Just like that ...

On a lazy Tuesday evening I was sitting and penning down a few thoughts. I was lost in the world of the characters when I heard a loud cry in the hall. The four year old in our house was upset and was crying. Apparently he had been playing with his six year old friend , Suryansh and eight year old friend Ashwath and he had been pushed down by Suryansh.

“Scold him”! he insisted between his sobs. We tried pacifying him. I heard his mother say – It is Ok beta. It happens all the time. Nobody pushes anyone on purpose. ( How true! it is mostly an accident or a thoughtless act of survival ). It was all play. ( Ah ! words of wisdom ! ).

Send him to the naughty corner… ! he insisted. His grandpa comes rushing from the pooja room. Grandpa tries to distract him. But to no avail. He looks at Suryansh, with a mischievous glint in his eyes tells him - Yaar! Usko hug karo! Usko Sorry bolo ! With the childlike glee on his face intact, he looks back at me and says – His ego is hurt ! ( I smile. )

Well the little one is quieter now – not pacified yet. Ashwath comes in now from nowhere. Suryansh hit you ? We will hit him! and he runs behind Suryansh and he pretends to hit him. That seems to stop Vayun's tears a bit.( Tit for Tat ? )

But Suryansh doesnt want to lie to his friend. With a loving look and a beautiful smile he tells Vayun, "No he did not hit me. Ashwath was only pretending". ( Friends ! Memories of all my friends who have stood by me through all my tough times, with whom I have grown in my understanding of life flash through my mind by now. My eyes are starting to fill ).

Vayun, is quiet now. Ashwath comes to him and says – Its ok Vayun. can we forgive Suryansh ? ( Forgive is a big word - I think. I am concerned at the turn of events. But most of times, that is all that is needed. A heartfelt sorry – and a chance to forgive. I admit this reality to myself with a heavy heart.)

Vayun, can we ? He asks again.

Vayun, gives a loving glance at Ashwath. A sheepish one to Suryansh and in one bear hug all the happenings of the evening is forgotten.

I hear loud laughter and childish giggle between the three boys as I settle back on my laptop. My broken thoughts are put back in place and I make an effort to hide the lone tear that is slipping down my cheek.

As I am staring hard at the hazy screen trying to get back to mood, I couldn't stop myself from thinking – Why cant adults do the same ?

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For first timers on my blog, Vayun is my nephew ( my brother's son )

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Whats the spelling of cancel ?!!!

Ok...! If you don’t finish your food now – WE ARE GOING TO CANCEL THE MOVIE...! She said to her four year old son, who was delaying eating his noodles and hence delaying going to the movie. After wanting to drink water, and wanting to watch TV, this time, the angelic, harried boy wanted to go to the bathroom.

Ok! Ok! Wait...! I am going to go to the bathroom...! Then I am going to finish my noodles... and-and-and then we will go to the movie...! “ He pleaded breathlessly!

And then as he rushes towards the bathroom, he turns back and asks in curious desperation... "What is the meaning of Cancel!!!?”

Dead silence! All of us are stumped...!

And all of us are amused...!!!

She recovers first. She says with a straight face... “Cancel means - we do not go for the movie.”

“OK!” He says as he hurries about his tasks. All of us smile at the confusion.

And then running back to his plate of noodles, he turns back to look up and with his eyes elongated into a question mark asks –“What is the spelling of cancel!!”

Another direct hit...! All of us stumped again...!

He has just learnt the use of words and spellings and can correctly spell, read, spellings for his everyday use like his own name, his parents names. He might not correctly spell but he can easily read some of the spellings like those of his school, his parents’ office, some favorite cartoon characters like BEN10 or Tom and Jerry, and some everyday use words like OK, YES, NO etc.

This time both the father and the mother recover from the stump. Barely managing to conceal their delight they shout in unison-

“C - A - N - C - E - L!!”

“Ok...! Then please don’t cancel the movie...! I will be ready on time!” he says, gulping a huge mouth of noodles into his mouth.

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Vayun and Thomas

This is a post about my nephew Vayun, written by his mother in her own words.. Enjoy ! :)

All of four years old my son, Vayun, is a boy of few words. However an incident that happened a few days back reminded me that talking little doesn't necessarily mean thinking little.



As a rule we set expectations before visiting a super market as to whether he can or cannot buy toys that day. On this particular occasion however I forgot to set the ground rules. So as we entered E.K.Retail, a neighborhood all-in-one outlet, my son's eyes fell on 'Thomas the steam engine'. He tried hard to convince me to buy one. Needless to say I disagreed and staunchly headed home with a teary eyed 4 years old. He now decided that negotiations won't make me see reason so he resorted to emotions.



Here’s the dialogue that followed.



"Thomas was crying and said he wants to come with Vayun, but you left him behind", he said.



"Oh did he? I did not hear him", I remarked nonchalantly



"Only I can hear Thomas!", he retorted with a four year old angry look.



I tried reasoning with him and went on to explain that his grandpa who was coming the next day from Mangalore would get the Thomas set he had left behind there.



He didn't seem convinced and admonished me with an upset face," You are being naughty! Thomas will punish you!!"



I decided to needle him, "If he punishes Mamma, the police will lock Thomas up in Jail".



"Thomas will run away from the Jail", an indignant Vayun replies instantly.



