Moral of a story

Varun, like his Anna, loves stories and story books. He at times narrates stories taught in school and always finishes it with the moral of the story 🙂

Last night, I read Pied Piper to Varun. When I asked him what the moral of this story was, he said,

“If you pay money to other people, they will be ready to do everything”

Isn’t’ that some moral?!

PS: For the benefit of those who don’t know the story, it is about the chap, the Pied Piper, who helps drive away thousands of rats (using his music) from a miserly town called Hamelin. The townsfolk pay the Pied Piper just one gold coin going against their promise of paying him a 100 coins. As a revenge, he lures away the kids from the town to a distant land where the children grow up into unselfish and happy adults.

Introducing another poet..

This is by my dearest Aashi.. Tinkle overdose surely 😉

My wonderful dream..

When I was sleeping late at night
I heard someone call my name
I opened my eyes and saw
Suppandi, sitting on his watch,
Saying” iam on time!”

I looked around, to find
Raghu looking very sad
And Tantri creating a bomb!
Doobdoob and Chamataka
How happy for once, together!

Kaliya, Keechu and Meechu
Were not far behind!
Shambu, standing with his gun
And Shanti, still behind him
Pyarelal and Lajawanthini
Tapping on my head, lightly
Kapish standing with Pinto
And smiling with Singal and Peelu

When I opened my eyes for real
They all whispered goodbye!!!
What a wonderful dream, it was
Will I ever meet them all again???

Random Dinner-time Conversations

Vyas: Amma, if Apram falls sick..

Me: Wait.. He is not sick. And will not fall sick.

Vyas: Listen! Just saying… imagine… if he is sick, I’ll go and meet him with a ‘Get Well’ card!

Me: !!??$$ Ok. Just because you discovered about a ‘get well’ card, you want a friend to fall sick!! Sick!!

Vyas: No. Wait. Am not done yet… When I give the card, Apram will say, “Oh! am terribly sick with Chicken-pox!” , to which I’ll reply, “Ok da! Stop being a drama King!” Fancy that!

So, its about the urgent need to put some recently learnt words and phrases to use!

——————-

Vyas: Amma, I have a question.

Me: I know! Shoot!

Vyas: Who or what is a ‘suitor’?

Me: Errr.. umm…. Someone eligible or suitable for marriage. Meaning depends on the context. Where did you learn that word?

Vyas: When I was reading – The Odyssey…(had got him an abridged version)

Me: So, who has suitors?

Vyas: Penelope. Ulysses is the suitor. Others are un-suitors!

Me: (LOL!) Ulysses is the suitor alright. But the others are not suitable enough..(I suggest)!

Vyas: (Shrugs). Is The Odyssey real? I mean, is it a real epic or imagination like Ramayana? Is Troy a real place? And what about Ithaca?

Me: Its a Greek epic. Not sure if it is based on a true story. Will find out. I think there was a city called Troy. Not sure again..

Vyas: So why are they calling it Trojan war and not Troy war?

Me: I DONT KNOW! I’ll read about it and let you know. ok?

Vyas: Forget it. Do you know Roald Dahl’s father’s name?

Me: I really give up!

Life would have been tough if there was no Wikipedia! Again, am not complaining:-)

Children, Books, and Language

Vyas called a while ago. He usually calls after he is back from school for the following reasons:

To,

1. remind me of some promises that I made like getting him a book or toy.

2. help him find something he mis-placed in the morning.

3. seek permission to watch TV

4. have an extra chocolate!

5. complain about a classmate.

After he is done with his share of questions, information, I have a few usual questions:

If,

1. he has had something to eat after school?

2. he had emptied the snacks, lunch, and water that he’d taken to school?

3. anything interesting happened in the class?

4. it was a classmate’s birthday ?

5. if there was any other news at school?

6. and what his brother Varun was upto?

He called me this afternoon to remind me of something I’d promised to buy. When it was my turn, I asked him what Varun was doing.   “Prancing around like mad!” came the reply!!

Thanks to the Roald Dahl series he’z been reading recently! Am not complaining:-)

Peace of mind…

An exchange of ghyan on what everyone in this world is after- P. E . A . C . E.

Vyas: Ma, we must have a lot of peace. We don’t need anything else.

Me: What piece?

Vyas: Ayyo, i mean peace of mind (makes a meditative gesture, drawing in some breath).

Me: (little skeptical) Absolutely right. But, do you know what it means?

Vyas: Of course I do! Its, its, its a calm…

Me: Wow boy! You are right again. From where did you learn about ‘peace’? (i was already impressed)

Vyas: (Ignores my question and proceeds with his) Ma, who are Buddhists?

