The rabbits defeat the wolfs

I've copied the story below, verbatim-- spelling/grammical mistakes included, from Pari's notebook. As always, vacations leave the child terribly bored, and with nothing better to do, she turns into this prolific story/poem writer. I returned home from office one day, I think it was Apr 20th, barely a couple of days after her school closed for summers when I first saw this story. And it reminded me of the ones written during the diwali vacation. I must admit that there is a marked improvement in the writing skills. However, it also reminded me of how lonely and miserable she had been during those holidays and so I bundled her off to the grandparents' place before she could churn out more stories.

Once upon a time there lived only four rabbits. They always were very hungry. One day they saw a large wolf. The rabbits thought that if they could kill the wolf’s Pack, they could eat them forever. But they could not do so. One rabbit had an idea. She told them that there was a river near there burrow. She also told them that the river was dangerous as everybody knew it was full of electric eels, tiger sharks and razor-sharp tooth piranhas. Nobody even dared to fish in the river. She said that one day to kill the wolf Pack they must tell the Pack to fish in that river and whey they will (catch) any eel, shark or piranha they will bite the pack and in the meanwhile we will run away. When then Pack will be dead, we can eat our fill. They were pleased to hear this. The next day they tricked the pack to eat goldfish. They told them the river was full of goldfishes. They caught lot of sharks while the rabbits ran away. When the rabbits returned the Pack was dead. They were very happy.  They ate the wolves but they never were sad. The wolves never even finished. The four rabbits lived happily ever after.

THE END

Some observations--
1. Halfway through the story, the child realises the plural of wolf is 'wolves' and not 'wolf's'. Enlightenment indeed!
2. The 'Pack' always begins with a capital P, not sure why?
3. The logic in the story is as always.. impeccable :)

I am calling her the 'Kalam ka Sipahi'!

A POEM AT THE LITTLE BUNNY-- PARI, JAN 26TH

I have a little bunny
She is as sweet as honey
She eats a carrot
because she's hungry as a parrot
I call my bunny Sooshi
while others call their bunny Nooshi
I like a cat
while others like a bat
I think I'm going to sing all day
but I think my song is finishing right away

Yes, it has very little to offer other than several pairs of rhyming words, but it is the music in our lives.. are all momma's mad by design?

ps. As with all creative writing, this poem too an illustration-- a very cute bunny right next to it. We'll lose it in a couple of days, I wish I could archive it somehow. 

Of nice dreams-- part II

In the good old days, when I took better care of this blog and was more considerate towards the readers, I would've posted this as a ps to the last post. However, now that I post so rarely, and almost always about Pari, unintentionally reducing this blog to a mommy blog, I think I can write a sequel-'separately' to the previous post.

Alright, so yesterday, the husband came home from work, and as we discussed our respective day's,  I related Pari's nice dream to him. Pari, like most other kids, is most attentive towards us when we are talking to each other, and trying to keep her out of the conversation or ignoring her. Even before I could finish, and the husband could have his share of amusement, she jumped in protesting that she had had a different dream.

Husband: What did you see?
Pari: I dreamt that we are shopping in a mall, you've got me a very pretty necklace. Then we return home, there is a party going on at home, and I am wearing the new necklace..
H: But you told mumma an altogether different story?
P: Yeah.. because I didn't want to tell mumma my dream.. and she would've continued to 'bore' and 'trouble' me by asking about it. So I told her something else.

Yes.. this is the child I had missed my office for and stayed back home. And this is the child I took to a picnic on Saturday, to a very far-off and irritating water park/resort, only so that she doesn't feel left out when the rest of the class had fun. Again, this is the child I accompanied to a very boring birthday party on Sunday, giving up my afternoon sleep, despite being very tired from the resort trip the day before, and having never met the mom/family of the birthday child.

This is also the child who likes spending her days hibernating at home, and doesn't want to go anywhere except the malls. Like the other day, I asked her--
Me: Pari, would you like to join a dance class?
Pari: No, I already know dance.
M: What about a music class?
P: I don't want to go.
M: Drawing class perhaps? What do you want to do as an extra-curricular-- after you return from school?
P: I want to go shopping..

So shopping it is! I can almost visualise a resume, a decade and a half from now, with some educational qualifications on the top(hopefully a few), and the bottom section with 'SHOPPING' as the extra curricular activity. Not bad, me thinks. It may not put off the potential employers so much but we will certainly scare off the prospective grooms..

Pari'ism 11-12-2012: Of nice dreams

Pari is unwell and sleeping. I am working from home. I wrap up my work, and try to wake up her up, anticipating a very cranky child in my hands. She opens her eyes slowly, and most unexpectedly- smiles. I am very surprised, but still manage to smile back.

Pari --'I had such a nice dream'.
Moi -- 'Oh really.. can I also have that dream?'
P -- 'You sleep with me, then we will dream together.'
M -- 'Sure baby, but why don't you tell me about it first?'
P -- 'I saw a cat doing potty and susu on a dog(looks very very pleased). Mumma, now come sleep with me.'

I don't want to sleep.. I think I'll just skip that nightmare.. dream.. whatever!!

Some Observations..

 1. The quickest way to get a child hungry--

Ask her to study. Instant hunger pangs guaranteed!

2. The easiest way to get a child like her food--

Ask her to study. She will show the willingness to eat just about anything.. khichdi will be consumed@frenchfries.

3.The surest way to make a hyperactive child sober down--

Ask her to study. She will grow unusually quiet, appear betrayed and completely miserable.

