Chiku aka bunchin: madras diaries 2

Bunchin is a mofussil guy; and that too from a sheltered academic campus. A double whammy. He has seen lots of cycles and tricycles; a few two wheelers and a few cars. Yes, take in a few campus buses and that's it. He goes for a morning walk riding on his appa's shoulders and in an hour he would spot about ten vehicles, all put together. He will watch them with fascination from the time he sees them in the horizon till the time they cross him and disappear in the next road bend. He would meet quite a few walkers and would meticulously give a wide grin, stop by and exchange pleasantries!Yes, they would smile and stop and talk to his appa, while he continues to smile at them. And the most happening place is the market area, which houses a dozen shops selling all that the community in the campus will need. He likes his mom taking him there.There is lot of buzz, smells and sounds and activity and he thrives on the chaos.

Now catapult  him into Madras or Chennai,whatever. Our house which was in a cul de sac and way beyond mylapore,  which for us was chennai then , has now become a happening place. He gets out of the house and cannot go jaywalking. He has to be bundled into a car.The windows have to be pulled up, so that he is not inhaling polluted air. There are buses and lorries and cars and autos and two wheelers whizzing past him every second. He is just not able to process them in his busy head. He feels cramped and fiddles non stop with the door handle. He is happy to be let out into the sand in the beach nearby or in the park. He has fun running around.

There is a small park near our place which has been recently opened. We took him there. It was well laid out with greenery and a walkers path. But nothing to interest a toddler. He immediately shot out on to the road, where lots of activity was happening. Thankfully a good footpath has been laid, so thatha had to run with him to keep him safe on the pavement. It was late evening and for the first time he was seeing the lights and sounds of a buzzing metropolis. He was excited beyond belief and when thatha took him in his arms he was very happy, so he got a ringside view of all the shops with neon and psychedelic lights.

The same excitement was repeated when we took him to the beach on a late evening. The vendors, the sounds, the hectic crowd busy  inhaling all the pure air that is still left there. He ran faster than his tiny legs could carry him, much to the amusement of other pavement walkers and idlers on the beach. Of course, he had to fall down and hurt himself a little. That helped us call it a day and head back home.

We took him to the Guindy children's park. We are visiting the place after atleast 30 years! It has been well kept and bunchin went berserk just stepping inside the park. The huge open space and lots and lots of children and adults gave him a tremendous high!He ran all over the place. And we like true adults wanted to show him the deers, the monkeys, the ducks and what not. He would take one look and then run away. He only took a cursory interest in the monkeys which were doing lots of jumping and running inside the enclosure. It helped us show him monkeys in the picture book and  how they jump.In turn his feeding time was more smooth for a few days thereafter looking at the picture book and making up stories of animals in the guindy park.

A friend of mine recommended a park in mrc nagar. So we took bunchin one saturday. The park was deserted but had a good number of swings and slides and see saws and all in very good condition. The sandpit was also very clean. I also was quite excited and we were both running around trying one thing after another. Just when we had our fill and we deciding to leave and come another day, a swarm of bees came from nowhere and stung me and bunchin. Thatha escaped! Bunchin and me kept up a good crescendo all the way in the car to chitti's place. Bees 'sting really stings! And after applying ice and calming him down a bit, normalcy was sort of restored. But no, no more visits to mrc nagar park. You can have the best hardware, but you dont know to mind your bees!
 You will not have bunchin stepping into your sandpit again, for a while, atleast!