assistant

One fine evening, Daivik declared, "I have made Tina my assistant". Rashi and me were startled and asked him simultaneously :
"How, exactly, did you make her your assistant?"
"What, exactly, does she assist you with?"

He answered us one by one.
"I asked her if she will be my assistant and she said okay".

The second one requires some explanation. Now, kids and order (as in keeping things in order) are mutually exclusive. Proper maintenance of the book shelf  is therefore a perennial issue in the kindergarten. The way the teachers deal with strewn books is to call for a "meeting" with the kids and "encourage" them to keep the books back. So Daivik had recruited Tina to do it for him !

Couple of days later we asked him about Tina. "She is not my assistant anymore". And why ? "She refused to keep my books back". I should have been there to witness this scene - Daivik asking Tina to keep the books back, she refusing, and his reaction to that refusal ! He made a sad face and said
"Now I have to keep all the books back myself". He contemplated on this for a moment and added,
"bechara main re" (Oh, poor me).

at the hairdresser

Daivik's hairs had grown wild, like an unkept lawn. I, like a lazy gardener, was letting nature take its course until intervention came in the form of his mother. So, we marched to the neighbourhood hairdresser. Where a surprise awaited me. Turned out that Daivik has a favourite hairdresser there, Jenny, and he actually insisted on having her services. He settled into his chair and as Jenny covered him with a multi-color sheet having cats, spiders and cows, he started  a conversation. Jenny responded, and what followed was fun to watch. She was expertly balancing speed and precision on a target that refused to be still and he was filling her up with important details of his life. "Actually, I don't drink coffee. Because I'm a small boy". "You know, my best friend is Kuby. He is from Czech republic. But I'm not from Czech republic, because you know I'm from India". "But I don't like Jimmy"...

They started an intense negotiation on whether he should get a gummi-bear or a loli-pop after the haircut is over  ("both") and he started giving her wise counsel on how to eat a loli-pop ("slowly, but you must not but you must not bite it"). The place was filled mostly with elderly women on their monthly rendezvous. As Daivik kept up his banter, they stopped their gossip and were listening in, discretely at first but soon started laughing politely and pretty soon helplessly heartily. Daivik even attracted new customers. An elderly gentleman who was passing by peeped in to see what the gaiety was all about and ended up getting an appointment !

Somehow, in between unnecessary facts, unsolicited advice and eighty seven why's, Jenny managed to hold the conversation, suppress her laughter and cut his hairs. What a feat ! The whole place became noticeably cheerful as we were leaving. Everybody waved us enthusiastic good-byes !