Growing up

For a very long time,i haven't really had the opportunity to sit down and watch T.V except for Arsenal's games which i rarely miss,i have totally forgotten the other importance of T.V. NTA news has been replaced by a quick glance of Punch newspaper in the morning and Yahoo news on the internet.Late night movies on NTA or LTV has been replaced by a visit to the Galleria or Ozone once or twice a week.

I got a whole day off work yesterday and i really had nothing to do.I thought about writing or reading but i wasn't really in the mood for any of these.I had a little misunderstanding with my girl friend a night before so my mind was pretty filled up to do any of these two tasks.[you know how it is after all those small love quarrel]''why not watch T.V'',i thought. I turned on the t.v and since it was around 2pm,i was expecting to catch some kiddies programme but i couldn't find any that really caught my attention.This really got me thinking,what happened to all those lovely programmes we use to watch while we were little.

I took more interest and decided to do a little research.I called up my little cousin and after my discussion with him,it dawn on me that it's a whole different world now.All those lovely programmes ain't showing again anywhere on T.V.I still have memories of me running home during my primary school days with nothing on my mind but to watch Voltron.Oh yeah.........Defender of the universe.Superted use to follow shortly.Robin hood was on on every Tuesday.What happened to Rentaghost?Superman,Batman and all the other men?where is Zero-x hiding?What about every kids favorite,Tales by moonlight,6:30pm every Sunday on NTA network.I remember watching Fresh prince of Bel-Air on Cadbury breakfast show on Saturday morning and even though we could barely hear what they were saying,we still pretended we could and we laughed anytime we hear people laugh.

All we watch these days are junks and pure junks.T.V programming is definitely sick.I remember days when T.V was so much fun that you know almost all the programmes that will show on each t.v station everyday of the week.There was a time when local stations enjoyed so much viewership.No one misses Village Headmaster,Behind the clouds,Ripples,Secret of the sand,Lady of the Rose,The rich also cry e.t.c.It was as if everybody sworn an oath to always watch these programmes.I remember running to my neighbors house to watch Shanana,the man that flies like a butterfly and stings like a bee on Riddles and hopes.T.V was such a wonderful thing and a very important component during my growing up days.

Perhaps it's modernization that has changed everything.football every afternoon after school is now missing on the streets corner.You hardly find girls drawing lines for ''Suwe''.When was the last time i saw girls with skipping ropes?what happened to all to all those happy kids we find on all street corner launching their own little airplane into the skies?oh yes,i haven't seen a kid with tread and a can of milk making kites in a long time.What happened to paper planes?what happened to paper ships that we all happily place on any flowing water after the rain.What happened to table soccer?Do kids still do ''Boju Boju'' or Police and thief?

Growing up was so much fun and you just wish you could remain as kids forever.If only i could bring back those lovely times again but everything they say is subject to change but are these changes really positive?Share a few things about growing up with me.

Watch out for the full version in the April edition of Genesis magazine.