24. Observer

There was a time when we eagerly waited for the day when she will start speaking. Now, we eagerly wait for her to stop. Right from the time she gets up in the morning and opens her eyes, till she falls asleep, her mouth is in constant motion. What surprise you most are her observations. We tend to underestimate kids and don’t often care how we behave, or what we say in front of them. But the tape inside the mind of the little careful observer keeps on rotating, meticulously recording wherever information is knowingly or unknowingly thrown towards them.

23. Payback time

As the summer began, one fine morning we found that there was no water in our toilet. We struggled to realize what has happened, we checked with the flat manager and our neighbors. It took three days to realize that our little devil has somehow managed to turn the tap and close the main water connection of our toilet. Another day we saw her bathed in sunflower oil. She slipped into the kitchen, managed to grab the bottle from the shelf and opened it. Our parents keep telling me and Ranjini how naughty we were as kids. Whatever troubles we gave our parents Hridhima is going to repay it... with interest.

22. Miss Talkative

Courtesy Madhubanti Bose

Wonder what’s the difference between a teenager and a 16 month old girl? She is talkative and equally moody. She takes the call on the mobile, says ‘hello’ and walks away from us to talk in private. She loves loud music, her favorite song being ‘Jonny Jonny, yes papa’. She remembers the first lines of most of the rhymes. However, she will sing only when no one is around. She also loves to dance. In a party she will be the first person to get into the dance floor. If I follow her, she will try to close the door, as if saying, ‘leave me alone, I am not a kid any more’.