Kavnu

She is just 7 and am 33 but I learn a lot from her, every day. Her innocence is at times presents the simplest version of life, our daily problems. At times we try to address her questions with our so called mature brains, but many times we find ourselves helpless. At times it seems, there are two worlds, entangled to each other, one of ours, one in which Kavneet lives or in the ways we perceive.

Yes, Kavneet, that’s her name, my 7 year old niece. I thought numerous times to write about her, but at times caught up, at times I guess felt it too unimportant against my busy life.

The life which almost reached a brink, the ultimatum.

The life, I got back through Kavneet, her innocent games that kept me happy and occupied, forgetting my long recovery after pneumonia.

I wrote a blog about my ‘survival’ but I didn’t mention about my family who supported me, or Kavneet, who’s unconditional showers of love brought me back. I will write a relevant excerpt there, but for now, I sit here to write a story.

A story of a mamu and her niece, infact it’s just an account of the overwhelming love that I got from her.

I again tried parking aside this story for another day, but last evening something special happened. I had a tooth extracted, a very painful day indeed so I preferred to just rest, hiding myself under a blanket.

Then she arrived. I was half asleep but came to know as she chattered with her naani and then she asks ‘mamu kahan hai’. I kept myself inside the blanket. I was slipping back to my sleep, but moments later she comes, I could feel her standing near my bed. She sees me sleeping and knew I was in pain. Without saying a word, she just gave me a cute hug.

My feelings are hard to put in words; delight, content, overwhelmed and heart-filled. I went back to my sleep with all that and a smile on my face. An hour later when she was leaving, she comes back again and gave me a kiss.

I call her with different names; bumbo, bambi, chambado and what not.. just to express how my heart fills with love whenever I see her or think about her.

Well, children are like that, am sure everyone has one or the other tiny tot around them to enrich their lives with innocence. I am lucky to have Kavneet with me.

She wants to play all the time (I repeat, ALL THE TIME), so yes it becomes at times difficult to manage your life, career goals or family responsibilities, but sometimes you end up saying, who cares, and live these awesome moments with her (provided you didn’t got too tired with all that playing).

I keep trying to capture these moments to relive them when am away from her. I have captured a few but missed numerous ones, will try to share them below.

Last year when I was sick, she will always be around me. And whatever she could make out from the ‘adults’ discussing about my infection, she did understand her mamu was in trouble. She would ask innocently what is happening, or how it happened, or about the good and bad doctor. I used to answer her in simple ways, at times couldn’t but she always kept me occupied. Those little games, or our coloring and painting exercises, all those were very vital when I needed a distraction from my disease and relax my mind, considering I was also on psychopathic drugs during the recovery. I always look back and realize about those complicated six months which passed seamlessly only because I had someone giving me full attention and love when it was most needed. We used to sleep together and those mornings when I used to wake her up, the first thing she wanted to do was (guessed it right) “Play”. ‘Kambal mein masti’ was the game we invented in which she will hide herself and all her dolls n teddies inside the blanket and we (mama n mumma) had to find her. Well off course we knew where she was all the time, we still pretended to have a hard time finding her amid her toys. She used to be extremely happy and went to school with a big smile.

One day I remember, she got ready early so we were playing. We were having so much fun that she started crying when it was time of her school bus. She wanted to play more so I promised to pick her up from school and play all evening.

Kavneet’s love is universal I would say, for both my parents, her parents and everyone around her. (Although she always says “Sammy mamu is the best as he never scolds me”). She will make greeting cards, for my every single visit, for the new year, for the bdays, for the anniversaries. Those beautiful cute cards on which she will spend hours and gift them. She will maintain a surprise

Last time she gave me a card with a tree of chocolates and ice-cream.

She gave me another small card to keep inside my wallet whenever I miss her. It says, ‘I love you mamu”.

Now the enactments she does. She adopts numerous roles and you have to play along

The School teacher

She has an attendance register with all her direct relatives, cousins and school friends. You have to remember your role number and later, you will have to learn the lessons and complete your homework. This attendance can start anytime of the day so you must pay attention.

The Shop keeper

She owns multiple shops and usually you are the customer who happens to visit her. All products are super cheap and you can bargain as much as u can. Some of those bargains may shock you, Mathematics is a bit of a problem as of now.

The puppet show

Well, there’s a frame hanging on a rope in which our cute girl runs a show on request. The Teddy invites everyone on his birthday party.

The mumma

Mumma(Kavneet) asks beta (you) what you want to have. You can request anything (known; not arabiata etc) and she will serve her child within 2 minutes. It’s invisible though, but you’ll have to eat.

The street cook

She has been playing this game on phone since long time, making food for customers, handling multiple orders. But know she does have a toy stove and utensils on which she can cook lot of food. Most of these items are free of cost, you just have to order and (pretend) eat.

The Lassi vendor

Ah, didn’t mention this till now. Kavneet just loves water and all the games which involves water. At times she takes long time washing her hands, coz she’s actually splashing it around. Her baths always end with a dip in the bath tub and long sessions of self talking and splashing water around.

Now she knows, to mix water with curd and that is lassi. She is the vendor and you buyer, of the different fictitious flavors. At time she end up spoiling all the curd available in the home and a lot of mess on the table. Last time she ate the virtual money I gave her :P

But she can make Parantha, a real Parantha. Beyond the occasional sessions that she spends looking at YouTube, she has learned how to make the dough with her small hands. She then carefully gives it a shape and then with her ‘nani’ help she will make hot a hot parantha.

The dance

Well the most significant of her all skills, she loves to dance.. not like the ones we see choreographed or dictated.. there is a free-bird tendency which I really admire.. I have seen her other friends dancing, but when I see her, am mostly awestruck by the careless, be-myself and expression rich moves she does. I do at times get worried on the songs that she dances, am a big critic of Bollywood item songs. But watching Kavneet dance lifts my mood up, however bad it is.

Favorite movies

Bahubali 1 and 2 are favorite.. I mean, she may have beaten all records and maybe watched them 20 times. Last year when I was sick, I introduced her to Elsa (Frozen) and Rapunzel (Tangled). They instantly went to her favorite list, along with Dhanak. And yea, Zootopia.. I have watched that with her about 20 times (first 1hr of it, after that she gets bored).

should share some photos and videos..