Bey Blade Revolution

What are little boys in the metropolitain cities of  India spending their time obsessing about? I  have no idea if bey blades are the rage in the US but without a doubt, since bakugans in 2008, nothing has been so popular. A few months back, Rushil saw some boys playing with them at our complex and he begged me to buy one. I took the opportunity to bribe him to read a book in exchange for it. He complied immediately but two days later, it broke and he got a new one for Christmas.  His two best buddies convinced their parents to get one and the three were happily battling bey blades. A few weeks later, Rushil and his friends were involved in a playground fight over this "glorified spinning top" because apparently, theirs was not a "real bey blade". Before we knew it, Rushil's bey blade was already obsolete and he and his friends were excluded from playing with others. It was ok by me though, even now, I cringe every time I see the boys gather around the clubhouse battling bey blades rather than playing a sport or just running around. Rushil begged me to buy the newer more sleeker version but this time the price was higher, 3 books in exchange for a new bey blade.  Rushil said, "Fine, I'll wait till my birthday."  I asked Prasad to pick one up when he was in the US for his birthday because  believe it or not,  most of the toystores in Bangalore are out of stock. Prasad never just picks "one" up, he picked up a set with  two bey blades and accessories. Stay with me, I'm sure I could write a shorter version of this, but there is a point to all the details I'm providing. On Saturday, his best friend came over and guess what he brought over?!? Rushil was devastated, it was fine as long as he had the same version as his friends but now the playing field had changed. On the same day, we had some people over for dinner and their two sons also told Rushil that his bey blade was not the "real" one. So what did we do, we caved in and opened his birthday present and gave him one bey blade and saved the other one for his birthday. Now the third friend was left out, I was talking to his mother who told me she was going to stick to her guns and not buy the metal fusion one, but guess who showed up at our place with a new bey blade yesterday, I bet you, his dad bought it. Suckers, that's what we are.

In case you're wondering, that is a steel dinner plate.

Preparing to "rip" their blades