"Mammaa, pancin daa" (mom give me a pencil) says the little one scarcely five minutes after getting up, the moment I reach for the pencil it is followed by-"Mammaa, kagozs daa" (mom give me paper), sometimes qualified with "Mammaa bolo kagozs daa", at which time my alarm bells start ringing and I know what I am in for. For the good part of the next hour I will have to draw vehicles and the lord and master i.e. my 1 and half year old will recite "truck..." and before I finish drawing that he will say "bus..." then "caal..(car)..Mo.....(motor bike)....auto....scutal....boat....aalopen(aeroplane)....halacoptal........engin....." and so on and finally "ghola..(horse)...booon....(ball)....dam...(egg)....dukku...(dog)..."by this time I will be panting with exhaustion, the moment I have finished the last request he will say-"bhaat dal tukkulu daaa" (give me rice pulses and vegetables). "look here my dear," I want to say, "breakfast constitutes stuff like bread, butter, milk, fruits and not bhaat dal tu..whatever" but I have no strength left from drawing so I scurry off to bring the breakfast. The next half hour of the day will be spent in following the mite around and putting the food in the moment he opens his mouth. He will be busy playing with his toys.
The elder one has a different routine, I have to kiss her awake and carry her to the loo, then I say stuff like "pleasae brush your teeth" "splash water in the eyes" " comb your hair"etc. On holidays I have to attend to both of them at the same time "Mammaa makhoon (butter) daa" , "Mamma where is the fevicol?", "Mammaa shaam (jam) daa', " Where did you put the two side empty paper for my drawing Mamma", " Mammaa shol (water) daaa", " Mamma please sharpen the pencil", "Mammaa bolo boonun (big balloon) daa", "Which colours should I use for the drawing, oil pastels or felt pens?", " Mammaa balata" (corruption of Bengali barate i.e. going out , the sentence is "i want to go out to play") ," Mamma see how nicely I have written these lines", "Mammaaaaa sssusssu" and I find that the baby has relieved himself all over the floor. At this juncture I feel like giving in my resignation- " Dear God, I hereby tender my resignation from the post of mother of two children. I am afraid that I am totally incapable of handling the job. I would be better at being almost anything else, please accept this resignation and asign some easy task like scrubbing floors and washing dishes. "
Then I sit back and think when both the children are busy playing with each other, how quickly these babies grow, here I was the only playmate for my daughter, and now I can relax while she entertains her brother. Soon very soon they will not need me, what will I do then?Anyhow I am happy for now, tired but happy. The pleasure of watching my two babies play together, sleeping side by side, hugging each other,colouring furiously together and just generally being. I thank God for all that She has given me, please don't let anything happen to them, please.
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