Nowadays, my 3rd old nephew refuses to talk to me on phone. All my efforts to lure him went in vain. I tried the old trick - With due permission from his parents, I posed (read as voiced) myself has his classmate (read girl). He was super excited and spoke to me for solid 15 mins. When I called him back again (as his aunt), he answered the call and said "Mema, X baby had called me". Boys will remain boys!
During Christmas, my nephew’s teacher asked him what should Santa gift him for Christmas and why. He answered "I want a laptop so that I can work and make money to buy tickets for Achan". His father didn’t have enough leave so had to shorten his stay at native. He had told his son that if he didn’t work, he will have no money to buy tickets. Real love and realization are the key virtues of children!
At last, my nephew did get his dream laptop from Santa Claus. I told him "My laptop doesn’t work anymore. Can I lend yours?" He said "No, you ask Santa to gift you a new one". I said "Santa didn’t gift me anything, I don’t why". He said "You are bad boy. If you behave well, Santa will you gift you". Children are genuine and gullible at the same time!
My nephew had spent few months of his life with his maternal grandparents at their home. Once he was driving down with his parents to Kerala, his excitement had no bounds. His father took a different route this time to avoid traffic and got lost midway. So he asked a passerby for the way to Bhavani. My nephew thought his parents are going to meet Bhavani and not his grandparents. He cried and kept saying “I want to meet Ammomma and Appoppa and not Bhavani”. Children are the storehouse of affection and attachment!
As Wordsworth has expressed it before "The child is indeed the father of man!"
