It was Sankranti- I enjoyed this festival when I was a kid,
more precisely until marriage.
Before marriage, I wake up early and get ready in my new
dress until which all the preparations were probably be finished and I gulp
some laddus and other sweets. Make puja and ask god to make all my fantasies come
true and again attack the sweets. It’s more like ‘Sweetsival’- getting more
delicious sweets to eat and I go to my granny’s home and again eat, make some
kites and compete with our street-mates.
But..But.. after marriage, you get to know the fact that if
you want to eat sweets, you have to MAKE them.
Waking up early, making all the preparations, doing the puja
and arranging all the food, then finally if you get some time to actually enjoy
the festival, you will realize that it’s gone.
After having kids, it will be worse, although you will see
the whole festival in their eyes but that’s different.
Tej-our bundle of love is now studying in 2nd
class. The apartments we live in have a lot of kids mostly around his age.
All of them came to our flat for their kites. I took the position
of a professional kite-maker on that day.
‘Ma, put threads for these kites too’, he gave me more
kites.
‘sunny, I heard that you are going to get a sister soon.
That’s lovely’, I said. Sunny was our neighbour’s son and tej’s best friend.
‘Ma, where do babies come from?’, tej suddenly asked the
question very innocently and all kids were anxiously looking at me.
I stood there like a wall for a moment without any
expression.
‘Tell us aunty’, the other guy also asked curiously.
‘Ask your dad tej, he knows well’, I somehow escaped from
that awkward situation.
I know this is a very basic question which everyone asks in
childhood out of curiosity and even I asked it.
All the kids walked towards him and sat before him demanding
for the answer.
Vineeth-my happily ever after; He is that type of a guy who
is very serene, sorted out and always reacts peacefully to every situation.
Honestly, I can’t fight with such a guy who smiles all the time and choose to
compromise rather than to fight and that’s the reason we are a happy couple.
‘Ok kids, I will tell you how babies are born’, he looked at
me and winked.
I sat there sticking the tails for the kites and even I was
very excited to listen what he will say.
I really love the way vineeth portrays a story to the kids.
His hand gestures will be very fascinating- they make us involve in the story
more and his expressions, we feel like the story is actually happening around us
and we actually feel like we are a part of the story. The kids love him for
this magical gift and so do I.
‘There are many boys and girls in the universe but one boy
will love only one girl in the universe. ONLY one’, he said.
‘Then they will make babies?’, one boy asked interrupting
him.
‘No, they will tell their parents about it. Then their
parents see whether they are perfect match are not. Parents only accept perfect
pairs like me and your aunty’, he winked again.
I was smiling, blushing, laughing. He is stressing the random
words to create anxiety in the kids and I was unable to control my laugh.
‘Then, they will get married. You know what will happen if
someone have babies without marriage?’, he paused.
All the eyes were curiously urging him to answer.
‘What will happen daddy?’, tej questioned eagerly
‘One of my friends had babies before marriage and their baby
was born with tail and horns’, he widened his eyes.
There was an aghast in the room. All the children opened
their mouths widely.
I controlled my laugh to the best of my ability.
‘You know what will happen after marriage. You will get
god’s phone number. So when you are ready to have kids, you call god and you tell
him your requirements and ask him and he will make some magic and he will put a
baby in mummy’s stomach’
‘It will be very tiny and fragile, that’s why the baby will stay
in mummy’s stomach for nine months and when mummy’s stomach is not sufficient
and congested for the baby, we take her to the hospital’
‘Doctor’s do some magic *Abrakadabra* and baby will appear
in his hands. That’s it’
All the kids were awestruck.
‘I asked for a very good boy and god sent you tej’ he added.
Tej’s eyes sparkled with proud between those cute jealousy filled
eyes.
‘Here, take your kites and go have fun’, I gave them the
kites and they ran away.
‘You managed well vineeth’, I laughed.
‘Oh come on, you didn’t even try. By the way it was a very
basic question. They might saw our neighbour who is pregnant and maybe they have
wondered how and I know you are not that creative to answer such questions’
‘Ask your daddy’ he mimicked me.
‘Shut up’, I said.
‘It’s good that they asked us instead of googling it’, he
looked at me.
We laughed at once and we started making fun of each other
and discussing how fast we grew and now we can’t believe we have a baby.
Between those delightful and engaging talks, our honey basket returned with a
torn kite and the routine continues.