How I met Dino The Dinosaur

Dino The Dinosaur
Originally uploaded by Rohit.Jayakaran

OK, I am being honest here...I have never done this before and it kind of amused me. Last evening after work, I had to attend the birthday party of a one year old. Now this may seem like an easy enough thing to do for most people, but for me it involved doing something I have not done before...basically shop for someone who is over 2 decades younger than I am. I mean...how am I to know what is hip and happening in baby land? What will kids think if he has an out dated toy? Isn’t it tough enough to buy gifts for adults?

Anyways my thoughts were on what to buy the little baby. The one thought that was very strongly running through my mind was to get the kid a mobile phone. You see, you get simple black and white mobiles for Rs.1500, and since kids love to pick up mobile phones and throw them around...wouldn’t it be a neat thing to get a kid a mobile phone of his own. Then I figured that it may not be the best thing for a kid to receive a call on the phone when he is just one year old telling him to pay his bill before the due date...worse still someone asking him if he wants a credit card...I figured that at the tender age of ONE, all you should be worried about it who will clean your poopoo when you poopoo in your chaddis.

That brought me to the next possible gift in the toy shop...How about a "Learning to Poopoo Can be Fun Set". This really does exist...it is to teach kids to get potty trained. Except that this costs Rs. 3999. At that price I might as well get the kid a colour mobile to "PICK and THROW"...

And then I came across “Dino The Dinosaur”. He does NOTHING…and I mean it…N..O..T..H..I..N..G...He has 4 wheels (Like all Dinosaurs) and a string tied around his neck. All the kid does is DRAG HIM AROUND. How exciting!!!

I am told that kids love Dino the Dinosaur...but the person who told me this was the sales girl in the shop who was later quite amused when I walked to the parking lot and got into my 4X4 Gypsy with a toy dinosaur wrapped in teddy bear gift wrapping paper.

Now that’s what I call a Kodak Moment...