Shaurya's Chronicles

So, it’s been some time since I last wrote. I guess I just couldn’t help it. Routine course of life has its own demands and at times these daily chores dominate and suppress the undercurrent of our personal being. Anyway, I am here now and I feel like writing and I guess this is what is important.

And as most of you would have guessed looking at the title, with this post I wish to emphasize the impact of the Idiot Box on Shaurya’s current behavior. As a teacher I remember having discussed the impact of TV overdose on children with many parents and guardians. Well, I guess I am looking at the other side of the fence now and actually realize how difficult it can be at times.

Shaurya is now two and half and his behavior has undergone a sea change. He has started expressing his likes and dislikes both verbally and using actions. He has developed a strong fascination for cartoons being aired on TV and now has his own list of favorites.

I guess I can dedicate this post to two of his favorite shows which play on channel ‘Nick’.

His first liking is an animated series called ‘Krishna’ which is primarily the story of the child manifestation of the Hindu deity Lord Krishna. The stories of Krishna appear across a broad spectrum of Hindu philosophical and theological traditions and are very part of the Indian culture. I introduced Shaurya to this series as I thought that it might be educational as well for him. However, little did I know that I was buying trouble for myself and literally bidding goodbye to my days of watching TV.

Since now if ‘Krishna’ is being aired, you can just not dare change the channel because as soon as you do that, Shaurya screams at the top of his voice and you are bound to come back to his show. 

He even has developed a routine for watching this show. He begins by singing along the opening theme of the episode and then keeps filling in the scenes with his ‘expert’ comments. His commentary at times is in sync with the scene being shown at other times he has his own exclamations for everything happening during the episode. ‘No Fighting’, ‘Isko Chhodh Do (leave him)’, ‘O o’, ‘Drop it’ are just a few of his chosen expert comments.

His other favorite TV series is ‘Perman’. Incidentally this one is also aired on Nick. (We are a ‘Nick’ family, Channel owners can pay us rewards for our loyalty).

Now personally, I do not hold either the caricatures or the story line for ‘Perman’ to be of any substantial quality. Perman is the story of a clumsy boy Mitsuo Suwa, who is chosen as an apprentice of Superman. (Here is a link if you want to know more about the Perman) To top that since it is originally a Japanese series, it has been dubbed in English and the dubbing sucks big time. 

Anyway, now the problem for me is that Shaurya somehow caught this show running on TV someday and has become fond of it. (Though I have not laid hands on any evidence as yet, I have a very serious hunch that probably one fine morning when I was away, Shaurya’s daddy got him hooked to the show, maybe in an attempt to get Shaurya off his back).

Now the issue is that Perman gets inside Shaurya’s head at odd times and out of the blue while he is watching TV. All of a sudden, he would remember ‘Perman’ and then will want you to put it on, no matter what. As a parent now you are in a sticky situation because Perman has fixed timings and is not available throughout the day. And somehow I find it so irritating and obnoxious that I really do not wish to buy its CD for Shaurya’s home viewing.

Though I know that it is most likely just a passing phase for my little superhero and it won’t be too long that he would grow out of these TV series and pick up something else to keep himself busy. Personally I want him to pick up something more useful and creative than just spending time before the telly and learn some form of art as he grows. He has been showing inclination towards painting and music, but I am yet to see that spark in him which can keep him interested and focused on these things for long.

I shall write more as and when it happens, for the time being I shall keep posting on his recent fixation – the TV. So make sure, you catch this space for more on the TV saga and Shaurya and keep sending in your comments on the posts made.

Shaurya cut his head.

___________________

"You have to do your own growing up no matter how tall your father is"

- Abraham Lincoln

I reckon that in my previous posts I have often exclaimed and expressed my wonder at Shaurya's growing up and have narrated all the things that he has been doing with a hint of pride as a mother. Well, lately I just discovered another aspect of growing up - getting hurt.

