The Worldview of the Child

“Hi, which class are you in,” asked my friend Prasad to my four year old son Sanjiv. “ I am in junior KG,” Sanjiv replied. “ When will you go to senior KG,” Prasad asked ? “When I become big,” said Sanjiv. “And when will you become big,” continued the irrepressible Prasad. “ When I begin eating vegetables,” replied Sanjiv as all of us in the room dissolved into laughter. Sanjiv’s last remark was prompted by everyone at home constantly telling him that it was important for him to eat vegetables (for which he exhibited a child’s disdain) if he were to grow big, strong or for that matter get better than his friend and rival Siva.

Children I have noticed have a logic of their own which clearly defies comprehension by an adult. Many, many years ago my friend James’s nephew took a look at the water tank in his building that was being cleaned up and came up with the classic—“ Orange water”. He didn’t see the dirt or the grime but only the orange colour.

Another child, my nephew –Manav—I suspect regards me as McDonad’s uncle as I make it a point to take him to Big Mac every time we meet. Once when I was fooling around with him and was quizzing him about girlfriends he turned around and asked me
“Isn’t Vidya mami your girlfriend”? While I thought it was worth a good laugh, Vidya mami who happens to be my wife certainly didn’t. I had to listen to a lecture on the inappropriateness of such jokes being cracked with children. Serves me right I guess.

I haven’t yet stopped cracking jokes with children. Although I am now careful about not cracking what is termed as “inappropriate jokes” No more talks of girlfriends. Just sticking to the mundane. A child’s worldview is however anything but mundane. Whether it is about eating vegtables, catching a glimpse of orange water or quite simply talking about girlfriends.