Time of intense assimilation and absorption

Chiku´s learning curve is rather steep. He has entered a phase where he is intensely noticing the surroundings and absorbing and trying to assimilate them in a hurry. It is a fascinating journey for him and much more so for us watching the child in him unfold to gather new experiences.

We took him to watch the train. Actually there is a railway line just outside the campus and a very small railway station built during the british times is also quite close. Chiku stops whatever he is doing and cocks his ear when he hears the ¨booooooooooing" sound of the engine as the train hurtles past near the campus. The ¨booooooooooooooing¨ sound is usually repeated a few times before it goes out of ear shot. Chiku looks at us each time with a quizzical expression. So we decided to take him to see the train. Just outside the main gate is a bridge.The train track is below the bridge. We thought he will get a good view of the train from the bridge.

But as it happened he was wearing a very puzzled expression when he saw the train. It was totally new. And it was not making ¨booooooooooooooing¨ sound at that time we were there. He is trying to figure out what this is D said.

Yesterday we fired some crackers.The non ´vedi´ variety. Only flower pots, ground chakras and some sparklers were in the treasure box when we dipped into it . We said fine, chiku will enjoy the spectacle.
But as it happened, he had to be kept quite a distance away to avoid inhaling the smoke . And for another  he was again having a confused look throughout the operation. The experience was  so totally new and he had not seen anything like this before. Last deepavali he was in Chennai the hot bed of deepavali cracker mania.But then he was hardly 2 months old and he was kept in a sound proof room on the ground floor to protect him from the booming noises for two days.

D had an explanation. She said his world consists of people of all ages, shapes and sizes; lots of trees, insects, dogs, foxes, some stray goats and cows; cars, buses, trucks, two wheelers and cycles and of course tricyles and prams.No tv at home, so no screen exposure. Many of their friends here are also have a no tv policy. So this train and soon after crackers are new in his world. He is busy absorbing and assimilating them.

It made sense. A few more occasions when we show him a train and also flower pot and sparklers, they will be assimilated and expand his world view. It will be such a pleasure to see him open up little by little to new things and experiences.

God is great!