One day in 2008 these two smiling faces walked into my life and who was to know then that these 2 seemingly shy little waifs would create such an Impact and leave a lasting impression on my heart!
The first day they came to my house was with their parents for a mutual assessment and one of them was as shy and quiet as a mouse and the other was full of suppressed energy bursting to speak up and I got the impression of a little tornado in a bottle!
The first interesting and wonderful word that I heard from each of them was an emphatic "NO" and I knew that my work was cut out for me. Well this word continued in various forms and versions for the initial few months and hopefully has been eradicated from their dictionary by now!
First about the Tornado -as I love to call Abitha- this tornado is not the destructive kinds but definitely You Cannot Ignore ME kinds. She absorbed everything that I taught like a Sponge surprising me endlesslessly. She transformed into a beautiful talented butterfly (or should I call her the Princess Belle) right under my nose. Actually I should confess I must have been blind at the beginning not to recognise the butterfly immediately. I call that my learning phase- my moments of truth - my moments of frustration. I had to count 10 to 1 atleast a thousand times and learnt that patience IS actually the greatest virtue and then got in touch with reality to recognize the transformation or rather the Unveiling. I suppose some of my patience did work actually!
Meet her and the first thing you would spot is her bright eyes emphasising her vivid interest in life and her curious nature. And ofcourse you can't miss that energy when it hits you in waves and waves and waves. You might actually get submerged if you dont watch out. This girl is no - ok let things go by types - she needs to be there where the action is! She's smart, super smart and touchingly she is extremely emotional, passionate and has a warmth about her you cannot miss. With her natural passion she weaves her way into your heart to stay forever. Unforgettable is the word for her!
On the other hand to live up to her pet name the Tornado she retains all her childish mischief and playful attitude. Man! She can be the T for trouble and the H for headache when she wants to be! Well - that reminds me so much of myself that I'm definitely not the one to complain. You've gotta create some trouble in your childhood if not you lose the chance once you become the so called mature adult!
From, "I dont know English!", "I dont want to write", " I dont want to speak" to, " Aunty, these are my thoughts please can you listen to me NOW!"
Wow! The little lady can be forceful and as I said before you just cannot ignore her!She's the fairy tale Princess - dreams and lives it out and ofcourse loves Belle (maybe more because inadvertently it slipped out that Belle is my favorite too).
A natural leader she's got to be nourished, loved and guided well for an excellent future ahead!
Hmm what about the other little kid? Under all this overpowering influence of his sister the little brother not to be outdone emerged slowly and steadily until one day he declared his independence. From the - Stick to akka attitude he became I AM Chaman!
Being the youngest in my group not to be outdone he became the fastest writer and a glib talker. Wow can he talk! Nonstop and all in English. Fascinating to watch his struggle to get his thoughts into words but he has an undying never give up attitude. With an amazing ability to pick up all that his sister learns and adapting them to his own style and adding his own thoughts he stood up to claim his own space. With his new found confidence he slowly turned into a motivator for the group encouraging all the others to follow instructions and speak only in English with me.
Everday its a wrench and a struggle and a small internal battle for him to go back home. He kept asking his mom why is that she had to take him early always or why couldnt he stay for some more time. Don't know how this comfort developed - it really surprises me too many a times because I always felt that I was not very good with interacting with small children. Seems that I can actually hold their interest for a couple of hours atleast. Wow how much confidence a little kid of 3 can give an adult is to be experienced to understand.
I always asked mom how she felt at the end of a year when she had to let go of a batch of children whom she taught for a complete year. How did she feel? Did she miss them? How did she move on? She told me that ofcourse initially it was difficult but later you learn that you are letting them move on because you love them and they have to find their own feet in life. Its like your own children how you let them go to school on the first day. Love them and watch them grow she said! Thanks mom that's exactly what I have to do now.
Its heart wrenching to think that I wont see them for sometime now as they are going back to India this week. I've written this for myself trying to capture my feelings for them but I hope sometime when they grow up they might read this and remember me as I will always remember them.
I wont say bye but I will say as the French say - AU REVOIR (until we meet again). Dear Abitha and Chaman Au Revoir to both of you.
Yours
Siva Priya Aunty
3 comments:
Very touching!
It's really touching!
Hi Priya Aunty,
It was an absolute pleasure to read this blog about us. We were discussing about our Belgium trip and our father reminded us about the blog you wrote on us.
This is very heartwarming and nostalgic. Thank you so much for this, It means a lot.
With Love,
Abhitha and Srikar (Chaman name changed)
Post a Comment