It was my third unsuccessful attempt in the
day to shut the clothes drawer. A woolen top was now wedged between two draws
and was testing my patience. While I tugged at the cloth with one arm, the
other tops were spilling out on the floor. “I am sick of this draw,” I
announced. “ High time we stop buying clothes.”
My little niece who was up until then
doodling with her crayons quietly, looked up bewildered, on why I was spewing
poison at her clothes. With pretty strawberries and caricatures of ‘Hello Kitties’
and Mini Mouse the clothes were in fact cute.
“ Are you irritated Aunty?” she asked. “ Look at this mess,” I yelled in
affirmation. “If you are irritated, just
stop. Breathe. And then think,“ she commented rather nonchalantly. I was stumped. Say hello to my four-year-old
niece Dia. She went back to colouring the ladybird. “What does that mean, Dia?”
I quizzed her secretly hoping that it was just something she heard it in passing
and was not aware of the gravity of what she was saying. “It means you stop
cleaning the drawer. You take a few deep breaths and then think about it. “ It
couldn’t have been more succinct. The draw was now fully open with most of its
contents tumbled down. But I had more
important things to attend to than a draw to deal with. My LKG going niece who
still sits perched on her mother’s lap to drink milk form a sippy cup was
giving me life lessons.
“That’s good advice, I will follow it,” I
retorted. “But will you do the same the next time you get angry with Amma or Appa?”
I asked. I was pushing the envelope. Dia’s tantrums were getting commonplace
and she was aware of it herself. “Sure, “she said confidently. “Make a note of it
on your cell phone and tell me the next time I get angry,” she quipped gesticulating
at my indispensable smart phone.
Later that evening when I slowly cajoled
her she revealed to me that she heard this on TV, from a show called ‘Blue’s
clues ‘ on Nickelodeon where a big dog called blue with the help of his master
Steve finds solutions for everyday problems. The other day she used the word
‘humongous’ to describe the pile of books lying astray on my table and the day
before pointed at ‘Cummulo Nimbus’ clouds while peeping out of the car window.
Pepe the pig had told her.
It
is true that the adorable Tom and Jerry has a lot of violent content and the
infamous ‘Chotta Bheem’ perpetrates gender stereotypes. But sometimes children
do seem to pick the ‘right’ portions from their seemingly superficial cartoon
shows. Here was a vital piece of philosophy that Dia had not only picked up and
absorbed but also learnt to apply at the opportune moment. I am sure I would
have failed miserably had I been asked to use Zen to correct her shenanigans!
The current fixation for many girls like Dia, in her cohort is Elsa, the snow
queen from Disney’s biggest blockbuster ‘Frozen’. Frozen, apart from giving the
hit song ‘Let it go’ has also given many young girls a perfect role model. Elsa
is the stereotypical princess with a shimmering and enviable blue dress, long
hair and pretty face but she is also fiercely independent, with a mind of her
own. Instead of flitting around for the euphoria over first love and the
perfect kiss from a prince charming, she finds that true love exists outside
romance, that for her, it resides in her baby sister. Perhaps it’s sometimes
good for health to look at media with a positive psychology spin. Why go after yogic gurus when we can sit back
in our lazy boys and learn how to stop. Think. And Breathe.- Originally published in the column 'Pop Pourri', The New Indian Express, Bangalore- 19th Aug 2015
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