Of mystique and her powers

Dear Darsh
These past few days the 5 am conversations have become all the more interesting. One wee hour you woke up crying because you had just realised that you forgot to paint the cookies on your bday. So you wanted me to bake them again. At 5 am. I did bake them by 5 pm that day.
Another day you woke up at 5 am to tell me that daadi has changed. She is some other daadi as she now scolds you (i guess explaining to you about mystique and her special powers should have been avoided).
Another day was some superhero fight between your grandpa and an x men person. Again i had to listen to your story at 5 am. And if my eyes would shut you would make sure to keep them open by stretching them with your fingers.

Fall of the superheros

Dear Darsh,

I woke up in the nite as someone tapped me on the head. You should know by now i don't get scared easily unless its an earthquake. There was no one awake at that time. Except for your superheros lined up on the headboard. Slightly unbalanced, they were falling on my head one by head. Of course it took me some time to go back to sleep. But these days you want to sleep like that. So that you can play with them first thing in the morning. But i am sure the dreams you describe to me in the morning are having an impact as they are getting more gruelsome.  

Your bday is in a fortnight and the only thing you are keen on are your dath vader costume and the variety of cakes on all the occasions. As of now you want red velvet for midnight, pingu cake again for school and we are still deciding for party but the last request you made was for big hero 6.

We are planning a superhero themed party but now that you are planning to come as a villain i am not sure if it was a great idea! 

You are almost a pro on the scooter now and the doodling is in the same space - lego fight scenes. Now you create scenes with your lego and copy them in drawings.

Last weekend we went to your school for the winter carnival. Instead of enjoying at the stalls you were looking for your friends throughout the visit and looked completely lost. But you did introduce (proudly) your little sister Tia to all your friends.

We have been drilling the responsibilities of a 5 year old boy to you. I think you finalky got it as the other day you sat down and wrote that "i'll be a good boy from now and do my own things". That day you almost became independent. I was slightly sad but the next day you reverted to your old ways 😂
 

amazon and dreams

You have taken your pre-dinner shopping to a new level. From puny big basket you have moved on to amazon. You look for multiple lego products and “share” it with family on watsapp so that they can buy it from you. You also remind them in the morning and at times re-confirm whether they receiveed your “message” or not.

You have been telling your classmates also about your “wishlist” of the 4 items only.

Last week you told me you wanted to marry a classmate. Remind me to tell you about it when you are old enough to read this.

We chose a party venue for you which you refuse to enter so I am not sure if we should do it there.

You enjoyed watching Wazir as it had Amitabh Bachhan. You were excited about going for “airlift”. You were quiet until one of the characters mentioned “Amitabh Bachhan”. I think that was the only scene which you really liked. That and the part when you got popcorn in your hands.

Last night you told me you had broken your “avenger water bottle.” I said never mind we’ll buy another one. You then requested if we can buy a “star wars water bottle.” I am wondering if you broke it intentionally.

This month you had the first real boys’ fight. I think you have discovered the power of a fist as you have been hitting around quite generouslly.

This week you took the initiative to eat your lunch on your own. With the big spoon. Maybe it was the company. Maybe the dal chawal looked pretty in those bowls or maybe your were too hungry. Whatever the inspiration, I am happy that you are eating on your own finally.

I discovered today that there is a “show your underpants” thing going on in your class. Remind me to tell you about it when you are old enough to read this.

One morning yo got up and told me about your dream. Ofcourse it was a lego avenger versus star wars fight. I told you to write about in a diary. But ofcourse you drew the fight scene. It had around 20 people in a fight scene. Sometimes I really wonder what’s happening in that little head of yours. 

big basket at 1 am & other fun midnite activities

Dear D

We are back on track for the long winter nights. When the day gets shorter because you nap too long and the night gets longer because at 1 am you tell me “can you tell me how to close my eyes and sleep? Can you tell me? No don’t close your eyes!” yupp I am back to telling you stories where 100 sheeps jump over the fence and you ask me “what happens next” after the 100^th sheep has jumped. The thing is, I tend to lose connect with the narration after the 100^th sheep. The focus on literature gets even more defined as the night progresses. I have picked up “the turning point” from my office library and you need to read the title of the book and then further. It’s not a night-time books for children my child. Infact far from it… So then I hide the book yet again and your roving eyes zoom in on my phone. And that’s when the final night-time activity really happens. No not the videos and pictures. Those are not that interest you anymore. You open big basket and type in the name of your favorite snacks – oreos, kinder joy, haldiram aloo bhujia, maggi etc.

Last night, however we had a difficult time on big basket. They had not kept ironman shoes that you wanted to pick for your friend Ranveer. In some corner of your brain you have figured out that iron man and hulk are best of friends. Since you have hulk shoes, it is but natural that Ranveer should be gifted iron man shoes. Anyways

Over the last one week you have been looking for a spouse. You proposed to me but I had to decline as I am already married. After that you proposed to your little sister Eira over skype. Like most girls her age, I think she ignored your question. I hope you are limiting your proposal to family only. I am not sure what your friends and teachers will say but it will surely not be pleasant response. Atleast I think so…

Yesterday I was talking with your daadi and you interrupted as always. So for the first time your daadi scolded you for the interruption. To which you responded by saying you were disturbing the ants in our house, not our conversation.

These days you are doodling channel logos. Your favorite is Star Gold and CBeeBees. And you want to draw maps of the countries you are being taught about. Did I tell you I am not good in drawing, painting or anything that needs a firm hand?

