COFFEE DATE WITH KIDDOS !!!!

It finally happened....a visit to the favorite joint of my boys, where they hang out with their friends!!

Had heard so much about this place that i badly wanted to have a look for myself...on what was so attractive about it that it drew these kids there so often! Of course the idea was entirely theirs and they called it 'a date with mom'.

We had been planning for this rendezvous for a long time and i had been given a dress code too...[ was told that the average age of people coming there was between 17 and 30] ....because mummy dear had to look smart and not ancient... sari was a strict no no ... salwar was passable...but Jeans would be perfect !

But when it did happen it was nothing like we had planned... i landed up there in a saree...hehe...that too in a silk saree straight from a wedding!!

This place is a coffee shop kind-of-place called Mocha situated in one of the more posh localities of Chennai. It's a nice two storeyed building with great interiors. On the ground floor you have the non-smoking zone and the first floor is a compulsory smoking zone with Chinese decor all around. Smoking here refers to Hookah. Every table is set with a Hookah and you have to pay for it whether you smoke or not ....of course set with different aromas like mint,strawberry, apple ...not the tobacco ones!

In the garden outside you have several compartmentalised seating arrangements set in the midst of pebbled pathways interspersed with flowing water and fountains. One couldn even see an old hand rickshaw imaginatively set to be part of the seating arrangement...

During the first ten minutes that i was there it was fun to watch the boys trying hard make me feel good about the place...well they didn't need to ... I was impressed with the ambiance...it wasn't a shady joint but a fun place where people could meet up and enjoy a good chat...and then i was let into all the details of their outings there!

How, at times when they were short of cash [ yeah... every one got limited pocket money ! ], they would order the cheapest drink on the menu and then keep topping it up with ice just to prolong their time there; about the times, when they ran into [financial] trouble, when one of their friends, tried to be chivalrous by offering to pay up for old [girl] friends they bumped into and how he got clobbered later by these boys for trying to be an over-enthusiastic pig ....and many more interesting tales !!!

I was also told as to what was in and what was out clothes-wise/ slang- wise ....Oh my god... it was so much fun to have a peek into their world!

For any one who thinks Chennai is conservative, check out this place . It was a common sight to see many girls smoking... not Hookah, but cigarrettes! If that was one extreme, it was a pleasant sight to see one mother accompanying her teen aged daughters and having a good time with them !

And i was glad that my kids were open enough to tell me what to expect and had no hassles or embarrassment about me sitting there with them. In fact i am so tempted to take my own friends there, the next time we want to meet and chat!

I know many of my own friends are shocked at my attitude and feel that i am giving my kids a long rope under the garb of being progressive! If you consider hanging out in coffee shops as being progressive , i think its a big joke.... just as it is, if you think that they are likely to go wayward by hanging out in joints like these.

And many may not approve my saying this ....Let the kids have their share of fun. Give them the right values and guide them.But dont deny them the joy of these times spent with their friends by being over cautious or over reacting! Bad influences are there every where....Be approachable and open to them. Create comfort levels so that they feel free to approach you with their problems!

Try to be a part of their world and don't deny them something just because you did not or could not access it when you were young ! If there was a place like this when i was in college 25 years ago, am sure i would have loved to hang around and would have hated my parents if they hadn't let me !! May be its easier for me to say that because both of them are boys....but even if they had been girls am sure i would have let them have all the fun in the world!

Look at their world through their eyes ... and they would willingly see it through yours too !!!