Young Singh vs Young Mohta

I have generally not had trouble getting along with most kids. More often than not, I have been able to persuade them to share their toys with me (when I visit them) and Mummy-Papa have been able to persuade me (sometimes not too willingly!!) to share my toys with them when they visit me.

A couple of days ago, I met a different one. He has a pretty big and impressive sounding name – Aryan Pratap Singh. He is the son of Smita Aunty and Amit Uncle, friends of Papa. We had gone to their house for lunch on Christmas Day. Papa-Mummy wanted to meet some of their college friends and hence the plan.

I was fast asleep when we reached their place. When I woke up, I found myself on a strange bed in a large room with Papa next to me. He was trying to wake me up as he wanted me to see all the animals and enjoy the lawns and gardens.

I was not too happy at being woken up, but I quickly changed my mind when I saw the place. The place was nice and big. It had 6 ducks, some hens, 2 rabbits and lots of birds. It also had a real Christmas tree and a swing and so on. I plodded along for a while with Mummy, checking out the place and then ran around with Papa chasing the ducks. I was introduced to Aryan also around the same time. He was nice enough to take me close to the ducks and let me play with them.

After a while I grew tired of the animals and longed for some good, old toys. I found a nice, big plane and played with it for a few minutes before Aryan told me it was his and that he wanted it.

I found a tent-house, under which quite a few nice toys were hidden away. It seemed like Aryan hadn’t played with them for a while. As I rummaged through the collection, I noticed a nice, green tractor model. Now anyone who knows me knows that I am totally in love with vehicles like tractors, excavators, cranes, tipper-trucks, harvesters, and so on.

I made for the tractor but suddenly saw it being pulled away by Aryan. He held it close to his chest and looked at me in the eye. I returned his gaze and squared with him. I tried pulling it away from him, but he wasn't relenting. So I tried asking him for the tractor. He gruffly replied in the negative.

For an instant, I thought of banging him on the head with something else. Immediately (and luckily), I spotted Papa looking at us intently. I knew any such misdemeanour could lead to severe consequences. So I decided to invoke higher authorities. I went to Papa and told him that I wanted the tractor but Aryan was not giving it to me. Papa asked me to go and say please to him and he would surely give it to me. I looked back at him with a bit of disbelief, but in the end decided to give his suggestion a try.

I went back to Aryan and said – “Please can I play with the tractor?”

He replied.. Sorry, he didn't reply. He just hugged the tractor closer to himself and turned his back on me.

Again I thought of banging him on the head and getting my way. Just then Smita Aunty came into the picture and told Aryan – “Woh please bol raha hai na. Usko de do. He has come to your house to play with you.”

Still no impact.

Papa told me to play with some other toys and leave the tractor for a while. However, Aryan’s eyes kept following me intently and he lunged at each item I tried to pick up. I was not one to give up though. We had a couple of pulling matches, with the series evenly tied. Finally, some equilibrium was established as I got a couple of toys to play with and also managed to get a scooter to ride on.

I also managed to strike a couple of deals with Aryan on sharing some of his toys and he readily agreed. Looks like, he was also warming up to me.

After a while, I spotted the tractor lying around – unguarded. I took my opportunity and grabbed it before Aryan could. I played with it for a while and then got bored.

By this time, Aryan and I had established some ground rules for playing and the afternoon passed off relatively uneventfully.

In all fairness, must say he is a bit of a tough chap. I am still trying to figure him out and hopefully I would have some answers before I meet him next.

Keshav's second ambition

Little did I know how right Papa would be.

Less than 1-2 weeks after announcing my ambition to be a Pilot, I promptly declared that I now wanted to be a Doctor.

It all started with the costume-day in school. Mummy tried very hard to think of ideas to dress me up. Most of them, however, seemed very difficult in practice. So finally, she fell for the easy option of buying me a doctor Coat and handing me my doctor set and sending me to school as Doctor Keshav.

I really liked the idea. As soon as I got back home, I announced to Mummy that I wanted to become a Doctor.

"What will you do as a Doctor, Keshav?" Mummy asked.

"I will wear my coat. Then I will take my stethoscope (yes, I know the word!!). Then I will check Muskaan Aunty. I will ask her to cough. And then I will give her medicine. And I will also give her an injection. I will also tell Muskaan Aunty that she should not cry - the injection will not hurt (injection से कुछ नहीं होगा)."

"What will you do after that, Keshav?" asked Mummy.

"Then I will come home, put my doctor set in the almirah, and then go and fly my plane. Like this, Keshav will be a Doctor Pilot."

PS: Muskaan Aunty is my favourite Aunty at school.