a lil bit of whimsy

After Diwali is what I am
Burnt paper and metal ends lying in a heap
Sweep them and set fire to them
Bits of sparklers come to life
Ghosts of what they were!
This is what was initially written.....


And then, when thought it was a bit dismal, this followed....
Ghosts they remain
Awaiting Rama`s return Lakshmi`s Glory or Krishna`s Triumph
To burst again in all splendour
As a thousand dazzling suns in heaven!
from the husband.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.. even God!

So today I came back early from office as Sonny boy had been down with wheezing and had only started school after 2 days of leave.

In the evening, after prompting him for the regular prayers, I was about to do namaskaram and get up when Sonny boy said
"Wait, Amma, mine..."
And he proceeded to prompt his class prayer for me to repeat after him.
That done, he looked at me and said "Now yours.."

I hid a smile and started the Our Father...

Amma: Forgive us our sins
Sonny boy: Forgive us our sins

Amma: As we forgive
Sonny boy: As we forgive - Your sins?

I was hard put to stop laughing out loud.
Sonny boy, you do so enrich my life, sweetheart!

what? BREAD??

Sonny boy has now(after his Ammamma started staying longer periods with us) started reciting some longer sandhyanaamangal.
He says the slokams devoted to Ganesha, Saraswati, Bhagwati, Krishna.. etc.

When the Ammamma went off 2 weeks back, I decided to continue with the habit whenever I could - if I got back from office early enough to light the evening lamp.

So yesterday evening, when I had prompted him for all of the slokams he knew, he said
"Amma, I know one more!"
I looked enquiringly at him.
And he proceeded to say an English prayer- one that he recites every morning in his school.

And I was reminded of the mad jumble that morning prayers used to be in my own school, every morning before class began
OmyGodwe'reabouttostudyfortheloveofTheegrantusThyblessings...
(I've forgotten the end. If any of my readers remembers this ancient prayer, please do tell me the whole of it again.)

And then I thought that there was a prayer that I DID remember.
And I told him the Our Father...

He repeated the words after me, for a change understanding a little bit of what he was praying for.

Our Father in Heaven
hallowed be Your name
Your Kingdom come
Your will be done
On earth as in Heaven.
Give us today our daily bread...

Silence.

"Give us today our daily bread..." I repeated encouragingly

"Bread??!! you're asking Him for bread????"

"Yes", I hushed him, and we completed the rest of the prayer

Forgive us our sins
As we forgive those who sin against us
Do not bring us to the test
But deliver us from all evil
Amen.

And I threw a look at the Gods and said in my mind,
Ok God, Bread, and some more...?

a friend with a toy is a friend indeed!

This evening, Sonny boy had gone downstairs to play. Last when I looked, he and our neighbour's A5, a 5 yr old, were busy at work in the sandpit, getting the trains to transport sand. Very industrious indeed. Ok. Satisfied, the Amma went back to her presentations and mails.

An hour later, the bell rang. A disgruntled Sonny boy stood out. He brushed past me in a huff, and on my asking him what happened, this is what he had to say

"Amma..... that A5! I was allowing him to play with my trains like a good boy, but he broke it!" And he looked at me, eyebrows together, a flush on his face from the emotions whirling inside.

Said train is a measly looking Ben10 train that we bought when we'd gone to Tirupati last year. A cheap eyesore, frankly speaking, compared to the Thomases and Percies and Ferguses... But then, he loved trains! And that particular train was a BEN10 TRAIN! It was an enormous loss to Sonny boy.

I tried to bring some sympathy into my tone, and told him,
"Never mind, you had fun playing with it, didn't you? It was anyway a little old. You go down and play again with A5, with something else."

But no.
Sonny boy was UPSET.
He started playing with his Superman jigsaw and his Thomas set. (he can rarely play with just ONE toy at a time)

Some 10 minutes later, there was a thud, then a dragging sound, then a slow but insistent knocking on the door.Sonny boy looked at me and I looked at him. Both of us knew who that could be. I let Sonny boy decide.

Sonny boy went to the door and opened it.
Little A5 stood there, bright blue cricket bat in hand. Looking determinedly at Sonny boy's chest, he said, "why you not openin the door for me?"
A not-sure-how-to-react Sonny boy stood to one side and let him enter. And then followed him, saying, "A5, I was angry with you for breaking my train..." (A5 was nonchalantly walking towards Sonny boy's train set on the floor...)"but now my anger is gone."
And both of them ventured happily forward.

Half an hour later, again, quarrels broke out.
A5 wanted Sonny boy to play with one toy and Sonny boy wanted A5 to play with a different toy.
An aggrieved A5 went to stomp out of the house.
Sonny boy was only too happy to see him go.
On his way out, A5 picked up a Ben10 phone saying that he didn't have one and he was taking it.
Sonny boy almost in tears stormed to the door, opened it and took A5's arm and ushered him out of the house!
I intervened, and separated the two, saying that that was no way to behave.
An offended A5 stalked out, stating, "You a bad Sonny boy!"

5 minutes later,
"Amma, A5 left his bat here. Can I go to his house to return his bat???"
Smiling, I said Ok.
Unfortunately A5 was not at home, so the day's entertaining drama ended there.