Papa made Keshav cry

Its not that Keshav doesn't cry. I cry quite often. Infact, so far I have managed to use it well to get things done my way.

However, a little while ago this evening , my standard trick didn't work and I ended up crying a lot longer than I had planned for.

It all started when I decided to be cute while brushing my teeth. I thought no one was watching and planned to drop my toothbrush into the clothes bucket with detergent water in it. Unfortunately, Papa was looking. He caught me in the act and immediately pulled me out of the bathroom.

That's when I made the big tactical error. I raised my hand and hit Papa on the leg. I saw the colour change on Papa's face and I knew that I was in for some trouble.

And then, Mummy added fuel to the fire - "Nowadays he has started hitting a lot."

What happened then was not at all something I had imagine. On most instances I would get away with such behaviour with Papa getting angry with me while I hunted around for refuge behind Mummy or Dadu. However, today Papa just picked me up and carried me into the room. He shut the door behind us and put me down on the bed. All this happened before anyone (read Dadu or Mummy) had any time to react.

I had already started howling by then and continued doing so in the room. I ran to the door and tried turning the handle in my favour. But the handle was also consipiring against me. I rolled around on the floor for a bit even while I continued the crying, hoping it would melt Papa's heart. But it seemed Papa was much more determined this time.

He picked me up each time and put me back on the bed. He kept saying - "Quiet.. stop crying. I want to talk to you."

And each time my response was - "Baaaaahhhhh... Baaaaahhhhhh..."

Soon I realised he was not going to let me out of the room. So I stopped trying to run to the door and open it. In the meanwhile, he had also locked the door from inside to prevent Mummy or Dadu from coming in.

After some time he started telling me - "Stop crying. I want to talk to you. Till we have our chat, you are not going anywhere."

He also tried to persuade me to have some water every now and then. However, everytime I refused. Finally he thrust the bottle into my mouth and I gratefully gulped down sip after sip of water.

By this time he was also interested in getting me to quieten up. So he hugged me and tried to make me stop crying. For a moment I thought this was it. The ordeal was over and my usual approach had worked.

I shut up.

Immediately he asked - "Keshav, did you hit Papa? Why did you hit Papa?"

He asked me this a few times. Each time I responded with a BIG HOWL and he would retreat into comforting me only to return a few moments later with his questions!!!

After some time he said - "Keshav, you should not hit anyone. I don't want you to hit anyone, at all!! Do you understand?"

"Tell me that you will not hit anyone. Ever."

He extended his hand to me. I thought for a bit. It did seem that this time he was resolved to not let me get off easy. So after a few moments, I pulled out my right arm and grasped his open palm and said - "OK."

However, he was not one to let go so easily. He made me confirm the same a couple of times and only then did he relax. He gave me a nice hug and offered to put me to sleep.

As can be expected, I did not want anything to do with him at this point. So I insisted that I wanted Mummy. So then he picked me up, went to the door, opened it and called out to Mummy.

Dadu was sitting nearby and came immediately. I could see in his eyes that he was not happy with the treatment given to me. He offered to take me but I only wanted Mummy.

Soon Mummy came and I immediately clung on to her.

Papa, being the determined soul that he is, made me reiterate my committment in front of Mummy and only then did he leave the room.

Finally, after a good 15-20 minutes, my ordeal ended and I cuddled up to Mummy to listen to Thumbelina and Cindrella even as I dozed off to sleep.

Keshav spins a tale

The other day when we were in Calcutta (Papa doesn't like Kolkata!!), we were going to Bhua Dadi's place in the car. Everyone was very tired after Chachu's wedding. To break the silence, I told everyone a TRUE story.. here it is..

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Dadu and I were going in the car. Dadu was standing up on the seat. I told him - "Dadu.. please sit properly on the seat. Or you will get hurt."

But Dadu did not listen. Then as the car jumped, he got hurt in the head. Then Dadu started to cry.. wee wee wee.. He cried very loudly.

I told him - "Dadu.. maine bola tha na.. lag jayega.. please sit properly. Lekin aapne meri baat nahi suni!!!"

But Dadu kept crying..

So phir maine Dadu ko chup karaya.. Maine bola.. "Dadu dont cry.. theek ho jayega!! If you don't cry.. I will give you a chocolate."

Phir Dadu chup ho gaye.

Dadu ko phir neenu aane lag gaya. To phir maine Dadu ko godi mein dheere dheere sula diya.. "Aaaa.. aaa... aaa..." Aur phir Dadu so gaye.

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