Papa: Who is this?
Coco: Galfend.
When Coco was born, I could not wait for him to grow up and start talking to me. Now that he is in that 'natkhat' phase, he keeps us well fed on a generous dose of his cute banter, often funny, sometimes hilarious, and his candid, spontaneous remarks often leave me in splits of laughter. Though, the fact that such conversation usually takes place when no one else is around to laugh with me takes a lot of fun out of it. Later, when I reproduce the incidents to his father, grandparents or his aunts and uncles, it is only half of the hilarity, coming from a grown up, who is herself laughing uncontrollably, the words barely making sense.
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| Coco dressed as lord Hanuman during Dussehra celebrations at his school |
My mother used the word 'bhakau' to scare me to sleep when I was small, though I hardly ever got scared. Coco's dad heard it from me and tried to use the same word for Coco. Now, Coco being my true son, never really got scared, and his dad had to bring in the next big scary thing 'mota bhakau' into picture, which was mildly effective. It was an intense sadistic pleasure to find a friend who used to say that we should not scare the child, coming to terms and using 'mota bhakau' to control Coco's naughtiness, though it barely helped.
Now, last week Coco had cough and cold, and we went to see the doctor where he saw a little kid his age, and said, 'hello fend, how aa you?' The kid went on, not paying much attention and Coco spotted his mother following him, covered in a burka from head to toe. Coco's jaw fell as he watched her move, his head rotating in sync with her movement from left to right, and after observing her thoroughly, he concluded, 'Mommy, see, bhakau aunty!' I had no place to hide, and I laughed out loud in a room full of waiting patients.
(Spelling mistakes in Coco's lines are intentional. They are written as he speaks. His grammar is hilarious too!)