Me: They are followers of Gautama Buddha. Why? (I ask intrigued)

Vyas: So, are they Bodhisattvas?

Me: Well.. yes, yes.. (recollecting that he read a short story book on the life of Gautama Buddha)

Vyas: I want to be a Buddhist.

Me: What!?? Why?

Vyas: They have a lot of peace. I read an Amar Chitra Katha about the Bodhisattvas (using the word repeatedly to sound grown-up).

Me: You need not be a Buddhist to find peace. Everyone can find peace with a little effort (I reason). Why should you be a Buddhist for that?

Vyas: They always sleep. And so they are peaceful!!

Me: No, they don’t. They work.

Vyas: No, they always close their eyes and meditate and mostly sleep, and seek alms.

So much for the illustrations in the story book he picked up….. At the end of a hard evening trying to explain ‘peace’, we finally made peace and dropped the subject with a resolution to discuss this much later in life….

A truly long distance call…

A mobile phone has been around from time immemorial. That is, according to the teeny weeny kids you see today. Just hang around a mall or any public place and you’ll notice an adult engaging a child with a mobile phone. Why are mobiles such a hit with kids today? Well, I digress!

A world without mobiles is in-conceivable to my son Vyas. Like a bird without wings. And his baby brother is very faithful to his ‘anna’ and is already eyeing the mobiles with lust. But when technology and mythology juxtapose or super-impose, its a concocted heady mix. The ‘anna’ is smitten with mythology and lets his imaginations run riot.

An innocent question from him like, ‘Ma, is your dad in heaven or hell?’, is deceivingly simple, and almost always lands me in a soup. My obvious answer to the question was ‘Heaven of course’. I should have stopped there. But no, the nice mom that I am, I ask ‘Why do you ask?’. That is it. Inference No.1 from my answer: “So, thatha must’ve seen Indra in the Devaloka. I want to know if his throne is like that of a real King’s. I plead ignorance.. “Umm.. so he must also have seen the other Devas – Vayu, Agni, Varuna … and are they still fighting the asuras?” he continues . “C’mon, why worry about all that now. I do not know how to explain. You’ll understand ‘how things work’ in the netherworld and other world when you are a little older..'” I say. A small pause. And he asks, “Ma, when will you go to heaven?” ! “Me? Not any time soon. Maybe in another 50 years from now?” And again I ask my trademark question, “Why?”. He says, “Remember to take you mobile phone along. I’ll call you to find out how Indra is and how heaven in general is.. Sad that thatha did not have one on his person” An idea! Really!!

Do share such interesting uses for future mobile phones. Maybe, a collective list can be sent to Nokia or the likes as ‘feature requests’!!

Inspired by ‘The Famous Five’

Yet another moment that indicated Vyas is ‘really’ the big brother was his graduating from comic-reading to short novels, his favorites being The Famous Five and The Secret Seven (Enid Blyton).

Well, like everything else in life, his book reading habit has brought its own share of positives and ‘not-so-positive’ consequences (no negatives though!). He is thoroughly enjoying the adventures of the famous five and he too wants to be a part of such adventures and claims to be as courageous as the super kid, Julian. But visiting the bathroom alone after 7.00 PM has nothing to do with courage. So someone has to stand guard! He has the bathroom door closed of course! Acquainting himself with strangers and being at ease is not important either. One just needs the knack of identifying the ‘wrong-doer’ and the ability to deliver a kick in the villian’s butt and claims he is that material:-)

I understand how such things inspire kids. But what I was not prepared for was this. He suddenly announced one day that he has wished God for another sibling and this time it must be a girl! I simply asked him to ‘un-wish’ and put such wishes to rest and literally threatened him to never ever wish for more and that the two of them were ‘blessings’ enough! Tough nut that he is, he wouldn’t budge. He insisted that I ‘listen patiently’, while his wish still had me in a stupor and thoroughly shaken! He wished for a sister to create a famous five team here. He is Julian, his little brother is Dick, and the girl-to-come will be Anne! I asked him how the team will be complete without Georgina. He had the plan well chartered out. He has wished for a girl to be born to his uncle. Wait, the wish does not end there. That girl, his cousin, should desire to be like a boy and she must also rear a dog and call it Timothy!!! UUfff!!! Now its my turn to pray and wish. Wish that Anne part of the wish goes unheard and Georgina part comes true. Not worried about Timothy yet. That’s for his uncle, aunt, and George to figure out!!

Awaiting more surprise packages from my ‘dreamer-son’ and totally clue-less about what to expect from the 7 month old toddler-sweetheart who at the moment is vying for attention… Looonng lovely way to go..