And we have successfully banned cartoon network from our house or so I am told but you have gone back to youtube and these days Charlie and lola are the ones we have to watch again and again. And that's where you learnt "i don't want to see your face again!"

As always, 

Your loving mom. 

Bua ki shaadi

Dear Son,
We came back from yr bua's wedding last night. While you had fun there, you were asking for return to "e block" quite repeatedly. You met a few of your long lost cousins there but Eira is still closest to your heart. You still refuse to consider Radhika, Tia or Amaira as your "fav" sisters.
At the venue you had woken from a deep sleep and i think you were having a jungle dream because you woke up screaming "snakes on the floor"! After a while you came back screaming cockroaches and then ants... finally your cousin Joy told you it's your imagination and you trusted him enough to stop screaming bugs. The next day i shrieked at the sight of a mouse but you calmly told me it's my imagination and went on with your task. So much for believing in me. Both times.

I was having a heart-to-heart conversation about the horrors of cartoon network to one of your cousins - specifically gumball ki atrangi duniya. He informed me that he used to watch it on youtube as CN didn't show it in India during "his time".

rainbow teaset, red hanumanji and other buys

Dear Darsh,

We had gone to Lucknow for Diwali this year. You had a fun time playing with Pogo this time. Strangely, you did not try to enter his cave beneath the bed this time. You did bully him a lot and at one time we found him hiding beneath a chair by covering himself with a bedsheet. The entire duration you scolded him like he was your errant younger brother in need of a lot of discipline. In retrospect I am glad you don’t have any siblings to take care of at home.

You also had a great time with your friends Ansh, Vardaan, Nivi and Chiku. They are the children of your father’s friends and it was surprisingly nice to see all you children hanging out together and having so much fun. You guys were play-acting in the roles of a princess, a king, a senapati and a pageboy.

And then there was this family photoshoot we went for in the Lohia park. It was so clean and well maintained and with just a few lovey-dovey couples (the Lodhi garden in Delhi is infested with them) it made a beautiful spot for the pictures. While you were as hyper as ever, you did give us some amazing pictures which I am going to cherish forever.

You have discovered the joys of app shopping and like temple run, you need your daily dose of big basket shopping where you are too kicked to type the names of your fav foods and see their picture appear too.

While I went shopping for half a dozen kolhapuris in Lucknow, you had gone to buy a tea set as you needed one for the tea party you are going to throw for your friends in school. An all boy tea party this time. Maybe your father’s get-together with his friends impressed you a lot this time in Lucknow. Maybe you thought they had a series of tea parties for three nites. One that went on till 6 am. You also bought a red hanumanji because of the ‘bajrangi bhaijan’ effect. After receiving lego avengers, you have become a bit creative in your demands these days. Now you want a lego salman khan and a lego munni. Last nite when I was ordering groceries on the hone you reminded me for those again.

These days you love to snack on onions and peanuts and bhujia and gummy bears. we recently discovered on our way to Lucknow that you do not like Dhaba food. We also discovered that you can hold on to your shit until told to exit it. We had to check out and reject a few public loos until your father had a brainwave and we went to an expensive restaurant which did have good bathroom but at the cost of a beer. He was happy to pay the price and I helped too a bit J

You are drawing/doodling a smiling ten-headed ravan these days. In Ramayana, you were puzzled on the lack of Bharat’s action scenes and found ram and lakshman naughty that they would choose to fight. I have started reading peter rabbit to you and I am happy to note I have finally discovered a book that makes you sleep. Either that or you were too tired last night. Over the last few days you have been listening to the avenger stories a bit more attentively. So now you know the difference between a superhero and a super villain. Now you know the difference between good and bad. So some days you want to be a villain and do the opposite of what you are told to do. But it seems you can’t even pretend to be ‘bad’ for too long and you always end up by saying ‘I love you too much mama I am sorry.’ Your father is impressed that you know the difference and can choose between the two. I, on the other hand, hope again that is a phase only.

Your 6 packs and other Oct events

Dear Darsh
You have been watching a lot of Salman movies these days and it is showing in your dreams and aspirations. Just 2 nites back after watching 'wanted' you were interested in knowing more about how to get 6 packs. I told you that eating and exercising are the only ways to acheive it. We went through an exhaustive food list but after much deliberation you decided on eating a bowl of rice - not in the list suggested by me but anyways. After finishing that you declared you had 6 packs and showed everything your tummy. Thankfully we won't be visiting that topic again for a few years. Atleast i hope so...
Your teacher insisted so we have been trying very hard to practice alphabets with you but you being yr stubborn self, all such efforts ended in tears. Yours ofcourse. And then one fine day i came across an excellent idea - to let you write what you want to write... as long as you are writing... so now you write the names of all your favorite bollywood actors and their hit movie names and your avenger heroes and the names of their enemies. And we have almost covered all the alphabets here.
You have also developed some nice dancing moves but strangely your fav dance songs (hooka bar and dil kare chu cha) come from Akshay Kumar movies. Your fav songs these days are balam pichkari and mai tera hero. The drawings are anothet matter altogether. Here are two: the first has you and me chasing a colorful peacock around our house (literally) to feed him while your father is flying around in an orange costume. I asked you why is he flying and you said because he needs to think.

The second is a scene between superman and hulk and a bolt of electricity between them. You were not clear about the electricity but you did tell me that superman won.