Million Dollar questions from my son

1. Why do all the people in a family have to have the same second name?
2. Why do most of my teachers have colours for second names Mr. White, Mrs. Black, Mr. Brown...?
3. You are pretty good at teaching me stuff, why do I need to go to school?
4. Did dad marry you because he liked you better than any another woman he had known?
5. If video games are not good for children, why do they make them for children?
6. Why are you and your sister so different from each other, having had the same set of parents!?
7. When will I get to sport a moustache?
8. Why are animal-fathers so irresponsible leaving the mothers to fend for the young-ones?
9. Why does everyone have to have a navel?
10. Are babies in mummies' tummies covered with food that the mothers eat? I tell him about the special bags mummies have called Uterus, and comes the next question.
11. Why do dad's have no special bags to keep babies in their tummies?
12. Can I change my wife's name to Hannah Margaret? I really like you a lot
13. Do you think I'll need to be as firm as you are with me, with my son?
14. Dad, why did you choose to marry mum and not your brother's wife?
15. Why are ice and snow white if they come from water which is colourless? I tell him, that when many transparent layers are piled one on top of another they seem white, and comes the next question
16. If transparent layers piled together look like white,is white really a colour?
17. When we built a house do you think we can name it 'Heaven'?
18. I am quite confused, can you help me decide whether to become a Barber, a Fire man or Usain Bolt when I grow up?
19. Hums a tune for a while and says, Shall we send that to London to be called the official tune for Paralympics?
20. Looks at an Audi car and says, they should have added one more circle to make it look like the Olympic symbol, don't you think so?
21. Do you know ma, with just a little lip-stick on, you look lovelier than me?
22. That old man must be million year old, is it not?
23. On the airplane, if we fell down,we'd die, but that's ok because i am going to go to heaven, will  u be coming ma?

Ah! to love like a child

It was a fine Tuesday evening and the sun had chosen to come out on Belfast. My son and I put on our shoes and coats, to go to a house prayer meeting. I wondered how he was going to handle the next two or three hours. He will be surrounded by adults and none of them will be speaking our mother tongue. One thing that frustrates my son is meeting Indians in Belfast and having to speak to them in English. The thoughts in my head were too cumbersome to delve in.So I shut them out told myself ' I will keep him company'.

When we reached the house we waited with our friends for the guests. The guests were a minister and his family. So we looked forward to a time of chit-chatting,prayer, bible-reading and eating.  My heart leapt for joy when in the party of guests was a 4 year-old girl Veronica. My son was thrilled, he did not have to be stuck with adults always asking him his name and about his school. 'Say. Hi ! Hanniel to our welcome surprise Veronica' I said.' Hi!' he said and smiled. The little girl hid behind her mother, as we sat down to talk, Veronica refused to open her mouth and stay stuck to her mothers arms. 'Why wont she talk', my son asked. 'She is shy, you should be doing the talking now' I said.  He crept next to Veronica and started talking.

In minutes they were chasing each other, laughing, talking and left the adults to ourselves. After two hours, it was time for Veronica to leave. The parting-from-people time was similar to walking-together time, it meant questions. Why does he have to leave shortly? why can she not stay at our place? why can we not go to their house right away, why wait for another day? when will I meet her again? Then when the questions had run out the tears came. 'Please son, no crying please I' said. No more words, Hanniel turned his back on the leaving guests, a very stunned tear-less Veronica and waved bye -bye.

When the tears were gone 'why did you cry?' I asked. 'Because I dint want her to go' he said. 'And now...' I stopped there. 'She had to go.... and I am feeling better already' my son said. I envied him.
To be able to love so dearly, so fully, so really in such a short span of time. To part in sadness, but let go willingly, to remember so fondly, to recover so rapidly and to speak about it so openly. That is to love like a child. 

Belfast

'Belfast! Belfast! Got to have a belief in.....you can try, you can try to tell the world the reason why.... Belfast Belfast', that was the  BoneyM song I woke up to every morning at 6.15 am when I was 10 years old. My parents played the ABBA and Boney M beats every morning until 6.25 am, after which they switched to the radio. I did not care where in the world Belfast was and why it was the theme of a song, I just woke up and got ready to go to  school.

