Cooking up a Fairytale

The second snowfall was beautiful; it was thicker and stayed long enough to allow the kids to have the share of fun they always talk about. Taking the kids out and making a (not so beautiful) snowman was an awesome fun thing to do. But the aftermath of this few minutes of fun was definitely not so good. The white blanket outside led to dark homes for three consecutive days. I guess this was no deal for some of the parents who have seen darker weeks and months before but for the kids who have always had some electronic gadget or the other it was monstrous three days without electricity.
Much of our daily schedule had to be changed as per the dark hours by the candle light. One event that I always follow with my daughters is the book reading session before going to bed. But I didn’t want them squinting their eyes trying to see the letters in the dim candle light. But rituals once started are difficult to break, especially with my li’l one. So I didn’t read them a story but I decided to tell them a story. The difficult part is my li’l one has to choose the character as per her mood and no other story would work. So, I asked, “what story do you want me to tell?” “Star and Moon!” Pat came the reply without further delay. So I had to cook up a story with moon and star and do it fast and lo! I did and by the end of it I was so impressed with myself that I decided to put it here.
Long ago, there lived a moon at the edge of the forest. One day, he got up and found out that he was really hungry and lonely. So he decided to go into the forest to find a friend and may be with some luck find something to fill his empty belly too. On the way he met a li’l girl with a red cape bouncing with a basket dangling on the hand. “Hi. What’s your name?” The moon asked. “I’m Red Riding Hood and I’m going to my grandma’s place to give her some cake and wine.” “Can I have some of it, please? I’m really hungry,” the moon pleaded. “I’m sorry these are for my granny, I can’t give it to you.” “Then can you please be my friend and play with me for some time?” “I’ve no time to waste,” replied the girl and she hopped away with much gusto. “Go then, May you encounter the wolf!” cursed the Moon and walked further deeper into the forest.
Next he met the Gingerbreadman. “Hello li’l man. Where are you off to?” asked the moon. “I’m Gingerbreadman and I ‘m running away from the old woman, the cow and the horse who want to eat me for tea. Byeeeeeee,got no time to chat,” and away he sprinted. “So much for a conversation, may a fox gobble you up,” cursed the Moon who was getting agitated with hunger.
As he walked on he met Humpty-Dumpty who was sitting on a wall. “Hello, Mr. Eggy, Can I eat you?” the moon drew nearer (by then his hunger was causing a huge wreck in his patience). “I ain’t no Eggy and No! You can’t eat me!” huffed Humpty- Dumpty. However, the Moon jumped closer and splash! down came Humpty- Dumpty. So the Moon ran away as far as possible before the king’s horses and the king’s men could come looking for the one who caused the mishap.
Soon he caught up with Puss in boots. “ Hiya, Round, Round, circle of a man, where ar’ yoo off to?” Puss asked in his western twang. “Hi, I’m Moon and really hungry,” he replied in one breath. “wooaahhhh……we got one hungry ‘un here, eh? Want this?” and he spread out his paws to reveal a freshly caught mouse. “Eww, thanks but no thanks, I’m not hungry for a mouse.” He darted off.
He then caught up with another lonely character in the small clearing. “I’m star and yes I do have some food for you.” Finally! The star shared his food with the moon and they played in the rose garden outside the star’s house. The moon was so happy and wanted to reward the good character, so he asked the star to hold his hands and close his eyes. The moon then said some magical chant and off he darted with the star. When they opened their eyes, they were far off in the sky away from all other unfriendly characters. That’s why still to this day we see the friendship between the star and the moon is strong and no other character can reach out to them. THE END.
So, this was the story I cooked up for my li’l girls. Dark nights can sometimes ignite the sparks of imaginations. By the way, all the fairytale characters are some familiar characters we meet every night when we have our bedtime story readings. If your kids are acquainted with some more characters, you can go on adding but don’t you forget to make your child choose the main character! That brings out the real joy in your kiddo.

