Saturday 12 April 2014

Raks and the Pshycho

Well she has been pestering us to get one for a while but I hesitated, "What if she goes off with the Pshycho somewhere?" But Raks promised ever so faithfully and had the sweetest of the smiles plastered on her face that we gave in as usual. Pshycho was a pink beauty with a basket in the front and the picture of a barbie and she fell in love with 'her' the minute she saw it. She ran through the shop and immediately claimed her prize and refused to climb down even as the shop assistant wanted to bill it.

My husband was all for a red beauty that was a size smaller than the pink. It had a sturdy frame, broader tyre and when I pestered him, he gave the real reason. It was small enough for raks to ride inside the house. Aha!

"She can ride this inside. It will be safer."

"How long can we keep raks cooped up inside the house?"

I watched him shake his head and wondered what this man would do when his daughter wanted to go away for college or when she got married. Will he be a 'Steve Martin' from Father of the Bride? My doubts got confirmed even as he tried to get raks out of the pink pshcyho and get her interested in the red one. But there was no budging her from the pink.

So we got the pink pshycho home but my husband put in a few terms and conditions of his own.

Tring! Tring!

"Amsu! Do you want a lift?"

And our domestic maid looked dubiously at the pink pshycho and shook her head.

"Come. I will give you a lift."

Since the distance from the hallway to the kitchen was just probably six paces, our domestic declined but yelped when one of the balance wheels went over her feet. Put out by her refusal, Raks instead took ganesha, hanuman and krishna for a ride. She tried to get our grand aunt of 80 years onto the phsycho and was elated when she obliged her.

For about a week, she rode to glory within the small confines of the hall and mastered the phsycho. She gazed upon it first thing in the morning, right after the bath and even when she was eating. She even fed 'her' a morsel or two.

After about ten days, Pshycho made a debut on the road with my husband on tow running after her. And no one was safe to walk sideways as Pshycho went about demolishing piles of garbage, dead leaves and even a stray dog or two that thankfully jumped aside when raks shouted 'move'.

"So how did she ride?" I asked my husband

"She goes down with that cycle only with me." he said cryptically

After a couple more rounds of road cycling, Raks declared me redundant and not to mention obsolete when she claimed that she could ride on her own to school. And she went about making that announcement to just about everyone startling our auto driver who took it seriously enough to plead his case. She felt sorry for him perhaps so she acceded to take the auto until she was in 4th standard (right now we are UKG)

I mentioned this to my husband and he agreed with Raks to my surprise. Raks was double elated and went on to blow kisses and to write a thank you letter for him with watercolours. Thankfully she didn't hear his comment in the end, when he said, 'From 4th standard onwards I will take her to school."

Oh yes! Definitely a 'Steve Martin' in making.



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