catchup times

Main bal hanuma hoon
Devaangi is becoming naughtier by the day. So much is the increase in the degree of naughtiness that her papa has named her bal hanuman. Devaangi loves this name of her. Ask her “ Ram ji ne Devaangi ka kya naam rakha hai “ and the prompt reply that comes from Devaangi is “bal hanuman”.
So much is her fascination with this name that at times you will hear Devaangi saying things like “nani bal hanuma aapke paas aaya hai. Isse utha lo”, “mummy ka bal hanuman”, “bal hanuman ko doodu do” and so on.

Mujhe bhi dar  lagta hai
Devaangi has virtually no fear. She is a mast mauji who loves to do things her way and there is no way you can control her pranks as who kisi bhi cheez se nahi darti hai!!! I don’t know how correct or wrong it is scare the child but we had to find something to install some fear in her to stop her pranks (going beyond a limit) or wrong doings.

We found that fear factor in a particular hanumanji’s picture (to which we refer as lal mooh waale chaar dande waale hanuman).

The most surprising element here is the fact that though she recognizes every photo of hanuman ji  and refers to it as bade hanuman yet there is one particular picture of hanumanji(in the desk calendar of chattarpur mandir)  that we have of which she is scared a lot.

When she refuses to sleep even late at night and is continuing with her pranks all you have to tell is “Devaangi lal mooh waale hanuman ji aa rahe hai”. Bus see the instant transformation then - Devaangi will immediately close her eyes and even cover them up with palms of her hands as well and try hard to sleep. The most surprising element is that within minutes she’ll sleep as well.

The same reaction also applies when Devaangi is doing other pranks which she stops immediately on us referring to lal mooh waale hanuman.

Another thing that Devaangi is scared of is the fear of being left outside the house especially when it is dark.

Devaangi’s dadi was always against us (dada, maa and papa) for scolding Devaangi or us putting a stop to her pranks by scolding her. Devaangi’s dada and papa are of the opinion that from the formative years onwards a child needs to be disciplined to some extent at least so that he/she at least begins to understand the difference between right and wrong else it becomes very difficult to control that child later on. This we have learnt from examples at home. One day while Devaangi was with daadi and was being very naughty and not willing to listen to daadi, daadi took Devaangi out of house and told her that she will leave Devaangi outside. I don’t know what happened but something triggered a fear in Devaangi against being left outside the house. For someone who is so fond of going out that it is difficult to being Devaangi in the house, moment you tell her “devaangi ghar ke bahar chodh doo” she gets scared and stops her pranks.

Devaangi at nani house

After the arrival of devaangi’s little sister, the three of us, me, devaangi and shivaangi have come to stay at nani house for some time. The same devaangi who used to be crazy about dadi at dadi house has changed sides and is now nani’s pet. I always thought that she used to take dadi for granted but that is a modest statement as compared to what devaangi does with nani.

For her nani is no more than a friend of her age. She bites nani, pulls her hair, doesn’t let nani eat her food (pata nahi kya hai moment nani sits to have her food, devaagi’s pulls nani’s plate and says” nani nahi khaayegi yeah mummy ki plate hai”), gets onto nani’s lap and refuses to get down.

The best scene was a few days back when I went into the bathroom to find nani sitting down and washing a few clothes and devaangi sitting on nani’s lap just like a Bandar ka bacha!!!!

My religious bacha

There are 2 temples close to nani house: one is jai maa mandir(Shakti durga mandir) and another one is sai baba mandir. Throughout the day devaangi’s demand is to be taken to sai baba mandir. Bus all she has to do is get onto nani’s lap and start off “ nani sai mandir jaana hai”.

My bacha is truly religious. She can recognize a no. of gods, loves to do matha teeko  and jai jai  in front of gods, recognize and sing aarti’s like om jai jagdish hare, jai ambe gauri, om jai shiv onkara, guruji’s mantra jaap. She loves to join daadi in her daily prayers and one must see how devaangi imitates dadi in doing aarti. She moves her palms in such a manner that you can feel as though she has a diya kept on her palms and is doing arti with it.

The true religious nature of bacha comes out at bade madir and sai mandir. You must see bacha at bade mandir doing dandwat pranaam to Guruji and matha teekna to all idols and guruji’s pictures and his Samadhi. I think these things come from within and no one can teach bachu these. No wonder every one says that bachu is indeed guruji’s bacha.

