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Savouring childish whims

Published : Monday, 5 November, 2018 at 12:00 AM  Count : 506
Mahbubar Rahman
"The place is very well and quite
and the children only scream in a low voice"    -Lord Byron

Mahbubar Rahman

Mahbubar Rahman

A newly born human being; boy or girl below age of puberty can be defined as child. Human children are perhaps the only living being in the world that is born with all the trait of fragility. Unlike other living creatures, a human child demands immediate attention and care without which he cannot survive. Investigating scientists, however, asserts that if the first human child were born weak and fragile, then probably he would not survive to multiply the growth rate of human race in the contemporary world in festering geometrical progression and as such first human child was not born such weak and fragile as they are now.
Other living beings do not need as much attention and care as human child needs. When a calf is born to a cow or a kitten to a cat, they stand on their feet in minute's time and tenderly run and jump in a acrobatic feat to every bodies pleasure around.

 They are hardly seen to cry or scream to draw the attention of their mother. Opposite to that, human babies scream moments after they are delivered from mothers' womb with a pair of blinking eyes well enough to see the light of the world. The most precious object of human body is the human brain which is no better or efficient then the brain of cave men lived thousands of years ago as the scientists now reason.

Yet, with the formidable power of the brain, humans have conquered the world and enslaved under their domain, the rest of the animal kingdom. Human babies' brain starts developing after few weeks of their birth when they start becoming familiar with their surroundings. They immediately recognize their mother first and slowly get attuned to recognize their other kith & kin. With the pace and rhythm of time they grow and remain as children till such time they attain puberty with the visible physical changes and change of body chemistry within.

The environment the children are grown in makes the children whimsical at time in their behaviour pattern characterized by whims. Human children's capricious or whimsical behaviour displayed at time can be seen as childish whims often savoured by the grown up human being. Childish whims often exhibited by offspring in their childhood days bring unbound happiness in human mind. Happiness turns into ecstasy when men walking into the grey of gleam of life witness the childish whims of their grandchildren in their day to day passing time.

Great poet Rabindranaath Tagore correctly assessed the depth of happiness among the men of mind savours through the innocent whims of their grandchildren. In one occasion the bard said that the offspring are the direct investment of parents out which they derive some benefits that they deserve which is obviously sweet in taste. But the pleasures the grandparents derived from the grandchildren in rhapsodic enthusiasm are like accrued interest over principal investment which are sweeter in taste to be relished in heart's contents in celestial proportion.

Standing on the shoes of late sexagenarian, I have the great fortune to relish time with my couple of grandchildren Irzaan (8) and Ilhan (6) by my eldest son and a granddaughter Areesha (3) by my youngest son.

My happy hour with grandsons, who live with their parents just two levels down below my flat, begins every night at 9.pm and continues for couple of hours within which we enjoy our dinner together with lot of funs brewing from their fertile brain blended with their childish whims.

Both the boys are often engaged with mutually agreed upon fights and pulling leg to each other which I look on with unmitigated pleasure. Irzaan poses his braveness and brilliance and boast upon his academic achievements over his younger brother Ilhans who claims that he knows better English than Irzaan does. In one funny interesting occasion, Ilhan who is in grade one in his studies innocently observed and said to me, 'Tatta (dada) you do not know English.' I laughed and responded to his comment by a confessional statement saying that yes I do not know English as much as you know as I have not studied in English medium school, like you, in my childhood days.

He was happy and content with my confession and advised me to learn English in his school. I reckoned and came to a conclusion that it is true that the learning process be it a language or on any other discipline is unending which humans cannot accomplish in entirety in their life time. I further reckoned on as Chinese philosopher Confucius (550 Bc-479Bc) said "Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance". My grandson Irzaan once said "Tatta (dada) you are still young. Be more vibrant and flamboyant, as reportedly you were when you could create havoc on the dance floors, with the bit of drums and rhythm of music in the elite clubs, before you get old. Standing on the last leg of my being a sexagenarian, I was elated at his wishful innocent thinking and replied 'I wish if I could.

I then start singing, out of tune, lines from Ustad Bade Gulam Ali Khan's soul consoling immortal thumri "K Koro Sajani aiyna balam......." and "yaad piya ki aiyee.......hai ram......." to prove once again my skill and worth of still staying vibrant in the field of music. After listening, instead of praising, the grandchildren instantly rebuffed and mocked at me with bursting into lilting laughter as the thumri of the Ustab did not aptly match to their brand of music like u-la-la-u-la-la....../ or hum tere bina aab nehi reh sekta...." or something more scintillating songs of their choice.

My little granddaughter Areesha (3) who lives with her parents half a kilometre away from my abode is the most fascinating and enjoyable character. She walks and runs up and down with her playful cousin Irzaan and Ilhan like an animated doll of wax to everyone's pleasure. She is a learner of words with her unique voice modulation. She remains glued with her Mimi (mummy) and cuddles on her father's shoulders when her father returns home from work. She has special fascination for her eldest cousin Irzaan and, in contrast, calls him by name while she calls her youngest cousin Ilhan as Bhaiya. In one occasion, out of her childish whims, when I was on her door and sought permission from her whether I should enter the house or not, she responded negatively by nodding her head left and right. When I again asked her whether I should leave, she at once responded this time positively by nodding her head up and down.

She, however, gave me a warm welcome hug when I entered the house in my own accord. In another occasion, when I was talking to my daughter-in-law (her mother) I overheard her crying on her mother's lap at the other end. I asked my daughter-in-law to pass the phone to her for few chats with me. With still crying and screaming she expressed her reluctance to talk to me over phone and uttered loudly with rage "pocha! ketey dao" (it is rotten, snap the connection). I enjoyed her childish whims and laughed at how innocent the children are with their whims often to express their minds. I now leave at this point with a saying of great American animator Walt Disney (1901-66) "our greatest natural resources are the minds of our children."

The writer is a former Civil Servant


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