My trip to USA (Part 2)

Thud!!! Thud!!! Thud!!!

Having been used to living alone, this was something I was now growingly alien to….Yes, there were some days when I went to sleep with a “Thud!!!Thud!!! No surrogate meaning here…. I was talking about the misery we are put to by our otherwise generous Indian cricketers (Things have changed since Dhoni took over though) or after seeing one of those all-time hero bashing the bad guy movie!!! Well the thought of our bosses and deadlines do give that feeling too but in this age of blackberry’s and lap-tops, the more its in-tuned into our systems, the better it is (for you would have no shocks!!!)

But I am referring to those Thuds my elder sister and I were subject to more often than not. The Thud that was heard when my grand-uncle would get the guy with the most sought after profession in the country side today to pluck coconuts (no joke this eh- a village with more than 20,000 trees would have 2-3 people in the profession) in the early hours of the morning when in my dictionary only birds should be allowed to wake up and not humans The coconuts would fall one after another and it would be relentless…. Else, it could be what we call the ultimate bomb- my mom’s third wake up call (from a humble beginning to a warning of dire consequences to missiles in the form of what we call “mothers own atom bomb”)

But this felt different (a bit more on the head quite literally) and what was most amusing in that sleep pilferaged by some thuds was the stifled laughter!!! I knew what was transpiring but 30 hours of travel had its own effects!!! I finally opened my eyes, almost felt like Kumbakarna from Ramayan though!!! Here are a bunch of kids all excited that the joker from yesterday has arrived but for the latest entrant, trying to wake me up. They started by singing and then on to Adith who decided to hug me tight and take me through the love route (only for him to realise that I have succeeded in putting him on the highway to sleep) and then on to Neel who baited me that we could see Jungle Book 2 on TV (Well there were 2 people who were laughing- one myself- Grrr!!! That’s where (world of business) I came from I wondered and the second the latest entrant into the family- one could see her eyes saying why do you want to show him a movie on the place he belongs to J) And then finally out came Navya the war-house. She climbed on top of my head and treated it like a trampoline. That was enough to wake the worst of Kumbarkarans!!!

Up I got up and ran behind the little ones!!! That was some joy; a stark contrast to my daily run in the morning to the bathroom at 8 to be in office at 9….or the running I subjected my direct reports to on the day of report delivery!!! They ran like there was no tomorrow; running from one sofa to another and from one room to another. However, there was one person among the 5 of us who ran for different reasons. Our latest entrant ran for she really believed that there was some kind of an Alien invasion. At times I felt like those initial moments in Gulliver’s Travels when they tie the protagonist up. The little ones ran to the lawn and suddenly it felt like the whole jungle had come out. At one side, there was my elder sister also running around, trying hard to get them to eat, while on the other side my eldest sister was running around, trying hard to get one of them to take bath as is the morning ritual….. Little should I say that none of the latter events took place and the kids won hands down. Out came my brother in law with the cam-corder. He opened up the sprinklers as well. This send the kids into a tizzy; they behaved like there was no tomorrow. Jumping by the sprinklers and striking poses that only they could think off. Navya introduced each passerby to me as her uncle, then dad and finally – my mother’s bvethehhhhhhh (brother). What a joy it was to see that!!! Just then something unimaginably cute happened- the little one looked at me and asked her mom- What is that? Not bad eh!!! She is now re-thinking if this really is something she has ever seen inside a cage. Not bad for progress I wondered and we moved back inside slowly to settle down for breakfast.

We all settled down with much adieu and with each passing hour the mayhem abated. Giving the kids food meant an intense parley of negotiation between the kids and mothers. And sometimes when the negotiation was too tilted towards one-side (goes without saying it was the kids side), they even had a third party negotiator involved in the form of my brothers in law. The discussions were pretty multi-faceted and dynamic in nature with each stakeholder having a clear rationale for his or her stand. The eldest one wanted to see “Curious George” because it was fun as well as educative. Now mom has always told him to learn things, so could she even try denying it? My eldest sisters son wanted to see Jungle Book 2 for it was new, no-one had seen it and Uncle also wants to see it! I looked down and suddenly looked up in absolute shock!!! When did I become a part of such a potentially catastrophic and nuclear negotiation deal agreement?; I wondered. Thanks to one of the better negotiators- my elder sister who said don’t pull him in for he does not want to see the movie (Ah!!! Did I heave a sigh of relief) and then came the queen cum bandit queen of the family-Navya. Mom- I want to see Dova for I am a givl (girl). Again a very rationale argument... In an age where women have equal civil rights and even contribute more as a consumer (latest research reports claim if a husband and wife were left in a shopping mall to buy an apparel, on an average a man covered 500 sq feet and USD 33 while woman spent USD 876 and 3,000 sq feet- all things remaining constant) Now from both a marketing and civil rights angle she had a rights to her voice and a justifiable reason. What we had was a typical case of Adam Smith’s philosophy of limited resource and unlimited wants. We had 2 Televisions and 3 wants. But what made it worse was all 3 of them wanted the projector TV, so we were down to 3 wants and 1 option. To a stranger like me this situation represented nothing lesser than 2 heads of states negotiating on their security.

My mom passed a judgment- We will watch Curious George now as a group as he asked first and then in the afternoon the next one will watch and so on. Out went Neel to one corner and up-went Navya on top of the sofa like a typical Indian parliamentarian. Both of them whole-heartedly refused the solution. This lead to 3 levels of discussion coupled with shrieks and shrills. My eldest sister spoke to Neel, while my brother in law spoke to Navya. My elder sister spoke to Adith and accentuated the need for sharing and giving. But my elder sister proved a great negotiator here. She gave it the tag of sacrifice and maturity and how people would perceive you a grown up if you gave up now (At that age kids aspire to grow faster than they are and like all of us desire to be called big boys!) Out came Adith stating we will watch Jungle Book guys. Out came Navya saying she is fine to watch Dova in the smaller TV. With this what was potentially transpiring to snowball into a mountain of woes settled down faster than I ever imagined. Consequently in the afternoon a similar scene transpired and the actors in the scene found new solutions each time they were challenged.

As it was the first time it happened, the whole episode both enthralled and capitulated me. But with each passing day, I settled down faster and even a reached a stage where I was a reluctant and petrified participant to the negotiations……. Another case of how engaging and exciting it is to involve yourself with the great world of parenting and kids psychology.