Last week we were confronted with the challenge of dressing up our daughter for a fancy dress competition in her school. The topic was Birds or Animals. The missus as usual went through all available pedias at home and came up with this brilliant concept of dressing her up as a Barn Owl. My first reaction was… A Barn Owl!!! What in the world is that????? Well when my wife explained we could use existing resources at home with some value addition I immediately seconded the barn owl. I learnt that a barn owl was white in colour (Could reuse her last years Christmas play white coloured angel costumes) and used to hunt mice from the barns and hence called a barn owl.
I can tell you we spent more than a couple of hours on constructing the wings and a mask. On completing it I complemented my wife’s efforts, though my daughter looked like a genetically modified cross between a Polar bear, Owl and a Human.
On the big day at school, I was in for a shock, almost all the children were wearing off –the-shelf costumes of a tiger, lion, dog or a donkey. The efforts that my wife and I put in were overshadowed by these made to order costumes.
The classes that had occupations as their topic were dominated by Doctors, Nurses, Teachers, Engineers, Pilots etc… I reminisced that we in those days used to also dress up as Bus Conductors, Rickshaw wallas, Fishermen / Fisherwomen or even a road side beggar. I’m not sure if the concept of dignity of labour has caught up with the young minds or the parents are just not willing to see their children in lesser light, even in a Fancy dress competition.
I clearly noticed that Fancy dress competitions had lost its creativity and was falling prey to financial might even during these times of recession. If one had the money one could be a Tiger one day or a donkey the other.
My daughter might not have won but I was really happy for the efforts we took to make a difference.
I can tell you we spent more than a couple of hours on constructing the wings and a mask. On completing it I complemented my wife’s efforts, though my daughter looked like a genetically modified cross between a Polar bear, Owl and a Human.
On the big day at school, I was in for a shock, almost all the children were wearing off –the-shelf costumes of a tiger, lion, dog or a donkey. The efforts that my wife and I put in were overshadowed by these made to order costumes.
The classes that had occupations as their topic were dominated by Doctors, Nurses, Teachers, Engineers, Pilots etc… I reminisced that we in those days used to also dress up as Bus Conductors, Rickshaw wallas, Fishermen / Fisherwomen or even a road side beggar. I’m not sure if the concept of dignity of labour has caught up with the young minds or the parents are just not willing to see their children in lesser light, even in a Fancy dress competition.
I clearly noticed that Fancy dress competitions had lost its creativity and was falling prey to financial might even during these times of recession. If one had the money one could be a Tiger one day or a donkey the other.
My daughter might not have won but I was really happy for the efforts we took to make a difference.
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