Blissful innocence

mayil pOla poNNu oNNu
kiLi pOla pEchu oNNu
kuyil pOla pAttu oNNu
kEttu ninnu manasu pOna edam theriyala
andha mayakkam enakku innum theLiyala

goes the song from the Tamil film on the poet Bharathi. In the film, the young bard stands speechless as a shepherd girl walks past him, singing this melody, and loses himself in the lyrics.

Roughly translated, the words mean:

There goes a young girl
As lovely and graceful as a peacock
Her speech as sweet as a parrot's
Her song as delightful as a koel's

As I stood watching her
My heart slipped away unawares - and
ever since, I've been in this blissful trance

There is a beauty and innocent charm in little girls. Something one wants to preserve, protect, cherish and lock away into the recesses of one's memory. I've always been fascinated by children, the way they look at the world. Now, lately - a mother's eyes don't miss much. My baby is growing, and a part of me wants to hold on to her childhood - at least the memories of each day. Bring up each memory when she is not with me, to turn over in my mind...to feel her presence and hold her, if only in my heart.

*-*-*

There is the Kamala of 3 years ago that was excited about a mobile petting zoo coming to her daycare. That evening she came home, breathless and excited about a bunch of baby animals.

"There was a baby bunny, and even a baby deer Amma!" she said. "And you know what? The baby deer was thirsty and didn't know how to drink from a bucket, so I took the water in my palms and fed it....and it drank from my hands!"

Really?! Here is a mom who shies away from strange animals, and there is this child who doesn't think twice about feeding them with her own hands. Bless her heart. Wish I'd been there and had a camera!

And one day, just last month, when I had gone to pick her up from after school care, there she was with a couple of friends - near a slide. She shushed me and pointed to a nondescript black bird with a long tail, that was sitting on an electric wire.

kaenn, kaenn, kaenn

went the bird. And the three little girls went

kaenn, kaenn, kaenn

The bird immediately went

kaenn, kaenn, kaenn

"Pssst...see amma, its answering us!"
"It is?"

They were keeping up a steady duet - and it certainly seemed to be answering them every time!

If I could freeze these moments, I would.

*-*-*

Paid a visit to the temple in our town last weekend. It was peaceful sitting in the sanctum sanctorum, looking at the diety. The serenity of the place cannot be described - it has to be felt.

The temple has a peacock shelter, and it being a little cloudy, a couple of peacocks decided to display their plumes to their mates, swaying ever so gracefully. There is a mini temple right across the main one, and from its window we could see the peacocks. As one of them swayed to woo its mate, its back to us, Kamala and I reached through the bars and stroked the soft plumes....what bliss! The child stared in awe at the beauty of the peacock and begged for a feather. My statements that the feathers belong to the bird were answered with - "but what about the ones lying on the floor? Won't hurt the bird if we take those....Please amma, pleeeeease!"

Her eyes were big as saucers, the plea in them unmistakable. And indeed, there were a couple of feathers that had fallen off the bird. But there was no way of getting to them. The shelter was locked and visitors couldn't get in.

As we were leaving, we ran into a temple official I knew. At K's persistent and whispered begging, I mentioned the feathers to him. Much to K's delight, the gentleman was only too glad to get her the coveted plumes.

"Why deny something that gives a child so much joy!" he said. Nice of him.

All through the drive back home, little K sat in her seat, stroking and admiring the feathers. Reminded me of my own childhood, when I had preserved some of them in books, inspecting them every few days to see if it had borne any "babies" (kutti in Tamil - the theory being these feathers grow and bear feather-children :).

Gone are those days of innocence...... Wait. No, they are not really gone. I'm seeing them in my child now. And when she grows into adulthood, perhaps the baton of innocence will pass to her children....and so the world perpetuates itself. Maybe this is why many of us long for children, and years later, for grandchildren. For that little bit of angel dust that makes the whole world.....well, magical!