Sunday, December 22, 2019
Saturday, December 21, 2019
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
बच्चों की याद: बेबी, बुक-मार्क्स और छिपा खजाना
बेबी
एकदिन बेटी कुछ खोजती दिखी। घर में चारों ओर घूमकर पूछ रही थी - "मेरी बेईबी कहाँ है?" "बेबी" को वह "बेईबी" पुकारती जो सुनने में अजीब प्यारा सा लगता। बाद में पता चला कि वह अपने सारे टेडी-बेअर्स को "बेईबी" बोलती थी पर एक पीले रंग के सबसे छोटे टेडी-बेयर से उसे सबसे ज्यादा प्यार था और वह उसे "येल्लो वाला बेईबी" बोलती।
बुक-मार्क्स
एक समय मैं फ्लिपकार्ट से काफी पुस्तकें खरीदता था और हर किताब में एक सुंदर "बुक-मार्क" मिलता। बुकमार्क्स कई रंगों के होते और उनपर कोई चित्रकारी या कार्टून भी बना होता। इतने सारे बुक मार्क्स हो गए तो मैंने सोचा कि भविष्य में एक दिन मेरे बच्चे इनसे जरूर खेलेंगे और इसलिए मैंने उन्हें सँजोकर रखा था। उम्मीद बिलकुल सही निकली और मेरी बेटी ने सारे बुक मार्क्स ले लिए। अपने मूड के हिसाब से अलग-अलग दिन वह अलग-अलग रंग के बुक मार्क्स खोजती और रंगों के हिसाब से उन्हें एक साथ रखकर सजाती। फिर एक बुकमार्क को उसने अपने "बेबी" टेडी बेयर का "फोन" बना दिया - क्योंकि बुकमार्क फोन की तरह आयताकार था! अब जब वह अपने बेबी टेडी-बेयर को गोद लेती तो उस बुकमार्क वाले "फोन" को भी साथ रखती।
खजाना छिपाना
पत्नी एक खाली कार्टून में अपनी फेंकने योग्य पुरानी किताबें डाल रही थी, ताकि उसे एक साथ रद्दी वाले को बेचा जा सके। मेरे बेटे ने वह कार्टून देखा तो एक नया खेल निकाला - उसे अपने खिलौने जहाँ भी दीखते, वह उन्हें लेजाकर उस डब्बे में डाल देता। सिर्फ यूँ ही नहीं बल्कि उसे अंदर तक ऐसे पहुँचाता ताकि खिलौना बिलकुल दिखाई न दे सके। इससे एक समस्या आई कि कुछ समय बाद वह अपनी बहन के खिलौने भी डब्बे में छिपाने लगा और बेटी अगर लेने की कोशिश करती तो वह बल पूर्वक उसे रोकता। ४-५ दिनों के बाद उसे एक और गुप्त जगह मिली - टीवी टेबल के एकदम नीचे का ड्रावर। फिर वह अपनी कुछ चीजें उसमें भी छिपाने लगा। जैसे कि अपनी बहन से छीने हुए "बुक मार्क्स"!
राहुल तिवारी
Monday, December 16, 2019
Memory of Kids: Cold War
After kids arrived, I started taking them
to the society park and they loved it. As soon as they got off from the laps
and their legs would touch the grass, they would start running. I decided to
teach them to have closer look at nature. So, after we reached the park, I sat
down and started touching the grass. Kids joined in and they started snatching
the grass! And they made it a routine. Once in the park, they would spend the first
couple minutes every day picking the grass! Those were the first few days at
the place and our kids had not made friends yet. Then soon one day, our
daughter had a company.
One day when we reached the park, we
found another girl of the same age as that of my daughter. She had come with her
mother. The little girl was unusually over-weight and her mother too was very
over-weight. When my daughter saw her, she went to her with both arms open and
extended – that was perhaps her way of greeting. But the other girl ignored her
and did not respond. She did not even look at her! My daughter noticed that the
other girl had not responded and then she moved on. We started playing usual
games and kept to ourselves.
After a while the other little girl came
to my daughter carrying a rubber ball, expecting some interaction. But this
time, to my great surprise, my daughter just ignored her and moved aside. It
happened once more after a few minutes – the girl came to my daughter and my
daughter just ignored her and kept doing her stuff. It came as a shock to me. Was
I witnessing a ‘Cold War’? Can little girls of 1.5 years of age execute such a ‘Cold
War’?
After that, both girls played on their
own. Whenever my daughter would reach near the other girl, she would behave as
if the other girl was like some object, like a tree or an electricity pole. She
just ignored her existence!
This was a new lesson for me. How
often in our life we are offended by same person repeatedly just because we
choose to be “friends” again? Sometimes people would offend us and if we say something
in retaliation they would act as if we have offended them. “But I merely retaliated,
while they had started it!”; “Come on, if anyone has right to get offended, it
is me!” All logical arguments fell flat in front of such tough people. But my
little girl showed me that day an alternative response. She stood up for herself
and took revenge on the other girl for ignoring her by giving ignore to her in
return. I wondered if girls are good in such psychological acts from such early
age!
Rahul Tiwary
Saturday, December 14, 2019
Memory of Kids: Hair Color
When the due date for my kids to be
born was coming near, I started feeling excited. I also wanted to “prepare”
myself for their arrival. And part of the preparation was that I wanted “look”
nice to my kids when they first saw me. By now due to leisurely use of chemical
hair colors, my hair had got as many greys as blacks. Although I was not
coloring my hair those days, I decided that I wanted to look nice and young to
my kids when they first saw me. So, I decided to color my hair!
