Three Down One to Go!

Well today was my daughter's third exam, she is the weakest in Hindi but claims that it went off well. On Friday is Maths which is least scarey because there re no spellings to learn and the girl is quite fond of it, so no tantrums when I ask her to do some sums. My baby is growing up fast, after these exams she will be as good as being in class three. It seems like the other day when she was the little headstrong nearly two year old whom I started sending to Bindu ma'am's play school against the wishes of her grandparents at the very tender age of 1yr 8months. She is ploughing her way up the classes now. The mite turned two in Feb, but he is so unsocial that I don't know how I will send him to school. There is a play school nearby and I will check it out as soon as he is two and a half. In the meantime my landlord and his family and all the other tenants in this house are trying to befriend him with varying degrees of success. My daughter is very friendly and disappears into one or other of the houses in no time. "Mummy may I go out to play?" she asks innocently and if I say "yes..." absentmindedly she is off in a jiffy and before I say "please drink your milk first" she will be entertaining the tenant on the third floor and digging into her tomatos with a liberal sprinkling of chaat masala!
My son is a tougher nut to crack. The landlord has named him "Gui gui" because he keeps whining when he sees anyone. Any attempt to speak with him gets the response of "Na Na Na" (no, no no). But the landlord is adamant " na na illa" (not no no) says he. The mite is closest to the grandmom of one of the boys who live in the flat behind ours. The grandmom and he will be sitting on the trunk in our balcony for hours, she cooing in Telugu and he chatting away in Bengali pulling at her saree pallu and chain. The moment her grandson returns from office the mite springs from her lap and flees screaming "Mamma, mamma" offending the young fellow!"He plays with my grandma but runs away when he sees me" complains the chap.
The most amazing response of the mites is to Nimmi the young girl who lives in the terrece room. His expression when he sees Nimmi is difficult to describe, a mix of shyness, embarassment mixed with adoration. He has claimed in her absence that he likes her! "ei didi ta pochhondo" (I like this didi) says he. Nimmi says she stops while going downstairs just to see that expression of his. He will be playing normally and as soon as he sees her he will stop playing and switch to that special expression, it is really crazy!