It’s been raining non-stop this whole week in Mumbai. Though I am thoroughly enjoying the showers, my daughter is more than content in her routine showers in the bathroom. It’s enough water and rain dance there for her, she does not want any more rain now. Desperate to go out and have some ‘park’ play, she looks at me each evening and asks me when she can go out to play.
The sky is dark and the clouds are all lined up. I stand with her at the balcony, the glass doors firmly in place, the winds creating a whoosh all over the house, and we stare out at the sea, looking at the rain. I tell her we cannot go out since it is raining so hard. Some days when she is interested in other toys and play things, she tells me she likes the rain. On other days when she only wants to go outside, ‘rain is bad.’
So I tell her that if we look out at the rain and the sky right now, we can see a story.
“A story?” she asks with an innocent tune, her big eyes already wide with curiosity, a smile beginning to form at the mention of a story.
“Hmm, a story. Look, do you see that big cloud outside in the sky? That big one which is like a circle shape, do you see that?” I tell her, pointing outside in a serious business-like fashion. She looks out at the sky and the first cloud she sees she nods in excitement.
“That one?” “Yes darling, that big one. You know what that big cloud you see out there has inside it?”
“Inside? What? What is there inside cloud?”
“Rain…lots and lots of rain. You see those trees outside?” I point out at the mangroves and my daughter is already too excited by now. The story is going good, and it’s a new one, so she does not know it already and wants to know what happens next. She looks at the mangroves and nods a yes.
“There are so many big trees there, papa trees, mamma trees and baby trees. And there is also the magic fairy tree inside there that I tell you about at night, the tree from which TinkerBell fairy comes into your dreams, remember?” She nods again, her eyes wide, waiting for the rest.
“You know when baby gets thirsty and wants to drink water. Who fills your glass and bottle?” She looks at me and smiles. This is an easy one. She knows the answer to this. “Mamma” she proudly smiles.
“Very good, mamma gets you water when you are thirsty. Just like that, when the trees get thirsty, they want to drink water too. But mamma can’t go there all the time, mamma has to look after baby also. So the sky sends the big clouds and the clouds carry rain and then, it sends all the rain down on the trees and the roads and everywhere, so that no one will be thirsty.”
A few weeks back my daughter had adopted a sapling as part of an environment campaign in school. She calls it the ‘happy plant’ and waters it each morning. We have kept the plant on the balcony. Now she looks at the plant, thinks for a moment and then turns to me. “And happy plant?”
“What about happy plant?”
“Navu gives water na. Happy plant is not thirsty na?” (Navu is my daughter Navya)
I can’t help but smile. I pick her up in my arms, give her a big smile and then look into her eyes. “Yes darling, you always give water to your happy plant.”
“And pigeons also na?” I have taught her to keep a bowl outside on the balconies and fill them with water each morning so that the thirsty birds can come and have a drink.
“Yes my dear. As long as you take care of your happy plant and your pigeons, they will never be thirsty.”
She liked the rains that day.
A simple and regular rainy evening, a baby in my arms, and an innocent world of which I am honoured to be a part of. I wish we could all be as simple as our little ones.
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