she is a goodgirl

Ok, the next post just HAS to be about Ananya, my 10-year old daughter.. because she has threatened me with dire consequences (like never EVER giving me a hug etc..) if it is not...

‘Ananya’ means unique or matchless – an-anya.. ‘one, like whom there is no other..’. I guess every parent sees the uniqueness in their child – but there are certain things in which she absolutely stands alone – she could probably aquire patents for some of this stuff...

Don’t believe me? Ok, tell me, which 8-year old would gleefully go “Yaay...!!!!” if the household help announces she is taking leave? Mine does – and proceeds to bargain for the chores that (In case you still have some confusion, let me clarify... she bargains for doing ALL the chores herself – the dishes, laundry, swabbing the floor – the works!

And what about this one – have you heard of a child wanting one extra pillow, next to the one on which she places her head, to tap in a continuous motion with the back of her hand – saying that she needs to fill petrol! That was the ONLY way she would go to sleep, till she was about 8 or so...

Many kids have clear ‘chosen ones’ whom they love to harass. Unfortunately, the person Ananya chose for this, was my ex-boss.

From the very beginning, she has taken an exceptionally keen interest in trying my boss’s patience and generally aggravating him. When Ananya was a young child, I used to work from home - and she would run to answer every call I received. And if it was my boss, she would insist on singing the entire ‘vande mataram’ to him before letting him talk to me.. (well, there is a history to that – my mother once promised Ananya a big chocolate for singing over the phone... and I guess, to her my gentle, soft-spoken boss’s voice sounded like that of a potential chocolate-giver... an easy con..)

Once she even tried to wiggle her way into accompanying me during the annual office meet – after the employees had been specifically told not to get families along... Ananya called up my boss without my knowledge, and tried to sweet-talk him into letting her come... and the amazing con artiste that she is, she managed to get him to say yes, too!

And yes, she is the MOST organized 10-year old I have seen... anyone in the house missing anything at all - from my teenaged son’s belt, to a mousetrap, to my old visa or other important official papers – rushes to her. And 9.75 times out of 10, she knows exactly where to find it... she even stores the phone numbers of people we have lost touch with in an old phonebook... if we had been that sort of parents, we would have made a killing by turning this talent of hers into a million-buck business.. :D

Ok, I have many more stories of her...but for now I will leave people with these bytes.. and yes, I must not forget the sentence she typed in while I was writing this, with express instructions not to leave it out. So, I end with this rather Caesar-esque comment from Ananya:

she is a goodgirl.