I learnt best at school the things that were not explicitly taught at school. My marks were always poor, in sports and extracurricular activities I was at best graded 'average'. But I learnt at school, that to be a part of this world you did not have to be an expert in science or maths but had to be aware of the things that went on in the world. So I spent time pouring over the Readers' Digest and  newspapers, and once again I read about Belfast.The Senn Fien, the IRA, the protestant order of Orange Men, and Gerry Adams stood out in every article I read in the early 1990s. There was news of the Irish peace process and the many acts of violence that disrupted it. Around 1997, news about Belfast was not really the focus of the India media. I heard nothing about Belfast on the news and  my mind was full of Sierra Leon, Rwanda, Burkino Faso and Congo

Several years later, after many jobs and marriage the opportunity came to travel away from India.The desire to see the worlds I had heard so much about was kindled and my wish list grew. Wishes need to be worked on and prayed for!!  A few years later we landed in Belfast. Belfast was beautiful, small, laid-back enough for us, friendly, and struggling to leave its troubled past behind.

Week after week we stepped out of our house to discover something wonderful about this city we had only known for its violence. This was the city that gave the world C.S.Lewis, The Titanic, Gulliver's travels and even had a leaning tower of its own- The Albert's clock!!. The numerous parks and museums, the mountainous terrain, the beaches near by. the excellent public transport system, the stunning city hall and parliament buildings, and an ever growing international community-all took us by surprise and thrilled us. The numerous active Bible-teaching churches were another joy to discover and associate with. We fell in love with Belfast and are proud to call it home- well at least for the present. 

  

The Dream that was not supposed to come true

It was the summer of 1990, schools were closed and we could visit uncles and aunts or have them over in our house. My sister and I walked down the Cowley Brawn  road in Coimbatore talking to an uncle who was visiting. The conversation was about 'dreams', the wildest ones and the ones that we were sure would never come true. I dont quiet remember my sister's or my uncle's dreams, but I remember telling them ' I heard on the World Service of the BBC that the Greenwich observatory will be closed down this year. My dream that will never come true is... to be able to put my feet on either side of the prime meridian in Greenwich and say I am now on both the Eastern and the Western hemispheres of the world'. My uncle smiled wisely and my sister went on to state her dream never to be.

Years went by and I happily forgot all about my wild dream. I visited London in the summer of 2007 and felt like Wordsworth as I stood on the westminister bridge. I heard G.B.Shaw's references to Piccadiliy and Charing Cross as I walked those places. I clicked pictures of Nelson in Trafalgar square and I stared at 10 Downing street and the Buckingham Palace. I even went to the Tower bridge but Greenwich never crossed my mind.

A couple of days ago I visited London again, went to all the places I had seen before and in addition saw the Crown Jewels.  I saw the Kohinoor diamond which most Indians dream of seeing.Then  took a boat ride to realise my wild dream. I went to Greenwich, for  in 1998 the observatory came back to were it was for 200 years after two attempts to move it elsewhere. So I put my feet on either sides of the Prime Meridian and said ' I am on the eastern and western hemispheres of the world at the same time'.

My dream  that never was supposed to come true, came true : )

Away from Bangalore(written on 13th of May 2011)

Exactly 10 days from today, I will leave Bangalore for good (well one can never be certain of that) and will miss a whole lot of people and places. The calm of the ECC road, the romance of the outer circle of whitefield with its ancient houses, the solace of whitefield memorial church, fountains in the whitefield park under which my son and I giggled as the water splashed. I will miss the whitefield market with my favourite butcher, fruit seller, vegetable vendor,grocery store and medial store.

I will miss the little sunbird that built her nest im my house, the hundreds of eagles that loomed over the Holy cross school ground, my son's teachers, my son's friends and the tales they told me. I will miss the ladies who took care of my son in his day care and taught him Kannada, the smiling faces of children that played with him everyday.

I will miss the many many old people I have met and made friends with in whitefield, the ladies from the Cheshire home, the ones that waved as they walked their evening walks.I will miss the families that took me under their roof in my times of lonely sojourn in whitefield, thier sons, thier laughter, their food, their love. 

I will miss ITPL mall, the Kadamba hotel, the Piazza hut and the ice cream parlour,the many team lunches, formal and informal, the ITPL christian fellowship, the Sabre office, the tea room and the tea time conversations with good friends.

On your death anniversary

More days will soon go by
And so will the years role by.
More folks the family will have
Smart,bright and surely brave.

Your children may remember you year after year
The grandchildren may talk of you here and there
You will soon be a memory- fading away
But a little of you will live in me alway.

For a new acquaintance

For 33 years and more I've been traveling.
Traveling in a train, kind of journeying.
Every now and then,in this train of mine,
People keep going out and coming in.
At every stop there isn't always a person,-but
Some passengers travel thru' every station.

Awhile ago my train did stop-and
You boarded in as new stock.
Have you come to stay?
Or, will soon go away?
I do not know, I do not care- but
Memories of you, I shall for long bear.