You @ 6: Imaginations aplenty...
On seeing you writing “D” as “ᗡ” Me: Is this how D is written?
You: How do you know it is D?
Me: What else can this be?
You: If you read this as D, then it is D
Me: But this is not how D is written
You: But you just read this as D, so its ok if I write it as ᗡ. It’s the same thing (then you imagined sentences with alphabets like B P Z R mirrored and told me it makes no difference how they are written because they are still read correctly)
Me: Listen Niky, please write the way it should be written.
And then….
Me (to myself): you are absolutely right Niky, but how in the world can I ask you to make your own alphabets and not follow the norms.. I am sorry, really sorry, to not let you follow your imagination always…
This imagination of yours is phenomenal… you see a hoarding on the road with two people and tell me what conversation they are having with each other which actually describes their expressions, you see a thread/string lying lousily on the floor and find shapes of animals or birds or flowers in it, you see still water in a lake and tell me stories about fishes and crocodile beneath it, you see hoards of monkeys jumping on the trees around and you tell me various games they are playing with live commentary of the game, you hear the sound of the wind through the rolled down car window and tell me how it just whispered a poem in your ear, you see the Ganesha idol looking at you and tell me how he is asking you not to eat his modaks, you see Polo lying in his den and tell me how he has been missing you all day…
Imaginations don’t stop there, you also make conversations with all
these… with Polo to let him know you missed him too, with monkeys to help one
monkey find the others in their hide n seek game, with Ganesha to assure him
there are more modaks that Mamma has made and he will get enough, with fishes
to warn them about the cunning crocodile… To me, this imaginary world of yours
is fascinating… when you pull me in it, I flow with you…
Have always wondered how this, today 6 year old, brain of
yours comes up with such vivid imaginings… your reading habit must be a huge
contributor I suppose… you and books are inseparable… you read all the time,
all kinds of books… you are now reading books that are for kids much above your
age… you wake up with a book, you go about doing all your chores along with a
book, you eat with a book open next to you, you read books to Polo, you go to
sleep with a book, you have atleast one book beneath your pillow every night…
So yesterday when we walked into this large kids store and told you to choose a gift for yourself, you immediately asked “story books
kahan hai?”… I suggested you look for something else, anything that you would
like playing with, but within 2000-3000 rupees… you went around the whole
store, played with all the free games available there and in between ran back to me
to ask how much would a cab charge from home to the store… I wasn’t sure about the thoughts behind this, but I casually answered – Rs 100 maybe… You went back to
the games section and after a while came out with a radiant face, illuminated
with a brilliant idea… you asked me to give you cash Rs 3000 which you will use
to travel to the store on your own 30 times and play all that you want… (I
guess Nithila helped with the maths).. now this I was not prepared for… it can
get quite tricky to leave you to your imagination… so I walked around with you
and bought you skates, which you have been wanting for a while now…
Skating is a new activity you have learned recently… its part
of your school activities and you so love doing it… just like how you love playing
golf… you have not yet started formal training in golf (you will soon!) but you
have picked up the essentials just by seeing others get trained… one activity
however you despise is swimming, to the extent that you have announced to
everyone how you will leave your school in Standard 3 and join back in Standard
6 (swimming is compulsory from Std 3 to 5 in this school) :)) but
sweetheart, there isn’t any escape like this… its been an ordeal getting your
admission in this prestigious school and we have no intentions of going through
it again… otherwise (besides swimming) you are in absolute love
with your school, and your teachers… they adore you too (your class teacher had
sent me messages of how she misses your infectious smile when you were unwell
and missed school)… this school change by the way is owing to our shift from
Bangalore to Delhi in June this year… this is not just about moving cities, but
it is also about culture-shift and lifestyle-changes… it is about leaving a
part of you behind (which you still remember as part of your imaginary stories),
it is about feeling of separation (you cried when you met your friend Manu on
the last day in Bangalore), it is about sense of belonging (you still refer to
Bangalore as your home), it is about embracing new people and new places… it is
indeed heartening to see how well you have adjusted to this new place and all
the new people around you…
The neighbors and friends around us here are extremely fond of
you… the way you sit on their lap, hug them, tell them stories, have them read
books to you, hold them back when they are about to leave… is all very adoring…
you have informed each of them about your birthday today and that you would
love to have a pizza party… pizzas is your current favourite food and when you
decide a food you like, I try to feed you as much of it before its liking fades
away, because otherwise you are a very poor eater… infact you live on imaginary
food… you describe pizzas with toppings of glittering stars, you want to cut a cake
which has yellow daisies growing on top, you stir your milk to dissolve the
rainbow colours strewn in it… sometimes I am overwhelmed, sometimes I am
surprised, sometimes I just go numb… realizing the depth of your imaginary world…
and wonder if I should let you be there or bring you back to the real world…
But then your real world is also as dreamy… a world of warmth
and affection, of touch and feel, of tight hugs and gentle kisses… when I sit
near you, you cuddle next to me… when I sit away and work, you come and hug me
every 10 minutes… when I frown, you pull my cheeks to show that is how one
smiles… when I am away, you wrap around my stole and sleep in its smell… this
abundant affection of yours is one of the very few unadulterated things in my
life, and this I don’t want to lose at any cost… I promise I will always strive
to be a part of your world, the imaginary world, the dreamy world… in it is the
feeling of unsullied existence, something I had forgotten long back, something
that I am re-learning from you, something I will continue to look upto you for…
On that note, a very happy 6th birthday to you my
dear Niky…
2 comments
superb as always !!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks :)
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