Pink candy

At first, there is nothing. Or probably a delicate haze, like being in a fog. Slowly, an outline emerges. Hey, this is interesting. As the fog lifts, by degrees, the form becomes clearer and excitement mounts. At some point, the form acquires recognition and gets a name. Quite suddenly, it is crystal clear, unmistakable, undeniable. It's a candy ! A pink one at that ! Aha, joy beams onto you as you reach out for the candy, eyes glittering, grin pasted and soft music cooing in the background. You are almost there, candy is just within reach, when a large hand appears out of nowhere and in one swift brutal unjust motion snatches it away from you.

The cruelty of the act takes a moment to register. At the same moment, you recognize the hairy monster that snatched the candy - it's your father ! The cruelty and the recognition converge rapidly onto a point and you yell out a cry, a deep piercing cry.

Your mom comes running in. "What happened dear, were you dreaming?". Amidst your tears, you manage to blurt out "candy". This irritates the mom. "First thing in the morning, you want a candy...go brush your teeth". Uff, she doesn't understand.  This makes you sob more. Mom softens a bit and takes you in her arms. Reassured, you say, "pink candy". "Not now...", she starts saying. There she goes again. You start crying again, but manage to say "Appa took my pink candy" (and that's your first full sentence of the day!). "Oh, your father took your pink candy in your dream?", mom summarises, cuddles you for comfort, and simultaneously calls out for the culprit.

The father, oblivious to his crime, walks in, sees you awake and chirps in "Good morning". You don't respond, and he finds two pairs of accusing eyes staring back at him with a penetrating gaze. "Where is the pink candy?", mom demands. "What pink candy?", he asks. Ouch, wrong question. Not only does he snatch away the candy, now he is what-pink-candying you. Indeed! You start crying. "The one you took from her", mom declares, with an increasing intensity in her voice. Before he could respond, she adds for his benefit, "...in her dreams".

"Aha", says the father, uncertainties cleared, and now on terra firma. "You know what the pink candy told me?". You stop crying and get mildly interested. "It told me that it will wait for a little girl". He then picks you up from your mom. Her job done, mom returns back to her chores. Dad continues, "Pink candy told me that it will wait for the little girl who brushes and showers first".

And thus, the task of preparing you for the day, which normally takes anywhere between 10-100 minutes, gets completed in record time.

Of course, when you are ready, the pink candy is ready too and waiting for you :)
  

altruism

I had taken a bar of chocolate as an evening snack for Daivik when I went to pick him up from the kindergarten. He opened it right away and it was about to disappear down his throat when Julia came running by. Daivik rescued the chocolate from its near death and wanted to offer half to her. But how do you offer half a bar of chocolate without breaking it ? He ended up placing the chocolate on air, close to her mouth. His intention was perhaps that she takes a (hopefully small) bite and he can carry on with the rest. Julia had another interpretation. What if Daivik was offering the whole chocolate ?  She felt an immediate joy and grabbed the bar with both the hands. Daivik did not let it go. So the bar was choco-witched between the four arms even as Daivik was trying to convey to her that she was supposed to just take a bite and Julia was trying to convince him that he was not supposed to take back what he had offered.  The wrestling continued for a while and Julia finally managed to grab the chocolate and make a dash. They were in the first floor of the kindergarten which has an open rectangular space in the middle overlooking the atrium below and a long corridor running around. They started running  along the corridor chasing each other with a raised bar of chocolate changing hands frequently, accompanied by raised voices and tears. Antagonism, apparently, is just a step behind altruism ! The teacher intervened and, having figured out what happened, gave the bar to Daivik and took Julia gently away.

Daivik, still teary eyed, came to me and demanded to know "Why did you not bring two chocolates ? See, Julia is crying".  

conflict resolves

The bug or chocolate conflict was continuing for few more days. To facilitate a resolution, I left the thing in a very visible place, but it was not working. Daivik was getting increasingly convinced that it was not real ("otherwise it will not be still here", "see, the legs are still bent outside"), but paradoxically was trying hard to convince me to open it for him. When it was not working, he asked Avin who came home one day to open the chocolate for him. Now Avin had no idea of the preceding drama, and was about to open it. Daivik's eyes lit  up brightly and with a wide grin he started to wait for the finally-now moment. I tried to explain the situation to Avin, but how to do that without dampening Daivik's excitement or Avin's eagerness ?

Daivik was getting restless with the almost opened I'm-sure-its-chocolate in front of him, I was eager for an amicable resolution to the conflict, Avin was half comprehending the situation and trying to think fast. The chocolate was still with Avin who was still in the process of opening it but was starting to try to ask Daivik more about it. The moment became pregnant, everybody involved were on the edge and it became obvious that something was definitely going to happen. The choco-bug was getting ready to finally meet  its destiny, it must have been a terrible suspense for the poor thing. 


What happened next is a bit of a blur. In a matter of microseconds, the chocolate exchanged hands, the cover was forcibly torn open and the whole of it ended up inside  Daivik's mouth. After few seconds of all around silence, a still grinning Daivik made a chocolaty announcement, "Appa, see, it is not a real bug".

conflict

Early in the morning Daivik wanted a big chocolate that was shaped like a lady bug. I remembered his previous rather, er, positive experience with lady bug. So to discourage him from the large chocolate that early, I asked him gently if he was sure it was a chocolate and confused him further by suggesting, "perhaps it is a real lady bug?". The effect was dramatic : he immediately flung the thing down.

But a chocolate - real or not - is a chocolate. After the impact had subsided he suggested to me "can you check if it is crawling ? If it is not, I think, it may be a chocolate". So, I "checked", and, what a wonder, it was not crawling. I reported it to him. He suggested that in that case, I should keep it on the table for further examination, which I compiled with. He had a good look at it from a safe distance and reported his results : "Appa, I think it is not real bug because a) real bug is small, this is big (shows the size by hand), b) real bug has black spots, this has white, c) real bug's legs are "bent inside", this is "outside". Therefore it is chocolate bug. Can you open it".

I said "if you are so sure it is not real bug why not open it yourself". The next moments were precious. He was simultaneously taking a step forward and withdrawing it, drawing his hand forward and retracting it. I realised I was witnessing a rather primal contest, a conflict between conviction and fear, between the decisions we make and the ones that makes us. I thought perhaps it is better if he makes this important choice by himself. When I returned back after some minutes it had taken a funny form. He was standing at a safe 1.5 feet from the "bug" and asking it, literally, "lady bug, are you real ? Or not ? Tell me. Now. Soon".

eat me

I caught Daivik singing this "song". Turned out he had just made it up...

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate
Told me Eat me, eat me 
Full box chocolate
Told me Eat me, eat me

atleast one

I happened to overhear the following conversation between Daivik and his mother.
"Mummy, I want one chocolate"
"No, I will give you two"
(giggling), "Okay, give me two"
"No, I will give you three"
"Okay, give me three"
"No, I will give you four"
...this continued until twelve, at which point an exasperated Daivik said :
"Can you give me "atleast" one" !!