Sibling Rivalry

A typical scene whenever we got together, I mean my family and my sister’s family. Her three sons plus my two daughters, I always felt elated, a feeling I was crowned for being the mother of daughters who were supposed to be lot more silent compared to the adventure seeking three boys. “I never know if my kids are home!” I would proudly tell our cousins who would cast ‘lost cause’ look at the three boys shouting and screaming the roofs off. I would try to teach some sense to my sister in upbringing her three musketeers. “Get them into books, make them paint, let them have a favorite show, buy them games, give your laptop, blah blah.” Well, these are some things I had gotten into my two doves who sat in one corner happy with any gadget they could lay their hands on.
But of late, away from my sister and her screaming boys I feel the scene from her house is replaying itself in my house too. My silent girls have turned more skirmish and well, bit too loud too (sigh!). “Mama, can I play your phone please!” my li’l one comes innocently just when she sees her elder sister fiddling with it. On many occasions I chastise my elder one and make her give in to the innocence of the li’l one. But I know my li’l one is not as innocent as she plays it. Take for instance, during bed time, I get in between the two so that both can have equal share of me but my li’l one goes,”achuuu….mama, its cold on the side, can I come in the middle?” To any outsider it may seem like an honest plea but the way she casts a mean look on her elder sister who is holding onto me I know its sheer sibling rivalry. I have no options but to relent. I give a quick wink to my elder one, she knows this wink means,” I’ll come in between after she is asleep.”
Being the eldest one, I know how it feels when the parents always support the li’l one just because the li’l one is the younger one, hence the blessed one. So I always try to balance the choices offered to my two kids. “Mama, I don’t like this song, I want the other song!” my very particular about choices elder one quips while her baby sister is dancing to a song of her choice. “You are going to switch to ana’s choice of song after you are done with this,okay?” And I shouldn’t forget to add, “ I love the way you dance to this song but aren’t you tired with just this one?” (laugh!laugh! smile! Smile!......that does the trick!)
My li’l one digs out an old invitation card from among their books and although she doesn’t know A from S, would religiously read,” mama and papa loves ana and don’t love me!” (Pout! Tears well up!) “Baby, who told you this?” I question, exasperated with the kind of stories my li’l one is capable of cooking up. “Look! Ana has her picture on this card. I never had such card!” Well, how can I explain to a three year old that that card happened when she wasn’t born only and the reason she doesn’t have a birthday invitation card is not because we don’t love her but because we missed two of her birthdays.” This year we’ll make this kind of card for your birthday too, okay!” I promise. She giggles gleefully and runs to tell her ana about her birthday plans.
...and there are many such competitions between the two that I am often left wondering, "As a parent, am I doing justice to these two people who look at me as if I am God of some sort, always!"

The HELP: Wanted!

For the last eight years life has been smooth- sailing, at least in the home front. But now the girl who assisted me in the household chores and taking care of my children has outgrown her wings and is ready to fly away. I’ve no strings whatsoever to keep her tied to my home. When a girl attains that age there is no stopping her I guess. Candidly speaking, for the last one year I’ve been frantically making calls to every nook and corner of our country, searching for her replacement. But the response from all ends are same,” (sigh!) All girls are enrolled in school now!” There are tinges of sadness in this line. What an irony!
Actually as a woman and a teacher for that I should be proud to learn the fact that all our Bhutanese girls are now in school. Inside the classroom, this is what I always tell my girl students “Don’t drop out of school. Ever. It is only with Education that you will have your own ground to stand on. Even if you get a job that pays you minimum salary, you’ll have your own sky to claim.”
But my own words slap me with a vengeance as I utter without missing a breath,” …but there has to be some girl who cannot go to school.” Immediately I feel guilt creeping up and then I hear loud thudding in my heart which does a “what are you gonna do?” jig.
I have even gone to the extent of offering more than the minimum National wage but to no avail. I see myself turn sour to those girls who would rather slog in the scorching sun and chilly winds to earn a meager sum while the option of working in a house won’t even take half of the bitter life they lead on the roads. In my heart, I even chastise the girls choosing the drayangs over the warm homes. Their mathematics seems to be poor but I think they would rather choose to be the boss instead of being bossed around (wait! On the second hand, are they the bosses of their own body in these drayangs?Well!Well!Take No Offence! I’m not saying anything against these Drayang girls.)
As a last option I think of the girls across the border that can be willing to jump at the offer of half the wage offered to the Bhutanese girls but how can I defy the laws of my country. My country doesn’t allow these across the border helpers to ease the burden of our household chores. So the final option would be resigning from the job I love so much. I cannot see myself sitting at home cooking and cleaning. Teaching is more than a bread earning device for me, it’s a passion. But now within these two months I’ve to find someone to take the reins of my household chores if not maybe….I even dread to think of that option.
But how can I save my job? Is this an indirect indication that with this rule of no across the border babysitters allowed, our government is telling us, the Bhutanese women to return to our primitive place- the kitchen? I don’t intend to raise my finger to the government but I know of no option offered in place of the no bringing in labor from outside while our own Bhutanese market has no one offering their services of babysitters.
I know even as I am frantically calling my relatives and friends, there are many others doing the same. I know the story I am telling is not mine alone, there are many women who are crying out the same. So, on behalf of all these women, I would like to ask, where do we find a solution? Who do we turn onto to save us from losing our well-deserved career just because we need proper care for our kids?