The big day passed smoothly. When my
kids came out of the operation theater, their eyes were closed. But they were to
see me eventually, so I was not disappointed. I was not in a hurry. When they
were back at home, they did see me. My son had got big expressive eyes, although
a lot of time his eyes showed “anger”. “I was safe inside my mother’s; why did
you people bring me out?”, was he thinking like that? When faced with sunlight he
would squeeze his eyes. Those were winter days and sunlight is necessary for babies.
Anyways, we did take some pictures with kids in arms. In one of the pictures I am
holding my son in my arms; while my hair is black! No speck of grey. I was happy.
And I was sure that my mission was accomplished. But little did I know that
life would come full circle in a matter of 3 years.
Fast forward to early this year. I
was to accompany my kids on a journey; and deep inside I was fearing that
perhaps this was the last time. And to make it worse: I had not used my hair
color!
A few days back from that day, I had
got a hair-cut. My favorite way is to cut it very short. I feel light and fresh
in small hair. When I returned to home from the barber’s shop, I sported a new
very short hair with much of it in grey. Kids came to have “a look” at me. My
son just observed me and did not say a thing. But my daughter? She noticed my
hair and shouted, “Papa takle ho gaye!” (Father has gone bald!). I was taken
aback. I told her defensively that I still had hair, just small hair. She did
not seem to be convinced.
Back to the seemingly last journey.
At the airport we took pictures. My wife is standing and smiling, kids have a toffee
each in their mouths and are very happy. And there I am, trying to smile, in my
grey hair. How could I be happy, at what was happening?
The grey hair kind of proves my mental
unpreparedness for such an early parting. Had I known this would be so fast, I
would have at least colored my hair. So that in the last picture together I
would look better. So that my daughter won’t have to ridicule my hair, when she
sees the picture. But life has to take full circles. What starts as black hair,
ends up in white hair. In between it rests as grey hair. What starts in excitement
may end up in disappointment. No matter how much you prepare to face life, it
can always throw surprises on your way. And sometimes you are caught on camera
with grey hair!
Rahul Tiwary
Friday, December 13, 2019
Memory of Kids: The Blue Slide
Children are very fond of “sliding”.
They love this experience. Our kids were also fond of it. We had a slide in our
society campus, but it was too tall and steep for our kids’ age. On the other
hand, the slide in the neighboring park was of perfect height and inclination so
our kids loved it. After having been to the park’s slide, when we took them to
our society’s slide they would demand to be taken to the park’s slide. Our son would
demand strongly, “Blue wala Slide!” “Blue wala Slide!”
And when we took them to the park,
they would get down and start running to the “blue wala slide”. Our son would
scale the ladder quickly and would quickly slide; as if he wanted to enjoy as
many slides as possible before it was time to go back to home. In this “rush”,
he soon realized an obstacle – other kids! Often some kids would sit at the
edge of the slide and wait for minutes before taking the plunge, as if “pondering”
whether to take the slide or not. So anxious to complete many slides, our son
pushed a kid down the slide! And it worked! The kid was surprised but did not mind.
So, our son learnt this trick. He
would rush to get over to the top and when he would find another kid there
waiting and “pondering” over the slide; he would simply push the kid. Since it
was not harming anyone, I decided to let him enjoy his “trick” but kept
watching over other kids so that they were never hurt. And very soon, our son
met his match!
Once a kid from a poor family was
sliding. His clothes were rugged, and he was not clean. As usual, our son saw
him at the edge sitting and simply pushed him down. Then our son took his slide
and came down too. Little did he know that at the bottom of the slide, his “victim”
was waiting for him.
As soon as our son stood up, the
angry victim child who was of the same age, came up to him. He stretched his right
hand and positioned to “slap” our son in an animated manner. He also made an
angry and threatening face. Our son, who had never encountered anyone like this
before, did not know how to react. He simply stood there, looking at this kid.
He was neither scared (since he had never been slapped like this before and hence
did not know the pain of a slap) nor threatened (since no one threatened him like
this before). I immediately shouted and stopped the angry kid from doing
anything. He brought his hand down and went away. We were relieved. I guessed
our kid must have got a lesson that day. Not everyone will take the sporty pushing
in the spirit of a sport… Not everyone has a sense of humor…
Rahul Tiwary
Sunday, December 8, 2019
Life: Blue Wala Bat
The other day I was at a barber’s
shop. When I entered, a small kid of around 4-5 was getting his hair cut on one
seat and his father was getting his on the next. The kid was very talkative, as
kids usually are at this age. His father seemed to be not liking his talks, so
whenever he asked him anything, he would give an annoyed answer and ask him to
stop speaking. So very often the boy talked to himself.
At one instance, he saw many mosquitos in the shop. So, he addressed the barber with something like this, “Uncle, you have many mosquitos here. Do you have a bat which kills mosquitos? If you don’t have, then I will give you my blue bat for some time and you can kill these mosquitos.” Neither the barber nor his father heard it, so no one replied. But I noticed the child-like innocence and also a noble idea in his offer. He actually wanted to help the barber, since the barber seemed to be helpless with mosquitos without a bat. It was a very touching gesture.
At one instance, he saw many mosquitos in the shop. So, he addressed the barber with something like this, “Uncle, you have many mosquitos here. Do you have a bat which kills mosquitos? If you don’t have, then I will give you my blue bat for some time and you can kill these mosquitos.” Neither the barber nor his father heard it, so no one replied. But I noticed the child-like innocence and also a noble idea in his offer. He actually wanted to help the barber, since the barber seemed to be helpless with mosquitos without a bat. It was a very touching gesture.
After a while when the father started
getting his hair colored, the kid asked, “why are you getting your hair colored?
Let it be like that.” His father was speechless at this.
- Rahul Tiwary
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