4. The simplest way to get a clingy child off your back--

Ask her to study. The child will disappear promptly, and you will not get to see her for the next couple of hours.

5. The fastest way to put a wide-awake child to bed--

Ask her to study. The wide-open eyes would begin to droop with immediate effect.

ps. The above advice is based on my experience with a certain specimen I just happen to know. The subject under observation experienced huge variations in temperatures, unexplained tiredness, crankiness and significant discomfort coupled with uncontrollable bouts of yawning under the test conditions-- i.e. when asked to study. Also evident was her heightened interest in the surroundings --eraser/crayons/insects/fan/street lights and such.. again under the test conditions. Other side effects noticed were increased incidences of thirst and the repeated use of toilet. Because of the small sample size and completely random sampling, individual experiences my differ slightly or...  hugely.

GREED DOESNT PAY, DATED: 2-11-12

One day, Fina fox saw Rafisa Rabbit dozing in the meadow. Wow! She'll be my next meal. Suddenly, Fina saw Kafisa Crow with Minna Mouse in her beak. I'll eat Minna first she thout(sic). She growled at Kafisa and a fritened(sic) Kafisa dropped Minna and flew away. Minna fel over sleeping Rafisa and woke her up. Rafisa and Minna ran into a burrow. Fina dug outside the burrow but contn catch them. I lost everything because of my greed.

Pari has written this story in her drawing book with illustrations. Though she has written it sitting before us all through, and so we know that it isn't copied, we obviously don't expect the plot to be an original.. and it isn't.. which is actually good, else I would've seriously fainted!  The good child is still baby enough to admit very candidly-- 'I've read this story in a magazine. But all the names are my own.' Not bad, I would say.. Fina, Rafisa, Kafisa -- boy.. it almost feels like sitting through a mushaira.

As you can guess, the poor child is bored beyond limits, courtesy the month long school holidays.. for Diwali.. what else! And this boredom has led to an unprecedented surge of creativity-- she makes greeting cards, several in number for each member of the extended family to cover every possible occasion-- birthdays, new yr, diwali, and such. We may need to rent a warehouse to store all these cards. And then the drawing book gets over, which means all the pages have been torn and folded into half to resemble greeting cards, with every corner filled with either art-work or loving messages, and not to forget-- her 'signature' which depends on the name she has chosen for the day.. the current favourite being 'Nisha/Missika'. Yes, Pari is very dissatisfied with her given name, and keeps renaming herself. The way she chooses her names is pretty interesting and warrants a separate post in itself. Alright.. where were we? Yes, when the drawing book gets over, she writes stories. This one was written almost a month back, and as I mentioned-- plagiarised. However, she has written some original stories since, very evident from the 'maturity' of the plot and the completely unrelated moral of the said story. Mind you-- all stories always have morals at the end. We usually lose most stories, because she writes them on the slate, and clears it off to make way for the new story. At times, she writes on some loose sheets, which get lost. I currently have just 2 saved on me, and am very determined to put down both of them here. Well.. losing them is not a great loss to humanity, but to my motherhood, it is.

Pari'ism 9/11/2012

In the one year that she has spent away from us, Pari has developed some really good communication skills-- too good for her age if you ask me. I mean --I left a baby, and received a teenager -- what happened to the wonder years? Actually, it is not all that bad, and I should be grateful for my parents, my grandmom and my two young sisters for nurturing her so well, that she picked up significantly from each of them. She uses phrases that nobody but my grandmother uses, her vocabulary has grown manifold thanks to my mom, and my sisters-- well, the engineering college lingo is their contribution to her vocab. And let us not even get started on my Dad  -- she is rhyming words, and can come up with really mean limericks, sigh! Alright, so this post is devoted to Pari's current way of talking -- sentences/statements perfectly fine for an adult, but which sound overly preposterous when pouring out of a small pink mouth.. which has just shed its first baby tooth.

1. Pari is irritated with the maid -- the lady is actually quite dull and cannot understand most things that Pari tries to tell her. So I attempt to mediate and reason out with her.

Me -- Pari, Auntie doesn't understand in one go. You need to say it slowly and repeat it for her to understand.
Pari -- Mumma, I am TIRED of explaining things to her.

Tired?? Already?? The maid has been here for less than 3 weeks!

2. We go for a PTM to her school, where the staff hands out a feedback form to me. Since the other parents show no inclination of letting go of the teacher anytime soon, and I really have no big concerns.. I just fill in whatever little I have in the form. Pari asks for it, and I am very sure she doesn't read much of it, since she returns it to Papa soon, and whispers in his ear--
'Papa, Mumma has written all rubbish..'

The husband, being the husband, doesn't chide the child for her insolence.. Just continues to smile ear-to-ear. I swear, if I ever go to a PTM again..

3. Well, to be fair to her, not all of her talk is negative, but honestly, I can't remember the good ones now. A recent was the usage of 'rather' -- I ask her to show me her broken tooth and she says--
'Don't look at it Mumma, it is rather scary..'
Also, she said something like -- 'I would rather go to sleep than do this'.

Well.. I am 'rather' impressed, haha.  BTW, that is also one word I  have heard her using recently, that being 'impressed' :D

And then there are phrases that really crack me up.. like when I ask her something.. she pauses, pretends to think and says.. "Well... I don't think I know this.." This leaves me frothing --"Why do you have to think, you either know it or you don't.. bah..". Tell me, since when have 5  yo's started thinking, and using 'Well..' with a pause, in a grandmotherly fashion??