Little Friends

I was traveling from Chennai to Madurai by train with my husband and I was thinking for the umpteenth time how boring the journey will be because Bala is not much of a conversationalist when he is traveling and added to that the fact that we were traveling in the A/c Chair Car compartment, a thing that I wholeheartedly detest as one is cooped up inside and does not get to experience the thrills of traveling in second class. But I need not have worried. There was a young lady sitting next to me with her two year old daughter. The little one was a very inquisitive child and she was firing questions at her mom at the rate of an AK 47 and kept the entire row entertained during the journey and before we knew it we were at Madurai. It was one of the most interesting experiences during a journey.

The company of small kids can be quite an experience. The innocence with which they say what they think is not only amusing but can also be very enlightening. And they say things without any pre-thought. They just say what they feel and that in itself can be quite an experience.

Sometimes the mom may say to the dad, “Mrs. XYZ is such a pain.” Obviously they would not want Mrs. XYZ to know this. The next time Mrs. XYZ comes for a visit, the little child, who may have overheard this comment may, with all innocence, tell her, “Mom says you are such a pain.” Quite embarrassing for the mom, but who can blame the little one.

Once my friend had brought her boss and the boss’s business partner home for a cup of tea. Her 5 year old daughter went to the partner and with all innocence asked him if he was the boss’s boyfriend. He laughed and said that he makes tea for the boss in the office. Without blinking an eyelid she said, “Then you must be a girl since only girls make tea.” My friend did not know where to look…

Kids are also very free with there affection. They don’t know the concept of hate. They either like you or they don’t. I know this little 3 year old kid who will always reply back with “I love you too Joo aunty (He calls me Joo aunty instead of Jui aunty)” to my “I love you Kibu”. He never once hesitates to reply back to me. It is very heartening to hear him say that.

Quite frankly I enjoy the company of children to that of adults. When you are with adults you always have to wear a mask… you can hardly be yourself. You have to be careful of what you are saying and what you are doing. With children, I can be myself and have a blast with them. I remember when I was staying in Kodaikanal, my husband and I would visit some friends who had a boy aged 5 and a girl aged 6 at that time. This little fellow would throw me on the floor and sit on my tummy and wrestle with me and tickle me… it used to be so much fun. The three of us used to pack a little basket with some snacks and cool drinks and go for a walk and sit under a tree and while away the time talking and playing games. We would spend hours like that and not get bored. I always treasure those times. Sometimes they would want to go cycling. Those days I thought I could not cycle. One day, when I took them cycling, this girl insisted that I try. I instantly refused. She was very persistent and said that since there was no one around, I should not feel embarrassed and give it a shot. When she put it that way I could not say no and gave it a try and realized that I could cycle. It was amazing. At the age of 32, I discovered that I could cycle. All thanks to the little friend of mine.

Once some friends were visiting us and they had an 8 year old daughter. She was a very talented girl. One day, we had to go out somewhere with them. We went to an old house with a beautiful compound which was full of nice old trees. The dad, mom and Bala had some work inside. I decided to stay with the little one outside. We found a nice shady tree and sat on the ground and started talking. She was explaining to me how to make small ear rings and I was giving her some tips on the design. It was fascinating talking to her. We were so engrossed in our conversation that none of us noticed that it had started to drizzle. When Bala came out to call us inside he could not get our attention. Later he told me that both of us looked like we were part of the entire surrounding and also we were so comfortable with each other sitting under the tree and chatting that he did not feel like disturbing us. This little girl also taught me how to feed milk to a baby squirrel with ink filler. It was such a beautiful experience. At first I was very scared of holding the tiny thing in my hand. But she was so confident that I could do it that I had no choice but to do it and I always thank her for that lovely experience.

Kids can have an amazing memory. I have a childhood friend who moved recently to the US of A with her husband and their absolutely fantastic 2 year old son. I know this little fellow since the minute he was born. In fact I was one of the first one to see him outside the operation theatre. It so happened that whenever they came over to our house, I would be cooking and I always wear an apron while working in the kitchen. He was one and a half years when he left for the US of A. There, when ever he sees someone in an apron or when his mom wears an apron, he calls them ‘Juimashi’. Incredible, right?

Bala has some friends living in Chennai who have this remarkable 4 year old son. I have never seen him actually cry. He is always having fun. Bala also keeps saying that he is the only kid that he knows who always wakes up with a smile. When he was very small, his mom used to give him a bottle of milk whenever he was close to tears and he would bounce back immediately. Once when we were visiting them in Chennai, we went to a club for dinner. This little fellow walked straight to the waiter, placed his own order and when the order came, sat down and ate without any fuss. At age four, that was quite a feat. Later on he wanted to eat an ice cream but his mom said it would be too cold for him. So what does our man do? He orders for the ice cream and asks the waiter to put it in the oven for 10 seconds and then he drinks his ice cream. He has a little squirrel as a pet and he also wanted a frog. I asked him how he would catch one and he explained his strategy… he said he would throw a stone at the frog and the frog would get unconscious and then he would put the frog in his pocket. And the entire evening he spent crawling around the shrubs looking for a suitable candidate. And we had a huge laugh when his mom saw him put something in his pockets and thought it was a frog only to discover it was a stone.

Well, these are a few of the innumerable experiences that I had with the little ones which have enriched my life like no other ever had. The innocence, the vulnerability, the quite confidence that nothing is wrong with the world is something quite remarkable and something that we adults must always strive to achieve. I know that somewhere in the process of growing up we have lost the innocence that we were born with and we have become less confident about our surroundings, but then we can always get back a little of our childhood back by just being with the little ones and becoming one of them.