It was a holiday at his school and his Daddy dropped him along with his ‘Kapa’ (our domestic help) to his aunt's house to spend the day. I had planned to get them back home with me later in the day and so joined them in the afternoon. Shaurya was having a whale of a time, playing with his 'Bunny' Bhaiya (my sister's son) and Victor (their pet dog) and I was watching him from a distance, enjoying his laughter and his antics.

It was a matter of few seconds that I saw him tumble down while playing and fall over at an awkward angle on the ground and cut his forehead. My first instinct was that probably it wasn't much but then I nearly panicked when I saw blood oozing out of the forehead. I did act fast though, picked him up, pressed his wound with my hand and ran outside calling Geeta, (my sister) to take out her car.

We rushed to a small hospital nearby and all this while I kept praying and pressing the wound. Shaurya could not stop crying because of pain and discomfort at not being able to open his left eye due to blood which kept dripping from his wound despite my maintaining the pressure on it.

We rushed to the emergency ward of the hospital as soon as we reached and were attended to by two doctors. Till that day whenever I used to read stories or news about the lack of medical facilities in the country or about the callous behavior of the medics even in case of an emergency, I would not normally believe it as I had never been subjected to the same.

However, I was astounded at the careless attitude of these doctors as they went about doing a lousy job of cleaning the cut or administering a first aid. I seriously want to take them to task someday and tell them that they were more qualified to be motor mechanics than physicians. All that they showed interest was in urging us to get Shaurya admitted and wanting to give him stitches.

I looked at Geeta who was now in tears. It was getting difficult for me to contain myself too. However, I did realize that I needed to compose myself, put a brave face and take some quick decisions. I called up Shaurya's pediatrician and talked to him about everything. By this time Shaurya's bleeding was contained and his pain had eased out a little. It was then that we decided to take him to another better hospital, which was a little far off.

We rushed him to the Max hospital and I guess it turned out to be a wise decision. He was soon taken attended to and this time with better care and facilities. I was relieved that the need for stitches was also averted and his cut could be fixed by some solution and a bandage alone.

This was the time when I realized that his head was full of blood, so were my arms and clothes. Shaurya had resumed his crying. Probably it was the number of people around that got him uncomfortable and it became a herculean task to calm him down. The medics gave me some syrup for him and I had to force it down his throat. I tried to keep my cool and not lose my composure but inside I was all shaken up and disoriented.

Once the ordeal was over and we finally got back to Geeta's place, I called up Shaurya's Daddy to come over. He, as expected, got a shock when he reached and was quite amazed that he got no clue of the entire thing while talking on phone, as I was sounding so relaxed.

The Doctor had told us that Shaurya would be under the effect of the syrup and might be asleep for an hour or so. To our surprise, as soon as we reached home, he was up and onto his pranks again. He went about calling the dog and running around all over the drawing room.

Later, when we started off to come back to our place, I just could not stop myself and cried aloud. This was perhaps the first time during the entire episode that I confessed that I was very scared all the time Shaurya was there in the hospital and I was faking the strong face I had put up all the while.

I kept crying for a long long time and Shaurya kept stroking my cheek with his little hand calling out ‘Mamma..Mamma..' It was a harrowing experience and very excruciating mentally and emotionally. I was glad that it got over soon and we did not run into something more woeful.

Shaurya's fall brought me those tears and it was also him who finally made me smile. He brought his hands to his face the way I do and started imitating the way I was crying. One moment I was flowing tears and the next I could not help smiling just looking at him.

I guess life just goes on the same fashion, smiles and tears bundled together. I wonder if my little champ can keep up to his Mamma's tears and bring her smiles every time, just the way he did then.

Shaurya enjoys his 'Holi' day!!!

__________________________

Well I know its a little late to be writing about Holi - the festival of colors and I do realize that I am not really posting as much as I resolved to at the beginning of the year but these have been testing times. My job has been keeping me real busy and if that was not enough I had to keep up with household chores, courtesy my 'Forever Late' domestic help.

