Mihir's Observations

Taking a break from R2I posts. Over the last month or so these are some of the observations that M has made - 
1) Yesterday when I was dropping him to school, we saw a street urchin in his dirty clothes, rummaging through garbage and wiping his dirty hands on his pants. Since we discourage this (wiping dirty hands on pants) behavior in M, he asked me why that street child was doing it. I told him that maybe he didn't have parents to teach him good habits. Why are his clothes dirty? Ummmm... maybe he doesn't wash them. Why? Maybe he doesn't have a house? At this point I told him that he is probably very poor, doesn't have money, good clothes and food and is probably searching the garbage for something valuable or food. M was very sad on hearing this. He then asked me if we can give him some money. I told him that it wont be very useful since tomorrow he will still be poor. So to really help him we would have to give him some money everyday. M then remembered that he had 21 money (pick your unit - dollar, rupees, paise) and he can give it to him. I told him that it was nice of him to think that way but it wont be enuf. Again he was sad. Then his face lit up and he asked me if we could get him home. He said that we could buy a new school uniform so that he could go to school with him. M was even ready to share his toys and food with him as well as share N. And as usual we could be the universal Aai-Baba so that the kid would have parents as well. Since by then our car had gone much ahead, i agreed to his proposal and said that on the way back we would be on a lookout for the kid. of course by then a new adventure had gripped his mind....
2) In Seattle, M used to get fed up of the cold wet weather and would often pray to sun god. A few days back he felt like praying and so started saying "Oooooommmmm Namashivaya". When I asked whom was he praying to, he mentioned sun god. When I told me it is always sunny here, he agreed that there was no need to pray to sun god and said that he is praying to wind god. In bangalore, there is almost always a good breeze and so the sun is bearable. M enjoys the wind during his evening walks with aaji-ago and thats where this piece of wisdom probably came from.
3) Initially he was very happy that it was always summer in India just like in Mexico (his favorite place since we have twice gone on vacation over there). Today I had to drop him to school in a rickshaw. It entailed 45 mins ride and he was very happy. However, soon, we were stuck in traffic with the afternoon sun beating down on him. He turned to me and said that he doesnt like that it is always summer in india. When I asked him if he preferred Seattle weather then he said that he preferred summer with wind. After a few moments, at another traffic signal, he saw vendors selling razor scooters. He was genuinely amused and was like - they are selling razor on the road!!! Who would want to buy it since it is all covered with dust. Next he saw someone selling car adapters for IPod and he was like - Baba, they are selling wires on the road!! why would anyone want to buy them?
4) As like most indian kids, M loves to travel by ricks and being a rick driver is one of his current career goal. So he considers most of the rick drivers to be demi-gods. One day, while we were waiting in traffic, he saw a rick driver smoking. Since subtlety is not his forte, he shouted that the rick driver is doing a very bad thing (while pointing at the rick driver). After a min, the rick driver spitted on the road. M was really scandalized at this point. He turned to me and said that the rick driver did 2 bad things one after another and that he is never ever going to go in that rick. Luckily he hasn't observed people peeing on the roadside. I don't want to have that conversation with him....
5) Now that he has spent more than 2 weeks in his new school and has become comfortable, he is able to explain some of the differences between his current school and his school in seattle. One day he asked me how come there are no toys in the school. He found the concept very alien. He said that in his current school, you have to sit all the time, sing many nursery rhymes and do many worksheets. He has a natural mohawk and one day after I applied gel to his hair (so that they stand all spiky) he said that spiky hair are not allowed in his school. And this was his favorite hairstyle. So much for the ability to express ones individuality at an early age. He likes his school uniform very much though and is very excited to put it on and blend with the crowd.
6) No discussion is complete without the potty topic coming up. We are always after M to do his poopie in the morning so that we dont have to have a prolonged encounter with the toilets in india when we step out of the house. Also since I have to do the duties, I am very motivated to ensure that he finishes his job in the morning itself. Ofcourse, it is an everyday battle to get him to do it. One day M had to go for poopie at school. They have an aaya in each class who helps kids with their toilet needs. After washing M, the aaya put on his undies on his wet bum. So from that day onwards, M is very particular about doing his poopie at home before he goes to school. The aaya is going to get a diwali gift from me.
7) Our shipment has arrived in Bangalore and we should have our stuff within another week. We are very excited and looking fwd to it. when I asked M what he is missing, he mentioned that he would like the staircase from our seattle house shipped here. All the appts that he has seen here are at a single level and I guess he is missing the staircase to go to his room.
8) M's career options keep on changing every week or so. When we reached India, we were staying in a service appt. Cleaners would come in the afternoon to do the dishes and clean the rooms. Since M likes doing "pusa pusa" (wipe wipe) he wanted to be a cleaner when he grows up. Soon it was Ganapati and Navratri time and he wanted to be a priest so that he can stay bambu (bare chested) and get to do pooja. Rickshaw driver is his all time favorite and I guess that is the ultimate backup. Nowadays he watches Krishna DVD while eating food. So he wants to be Krishna when he grows up and keeps on asking us when his skin color will be blue. At night time he wears his superman or spider man night dress and then behaves like one. It is good to have so many career options. However even after a few weeks in school, he has not expressed desire to become a teacher.....