MOTHER' PRIDE or PLIGHT??

I begin with a clarification that the title of this post has its inspiration in a recent interaction with a tiny tot. when asked if she went to school, her evidently well – versed (with what else do we adults strike up a conversation with a small child ?) and instant reply was : Mother’s Pride, U-KG (A), class teacher- Mrs. Deepika Vohra.
Having skipped the rest of the details as furnished by the child (probably by now experience had taught her the common sequence of corresponding questions and she seemed to be a time-energy saving sorts. smart child….) ; I in my elements loudly remarked if the child was sure it was not Mother’s Plight??
Can’t say if the child’s smartness challenged my tiny brain, but the fact that it is tiny was established when I had to abruptly stop howling at my own PJ, once I located the not – so – amused expressions of the mother.
As for the child, she simply derived that I was hard of hearing, repeated the correct name of her posh school once or twice in as best clarity as her tongue could manage and hopped out of the room - as much better stuff allured her than interacting with a dumb adult.

Coming back to mother’s plight, let me introduce my 5 year old nephew about whom this post is about. He is the first and the only third generation member in my immediate family. Basically he is the edifice of my exposure to small children living in close proximity.
To put it plainly: there has never been a single good – bye (he stays with his parents in a different city) that I have simultaneously hated and loved more.
The times when he is here or I am there, nothing else in my life commands for more attention than this little creature. The child is high on NQ (nonsense quotient)!!
Psychologists declare that children up to 5 yrs. (plus – minus 5 yrs!!) are totally EGO oriented: it is My – Me – Myself for them.
So the child can sleep at 7 in the evening so as to get up at 4 in the morning and make ones life hell, if one tries to even slightly procrastinate fulfilling His wish to visit the local playground. Okay, so I get up, rush to the local park – dressed still in my pajamas, disheveled hair, yawning and trying not to topple over something…only to be told 5 minutes later that He is hungry!!! Morning walkers- kindly uncle jis and aunty jis look at the ‘poor child’ and inwardly sympathize with him for having to bear with a negligent guardian.

Next, he can squash wasps and all sorts of ugly creepy crawlies with His bare hands but the reason he cannot eat food on his own is: his hands may get soiled. So my mom or me or any other person entrusted with the humongous task has to constantly run after him balancing food plates in one hand, so as to stuff the next morsel in His Highness’ mouth. We are often screamed at for not realizing that He is not finished with His mouthful as yet.
The only easy way out is to put Cartoon Network which has the magical powers to dazzle him totally. He keeps his mouth open all the time while watching the world of animation and this eases the task for us manifolds. Also as he sits glued in front of the screen like a stone, this helps save us lot of calories. However this option weighs too heavily on our moralities and is mostly not taken recourse to. I strongly feel that in state of total crisis, Cartoon Network is the best anti-dote for all hysteria.

Although this fellow can’t read a full sentence but insists that he must be bought all those glossy paged story books. So who reads them for him??? Obviously me - mind you - not once or twice but close to 100 times over and over again.

Of course visiting shopping centers or even local kiraana shops can be an experience when he is around. He is innovative in his techniques so if crying has become too stale and boring, he can howl, scream or best simply refuse to walk or move an inch from the spot. At times to spice up things and add up visual treat for on lookers he adds up acts of physical audacity by simply spreading on the floor - there and then.

Great men have said: that curiosity for the world around makes the child inquisitive.
There are times when I have won the battle for TV. Even if it so happens that through much cajoling and promises for future goodies, one gets to watch anything else but cartoons BEWARE : one may be smothered with questions of plain curiosity like kyoun, kaise (hows and whys) which by default find a way to attach themselves to every answer that one manages for the previous set. Yes, with a 5 yr old it is possible. With a 5 year old anything is possible…..

I can go on and on with all these things and incidents or I can end this post with one line: despite everything, we all adore him. Don’t ask me the kyoun and kaise behind this. I have no possible rational answers for this one :):):)