This post first appeared on Halabol
I look at my shona baby and feel my heart melt like the
thick blobs of Haagen Dazs Cookies and Cream that he has left uneaten on the
plate in front of him. How adorable he looks slumped in that chair hunched over
my iPhone, lost to the world. On the spoon remains an untouched apology of what
had been a firm tiny scoop that I had cut out for him a little while ago and
begged him to eat.
He doesn’t like eating on his own, my shona baby. And I love
to feed him. Makes for such great bonding. I pick up the spoon and take it to
his mouth. Eat it, my Raja beta, I say. He grimaces, as if about to puke. My
darling shona baby will eat it now and make me feel so proud na, I cajole him.
He seems not to have heard it, so I give him an emotional bait of eat it my
darling baby, just a little, a teeny weeny bit, and make your mamma feel so
proud of you. He shakes his head and flicks his locks with reckless abandon
that captures the madness of Maradona and sinisterness of Shoaib. Little bit
you eat my shona baby, I egg him on. Kill it fucker, hisses shona, scoring
another goal on my iPhone and squinting harder for a clearer view of the
scores. He’s such a fine player, my boy, that he’ll put any other child his age
to shame.
I’m bored now, he says throwing the mobile phone towards me.
He reaches across the table for my iPad, but I say No, a firm NO. Then I am not
going to sit in this stupid place, he says stomping and rising up. I know what
he wants to do. He wants to sit in the car and play on his own iPad which I
refused to be brought up to the parlour. You’ve got to be strict with children,
you know; I’m not the one to spoil my child rotten. But look at him, what
anger, re baba!
Eat some ice-cream, shona, I say. At least taste it. You
were the one who wanted to come here all afternoon. He grimaces again in that
awfully cute way. Ufffo, leave me, Mom. I don’t care about this stupid
ice-cream and I don’t want to speak to you now, he screams and kicks the chair
he was sitting on and topples it over. I’m afraid he may have hurt himself. He isn’t
even wearing his shoes; he’d told me before leaving that the only condition he
will come with me is if I let him go in his Crocs. Of course, my shona silly, why
should I ever have a problem with that?!
The waiter runs to us to ask if everything is all right. Get
lost, you idiot, my shona yells. What rage, at this age, imagine! And all this because
I didn’t let him carry his iPad! Children these days, they have a mind of their
own! Mine is total CEO material, I tell you.
I ignore the waiter and tell my shona to calm down. Relax,
my baby, I say. It’s all right if you don’t feel like having ice cream now.
Don’t get worked up; how will you do your homework in this mood? Accha listen,
how about popping by at some toyshop in this mall and you pick up something for
yourself? That’ll make you feel better, na? Let’s go.
Shona’s eyes don’t lighten up much but he looks a lot less
grumpy now as he heads for the door. He is refusing to walk with me, how cute! He
picks up some game CD in the shop downstairs and looks okay now, thank God! I
tell him he will not get to play with it until he has finished his homework. He
makes a face and says I am always unreasonable; his friends get to do whatever
they like. I laugh at the big word he just used and tell him I am so because I
don’t want to spoil him silly. I see him drag his feet to the car and can quite
sense his disappointment. I’m his mother, after all. My poor child has had a
long day. And I know I am being too hard
on him.
And so, Surprise! I say as I unlock the car door. Today my
shona is going to drive us out of the mall! Oh, that spontaneous hug from him
is worth the priciest of possessions in this world! I adjust the seat and place
him between my lap and hand him the steering wheel. Don’t worry, I am pretty
much there with the other controls; he is a bit short for his age, so his legs
don’t reach down there yet.
He turns on the ignition, and we are off. Seeing him handle
the steering wheel with such ease and confidence, my heart swells with pride a
hundred folds. Look at him, my big boy. Just ten, and how matured, how able! He’ll
grow up to be an invincible young man, this, my darling shona baby.
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