Thought Raker

We went to a wedding reception the other day. Lil D and I didn’t know anyone there since it was someone from DH’s office. However, that was hardly a deterrent for her. Within 5 minutes, she had made friends and was soon running about in the hall, playing hide and seek with her new pals.

DH and I marvelled at the ease with which she slipped into the groove — a far cry from both of us!

On the way back, I told Lil D that I envied her ability to make friends at the drop of a hat, and asked her how she did it. She proceeded to enlighten me with a step by step procedure, which I reproduce below:

1. First of all, you have to ask your parents if you can go and play with them. If they say yes, then you can go, otherwise you should just stay where you are.
2. If you can go, first, you ask their name, and then they will ask your name.
3. Then, you ask them how old they are and which school they are in, and then, they will ask you the same.
4. Then, you can ask them if you can play with them. And if they say yes, you can play with them. Simple!

However, I had some “doubts”. I asked for her advice in my case, since (I explained to her) I could not ask my parents if I could go and make friends, I could not ask someone their age, and of course, I couldn’t ask which school they were in.

She thought for a bit, then advised me sagely that I should say Hi to them when I meet them for the first time, and then, if I keep on meeting them, then I should speak more and more to them and thus, become their friend.

So, if you need any advice on how to make friends, you know whom to get in touch with!

No, this is not about the Salman Khan movie.

Lil D has plastered the wall next to her bed with all her drawings. She has even put up a title for her collection — “gallery”! She’s got smiley faces, Noddy, teddy bears, stars and what not. All the stickers I buy for her school projects end up on her gallery instead of the project.

Guess what the latest addition to her wall is? An orange-haired person with a big smile and a sack. At the top is printed “FROM POLICE”. And below that is written “Robber Want”! I’m sure the police will want to hire her immediately as their sketch artist. The robber might oblige and sit for a portrait too!

Yeah, I know a picture is worth a thousand words, but I’m just too lazy to transfer the pic from the camera to the computer and then some.

* * *

The other fun thing that happened was we mothers got talking and came up with this idea of having a Halloween party, just so that we could use up some of the fancy dresses that were lying around in the kids’ closets. Yours truly, who never celebrates any festival if she can help it, actually got into the Halloween spirit. I cut out paper bats and pumpkins, drew a totally harmless looking ghost that emitted a weak Boo!, put up double curtains in Lil D’s room so that it was dark enough but not too dark, and lit candles.

Lil D and her friends were no less. Lil D wrote “DANGER” on one paper and put lots of blood all around. Her friend A wrote “HONTED HOUSE” (Lil D supplied all the spellings! ) and put lots of blood all around. Her other friend S wrote “YOU WILL DIE” and put lots of blood all around. Talk about gore. These kids seemed to just love the idea of having lots of blood everywhere. They also drew scary bloody hands and legs and cute spiders with glasses! I stuck these all over her room. They decided to dress up witches, and guess what they were most excited about? The blood red lipstick that they wanted practically all over their bodies!

They had loads of fun of course, trying to scare the two other girls who had come dressed up as princesses. Perhaps this is a good way of making kids laugh at their fears?

But the weirdest part was that kids actually came trick-or-treating to the apartments in our complex! Proof that globalization is not just about corporates.

When the discussion veered around to the purchase of a new car, Lil D was clear.

“We should buy a pink car,” she declared.

Of course, we immediately set out to dissuade her. The thought stayed in her mind, though. A few days ago, she pointed to a metallic pink Maruti parked in the mall. See, she said, there are pink cars!

Later, when I was chatting with her regarding something else, I told her that I’d really like her to finish school and college, and get a decent job, so that she could be independent. Then, I said, you’re free to do whatever you want, even buy a pink car.

She was thoughtful. But see, she countered, if I get married, then he will also be like daddy and he will not like pink cars. Then how can I get one?

Then she thought a little more, and resolved the problem herself. We’ll buy two cars, she said. One for him, and a pink one for me.

So there you have it. A few years from now, when you see an old lady in the passenger seat of a pink car, you can come over and say Hi — it will be me!

Lil D now has monthly reviews at school. These are like tests for the portions covered within that month. The first month, we parents were all in a tizzy. But now, into the second month, it’s become more or less routine.

This morning, as I sent Lil D to school, I wished her all the best for the last monthly review that she had today. Why are you wishing me all the best, she frowned. It’s so easy! Ha, ha, I laughed. Let’s see what the results have to say, then we can talk.

When she returned from school, she and her pal were walking beside me. How did you do, I asked her. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezie, they both chorused. There’s just some colouring, Lil D said. And drawing, her pal added. And writing – quite a lot of writing, Lil D finished. That’s all, they both agreed.

That’s all.

Conversation 1

Lil D sees the cover of the Economist.
“Oh look! Obama is going into the bear’s mouth.”
She reads the title.
“Welcome to Moscow. Mamma, what is Moscow?”
“Moscow is a city, baby, it is the capital of a country called Russia. You know, just like India. Do you know what is the capital of India?”
“Hmmm…I.”
“I??… Oh!”

India starts with capital letter I – duh!

Conversation 2

On TV, the newsreader is announcing something about the funeral of Michael Jackson.

“Pappa, what is funeral?”
“Er…you know when people die, they…er…they bury them.”
“What does bury mean?”
“Er…they put them in the ground, like your uncle…er, uncle was actually cremated.”
“What does that mean?”
“Cremation means burning. Sometimes we cremate the dead people, sometimes we bury them.”
“But they won’t like it if we do all this, when they are in heaven?”
“Er…it’s just the body that’s burnt, the soul – you know, like, we all have a soul, that stays on forever.”
Pause.
“Pappa, who will do this for me when I die?”

:O :O :O