Earlier devaangi never used to let anyone put tikka on her forehead. Last month there was a satsang at a friends place where she was with dadaji when they were  putting tikka on everyone’s forehead. Devaangi allowed them to put tikka on her forehead and starting thereon she likes to have tikka put on her forehead everyday while sitting in pooja or at mandir.

Some tit bits from bachu’s converions

Bachu: mummy nani house jaana hai

Me: nani hourse  kyon jaana hai?

Bachu: nani house sai baba mandir jaana hai (whenever bachu is at nani house, nani takes her to sai baba mandir)

 

Bachu: puchu ne bangle pehna hai

Me: acha puchu ne bangle pehna hai

Bachu: haan !! dadi ne puchu ko bangle pehnaya

Dadaji: nahi switch ko touch nahi karna hai. Mana kiya hai na (when bachu is trying to switch on an electric point)

Bachu: smiles and says: to band kar doon (she she’ll promptly switch off the elctric point that she had switeched on)

Pranaam dadaji

Bachu has learnt to be so diplomat since the beginning that we at times wonder from where has she picked it up (none in our family are diplomatic). Bachu knows how to move from calling dada to dadaji to daadu depending on dadaji’s mood. Though she uses the same rules with others as well but the person to whom bachu maska’s the most is dadaji. If dadaji doesn’t let her have her way even after the transition form dada to dadu the  the ultimate maska is to bend down and touch dadaji’s feet and hug him or do sakshaat pranaam. Phir to there is no way that dadaji will say no to bachu for any thing.

brush my teeth

Oh I'm brushing my teeth on top,

it's so much fun I hate to stop,

but while I'm brushing my teeth

and having so much fun,

I never let the water run.

No I never let the water run.

Devaangi loves to brush her teeth. About 2 months back we brought the first set of tooth brush and tooth paste for Devaangi. We wanted to get Devaangi into a habit of brushing her teeth. After initial reluctance that lasted a few days to a few weeks, bachu has been so much taken up by the whole brushing ritual and in addition to her 4 tooth brushes, Devaangi can also be found picking up and using daadi’s 2 brushes as well as mom’s brush. Phir kya hai every morning maa and dadi have to hunt for their respective  toothbrush!!!

The teeth brushing activity starts when bachu wakes up in the morning and then continues throughout the day. The first brushing session of the day starts with tooth paste on the brush which bachu swallows without any delay or lingering. The brushing sessions of the rest of the day happen with plain brush in bachu’s mouth and saliva dripping out!!!!

Ab to bachu’s standard line on entering the bathroom is bash chahiye (I want the brush)

I love biting

Bachu has been biting a lot now a days… The most common victim is daadi followed by the maid and then me. All you have to do is either annoy bachu or don’t pay attention to her. Bachu simply will come and bite you. She gets some sort of thrill by biting and you must see the joy on her face when bachu bites some one!!! Looks like she is teething at present!!!

Lakdri ki kaathi

Devaangi is growing listening of english rhymes- the common ones that we were taught as a kid. These include baba black sheep, jhony jhony yes papa, row row row your boat, wee wiley winkey, jingle bells and so on… of all these one particular rhyme becomes favorite of bachu at a given point of time and then for days together till the time this fascination lasts bachu not only keeps humming the rhymn herself but also asks others to sing out that rhyme to her.

I remember when the fascination for jingle bells was on; bachu used to consider mom and dad as request station and would turn from one to another asking us to sing jingle bells to her. Then came a time for Guruji’s mantra jap followed by om jai jagdish hare… aajkal she is oscillating between nani teri morni ko mor le gaye and lakri ki kaathi (this one is her all time fav)

The best are the prompts or the clues that bachu gives us in between for reciting the rhymes. For example she’ll say “mummy ghoda pahucha chauk mein”. This means that start from this stanza and sing the rest of the song to her!!!

So far we have tried to ensure that bachu doesn’t watch too much TV. We however introduced her to watching nursery rhymes on computer. So much is bachu’s fascination for watching lakdri ki kaathi’s video in particular is that day in and day out she can watch lakdri ki kaathi’s video. Not only this, she also knows it very well whom to approach for putting on this video. For example she goes only to me and her dadaji for putting on lakdri ki kaathi (she knows no one else will put on the video for her J ). You must hear her say “dadaji lakdri ki kaathi laga do please”. She says it so innocently and pleadingly ki bus poocho mat and won’t let go for dadaji’s legs till the time he doesn’t agree to put on bachu’s fav video ;-)