Blog | Reversal of roles
Taking on kids
It was just wow!
Today I was out to the bank for some work. On my way back I got into a relatively empty bus for my forty-five minute ride back to my stop. After five minutes that I had cosily settled in my window seat after that hour long queue in the bank, the bus gradually brimmed with commuters. And a minute later, I so wanted to get out.
I wondered if it was the wrong bus I had got into….
Still, I decided to stay on as I figured that half the crowd would be out after the next two stops and so I would be free and relaxed. I was right….er….partly….. Well, the crowd did get light but then what followed was a different kind of adventure…..
There was this nice woman who entered the bus and in the seat exactly in front of mine. Oh I haven’t told you yet : she had her baby boy (which seems very cute now, but read on!) with her. This imp must have been about four or five and the moment he was on his seat he saw me and gave me this wild chuckle ….. as if he had found his ‘prey of the day’.
(You know how the seats in the buses are positioned, so just try and imagine the next few things.) This boy got up on his seat and turned around…..thereby standing and facing me. We were facing ‘mano-a-mano‘ ….. He was this fair little boy with jet black hair and shiny eyes. He had a winter cap on his head that read ”Just do it” which I later found out was what the boy himself pretty much believed.
My first feelings were quite the usual ones that we have for kids…. that ‘oh so sweet’ and ‘wow! so cute’ …. and ‘hey! that’s a cute thing’ stuff….. I smiled at him…and he….well, he winked back at me! Yup! I was like “Whoa!”
Next, he moved a little closer and held his seat tightly and looked at me and gave a smile. I asked him “What’s your name?” Well, I never got to know his name. His reply was: “Pehle chocolate do….Cadbury Gems!! (First gimme a chocolate….Cadbury Gems!!)” I was so shocked! I mean how could a child so young just be that smart??
And if you think that was clever, he then asked me,”Tumhe chocolate chahiye? (Do you want a chocolate?)” And when I said “Yes..” he turned to his mother and said, “Mumma dekho mujhse chocolate maang raha hai..(Mumma see he is asking me for a chocolate…)” Apparently he had been doing this lots of people , coz his mom just turned to me and smiled politely with a look that probably said “Don’t worry, I get it!”
My phone rang and it was my mom on the line. Before I could actually speak anything into the phone, this little devil snatched away the phone from me and easily settled in his seat. Aunty tried to get it from him but guess what he did? He told her “Shh! Phone hai! (Shh! I am on the phone!)” And this was the time when I actually started praying for all the people who this boy meets in his life.
I don’t know what conversation he had with my mom….and amazingly enough my mom enjoyed the talk! After his intense talk with her was over, he got up, stood back in the same position and handed me the phone back, adding “Maine bol diya papa nahi hain, baad mein call karenge. (I told him papa will call you bcak later.)” Some people around us started to laugh. I was clearly clueless for my reaction.
His antics and my frustration went on for the better part of the next twenty minutes or so, during which he asked me about my clothes, my hair, my phone, my college, my jacket, my rings and why I was so angry, among other things. I was already praying for the bus to speed up till at least my stop. Or anything else that could save me the attacks of this wonderkid. Yes he was one, I assure you! And then suddenly he asks me this : “Tum kahan gaye the? Ladki se milne? (Where had you gone? To meet your girlfriend?)” This time, all the people around us laughed. I literally was gaping in half horror, half wonder. My jaws dropped on this one and I felt so outsmarted!! By a kid!!!! Aaaaaarrrrrrghhhh!!!!
It was undoubtedly the wrong bus I had got into!!
Another ten minutes or so later, I took a relief as the lady got up to leave. She was on her way out while the child stood firmly on the seat. I so wished that she would not leave him there and as if reading my thoughts, this kid laughed at me heartily before getting down from his seat and joining his mom.
As the bus began to move again, I noticed the boy walking away with his mother outside. He smiled at me and I so prayed that he would not wink again! And when he waved at me, all I could figure doing….well, I am not reallhy proud of this….but it was something I really wanted to do in return for the hard time he had given me. And so when he waved at me I made that funny face with my tongue out at him…..
Reversal of roles I guess.
And don’t you dare laugh!!
