A baby’s gotto do what a baby’s gotto do!


That’s Tommy Pickles’ punch line from Nickelodeon’s much watched baby toon ‘Rugrats’. Ever wondered what all those teeny-weeny newborn infants think of adults, how they perceive the environment around them. It’s after all a entering a big bad world dominated by adults. Is it chaos? Is it confusing for them? No wonder, we have movies dedicated to this theme. Remember John Travolta’s “Look who’s talking?”. And as if that was’nt enough, we had sequels to it…”Look who’s talking too”
What about you, yourself? (all that you can remember about your childhood). Each one of us did perceive things around us differently, partly because of what we heard our elders speaking or doing, or some other such influence and also partly because we invariably thought that the way we understood as babies was right.
As a baby, I knew that the earth was a globe, round in shape but I was of the understanding that the sky covers us from above and we stay inside the protected globe.
There were times I thought I would just clean up the sky of clouds so that the serene blue sky would come to fore. Hmmm, must say that I was not so ‘creative’ with my baby imagination. I atleast didn’t go overboard with my imagination. Wait till you hear what my friend’s baby cousin thought about rains. The little one was of the understanding that it rained whenever God was going to the bathroom! Gross!
Sometimes, kids ask you questions that can leave you dumbfounded. My tenant’s kid, barely 5 years old, was once in conversation with her grandma. She had just then returned home and was playing with her pet dog, Browny. The city was inundated by heavy rains for a week now and she was naively chirping “Its raining, its raining…Browny, why is it raining?” repetitively. Her grandma, in the meantime, was busy hauling the dried clothes from the clothesline, when the little girl asks “Naanama, naanama, what is today?” Grandma promptly replied “Ivvaala Saturday naanna” (Today is Saturday dear) For which the girl’s matter-of-fact reply was “If today is Saturday, then why did’nt I go to school?” Grandma was bowled! Meanwhile, the girl turned to her dog and spoke “See, Browny, Grandma doesn’t know. It is Saturday she says. That means tomorrow is Sunday!” And then she extended her song triumphantly “It’s raining, Its raining. Grandma doesn’t know why I didn’t go to the school today. Its raining. Its raining.”
My previous tenants had a son (Sampreet) who was in his first grade. Every Saturday, his grandpa who stayed a few kilometers away from their home visited his son’s family. Being aware of the regular visits and the timings of visit, Sampreet ritualistically, peeped out of the window that overlooked the sit-out, from behind the window curtains and announce (rather too loudly, that even we could hear him, staying upstairs) “Thathayya vochaaru, thathayya vasthunnaaru, thathayya vochesaaru!”. (grandpa has come, grandpa is coming, grandpa is here) And then open the main door, chuckling away at his victory!

Sometimes, children can put you in a spot! Of course, they do so unintentionally. A friend of mine told me how smart her young cousin was. He was fascinated by shapes and very good at identifying objects through visuals. His parents had taught him what a triangle, a square and some other geometric objects looked like. During one of their shopping sprees, the family had entered a ladies hosiery. The child seemed thrilled at something in display. He was very delighted at what he saw. He kept pointing to ladies undergarments on display and thoroughly enjoyed screaming in excitement “See, a triangle, triangle!”

As a kid, its really tough not to get influenced. I remember how troubled my mom was about me when I was so addicted to a popular Hindi serial on National TV that goes by the name ‘Udaan’. It was about a small-town girl who dreams of becoming an IPS officer. The serial showcased her efforts at the Police Academy while training. Aping her every move, I would crouch beneath the easy chair and trying to snuggle my entire body through the small gap between the supports (legs) of the chair. Then after having achieved that feat, I would hold the clothes hanger as a rifle and charge at my mom in the kitchen punching her behind (scenes that showed the serial protagonist boxing a sack).
Then climb onto the bed and jump with all my might as though I am jumping from a high-rise wall. And my poor worried mom would neatly fold a bundle of bed sheets on the floor near the bed so that I wouldn’t hurt myself while jumping down from the bed.
My mom tells me how she used to take me to a restaurant nearby the nursery because of my penchant for hot ‘gulab jamuns’ they made. As a child I was very impressed by a song from a Hindi movie in late 80’s and whenever the song would be played I would just stop all my activity and start dancing around. Of course, people were courteous to cheer me when I danced. But imagine doing so now! We would never even dream of dancing in public. Obviously, the child has no place for an emotion like embarrassment.
I m sure each of you have a childhood story to tell. There are lot many such episodes to tickle your funny bone. Watch out for a sequel to this piece…
Coming soon: ‘A baby’s gotto do what a baby’s gotto do’ – Part II