I know you Aunty ...

Almost everyday after picking Ezekiel from school , i do 2 things , first to tie his Shoe lace (yes i make him wear shoes with lace and not Velcro ) and then we spend 5 mins at his school park where he goes around the slide and swing and i watch him. Play ground and parks are good place to observe children and their behaviour , more on Shoes and park in some other blog.

So yesterday , i was tying Ezekiel s shoe lace , while he sat on the verandah of the school and there was his classmate Angad sitting next to him, i said hello to him (Angad does not talk much) and there was another little girl sitting next to Angad, so i smiled at her. While tying lace the little girl spoke to me in malayalam saying “I know you aunty ” , I looked at her - she has very cherubic face but i was not able to place her - so curiously i asked “Do you know me ? How ?” - She replied “I wont tell you ” - I was curious now, so i requested her , “Mol , can you please tell me where have you seen me ?” i thought probably at church , since i was involved in volunteering work with small children last vacation time. She said she wont tell me -- I said “I am so sorry that I am not able to recollect where i met you , can you please tell me ” She smiled and said - “I saw you when you were feeding fishes at the pond!”

Oh Agnus !! Its you - You remember me thats so nice of you - Where are your twin brothers ? will you Papa come to pick or you go by Van ? So nice to see you , you have become big girl - which class are you studying ? and you had lovely curly hairs , what happened to your hair - thats why i could not recognize you !! I started off without any break :) Patiently she answered all my questions - First thing she said, ‘I still have curly hair but all pinned up, my brothers are studying in near by Kindergarten, Papa will come in few minutes to pick me , and I am in Class 3’

Class 3 ! The last and the only time i had seen her was when she was in Kindergarten ,thats almost 2.5 years back, I was surprised that she remembered me ... we have not met face to face after that , though i have seen her Dad going in scooter couple of times ... So let me now tell how i met Agnus and how I am surprised that child can remember small small things so well . This must be early 2013, i had taken break from my regular office job ,Ezekiel was 1.5 yrs old, and there were days when i used to take him and Esther for short walks ,(this was much before Esther learnt cycling ) Near our house we have a nice “Kullam” - pond where there are lots of small fishes . So during those days i used to take my children there to feed the fishes , and i used to make it a point that i take sufficient rice or bread so that both Esther and Ezekiel could feed the fishes. It was on one such evening that while feeding the fishes , Agnus and her 2 younger twin brothers came with their dad , they were excited to see the fishes but they had not got anything to feed, so I asked Esther and Ezekiel to share the bread with the other 3 children

Esther being the eldest of all kept a watchful eye on rest of the four, and then i asked their names and general things , Agnus has very curly unruly beautiful hair and very sweet innocent face, i told Agnus then she has lovely hair, and her dad commented yes, but difficult to keep prim and proper , and that he is going to get her hair cut , coming to the pond was a promise he had made to Agnus before he takes her for hair cutting --- and we departed saying we will meet again at the pond to feed fishes - but then that never happened - and yesterday , i could not recognize her -- but felt very happy that she recognized me ..... so much for feeding the fishes ... ‘punnya ka kaam’ :)