Day 4 (31st Dec 2007)

Made some progress this morning – woke up another 15 mins earlier, but still the vultures are way ahead of me. The various colored and flavored darjeeling teas are being put to good use. We spend a lot of the morning playing badminton on an uneven grass surface. The only significant event is Akash is mad at me because the badminton racket is too big for him and he cannot play. He whacks me with the racket and I drag him indoors for a timeout, after which he is suitably sobered down and apologetic. Aditi eats mud and little stones near the badminton net when nobody’s looking.

When badminton is done, I wander around the outside of the house aimlessly. Varun has got Sonati to paint cat’s whiskers on his face, and is very proud of them in a solemn sort of way. Although six, he is still the little baby in a lot of ways. Today he is helping Sunder clean out the cow Yashoda’s shed. Long after the required cleaning out, he is still pottering about the cow shed, quite content to play by himself. Akash the little city slicker, has been asking about the “farm animals” from the time we started talking about Thekambattu. I think he’ll be impressed by Yashoda, and I try to point out the cow and cow shed and things, but he is not particularly interested or impressed. Not such a city slicker after all. Yashoda of the golden brown hide and beautiful eyes is tethered to a stick in the ground in front of the house today. Aditi, who is pottering about nearby, is more curious about the cow than Akash, but has enough self preservation instinct to stay out of reach of Yashoda’s hind legs.

The children discover a live hard-shelled beetle and it amuses them for about 15 mins. It just curls up into its shell, and they all stand around waiting for it to come out. With all the attention it is getting, it refuses to oblige and they lose interest soon. Akash has been telling every one how “verrry dangerrr” it is, how “sttrrrong” and how it can bite you – the older kids are understandably not very impressed. I hold it in my palm and Aditi comes to investigate whether it’s worth giving up mud to taste this new thing. I glare at her and she goes back to mud eating.

Did I mention Tintin comics are very popular among the adults and kids in the house? There are several Tintins lying around and atleast 4 people are reading them at any given time. Nikhil again surprises me with his patience with Akash – he does seem to enjoy taking care of Akash (I suspect that hero worshipping look Akash has for Nikhil definitely helps!). Nikhil reads some Tintins to Akash. We are constantly worried about Aditi chewing on the Tintin book corners, but miraculously, we manage to save the books from her.

Madhavan has promised (threatened??) to take me on a 6 km run in the afternoon. I want to also take the kids on another ramble in the evening. So despite the afternoon heat (who ever heard of anyone running on a hot afternoon in Tamil Nadu???), we set off at about 2:45 pm. I have been strictly ordered not to wear shorts and shock the locals. But of course HE is allowed to wear shorts – it’s unfair! One more reason why not to live in Tamil Nadu. Anyway I have these sort of floral baggy capri pants… throwing style to the winds I go out running in those. It’s down hill initially but gently undulating for the most part on the way out. Madhavan manages to keep a conversation going, while all I can do is pant like a dog.

We pass several villagers threshing out paddy (or was it just hay?) on the road. They are extremely curious about why two crackpots would want to run in the afternoon – or run anytime at all. We get openly curious looks, and some women ask me “why???” in Tamil. They are thrilled to bits that a) I understand their question and b) I can actually speak Tamil (I tell them “chumma” meaning “simply, just like that!”). I score some brownie points, which are useful because I need the smiles of encouragement on the way back – when it is more uphill than down. I can see that they still think we’re crackpots, but are feeling slightly more indulgent now that they know I speak Tamil. On the steepest parts, (well, I said gently undulating, but that’s if you’re riding on a bike – try running up the gentle slope!) I slow down to a walk and Madhavan carefully refrains from showing off (even vultures can be sweet sometimes). I don’t have any pride in these matters – got a lot of body mass to preserve you see! We ran/walked for about 45 mins. I reckon I ran about 4 km and walked about 2 km (intermittently) – so overall, I’m quite pleased with myself. It has been 5 years since I last ran…

Get home to some adirasam and murukku 🙂 The kids are after my life to go on the ramble. After delaying a lot, I realise I can’t get out of it, these kids mean business. Varun and Lobo drop out – Varun has a sore in his foot and Lobo is just home sick I suspect. So I’m shepherding 5 kids today – Badri, Dino, Nikhil, Lavanya, and Akash. I trudge after them, walking slowly like an aged duck. We go past the same village and fields and paths as our trip to the stream. All the villagers we pass ask me accusingly where I am taking the kids at this time of the evening, and why can’t I quietly sit at home instead of tiring out the children on the countryside (those exact words in Tamil!). I sheepishly defend myself saying it’s the kids who want to go, and I’m just tagging along. But they look at Akash, shake their heads in sympathy and mutter under their breaths. I slink away before I can be given any more advice.

We walk beyond the stream of yesterday, and towards some hills. The older kids want to go up that hill, but it’s already quite late. I conveniently never wear a watch. I look at the sky, Crocodile Dundee style, and tell them we’ve gotto head back in 15 mins. Gotto assert yourself with kids, you know. So we park on some rocks at the foot of the hill. Akash is tired by the longish walk, and is happy to sit and have his ritual picnic. Nikhil gives him company. Badri, Dino, and Lavanya jump over a gate and run up the slopes for a bit.

We head back in a sort of leisurely way, I guess not with the required haste. It is a lovely evening, and my muscles are nice and tired, just don’t feel like hurrying. We see lots of fireflies. It is magical to watch fireflies through Akash’s eyes – it’s the first time he’s seeing them, and his wonder is worth being late and breaking the rules. We quote from a book that we both know by heart:

The sun’s setting now, little firefly said.
I might feel afraid when the dark starts to spread…

I eventually have to carry Ak on my shoulders as he is too tired to walk and definitely cannot keep pace with the older ones. He is also afraid of owls. He constantly tells me the owls are verry sttrrrong in the dark, and I keep reassuring him that they won’t dare to come near him when I’m there. It turns dark by the time we reach the village. I figure we have another 30 mins of walking to get home. We just cross the village and reach the road, when we see flash lights coming towards us, around a corner. A search party has been launched from home, looking for us! I am guilt-ridden, amused, annoyed, and relieved all at the same time. Sonati and Madhavan have come looking for us. I gratefully transfer Akash to M’s shoulders, and prattle all the way home with the relief of not carrying Ak anymore. I am told that my rights as responsible adult will be cut down and I will only be allowed to play indoor games with the children hence forth. Ha! They’ll want the kids out of the house soon enough, I’m not too worried. For now I look suitably contrite. It’s easy to look contrite in the dark, because there’s no electricity when we get home. We loll about on the porch watching the stars. How long since I saw such clear skies. Reminds me of Rajasthan. Time to end the star gazing and see about dinner for my babies.

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On popular request the veggie soup and bread are made again for dinner today. Then Rohit organizes the kids into a shadow puppet show of another poem – about a hungry grasshopper who goes out looking for food, and a chain of animals follow him – a frog, a duck follows the frog, a fox follows the duck, and a hunter follows the fox… then the hunter shoots at the fox, but misses (much to Akash’s relief!) All the animals scatter and the grasshopper, blissfully unaware, eats his nice green leaf and carries on. Nice story with a happy ending! All the kids are thrilled to be participating rather than just watching. Akash, although he hates for the fox to be dead, wants to be the hunter with the “badaa” gun 🙂 Boys! What can I say.

By 11:30pm all the kids have crashed. They’re exhausted from the day’s activities. But it is new years’ eve after all.. the adults stay awake (some of us just barely awake!) and consume cups of green tea and chukku (soonth) coffee until midnight. A quiet new years’ eve compared to my usual ones, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything, it was perfect.