The kid next door

Smridhi Chawla

It’s 3 am and all I want to do is sleep. However, my thoughts keep going back to the day when a seven-month-old baby girl, Bhavnoor, moved to the neighbourhood. Life has never been the same again — it’s been way better.

The first time she visited our house was on the day of ‘kanjak puja’ two-and-a-half years ago. Since then, she spends most of the daytime with us as her mother keeps busy with household chores.

A personal setback months ago meant a period of gloom, but I found immense solace in the time I spent with her — baby-sitting, having cold coffee together, playing with dolls and lego, taking her to playschool — and before I knew it, the period of desolation had ended.

“Raunaq aa gayi ghar vich,” my grandmother comments the moment she sees the little one sauntering in. Our faces do light up just at the thought of seeing her. My father keeps a stock full of candies, mother has a spare phone to play her nursery rhymes. She brushes teeth with my sister, and well, my younger one does try to pass on girlie tips to the adorable little one — what each gets from the other is difficult to comprehend, but both have a smile as they whisper. The sheer joy of the sight is difficult to express.

As for me, I have been given some lessons on how to live life — laughing because I want to, dancing when there’s no particular reason to, crying when it’s required, for lack of a better word, and always, always being excited about things as small as putting on a lipstick. However, unlike her, I can’t tell people when I don’t like what they are wearing — I think it’s better this way.

What’s been keeping me up these past few days is the thought that Bhavnoor’s father has taken a transfer to Delhi and it’s only a matter of months and they will be gone. It breaks my heart to think that time will go by and she may not remember me. As kids, we tend to forget a lot of things and people. In this moment, I can’t really decide if it’s a good ability.

And then, through the trough of thoughts, her bunny-teeth laughter rings in my ears, like a jingle. Savour the golden moments, cherish the time spent and hold on to the magic of memories. She will grow up, make new friends, and continue to spread happiness around.

What a joyous thought!

I am sure whoever said “good things come in small packages” meant kids, and if he didn’t, he should have.