Thursday, July 29, 2010

Games children play

My neighbourhood granny was possessive about baby Sunita. I used to pinch the baby on her chubby cheeks and run away to college. One day when I tried the trick, the old lady poured hot water on my hands. I stared at her and she warned she would pour hot water on my face too. Grrr.
My younger daughter was a tough infant. She will refuse to sleep. My wife had started working as a teacher and hence forced me to baby-sit most of the time. Add to this, my duty hours in the newspaper were mostly evenings.
One day, the grocery man delivered the goods and advised me: “Your wife, poor lady, is so hardworking. You are always sitting at home. Why don’t you try and get a job?” The man always delivered the goods in the morning hours and hence thought I was jobless.
To make my daughter sleep, I would often invent my own songs, one of which was Jo jo jo jo ju ji ma, chella kutti (dear one) joo ji ma. Hey, don’t ask me the meaning. It’s just a lullaby. But it often created problems with my neighbour. The Malayali aunty would come rushing, “Stop braying. I feel sleepy and I have lots of work.”
My elder daughter was more cooperative as an infant. All I had to do was give her a pinch. She would cry for two minutes and then fall asleep. To think that she is now doing her PG.
OMG, am I that old?

28 comments:

  1. Lol! Cruel dad you were! Pinched a baby to sleep... Waiting for Priya's comment on this one!

    ReplyDelete
  2. oh you ain't old..your age is moving upwards that's all..

    it's a wonderful thing to babysit your children..most men don't..how is your daughter coping up? I am sorry I could not contact my friend as she shifted from Dubai to here and not reachable on social sites too..tc :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. My daughter started play school just a few weeks before Ramesh!

    And sorry for that comment confusion.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You are not old. You are just adding up years. :-)

    Nice to baby sit and pinch!!! I did that to my brother as a kid.

    ReplyDelete
  6. That's so mean - pinching your baby to sleep!!!
    Anyways, enjoyed the post :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Like every one of the comments above, pinching a baby to sleep? OMG!!

    Does your elder daughter know about this?

    Haha.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AAh.... that's bad....
    and It is not that you r old.. actually, daughter grows too fast... before u know....

    ReplyDelete
  9. youre really that old ? And yet , this much of a sense of humor ? Hey i know the meanin of that lullaby. We have similar ones in kannada too . All of them are 'jo' songs .
    -chandana shekar

    ReplyDelete
  10. Braying or not, your self invented song served the purpose, right?

    Its strange to think how time flies..

    ReplyDelete
  11. You are really innovative, braying....sorry, lullabies for one, pinching the other. let them read this .
    tc

    ReplyDelete
  12. U are sweet..Not old.My appa used to do the same thing.snatch the TV remore from me,make me cry and and i would go to sleep..typical dads!

    ReplyDelete
  13. You are very young and your daughter is growing very fast which makes you think that you are getting old.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Time flies, doesn't it? And our babies grow! My son is 10 now and losing his milk teeth.
    You are not old, Ramesh but it is normal to feel that way when our children grow up. My father was in his sixties, didn't like being called old. He often said he was a "senior citizen."
    But you are years away from being one yet.
    Besides, age is just a number, it is how you feel in your heart that matters:-)

    ReplyDelete
  15. boss..

    lullaby!

    just check it out..
    she might tell - in the PG class the lectrurers too do the same!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Bebies dont sleep when you pinch; they only weep!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Who is giving you the "age" complex?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hey this is funny! The milkman thinking you as jobless!! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  19. Brought back memories of childhood. I enjoyed your post very much. I also remember singing all kinds of songs to make my children go to sleep.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Time flies! I thought babies will continue to cry when we pinch them!

    ReplyDelete
  21. pinching the baby works...wow...must make it work :D

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hard to believe that you can pinch your daughter.
    And you dont look that old.:)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Yes, you are old, but young at heart like me :P

    ReplyDelete
  24. You pinched your daughter to sleep! How cruel..I am sure your grandkids would make you real miserable in your old age, by pinching you silly!!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Yes, they grow up faster than us. ;)

    Does you wife knows the pinching part? :p If she does, I'm surprised you are still alive!

    ReplyDelete
  26. You'll be always younger than I...lol! But pinching babies? You deserve boiling water! Just hope you mature like a good wine...hehe

    ReplyDelete
  27. How could you ever pinch a baby to sleep? If I had caught any one doing it to my babies, I would have pinched them back...

    ReplyDelete