I have a child who believes in the magic of magic. She thinks there is actually a treasure at the end of the rainbow and that in some corner of the earth, there must be a fairyland which no one knows about. She is almost 6-year-old now and the pragmatic me used to try to tell her to come out of this imaginary magical world. “There is no magic in reality”, I insisted every so often during my conversations with her. I could see the tad bit of disappointment on her face whenever I said so. A few months back, while we were having lunch, she grumbled about the taste of yoghurt that day and requested me to feed her. I sensed this could just be an excuse for getting fed by me and I happily obliged. The moment she took a spoonful in her mouth, she exclaimed.
“The curd now tastes delicious, Mumma! How did this happen?”
“Well! That’s Mother’s Magic”, I instinctively quipped amused.
“See! I told you magic exists. It is everywhere Mumma.”, she tried to convince me.
Today is the 72nd Republic Day of India. Today is the day when we celebrate the Constitution of India. But while we remember history, do we also see the history that we are creating? I woke up today with thoughts taking the shape of a maze in my head. If I have to be brutally honest to myself, I don’t know whether I am patriotic. I don’t know whether I am a worthy citizen of my land. I don’t know whether my bit is enough. I just know one thing that if there is someone who gives me hope in tumultuous times, it’s the children of India. Their honesty, intuitiveness, unbiased opinions and inherent empathy makes me feel assured and optimistic. But the irony is that we never fail to let them down every single day. Every time we push a child to be what the child is not, every time we silence their pragmatic voices with our adult egos, every time we invalidate their feelings due to our myopia – every such time we crush hope, we crush dreams, we crush spirits.
The thing that I love the most about motherhood is that I get to relive my childhood with my daughter. The heart-melting innocence, the naughty yet chaste charm, the curiosity to explore the world around and the crazy, funny pranks – I thoroughly enjoy it all. My baby gives me a glimpse of what my childhood could have been like and very often I find myself thinking – “Maybe I did that too!”. Continue reading It’s a Yes to Mess Baby!→