Anyway, talking about Holi, I never had any aversions about playing with colors or getting myself wet on Holi but I was sceptical about it this year since I did not know how Shaurya would react to all the hullabaloo and the fervor that is normally associated with Holi. Now that he has started understanding and demanding things and attempts to communicate his likes and dislikes, I wanted him to enjoy the festival like we used to when we were kids.

Shaurya's dad is not very fond of either Holi or the 'Hangama' associated with the festival and I was also anxious to see how Shaurya takes to the colors and if he actually follows my heart or imbibes his dad on this trait.  

Well, to my surprise and delight my little champ did play Holi with all the enthusiasm he could show. He liked being around colors and wanted more and more of them on him (unlike his dad). I had a feeling that he would not be totally reluctant to it but never thought that he would be so willing to play with colors and water.

Holi At School - A Day Before: Shaurya's play-school 'The Circle' had organized celebrations of ‘Holi’ for the children. The scheme of things included playing with flowers and getting a ‘tilak’ of color, but Shaurya somehow got hold of the ‘Thaali’ of colors and started putting the 'Gulaal' on himself. His teachers came forward to stop him, but he just had a big ‘NO’ to keep them away. He kept on putting more and more of the 'Gulaal' all over his head, face, arms and clothes and kept smiling and laughing all the way.

I had to literally drag him back to get him home to give him a shower. Now, I have already mentioned in an earlier post how Shaurya loves to be in water and enjoys his daily baths. So, playing 'Holi' in the school had an added advantage of getting that extra bath, not to mention all the fun he had while playing with colors.

The Oily 'Holi' Day: Well, on the day of ‘Holi’, we tried to stay indoors, as no one at home was willing to use colors (except me) and so we kept sitting in the balcony looking at the people in the street and the park overlooking the house, waiting for some one to come and play holi with us.

It was nice bright and sunny morning with gentle breeze and Shaurya was enjoying all the sunshine. And then something went through his mind and he got up and brought me his bottle of oil and started taking off his clothes, indicating that he wanted to get a massage. I was quite surprised at his behaviour, but gave him a nice massage and he kept moving his arms, back and legs in a manner, as if guiding me to do it properly. I took out his splash pool and let him have a nice time playing and lazing around in the water for a long time.  

As I sat there watching him enjoy the sunshine and play with water, I realized that the true essence of life and happiness lies in the careless indulgence in little joys of life that we in the natural process of growing up abandon at some point in time.

I was mesmerized at the sheer joy reflected on Shaurya's face and for once longed to be a kid again. For the records, I captured the moment (the picture above) and saved it forever on my mind.

Happy Holi, Son.

Jumpy Jumpy !!!

_____________

I guess joining Shaurya's play school as a coordinator myself was one of the wiser decisions that I have made in recent times. Being able to be with him or around him while he is busy with other children and doing his own thing gives me an altogether different window to his growing up years. 

The time that he spends in the play school would have otherwise been a closed shell and I feel lucky at times to be able to have a first person account of his new pranks now and hence it is but natural for my posts to now talk about things that my little champ is learning at school. Honestly, considering his age, I really never thought that he would be doing so many things in school, but as it turns out, my angel is picking up new lessons and new tricks with every passing day.

At times it feels so exciting to catch a glimpse of him in his class that I hide behind the wall and peep through the glass windows. I know, I might be sounding a little too protective or maybe a little too obsessed here but then one has got to experience the joy of watching your child interact with other children and learn his lessons the way they come to exactly appreciate what I am living here.

Well, there are endless things that are done in the class. And out of them, one is their prayer which they say right after they all are there in the class and then before meals. According to his teacher, Shaurya is the only one who says the entire prayer, (but then in his own language) and the time the children say ‘Thank you God’, he says ‘Thank you Ball’. I have tried getting him to repeat the correct version after me almost a hundred times the whole day, but without success thus far.

Another thing that he has been enjoying lately is jumping on a small mattress that the children use to sit on when in the school. He normally calls out ‘Jumpy Jumpy’ and goes crazy and funny when he does it.  He does it alone at home, with me joining in occasionally. But then at school, he invites the other kids to follow him and keeps saying ‘Aao’ to call in everyone around him to join him in his prank.

