A month with Vasudevan!

Every second in a minute is a step toward the next minute, every minute in an hour brings forth the message to look forward and every hour culminates into day worth cherishing with rich experiences. It was the month of February, when Lathu called up and confirmed that Amma is coming here and Vasukkuttan (her son) would also accompany her. The Initial response was a mixed one. I was not sure what would happen if he decides to stay back, he was a very hyperactive child who was supposed to be very stubborn and obstinate. I didn’t know if I could manage such a wiz kid (of future) who could not be taken for granted ,neither can he be brought to an amicable settlement in case of an eventuality. This was the appraisal I had received about him during the long telephonic tête-à-tête I used have with lathutti, my sister. We are both similar in our views regarding our ignorance towards the virtues of our own children. We are pretty quick when it comes to criticizing them. so i had no idea if i should take words seriously. But then, I was indeed apprehensive when the declaration in the mid march confirmed my fears and Vasukkuttan declared that he wanted my permission to stay back. How could I have withheld my permission to such an innocent yet unwarranted request? Lathutti tried telling him that he would find it difficult since she was not around. But he retorted as if his mother had no mind of her own,‘your sister is there, she is also like my mom. Why don’t you understand? Thus began the preparation for his Korba trip.
And finally on the 3rd of April the sweet bomb shell arrives with Amma. We were thrilled to have them here. Achu made arrangements to take him for swimming in nucleus club. As soon as he enters he makes sure his swimming costumes are ready. He proposes to go immediately, but we somehow convince him evening is the best time. After exchanging cordialities with achu, the bombshell prepares to explode having differences of opinions on the channels on TV . First encounter with the ‘so called’ gentle Achu who relents on seeing the frown on my face. But later those expressions had no apparent effect on Achu and the altercations continued, gradually paving way to taking more serious turns with achu sometimes helpless at his acrobatic competence. But then achu too sometimes had an upper hand when he used his muscle power rendering vasu helpless.
The height of his ideosycrasies was yet to come- he is very much self possessed when it come to verbal attacks which he considers as his monopoly. that was a holiday and achu and vasu as usual were not ready to let us have our siesta,and their arguments turned into violent battle. if a kick fell on achu's tummy, a slap stamped well on the cheek of vasu. to add spice there was shower of what each one meant spitefully to other was also heard. in his spite achu said why don't u get lost from here. now the hero's ego was hurt like anything. he could not stand that comment from achu, he rushes towards the allotted corner for his wardrobe which is actually a gunny bag throws it on to his shoulder walks out of the house, within a fraction he returns and goes to the shoe stand in the balcony picks up the sandals
( not the Chappals that i had gifted him, and which were his favourites) and once again barges out with the bag.i warm him that dogs might be there on the way. but he says he shall bark at them and scare them away. then he goes to the gate hesitates for a while and proceeds. by then achu had begun to cry pleading me to call him back. he promised me that he shall never again fight with vasu. on seeing his plight i told him to go down and bring him back. when he went down the hero was lingering near the gate expecting us to coax him for a change of mind. on achu's pleas the hero budged and obliged us saying, 'i returned only because achu pleaded and whaled. otherwise i would have gone.' (neither the scorching summer heat nor the prowling and prancing dogs could have changed his mind, only achu's lament could do the wonders)
While the saga of fights continued I too had some taste of his quick-wittedness and sharp repartee . I would try emotional black mailing him to get some of my whims to be fulfilled. He would very adamantly refuse to accommodate my interests. When I would threaten him that some of his fancies would not be met with, he would say in his cool demeanour ‘its ok, I have no problem! I don’t want any favours from you!’
( to be precise in Malayalam he would say, oh enikku oru kuzhappomilla, perassi enikku tharanda.) mostly it’s the swimming session that I would put in jeopardy, assuming that refusing to let him go for swimming session would soften him, but in vain. Well, there were certain tiny incidents which have been very memorable. My elder son unni doesn’t prefer eating rice at all. So Chappathies were cooked exclusively for him. Our little hero couldn’t really take a special treatment being extended to someone other than himself. So he declared ‘ I shall also eat chappathies only’. Now my cook had already left and I was too lethargic to prepare chappathies. But would the VIP relent? Not at all! He simply walked away from the dining table and refused to budge. I had to ultimately get up and cook chappathies. That day he ate two Chappathies. So the next day I asked my cook to prepare two extra chappathies for my sweet bitter hero. He just finished off two in no time and asked for another serving. Since I had no fresh chapathies I gave him one which was made a few hours back. He put it in his mouth and declared, this chappthy doesn’t taste well. I want another one which tastes as good as the previous ones. Imagine how well his taste buds recognise the taste! I wanted some favour from him as to keep a serbat glass for wash . he picked it up without a word of denial and as he was proceeding towards the kitchen, he kicked appu ( his elder brother) for which I admonished him. He put back the glass firmly on the table and said, now you only go and keep the glass for washing, I am no servant of yours. When Unni became a bit bossy over his brother and cousins, the protagonist declared, ‘just because you are elder doesn’t mean you can make us dance on our toes. Better mind your own business and leave me alone.’
On the 3rd of May arrived my sister along with her elder son, to be more precise the simpleton brother of the bombshell! Now Achu had some relief from the acrobatic experiences. Achu is on the fatter side, but the hero calls him fatty, hero is on the thinner side, but no one should dare to call him skinny. If you do dare then he knows how to swing his legs in 180 degrees and his limps would reach your face unexpectedly and it would be minutes before you would realize what really happened.
Now that the altercations have shifted to more familiar circumstances, he was a little more relaxed. He really got a more challenging opponent. His brother had no real worry about his comforts and he was less relenting and very informal. We as elders had a rest time when he was asleep or when he was away for swimming. But honestly speaking I am going to miss my little bombshell when he ultimately leaves.
This little bomb shell also produces many sweet moments too. He says ‘perassi (means big mom as translated in colloquial Malayalam) you are so like my mother. You even smell like her. One day I return from school and vasu runs towards me to embrace me with his warmth. He doesn’t take any stuff for himself alone but for his brother as well as cousins. He is very loving when it comes to sharing things, very sharps in his observations, very keen on learning anything other than his regular studies in school. He is so particular about brushing his teeth at night , in the morning. He doesn’t get up from his bed in the morning without saying his prayers, the only problem is that in case he forgets to do so, the one who wakes him up is at fault and so comes under his physical attacks.
If only our education system had been more children friendly in approach he would have emerged a genius for which our country could take pride.