Pains of growing up

I was engrossed in a book on animal behaviour, specifically parenting behaviour of oystercatcher bird, how it teaches its young one to feed on oysters only. There is a mussel eating variety too whose babies would eat only mussels. The mates are also chosen according to eating habits, that is they don't go for partners with dissimilar tastes!
The rigidity of the parenting behaviour is so parallel to humans. We teach our kids right from wrong according to our perceptions of right and wrong.Whether we like it or not it is a fact that we would like our kids to be like us to a great extent, look up to us for answers, believe in our beliefs, carry forward their line of thoughts... so on..the list is endless.
Parents also want us to become financially independent and emotionally secure. But the attachment becomes so strong at times that a parent my not be able to accept the fact that the child has got wings and feet and a life of his own, has decisions to be made by himself, and that the parent however may want to help or be there, would not really be of help,.. the times would have changed, philosophies may clash, tolerance may be just thrown to the wind.It is not just a problem of adolescence but which grows with passing time, taking hold on careers, and married life too. Simply put, it may be an outspoken or silent discord at home, an unnecessary weight on hearts.
It may be the other way round too, with the child clinging to the parent seeking solutions for every problem of life, being a parasite forever! "Should I buy this house, this car, marry this girl/boy, add salt to my soup?!!"..waiting to be told what to do, blindly, with the brain and the heart flushed away in toilet. Is it not important to take control of one's life? Are we robots?
In this same idiotic world I have seen parents who make their children amazingly independent and smart, I admire them for doing that and I don't know how they go about it! I presume, it is insanely difficult.
Just I was musing with these thoughts a lady with her son(about 15-16 years old) came and sat beside me. I took some time to notice that the son had Down's syndrome. He kept fiddling with his mother's saree, bangles and hair..an overgrown toddler. He was adorable. Wouldn't that mother want her toddler to grow big and strong and independent and emotionally secure? That my be possible given the age we are living in, but would her heart ever become secure?

Humiliation is something inevitable. We all acknowledge and dread it with equal fervence.
An accident, a young blood on his bike and a frail old rickshaw-puller... what do we imagine? No, no one was hurt physically, but one of them was grieved, some saw that on his face, some pitied him, some helped him to gain composure, others watched him, still others stood still trying to get the whiff of the matter which they had not witnessed completely, and somebody like me let loose the imagination.
What nobody fathomed was the degree of grief on that tired old face. In that rush hour, that rush of adrenaline, that rush of thoughtless insanity, that slight pinch of lurking fear of what answer, the young blood would make up for that accident which could have gone awry, the young hot blood slapped and slapped that poor face only to echo the merciless sounds.
Those slaps resounded with the pain of the old face. He was trying to earn a living, when most people in their twilight years want to sit back and reminisce the time that went by, he was trying to earn a living.
The hot blood was just stepping into life, whatever happened to the age old belief of respecting elders... don't know. Would he ever realise what he had done to that old man...don't know.
Humiliation stems because we all have an ego. Ego keeps us from begging, grovelling and yes to some extent preserving our integrity (though too much of anything is bad for health!). When we have an ego, then why do we forget that other people, cutting across borders, castes, colours, creeds, status, and ages also have egos. Why do we have to forget that?
That frail face could not turn to anyone, and why, he could not even look up at anyone. May be he was not new to beatings by strangers, but perhaps was new to slaps from someone of the age of his grandson !! I am imagining things ... it is a false world for sure.