Only recently on the way back from Faridabad, Ruhi pretended to be asleep and after much of the journey was done, she opened one sleepy eye to ask "have we reached India yet?"
When the heat of the US elections started I thought about introducing the concept of America to her, but I decided to wait till she understands her immediate geography first. Besides Astronomy of course. She is still grappling with the idea of the Chandrayan and the knowledge that its possible to go on to any star in the sky. The problem, is that I've also told her that dead people become stars and that when they twinkle at night they are smiling at us. Hmmmm.......tough times ahead for me !
Tomorrow in school they will be diligently told about Obama becoming the first black President of the US. She will come back asking a zillion things, like the meaning of "first Black" president, what would happen of Pratibha Patil since there is only one president in her universe yet and what is 'bi racial' ad infinitum!
And then as is usual she would go on to loudly read the newspaper headlines and I'd be in for some more !
Perhaps the right time to explain the 'real' Geography and how it works - about the President of a country called United States, Dad from Kenya with a half sister in Indonesia, a Chinese niece, one half brother in a Nairobi slum and an illegal immigrant aunt in the US besides relatives from other parts of the globe that I still don't know about !
10 comments:
Hahaha, Your children are not alone with that skewed sense of geography.
and about dead people becoming stars, my daughter almost every other day points out to a star to tell me that is my dad.
Telling you these details, just as a consolation.
You took a long time to come back after the last post...
hehe... wish i cud write like u.. twas really nice to read :)
heheh...that was cute...have we reached India?
My bro once declared he wanted to go back to India when we were visiting a temple in rural tamilnadu...at that time my concept of 'foreign country' was USA...or some rich country like that!I had not yet heard of sudan...
and I was very amused at him thinking some town in rural tamil nadu could classify as 'foreign'..
hmm...thats irony...
tagged :)
You write rarely now. I do like reading your blog a lot. You have your own language, and it fits well on things you describe.
It's nice that children are innocent, that they don't have barriers in their heart... and I can understand your confusion about how to explain the world!
Best wishes,
Anjali
At least they have the excuse that they are very young. I find it astonishing that many British people have little or no idea about the geography of their own country, let alone any other. And Americans, I understand, are worse!
your daughter has no idea what she is in for!
You mean no idea what she is in for in terms of the geography and sociology of the world ? Or 'in for' to be born of me ? :)
very interesting post. the concept of India in the mind of Ruhi is attributed to her innocence and limited knowledge, but i have heard that phrase from many indians in different parts of our country "I am going to india", when actually they are headed towards Delhi. This happens particularly in north eastern and extreme northern areas of our country.
And i liked the last part of your post the most where you have described the President elect of the US
And , and , and by the way let me ask you a very pertinent question. "Are you reading my blog at all" because i have never found any comment or a compliment from your side there despite that 'odd feeling of familiarity'. Or shall i take it that silence is the best form of criticism ??? :-))
I understand. Sorry for a bit of anguish.
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