Grandma's special gifts!

I read somewhere that a grandmother is a little bit parent, a little bit teacher, and a little bit best friend!  I have taken up quite a bit of space on  Onestoryaday about the special relationship between Abhay and his maternal grandma, known as Sanna-ajji  and yet I can go on and on …..and will not have run out of things to say, but I may probably run out of appropriate books to read!:-) Well, I am not sure if I admire my mother more as a mom or as a grandmom, but I am sure envious of Abhay who is lucky to have both his paternal and maternal grandma close to him. Besides the doting love and affection that comes naturally to a grandparent, Abhay and his maternal grandma’s relationship is characterized by non-stop chatter, enthralling stories, and unlikeliest of surprises! Whenever Abhay visits his grandparents at their apartment in Bangalore or their farm house in Dharmasthala, Abhay proudly brings home the most inane objects to add to his clutter in his room, all thanks to his Sanna-ajji’s amazing ability to turn the dullest objects into a fascinating knick-knacks – be it a simple volunteer badge at a science fest in her college, or an old watch case turned into a treasure box or a hand mirror customised into a BEN10 merchandise with the help of BEN10 stickers!  Abhay is always prying into Sannaji’s collection of old and new trinkets like a hawk waiting to pounce on its next catch! Besides, Sanna-ajji being a hoarder, you never know what you may find therein!  With Abhay seeking to emulate Sanna-ajji in every little way…..it’s not a surprise that Abhay is turning into a little hoarder too! J

Today is probably the birthday of Sanna-ajji away from Bangalore and Abhay tried to make up for his absence on this special day with his Origami flower basket (now his new obsession!) and a Sari (without which none of amma's birthdays are complete!) couriered to 'Shristi"!

 

I had saved a nice little book specially for this, “Jack and the Flumflum tree” by one of our favourite authors Julia Donaldson of the “Gruffalo” fame and illustrated by David Roberts. Besides a wonderfully funny story, the illustration also throws in a few characters from her other works that lay hidden for your little one to find. This is a story of grandma’s loving little boy named Jack who embarks on a daring journey along with his two friends to bring the fruit from the Flumflum tree that only grows in the faraway island of Blowyernose, in order to cure his grandmother’s of moozles (red and purple spots on the face)! Just as he is about to set off on his adventure in his giant boat, granny gives him a bulgy patchwork sack…and in that were a few inane objects like a pair of wooden spoons, a porridge bowl, tent pegs, some red blue balloons, granny’s old skipping rope, a pack of chewing gum, a tom-tom drum and three spotty hankies, much to Jack’s wonder! As they set sail for the faraway isle of Blowyernose, they are surrounded by sharks that scares the life out of his crew, when Jack blows up the red and blue balloons lets the sharks follow them through. Just then, they discover a leak in the boat and patchwork sack comes to their rescue to help them stay afloat. Thanks to the chewing gum, Jack and his crew manage to plug the hole. So after a couple of mishaps including Stu falling overboard (promptly rescued by using Granny’s skipping rope!), they reach the isle of Blowyernose. As they land on the exotic isle and zero in on the flumflum tree, they encounter a number of obstacles  - flumflum tree being smooth to climb, a monkey running away with the flumflum fruit, all overcome by the knick-knacks from the patchwork sack! (Tent pegs used to climb the tree and tom-tom drum used to attract the monkey thief) and finally sail back home with the flumflum fruit for granny! Sure enough, granny is completely cured of all her spots. But Jack doesn’t understand what is the use of three spotty hankies and asks his granny..to which his witty granny says “ To blow your nose, silly”!!! J Needless to say …out of all books by Julia Child, this one is our favourite! After all, a grandma’s heart is a patchwork of love! Happy Birthday to amma…..more known on Onestoryaday as Abhay’s Sanna-ajji!:-)