I won’t say that he’s learning all good things, because in all class there are all kinds of children. I don't normally interfere with his natural progression and I am certainly not denying him his rightful share of being naughty and allowing him to make his mistakes. But given the fact that as a mother I might be biased at times, he still comes off as one of the better students and more sensible than others in his peer group at times and I feel glad to bask in the glory of his sunshine days with him, by his side.

The Song and The Mud

____________________

I remember the excitement and anticipation that annual functions and sports days in schools used to generate for us as kids. Well, it was time to relive all that excitement once again as Shaurya attended his first Sports Day at school last Sunday (February 1st, 2009). Since his class were the youngest lot in the school, I was asked to be with him for the march past and races.

Shaurya was not as excited as I was, maybe because he is still young to understand all this. He missed his March Past, as he got up late, but then we were in time for his songs routine.

Their class had to stand in a semi- circle and clap and act on the songs to be sung by the teachers. I stood behind him in the ground and kept singing all that I remembered of the lyrics. He kept on clapping like the other kids initially, but then something came upon him and he sat down to play with mud. While all other children were busy clapping and doing their actions, my little hero was busy with the plain joys of life, getting his hands dirty. He got so excited after a while and naughty as he is, he started throwing mud on himself and on the kids around him. It was funny to see him play on and be busy with himself and the dirt on the ground as children around him clapped on with the song.

Well I could not be with him all through the day, as I was one of the organizers, but I could see him sitting on his dad’s shoulders all the time. Seeing him in his Yellow Sports Day Dress I realized how fast the time went by. It was just two years back that he used to be in my arms, and I wanted him to run around, talk and play and here he was taking his first steps on the roads of learning and education.

As ever, I stood by his side, watching him and doling out my love for him in little ways he understood and carrying dreams for him which I hope, he would understand with time. And as ever, my heart swelled to see his antics with a joy that I guess only a mother would understand.

Love you, Son.

Happy To You....

__________________

I know I have written after a long time. Well if the wait has been long, the post has to be a special one and what better than one about my Hero's birthday celebrations as he enters the age of 'Troublesome Two's'.

His birthday was on January 8 and was attended by a few close friends and family members at a Pizza Hut outlet in GK-I. There were no kids his age as he still has no friends around but I am sure he did not mind that and really had a great time, as there were so many of us to pamper him and dole all our love at him - our little prince.

For the occasion, I dressed him up in a nice black coat, with a tie and a matching cap and I guess he knew it too that he was looking very handsome and he posed smartly for a couple of pictures that we took.

Now as soon as we got the cake and laid it on the table, he was all set to cut it. I was kind of surprised that he did not have to be told what to do and was all ready with the knife on his own. He readily passed the knife through the cake and clapped on his own and sang, “Happy To You”.. We all couldn’t help laughing and I was smiling at the fact that he finally is learning things at school. And even when we all were finished cutting the cake and having it, he still wanted to carry on with the knife and kept singing his "Happy To You" song.

The next thing he did was even funnier than his version of the birthday song. My hero caught hold of the match box which was used to light the birthday candles and in no time, he was playing with the match sticks and suddenly we saw him put a drinking straw in his mouth as he was holding the matches.

Well, for him it was just another prank, but for us, it appeared as if he was trying to light a cigarette. His activity continued for another five minutes and the only thing we all did was to observe his prank. We all started laughing and he was taken aback at our behavior. May be he just got surprised at the way we all laughed at his antics. I am not sure if he saw someone light up a cigarette before him and just aped the exercise or was it just some innocent child play. What ever it was, it just cemented my belief further that we as parents need to be very watchful of our actions and careful of the words that we use when he is around.

I guess I shall leave it to him about the choices he makes in his life and things and habits that he wants to pick up. Who knows if he would even care for my opinion then? But then all this while as I watch him grow and take decisions and make choices and mistakes, I wish to stand guard and protect him as much as I can..but then I know that someday I shall have to let go..but until then, I am all there for you son, whenever you need me.

Love you and God Bless.