bewilderment."

Both the mother and Swati Popat, who shared this story, added their commentary, but I prefer to let everyone interpret this on their own. Please share your comments below.

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