Something was not good with me from morning , I was in some strange mood , I was bugging myself all the while , and While returning from office , I was passing by Archana's house and I thought of checking with them how they are doing . I have this habit of poking everyone to see whether everything is fine with them . And it happens naturally , purely based on my mood . One day I remember someone , and I immediately call or meet them . Other day it will be someone else's turn . I turned my bike and I reached their place.
I called them , Archana said she will reach home in sometime , and Prashanth just reached the same time. He was busy, so my eyes were stagnant on the kids face . I was observing the excitement in the unspoken world of hers . Brinda was jumping on her dad whom she might have missed all day . Meanwhile her grand mom was telling stories about the adventures she achieved throughout the day . We all where glad that still people in the apartment havent complained yet . Probably they too were somewhere enjoying the cute acute cries of the girl .
Prashant went out to pick Archana back home , and I went closer to the girl , tried hard to make her say "Hi" and to make her shake hand with me. I mildly suceeded it, And then I tried to pick her up in my arms but she would start crying immediately.With few attempts back to back , I found the way to make her at least glued to me . My bangle (Kada) in my hand , the moment I start circling it on the ground , the pinching smile starts on her face . And then she would look back into my eyes when it stops rotating ,the smile on her face too stops . When I start the rotations , the puzzled expression and the smile are back again on her face . For me , when Brinda's smile stopped , it was similar to a man trying to get some oxygen underneath the water and when she smiled , it was exactly like how a man would feel when he raises his head above water . That's how I felt. I repeated this till I got enough of her smile . Frankly I never wanted to stop , but the girl went back to her grand mom and started sleeping.
Whenever I see my face in the mirror , and look deep through the reflections , I see an unknown image . What I wanted to see is someone else , someone who is more pure and innocent , but sadly what I get to see is someone whose image is far from what I wanted to be . That is what life does to you or may be we do it to life ? . We can argue on it later.But the smile she just bestowed on me had the innocence which I wanted to see in myself. And the story is almost same with everyone. The purity is lost in our hearts and smiles .Probably that's why Children are special to us . They are the images of our own good perceptions. And As a parent, we want them to be not like us . At least an inch of an notch more is fine with us , but definitely we want them to be above than us , and better than us .
Talking of this topic reminds me of an incident which happened almost 12 yrs back, Probably I should narrate in the native language to get the essence of the conversation . In a winter season , I was wandering in a remote village and I went to a small hut cum shop to buy something. Just in front of the shop, a kid was taking a bath.I asked for what I wanted and the mom said "Oka nimisham babu" ( One Minute Son! ) . She took the boiled water on the wooden fire and ran towards the kid .
Shouts in a typical telangana slang...
Mom : Aagu , gidhi posuko . ( Wait, use this water )
Kid : Em vodhu . ( I don't need )
Mom : Ey idhi posuko pillaga , sardi aithadhi kaadhu bidda . ( In a convincing voice ....Please son , use this water, otherwise you may catch cold )
He dint respond . He allowed his mom to pour the water , and while she was going back , he said "Thank You ! " . I was seeing his moms expression . She was overjoyed . Full of smiles . She continued blushing for minutes together .
I was wondering whether she understood or misunderstood what he said , I asked her .Me : Endhuku amma antha navuthunav , vaadu emanado ardham aindha neeku. ( Did you know what he said ?)
Mom : Endho poguthandu. English la matladudu shuru chesindu ee madhya . Masthu usharu avuthundu pillagadu (He is praising in English.He started speaking English now a days . My Kid is becoming smart.)
Me : I smiled .
While returning back , I asked the kid .
Me : Evaru chepara ra neeku Thank you chepamani . (Who taught you to say Thank you )
Kid : Maa miss chepindhi. (My Teacher)
This story always stayed with me . What was striking is the mother dint even understand what exactly he meant , but she was top of the world ,feeling happy for the kid whom she thinks is doing better than them. Some call it Mothers Love , but the truth is the story is more or less same with the father too . Both share similar dreams , to have a better future for their child , and hope that he becomes a better human being too.
Archana and Prashanth came back home and all of a sudden , Brinda was on a new high . Archana took her up and started cuddling her and then Brinda would look for her father and jump onto him , I should say she flied to him . And when prashanth cuddles her , she turns back to the mother , and then the cycle repeats . It was all chaos out there , but one has to understand the volcanic eruption of joy inside her ,which is clearly evident . All this while , she never had any of them , and when two of them return back home . The confusion of whom to cuddle and whom to hug , whom to kiss and whom to talk , the fight within begins. It also made me think how the kid would have felt when they left home to their offices . I started imagining how would the scene look like. Standing at the balcony , looking through the tearful eyes, shouting at the top of the voice , calling out in an unknown language which would mean "Come back ! , I need both of you to be with me " . Hmmmm Good that she doesn't speak yet . Those situations are tough to handle when we hear what they actually mean .
We all started talking to each other , while the kid was playing in the rolling chair . Although I was part of the discussions , my eyes were glued to the kid . Her looks , and smile was something else for me . She would try to pull whatever she finds on the table or move from one corner to another . She looks back knowing her parents would shout at her. She knew it was wrong , She knew exactly what she was doing , and yet she does the mischievous things. I again started my bangle trick and she stayed glued to it.
Kids are definitely smarter than us these days . One of my X-colleague Aparna once told me, her daughter "Hasini" shows improvement on daily basis . She added " Need to learn it from her " . That was something new to me . May be she is right . To be a child , we need to learn from a child.
Children are like a mirror . They reflect your good deeds , thoughts and innocence . Ideally that's what we want to see in our mirror too , but we don't see them . And the only way man has a chance to see his perceptions in reality is to look into a mirror called Child and see the reflection as a child himself .
After talking to both of them , I decided its time to leave , and I was going down . Archana carried the kid along and came outside . Brinda said "Bye" to me . I laughed out , all this while I was struggling to make her say "Hi" , but now she was happily saying "Bye" to me. The bye's were for my worries probably . She suddenly jumped out from her mom and she came to me . I took her in my arms , she was very light compared to what I thought she would be, I hardly could feel her weight . The feeling inside was quite emotional . I gave her back and said "Bye" and she smiled back . I realized it was not because she was light that I dint feel the heaviness , it was because I became light by the time I left that place . The lightness was in my heart.....And the smile haunted me for 2 days ...Its a Curious case of child healing ! .
Copyrights Statement : I do not claim the rights of the photograph used here , I have just reproduced the imagse from NYC Fashion Photographer Jamie's blog and from others. Credits should go to them .
