It's Okay to Say No

 Dear Koko, 

A few days ago, you had a field trip. This is an annual ritual which you quite enjoy. When you were in kindergarten, you went to a car showroom and I believe that day Maruti had zero sales on Sarjapur Road. The ocean of questions they had to manage! Last year you went to a farm and did pottery and whatnot. 



This year was a similar experience - there was ridding of horses and feeding of rabbits. Your takeaway was that horses shit a lot and rabbit stink. All valid life lessons. There were some other activities too, like rock climbing and zip lining. 

When you returned from the trip, we went to pick you up from school. It rained so much that day that our big black umbrella tore and I was completely drenched when Baba picked me up from across the road. As with the strange Bangalore rains it was apparently quite dry on the other side of town so when he saw me he was quite surprised! Anyway, we had to cross quite an amount of traffic to finally reach your school. 

As we finally reached your classroom, your teacher informed us that the class had a lot of fun. The bus ride back was a blast as the torrential rains hit when you were on the highway. The children had fun singing songs and sharing snacks. The first Bollywood song you picked up and hum as you play is Challeya :)

So your teacher informed us that while you had a lot of fun you refused to participate in the zip line. All your friends went for it. You even went till the top, but then you did not go. I started with "Why didn't you, you could have", but I stopped short. 

You were making your points, not in a small scared voice, but in a confident manner. 

"I saw someone who got stuck in the middle"

"The harness was not safe"

"The helmet was way too big, it fell on my eyes"

"It was so high, there was no safety net"

Somehow, we are always told to take a leap, enjoy life to the fullest, say yes to life, have no regrets, be a man etc. etc. But is that really the brave thing to do? What you did, taking a stand for what you believe, making the saner choice, saying no is the brave thing to do. So keep saying no, keep to your logic. 

Love,

Ma


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