The Troublesome Ride

It was in February, 2018. Veer and I decided to go on a ride and get him some chocolates. Veer had recovered from fever just a couple of days ago. Hence, I was a little sceptical about taking him on a ride. I asked him to wear a sweater, to which he refused saying, "Veer is strong; he doesn't feel cold." I couldn't counter him, but checked with him, "So Veer will inform Papa when he feels cold?" He didn't respond; maybe his silence asked me to shut up.

We started our ride. In between, I started checking his hands to know if he was shievering. When I checked for the first time, he said, "Papa, Veer told you that he wouldn't feel cold." However, I kept checking in regular intervals ignoring his audacious remarks.

After a few minutes, he started shievering. I asked him, "Veer, are you feeling cold." Embarassed, he said, "No." I thought he was just trying to scare me. After a few seconds, he said, "Papa, Veer is feeling cold." I immediately checked his hands; he was shievering uncontrolably. I stopped the bike and parked it on a side of the road. Then, I started rubbing his hands but he started shievering even more.

Instantly, I ran to the nearby shops and asked if they had any blanket. Nobody had one. I went to my tailor and asked for one. He said, he didn't have one. I asked him to give me a new piece of cloth to which he agreed on the condition that I would return within half an hour. Quickly, I wrapped Veer with the cloth which made him a bit comfortable. He said, "Veer wants to go home now."

Taking him home on the bike wouldn't be a good idea then. So I called a rickshaw and took him home. On the way, he kept blabbering something which only he would understand. Within seconds of reaching home, he was put under a blanket, and after a minute or so, he was out doing his own stuff.

I walked back to return the piece of cloth to the tailor and to bring my bike home.

Fruity Saved Me

Yesterday, I bought a jar of candies for Veer while coming back from office. He was very happy to see so many candies at once and gulped a few of them in a way he would have rice. Somehow his mother was successful in distracting him and hiding the jar for sometime.

Today in the morning, I asked him what I should bring from office for him. I expected him to name one of his favorite items like chocolate, watermelon, fruity, etc. To my surprise, he said, "Don't bring anything today. I still have the candies left with me. I like those candies a lot." I was very happy to learn this from him. For the first time, he asked me not to bring anything for him. However, I doubted he would remember what he said till I came back from office.

To be on a safer side, I stopped by on my way back home and took a fruity from a shop. My wife opened the door, and I called out Veer's name as soon as I stepped inside. He came running to me and as usual, said, "What have you brought for me?"

All hell would have broken down without the fruity in my pocket.

I learnt, when it goes against their interest, we shouldn't believe what they say.

The Back Seat

Normally, until now, Veer would sit on the front when we took a ride together. Occasionally this would happen even when a third person is on the vehicle. Today, when he insisted for some chocolates and convinced me like every time, we left home with my bike key. When we were near the bike, he says, "Papa, I will sit on the back seat." I got worried because then it would be really difficult to convince him for anything different. But I gave it a try. I said, "Dear, you will fall down." He replied convincingly, "Papa, I will hold you tight."  Hesitant, I started slowly and rode at a speed of 20 km/h. However, he was comfortable. His confidence made me assured. In 10 minutes, we came back home.

More than me he knows when he is ready. Point taken. 

Risk Assessment Comes Naturally

We have a bed that is as high as Veer's height when he was one year old. I was having dinner and Veer was sleeping on the bed. Suddenly, he got up and saw me. As a natural reaction, he moved swiftly towards me. I was worried when he came close to the edge of the bed. I was about to get up to hold him with the fear of him falling down from the bed, when my wife stopped me calmly. I said, "Veer will fall down." She patiently said, "You have your dinner. He will watch from there; won't move." She was right. Veer didn't move from there. He just looked at me with hope in his eyes. As soon as I was done with my dinner, I attended him. From a small distance, he hopped at me. It may be too early to say Risk Assessment comes naturally to Veer. His approach to similar situations in the following months made my understanding more firm.

Veer's First Word

Veer was about eight months old and yet to utter any meaningful word. He was sleeping in the hall when I was getting ready for office. I kept looking at him in regular intervals. Both his mother and I were waiting eagerly for Veer to talk to us. "What would be his first word?", whenever my wife asked, I would reply, "They say, the child's first word is 'ma'." Anyway, I always thought I would not be able to experience it when he utters his first word as I might be in office. I got ready and was about to open the door, when I heard "Papa". Almost into tears, I looked back at Veer. In that span of second, I went through one thousand emotions. Veer repeated, "Papa" when my eyes fell on him. However, he was not looking at me but at his mother in the kitchen. I smiled and left for office.

I think, Veer got confused whom to address first. He couldn't decide how to get rid of this dilemma. However, eventually, he managed to satisfy the ego of both his parents. When my wife looked at him, I cleverly said, "See, Veer is addressing you as papa."

The Ice Cream Seller

Today, midnight of November 12, 2018, Veer was out to execute his plan of selling ice-creams. Being a Sunday night, there were only a couple of men outside in the society. Veer would take out imaginary ice-creams from his toy truck after asking the men what flavor they would prefer. This exercise went on for an hour or so. As it was time to go to bed, I tried to convince him to come back home, but all my efforts were in vain.

Veer wouldn't agree so easily. His mother also failed to convince him. Hence, I tried to get creative. I said, "Veer, all your ice-creams are melting. Let's go home and keep them in the refrigerator." Veer looked at the empty toy truck and said, "no, they haven't melt completely yet." When I tried to insist more, he pointed at an empty space somewhere around and said, "oh, there is a refrigerator here. Let's keep the ice-creams here."

I was disappointed but he was right. Imaginary ice-creams must find an imaginary refrigerator for them. All my experience fell flat against the innocence of my baby.