It’s been
over four months since the arrival of our little one and after enjoying all the
pampering and post delivery care at my mother’s place, I am now back at home! Mom’s
house is truly the best…no matter how old you are and especially at a time like
this…when you need all the help you can get! If not for keeping up with the infant
schedule, the last four months almost felt like a vacation of sorts, all thanks
to my super agile multi tasking mom! Not to mention, she almost ended up with
knee joint strain owing to all the stress and it’s probably her turn now to
take a vacation! J
During my stay at my mom’s, Abhay continued to be at home with his daddy and
paternal grandparents and here’s a word of thanks going out to them as well. So except his weekend visits to my mom’s place,
Abhay’s daily routine remained the same and the arrival of the little one hadn’t
wrecked his life…...yet!!! Well….in so
many ways, Abhay continued to be the king of the house …and ended up being cosseted
even more by his paternal grandma, lest he may miss his mommy ( which he didn’t…..of
course!!!) So it’s only now that the arrival of a “new little person” has begun
to impact his life!
I must say
that it’s been so far so good and Abhay has taken quite well to the new member
of our household. While he is excited to return home from school to his baby
sister, I am not sure if he feels the same about the return of the stricter parent! J
Anyway, to mark the arrival of his baby sister, we read the short story “A new
Arrival” from R.K.Narayan’s cult classic Malgudi
Schooldays brought out by Puffin Classics, which is a slightly abridged version
of the original “Swami and Friends”
first published in 1935. Any gem of a story of Swami and his friends conjures
up the nostalgic images of the 80’s Television series based on R K Narayan’s
stories, but reading the same has a charm of its own! Though the stories are
set in pre-independence era when the environment was a lot different from that
surrounding the kids today, Swami’s world, his apprehensions, his ever changing
dynamics with friends, his attitude at home, his run-ins with his teachers, are
not very different from what kids go through today. Except for a few elaborations on the conditions that prevailed
then and references that are principally of British origin ( as opposed to American references that the kids
today are more familiar with), R.K.Narayan’s
stories are truly timeless and will never fail to delight the generations to
come! In this story, “The New Arrival” Swami misses his mother who has been in
confinement for over two days resulting in the birth of his baby brother, the
news of which he received without much enthusiasm, especially when the new
arrival has ushered in some changes like mother’s absence in the kitchen or the
presence of a lady doctor at home who behaves as if the house belonged to her! Anyway since he had his granny for reassuring
company, he couldn’t be bothered more! As he laid his eyes on the little one,
he couldn't help but laugh at this “funny looking creature” with its eyes shut,
folded hands on his chest, plump pair of small hands and a face red like a
chilly! As he imitated the same to his friend at school next day, his friend
cautioned him saying that “these things” grow up soon and before you know it….they
hardly bear resemblance to their baby features!!! So Abhay….beware! Your baby
sister may seem like a benign ‘living’
teddy bear now, quietly tolerating all
the kisses that you almost smother her with…but not for long! J
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