Shankar’s a typical 5 year old. He’s loud, naughty, smart, a bundle of energy and is definitely heard more than he’s seen. Every morning when I stand in my balcony, sipping my coffee, I see him walking to his car with his lunch bag. The lunch bag is always held very close his chest and is carefully set on his lap, taking care to not upset any of the box neatly arranged in it, once he settles in the car. The driver always follows with the school bag that contains way too many serious looking books for a 5 year old. He’s safely deposited at school for the next 6 hours where he learns to make some sense outta his serious books.
When he gets home, his hair’s messy, shirt’s not tucked, there are sooty black smears on his face, lace invariably undone, but always visibly happy to be home.
When he’s all fed and cleaned again, the books in the big school bag are apparently waiting to catch up with him. He’s packed off to a tuition class where he’s again coached for the next coupla hours. He drags his feet and puts on his best lost pup look to avoid his tuition. When that didn’t work, he hid his books. They were promptly discovered and he was packed off again. Next, he tried something slightly more radical, rolling on the ground and howling his throat out! Instead of being sent away with a kiss, he was dragged to his tuition and firmly planted amidst other equally distressed children.
In time, he realised that none of his antics worked! Shankar’s parents truly believe that teaching him to take his school work seriously early on will help him beat competition later on. This also justified them moving from a plush independent house surrounded by trees, in the suburbs to a cramped 2 bedroom apartment near the good school.
Small joys like jumping over walls, climbing trees, cycle races, gilli, 7 stones, getting burnt in the sun are slowly turning into luxuries.