Daag Achhe Hai

No, it isn’t just a tagline for me. It is a philosophy I live and swear by as far as K is concerned!

I truly believe, to each his own, or her own – as the case were! I have met several moms who are not comfortable with their kids getting their hands or feet dirty in play or otherwise. Well, whatever makes their moments less anxious, I would say.

That’s just not the way I grew up though, and neither will my little one. My vacations were full of climbing trees, rescuing pups from the neighbourhood nalla, playing hide and seek under the scorching sun, slurping on the rekdiwala ice-cream from the guy around the corner. And I grew up just fine! I understand, it may not be as simple anymore, but I am fine to experiment. And so’s my little girl!

The first year

I strongly believe that the canines adopted by our building were one of the reasons K began walking when she did. She must have realized that it is the fastest way to get to the two of them all by her. Lying down next to them, petting them, hugging them, playing with them – all of this was part of her daily fun activities in the building. And they enjoyed the attention too. All I had to do was instill in her very clearly that hands went into the mouth only after washing them thoroughly thereafter. From her point of view, it seemed to be a small price to pay!

The second year

This was the time when we started taking her out to the park near our home in Marol. It wasn’t a very fancy place – just expansive, green and full of people. There again, our playtime involved using the garden slide generously, running around and often falling to only get up and run again, picking up pebbles from one place and transferring to another 10 steps away, and so on. All I can say is, she figured out things such as ‘that’s too big for me to pick up’, ‘this may hurt me’ and ‘this is what mud and stones feel like’ by herself and having much more fun.

The third year

By this time, she had realized that our ancestral home can be a lot of fun. With open space all around, climbing up baby trees, playing in the sand, having a bath in the river flowing nearby, going among the foliage to pick up mangoes became the cool things to do while hanging out with cousins J Her questions about the next trip to my village don’t stop now!

There’s a lot to be learnt from getting their hands dirty in the open (or wild, if you please!). I think her sense of self-preservation and awareness about nature around is far stronger by the experience. I would rather she got hurt, so she knows that it doesn’t hurt forever. She would instead learn that she can just pick herself up and get on her way – such is life! No?