The reply brought a smile in my mind. Now I decided to needle him further.



"But the jail has steel bars, how will Thomas break them?" I quizzed innocently.



"Two hands will come out from the sides of Thomas and he'll pull out the bars and run", (note: Thomas is an engine - he doesn't have hands!J!)



"But what if the police pull out the guns", I was beginning to relish the creativity.



"Oh! I'll snatch the guns and throw them away" He replies confidently



"Then they'll chase both you and Thomas. What will you do?"



To which he calmly responded, "I'll pour some water on the floor so all the policemen will slip and fall. Thomas and me will run away ".



My son had thought his escape strategy through!!

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Vayun and the baby

Thats not a baby. Thats a football! - my 4 year old nephew, Vayun, tells me looking at my 9 months pregnant tummy. I smile. I tell him - Inside the tummy is a baby, beta. He isnt so sure. :) At a later point I ask him to touch my tummy to feel the baby - he does it very hesitantly - he says - I am scared.. ! with a smile.

Last weekend, I was to go for my scan appointment and I decided to take my nephew along with me. Atleast he could see the baby that he has been told so much about.

And on the weekend, we finally reach the hospital waiting room. Once we enter the maternity ward of the hospital, we are greeted by a huge picture of a pretty to-be mom with a tummy that looked like a football. Vayun stops in front of picture, comes back to me- looks at my tummy and bursts out in a giggle. Perhaps he thinks there are more women with a funny football tummy ! :)

And then after some wait, we go into the scan room. He sees the baby on the scan machine, but he is not able to figure out much.

Can you see the baby? - Doctor asks him kindly .

No! He says, as he is trying to make sense of the grey areas on the scan machine.
That was understandable - coz the baby was not very clear in the scan.

Looking at his eager face, Doctor asks him kindly – are you waiting for the baby to come out..?

He says - YES!..

Doctor smiles back and says - Baby also wants to come out to meet you .. !

He giggles in excitement at that ! :)

The doctor feels sorry that Vayun is not able to see the baby clearly- so does the next best thing. She puts the doppler machine on my tummy.

The baby's heart beat goes - DUBH dubh ! DUBH dubh ! DUBH dubh ! DUBH dubh ! - LOUD AND CLEAR.

He smiles and giggles in delight and anticipation !

Once the scan is over, ( secretly I was more disappointed than him that I couldnt show him what I had been promising the whole of last week ), I ask him - Did you see the baby ?

He looks at me with an innocent beautiful face and says - How could I , the baby is in your tummy na.. !

Well, I couldnt argue more.. !

After a while, he looks at me curiously, widens his big round eyes in a question and asks with the innocence of a four year old- The doctor couldnt take the baby out ?

Uh ! I am stumped.

I recover and reply back- No beta.The doctor couldnt ! ( What else do I say.. )

By now we have reached the patients waiting area. He asks me again - loud and clear for everyone in the waiting room to hear - When is the doctor taking the baby out ?

I sneak a glance around - all the patients have stopped doing whatever they are doing and have started looking at my nephew and are giving him a loving, adoring glance - also they are simultaneously sneaking a glance at me, waiting to see what answer I would give him. I smile at him and say affectionately - She will take it out beta.. Maybe in another 10 days ...

He smiles back at me and says - Another ten days ? OK ! ..

The answer seemed to satisfy him. He seemed as if he could definitely wait for 10 days more.

And then he runs behind me again as we scoot out of the hospital.

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He came ... !

There was a bell on my door. I opened it and I saw him. Looked very handsome in a yellow T-shirt, navy blue sleeveless jacket and a khaki color three-fourths. Gave a small smile when he saw me, and then came in as if he knew the house like it was his own. Giving me a coy, confident glance or two, he settled down on the sofa. I smiled back - a warm friendly smile.

Looking around absentmindedly, his glance fell on the pack of polo on the center table. He picked it up and ate one or two of it, by giving me a polite glance and a smile. He asked me about Raghav( my husband ) and went about saying a shy hello to my in laws. I couldn't help smiling at his humility.

Both I or he did not know what to say for a long time - so he picked up the mobile on the center table and started playing Bouncers. He laughed with glee every time the ball jumped up the next obstacle. At one point when he was stuck, he came and sat besides me and urged me to play. There are only few things in your life that make you feel so important.

He kept the key of his car in the pocket of his jacket, with the key-chain hanging out of the pocket. Like a typical guy, he seemed so much in love with his car. And then something seemed different about him yesterday. He had always known Tulu ( his mother tongue ), and English. Yesterday, he was communicating in Hindi and Kannada too. Considering that he had never been exposed to these two languages, I was so proud of him that he could pick up the languages so quickly.

And then, after about an hour of his coming, Raghav came home - he was bashful, excited and happy at the same time. I mean, I have never ever seen such a honest and open display of beautiful emotions!

As he was wearing his shoes and getting ready to leave yesterday after filling all of us at home with joy, he suddenly seemed to remember something important. He removed his shoes and came to each one of us, gave a heart filled hug and a gentle peck on our cheeks and rushed back to his duty.

I have known him since for ever but yesterday was so different. He seemed so much at ease. And the moment he hugged me, my world seemed so complete. I felt so wanted and trusted.

Though he is only four, my nephew filled my world !

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