Kids (2008)

12/19/08

My third day here in San Jose with my cousin's family. Which includes two very young kids. Understandably, by now even my dreams have a background theme music of Dora the Explorer.

The elder one came from school the other day with a huge green paper badge pinned to his shirt which he'd gotten for correct spellings. He did not take it off after coming back from school. He did not take it off even after showing it to everyone in the house and the neighborhood. He went to bed wearing it. He did not take it off the next day as well. It was only in the evening when his mother threatened him with 'No more TV" that he finally gave in and took a shower.

The younger one sees Sprite in every soda. No matter what it is, it's Sprite for him. The soda companies waste billions of dollars every year on branding and differentiating their product from other gazillion sodas in the market, but it doesn't make an iota of difference to this kid. It's no use correcting him either. The first day I was here, he goes, "Sprite!" (pointing at a bottle of coke)

His mom corrected him gently, "Beta, that's Coke. Bolo, Coke."

"Spriiiiitttttttttttttteeeeeeeeeeeee!"

And that was it. He had his black Sprite with his dinner.

At all meal times, a squeal comes from the vicintiy of his high chair, "Sprite!" And sends his mom in a frenzy of grabbing hold of a glass and any soda she can lay her hands on. Because as time passes, the shrill only gets... shriller.

Their dad has weak hearing in his left ear and wears a hearing aid. They tell me it is some internal problem. But after being around this kid for a few days now, let's just say I have come to my own conclusion.

Though apart from the shrilling, he is a really cute kid. Last night he barged in my room, hopped on my bed, got under the covers and ordered me to tell him a story. I was in an argument with someone on orkut on my laptop at that time so I tried to shoo him away. But the kid won't budge. At last, I had to make up a cock-and-bull story about a kid who was bugging a girl to tell him a story, which she did. And at night when the kid went to bed, the monster from her story came and ate him up. After I ended the story, he said, "Okay," hopped off the bed and went outside to watch TV.

I hope I am nicer to my own kids.