Shaurya's Chronicles

Not many years ago there was a Mastercard advertisement playing on TV which went something like “Toys for the baby – 2000 rupees, watching him play with a cardboard box – Priceless !! There are certain things money can’t buy…” I guess I ran into a similar incident in recent past myself.

It was one of the finer, sunnier, winter mornings on a Saturday couple of weeks ago, when I decided to spend the entire day with Shaurya. I thought about planning the day with all possible things that he would like and decided to take him to some place where he could enjoy himself to the hilt.

I zeroed down on the National Zoological Gardens (aka Delhi Zoo) as the place to go to and  considered taking the metro as trains are his recent fixation and I really thought it would be a new experience for him.

So, off we went – mother and son, hand in hand catching the Metro to the Khan Market and taking an auto-rickshaw to the zoo. We got off, bought the tickets and went inside. The first thing that I realized immediately after walking in through the gate was that a trip to the zoo translated to a lot of walking.  The area to be covered was huge and it would be difficult for my little prince to walk all the way to the cages and animal shelters. Luckily, we could find autos plying inside the zoo and could find ourselves a good ride right away. The auto – driver doubled up as the tourist guide and knew his way well.

Now I don’t remember if I, as a little girl, was fascinated about going to a zoo myself but I guess as we grow up, we get certain fixed ideas about how children should be raised and things that they would supposedly like and enjoy. While I seriously believed that Shaurya would be ecstatic about watching the animals closely, I was a little taken aback at his not wanting to get off the auto at all to see the animals.

Whenever we got off it to see an animal like a Giraffe, a Tiger or even elephants, he kept looking backwards to check if the auto was still there. The only thing that enthused him was the auto and all he wanted to do was sit and enjoy his ride. I kept coaxing him to step out whenever it stopped, but he would do so very reluctantly only to get back on it as soon as possible.

The tour finally ended with Shaurya actually spending more time looking out from the side of the auto-rickshaw than watching the animals through their cages. We got off, went out and waited for another ride to the Metro station for our way back.

Now, my junior Einstein, remembered the names of the places we had crossed earlier in the day and so even before I could call out to another auto and ask him to take us to our destination, Shaurya started calling out to the auto wallas passing by to take us to khan market. Strangely, many of them refused to go to that side and my little one felt that I probably did not wish to take him on an auto. So, he stopped right in the middle of the road and turned around and asked me, “Do you even want me to go on an auto?”. This came off as some funny surprise and I was rendered speechless for a moment to see him, assert himself like that.

Luckily, I found one that very minute who agreed to take us and once back, we spent the rest of the day at home with me cooking his favorite things for dinner and him narrating his experiences of the day, standing by my side in the kitchen.

I see the day as one that carried an important lesson for me that no matter if, as a mother you want and wish the best for your child, he or she would eventually grow up to be his own person with his own set of likes, needs and wants and at some point in time you shall have to break the mould of your own thoughts and give the reigns of your kid’s life to him. Perhaps, the zoo trip was the first step towards that final destination. Maybe when that happens, he shall want to decide for me as well and would try and guide my course of actions too.

Well, I shall leave upon time to decide how we walk through that path then. For now, I shall sit back and think about our next possible outing together. Maybe this time, I shall hire an auto for the entire day and take him around for a long ride alone without bothering about things and places to see.

Shall write about it when it happens…