Monday, November 26, 2012

# Bunni # Motherhood

Panchatantra side effects


I have always been a fan of children stories which are windows to our big world. I started off pretty early narrating stories to Bunni. Animals which can talk and which can emote kept her butterfly-like attention honey glued. Myriad stories made my life simpler in conveying subtle facts, rules and maxims to guide our daily lives. I was so proud of myself. But, later I started to realize, these stories have side effects too!



All wells have a lion in them. We were in our village, walking through the roads, we spotted a well. I thought, I will show her what a well is. But, she held my hand to stop me.
Bunni: Don't peep into the well. A lion is living in there. It will eat you the moment you bend in to see your reflection!
Remember the lion which fell into the well seeing its own reflection? (see here) And you thought that is the end?

 Ask for forgiveness. Get a life.
We were watching a National Geographic documentary. And a lioness was on the run to hunt a wild buffalo. Bunni started shouting.
Bunni: Buffalo must have done something wrong, that is why lion is trying to kill. <going near the TV> dear buffalo, dear buffalo, tell the lion that you won’t do that mistake again, it will forgive you. It won’t eat you!

Anyone who falls dies!
She does not know the concept of death. She just knows, the word and the situations in which I had used while narrating the story. We were walking on the road and Bunni spotted a traffic cop running. She was overly excited to see a cop running. (you know who runs in stories ;) ) she started shouting in the top of her voice.
Bunni: Amma, look! A police man is running!!
To my embarrassment, that police man stopped running the moment her words hit his ears and turned around to see us.
Me: Yes. Say Bye to police uncle.
Bunni:
Hi, police uncle. You should not run.

Police: Why shouldn't I run?

Bunni: See. Road has a lot of stones, you will fall down and die!!
Police man looked straight into my face! I did not know what to say. I mean, how I can explain to him so much? I just apologized and ran to save further embarrassments. I could sense a smile on his face.

  
Steal and eat. Your tummy will be fat!
We had gone to temple. The priest was busy with chants and aarti. Bunni was doing monkey-jobs of climbing the railings there. I told her to stand silently, or the priest would get angry. As the priest came near us to give MangaLaarathi and Theertha,
Bunni: Amma.. This priest has stolen and eaten a lot of Laddoos. See his tummy is so fat!
This was from the story of Bal Ganesh! Ouch! That priest's face was red! The pressure in my mouth for a roar of laughter was building by few kilo-pascals! I controlled myself and said. You shouldn't say so.


 Every Gopal's wife is Suman
We had been to a marriage reception. When we were on the stage,
BH: Bunni, Wish Gopal Uncle a happy married life
Bunni:
Where is your wife Suman?

Gopal looked perplexed,

Gopal: Who is Suman?
Gopal's wife Priya had baffled look on her face.I intervened and stopped the conversations because I knew where it was going. The story of the goose which laid golden eggs had owners named Gopal and Suman, who were husband and wife. So, for her, every Gopal's wife is Suman.

Children observe and construe a lot more than we expect. What a fun life they lead. Absolutely no inhibitions, no rules and bounds for the way-of-life. So much to learn from them. The way these stories are embarrassing me, it is should be Punch-atantra.

25 comments:

  1. Oh my god....i absolutely loved these anecdotes..especially about gopals wife suman...fantastic post...and a humour writer in the making

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  2. Enjoyed reading every bit of this post, well written Sahana.

    Wishes and blessings to little Bunni :o)

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  3. We need to learn a lot from Bunni.. :) and that question was enough to confuse Mr. gopal he hehe I wonder if he had to explain to Priya who Suman is he he he

    enjoyed reading .. god bless Bunni ..

    Bikram's

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  4. OMG!! Hilarious accounts!! Kids are so keen observers and quick learners!! I can understand the predicament you must have had with all these incidents! LOL @ Punch-atantra! :D

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  5. First time on your blog. That was a fun post. Very interesting the various interpretations she has drawn.

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  6. Gave me a good laugh Sahana. Lion in the well, indeed and Gopal's wife must be shocked!!

    Cheers,
    Sush

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  7. Shana,

    Innocence of children told so well. Please give a hug full of love to sweet little girl.

    Take care

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  8. Nice post Sahana. Mother and daughter, made for each other. What a winning partnership!! Bunni never stops inspiring you to write, hope this 'sil sila' continues. Keep posting such doses of wisdom for our adult brains that otherwise feed on junk food (for thought).

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  9. Oh god! Those were real humour filled situations.. Gopal and Suman :)

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  10. LOL.. how easy it is for kids to just say what they want and think :).. And for parents to be red-faced at the end of it of course!

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  11. awesome sahana ..:) sooperagi ithu..:)

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  12. Spicy...laughing bunny middle of all 'red faced' expecting this series to continue..potential to get published hard print...

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  13. WOw Bunni! Keep it up!!! :)
    and Thanks to Bunni's mom for sharing this!

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  14. hee hee hee cute kid yours. pull her cheeks from my side

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  15. Hehe such a cute post. AS a mother of a toddler who has just started speaking her first words, I shudder to think of my condition when she starts talking full-fledged :P

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  16. LOL :D hahaha sometimes its like children teach us lot many things :) superb hilarious situation Bunni has put you in. :) laughed my heart out! :D

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  17. Every gopal's wife is a suman! ROFL... That is awesome!!!

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  18. Stories with side effects! Awesome! Really sweet post Sahana...

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  19. fantastic situations explained mam really nice one...i L'ed OLly... thought me to think other side of funny things too..thanks for writing this brilliant article..i liked poojari laddooo one very much..

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  20. hahahahah.. where is your wife suman...and the pujari and the cop.. hahahah.. loved it.. that's the bliss of childhood I guess... you believe in stories..

    very sweet post Sahana :) :)

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  21. Nice recollection of hilarious incidents.Bunny must be having a very sharp memory and able to relate the stories to what she sees though to your embarrassment sometimes.This should not deter you from continuing with story telling

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  22. Aweasome man. I would love to see bunni say something when she sees me.

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  23. Fantastic post Sahana.. Now, i can really relate this kind of embarrassment. Let me just quote one such incident. Anvi was not well n we had gone to the doctor to get her checked n were waiting outside the doctor's chamber for our turn. One person who was sitting opposite to us was reading the newspaper. Anvi has a very strange habit that whoever is reading the newspaper, she will just go and bang the newspaper. To our embarrassment, in a flash she went and banged that person's newspaper. He was shell shocked as though some bomb fell on him. He was looking here and there as to what happened. Then we apologized to him. Even then, we could see how shocked he was. :)

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  24. Really funny incidents.... so lucky these kids are..

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