Musings of an Undercover Yogi

Today is a day of celebrations. An academic year, my daughter’s first in a formal school, culminated in annual function.

It was an eventful year for us, especially my tiny tot. Inevitable changes at the beginning of the year made her stutter and stop, thoroughly unhappy and unwilling to adjust. She was the tender bud nipped from the small, nurturing surroundings of her playschool and the comforts of our home, and grafted into the large, harsher world of formal schooling and daycare.

The year brought many changes in her. Right from her Bengali-fied Hindi changing to Hindi-fied Bengali, drastic improvement in broken English, enacting Teachers to perfection, narrating incidents from school, most of the changes are pretty good.

Her teachers initially reported a lack of interest and concentration in classes. Apparently, she pointed to our photographs on the guardians’ page in her diary and cried every day for a month. She refused to participate in the goings-on of her class.

Compare that to the latest reports that she threatens other naughty kids with dire consequences, such as “I will slap you so hard your cheeks will fly off your face!” 🙄 And the dialogs are accompanied by hand gestures. Aiyyoo!

Last month, she was kicked out of the class as a punishment. My mother asked her what did she do in the corridor all alone. With a nonchalant air, she replied, “Oh nothing, I just took a quick stroll to the toilet!” 😳 I mean, I was probably thrown out of the class in the eighth grade, and here she is, my girl, breaking my track record in Nursery! Does this make me look forward to another 13 years of her schooling? Umm hmm. 😰

Fast forward to the purely innocent scene at the school today that steals the show. Parents were instructed to get the kids dressed for the annual function and leave the classrooms. On returning to collect some papers I had left in my girl’s bag, I just stopped at the scene in front of me. My girl, upset that we had to leave, was seated on a chair, head bent low, expression resembling dark monsoon clouds. A cute little gentleman kneeling in front of her was attempting to comfort the Princess-in-distress. He hugged her legs close to him, then rested his head on her lap while looking at her. All the while, he mumbled something with impressively animated expressions. When the cute and tender attempts failed to accomplish the desired results, he reached out to hold her face with both hands, peered into her eyes, and made funny faces. Then he stood up and bent forward to pat her head. How cute is that! ♥ I would’ve continued to watch them, if not for the teacher nudging me to leave.

During the show came splendid performances by kids. Every time I watch my girl perform on stage, it transports me into another world, a world full of love and pride. Later at home, I congratulated her and said that she’s no longer a Nursery baby, but is now a Prep baby. To which she replied, “Mumma, am I a bigger big baby and a smaller small baby now?” 😍😘