Our own Willy and Hugh!

 If there’s one thing that Abhay misses the most about our life in the US (which was almost two years ago!), are his friends outside of school! Every kid needs a social circle outside of his school, be it near home or in a hobby class/sports club. Had we lived in an apartment complex, we wouldn’t have faced this problem at all and  the problem would have been the converse - too many friends and too much playtime! But one of the biggest drawbacks in living in an independent house is the lack of social interaction and safe recreational facilities. Of course there are exceptions and you are indeed lucky if your house is ideally located near a park or most of the neighbors have same age kids. But by and large, an apartment life in Bangalore fosters greater social interaction that can prove to be extremely beneficial for kids, if not for adults! J Anyway, off late Abhay is glad to have made friends with our neighbor’s four year old son, Sudhanva and both of them now take turns to play in each other’s house. Though younger, more rounded and temperamentally very different from my six year old, Sudhanva looks forward to playing with Abhay and vice versa…..at least so far so good!

So when I chanced upon this book by Anthony Browne, not only I had to grab it as Anthony Browne is our favorite author but also for the obvious similarities between Willy and Hugh in the book and our very own team closer home! “Willy and Hugh” by Anthony Browne is a charming tale of friendship between the two most unlikely individuals! Willy, the same chimp from the other Willy stories, is a lonely chimp in a Gorilla world! He laments that everyone seemed to have friends, everyone except Willy. No matter how hard he tries, no one lets him join in any games as everyone feels he is useless. One day when Willy walks in the park, and a huge gorilla is seen running towards him in the opposite direction and their paths collide resulting in Willy falling flat on the ground. The gorilla insists on apologizing, taking Willy by complete surprise. Willy then learns the gorilla’s name to be Hugh Jape and both Willy and Hugh hang around the park for some time when Willy bumps into Buster Nose who has always been bullying Willy. “Can I be of any help?” asked Hugh. On seeing that Willy has company of a formidable fellow gorilla, Buster Nose quickly leaves the scene. So Willy and Hugh decide to go the zoo…which in most Anthony Browne illustrations, shows humans chained in cages, looking sad and lost! They go the library, where Willy is seen reading to Hugh, much to Hugh’s delight! As they leave the library, Hugh stops suddenly as he spots a terrifying creature – spider. “Can I be of any help” asked Willy as he carefully moves the spider out of the way, cementing their symbiotic friendship! “Shall we meet up tomorrow?” asked Hugh, to which Willy replies “That would be great” and guess what? “It was”! This story beautifully demonstrates that friendships can be formed when you least expect it!  Here’s to our very own Willy and Hugh!