- A Rainy day
- Tummy filled with some cheese sandwiches and coffee, peanut butter sandwich for the kid
(The second point is important because only when the tummy is full, such wild ideas come to a certain mom’s mind)
3. Kiddo decides she wants to use the new blue umbrella today
4. Mom decides to humor the kid and go buy pomegranates (one was bought and eaten yesterday, declared yummy hence wanting to go the extra mile and buy some more)
5. Mom thinks she will take the kid in the bus, buy pomegranates and come back (sigh!)
6. Mom cannot find her foldable umbrella, so has to take the long pointy grandfather umbrella with a awkward J shaped handle (kiddo’s is similar in a smaller size)
7. Waits at the bus stop with kiddo declaring she wants to ride only on the blue bus. Well, a green bus comes along
8. Grabs the kid, travel card in hand, awkward umbrellas and a recycled bright yellow plastic bag. Wait, did I tell the plastic bag has to be hoisted only on one shoulder (instead of the usual sensible back pack mom always carries)?
9. Realizes the green bus has steps to climb on to (is an old style bus), and when it’s starts to move, kid starts to howl because it’s a dugu-dugu bus (well kiddo, you were right about the blue bus all along)
10. Somehow gets through the next four stops with kid crying because of bus swaying and all passengers staring at both mom and kid all through the ride
11. Gets down from the bus, kiddo notices some accumulated water snd decides do the “jumping up and down in muddy puddles” right then and there
12. Mom and kiddo reach the market, buy the much acclaimed pomegranates. Then mom notices the guava seller who hadn’t put up a stall yesterday. But much before that the guava seller notices mom and kiddo and beckons her over. Any chance of sliding away is gone
13. Mom and kiddo head to her stall. She decides to coax mom into buying extra guavas today because “dhanda is manda” due to rain
14. Remember the yellow recycled plastic bag? .. well now it weighs down on one shoulder with weight of guavas and pomegranates (not to mention a full big water bottle (instead of usual smaller one) mom has decided to lug around)
15. Now for another unexpected turn of events. Kiddo notices the stall selling socks, caps and mittens. Her fetish for all things socks is a subject of another article! Wants to buy “pohpol” socks today. Mom acquiesces checking her purse. Then kiddo notices a weird panda cap for which mom has no money for and drags away kiddo from the stall.
16. Kiddo protests by flinging her yellow hat with a “mani mau” right in the middle of the street along with the nth mask of the day.
17. Mom scrambles to pick them up, collects the kid, with umbrellas, bag weighing her down with pomegranates, guavas and some sundry mint and green chillies she manages to pick up in between.
18. Reach the bus stop, wait for bus. Finally a bright spark dawns on the mom who decides finishing the contents of the water bottle would make the bag a little easier to carry, and proceeds to drink away the water. A little crowded bus comes along. Both get in, with similar shenanigans as the onward journey, and finally heave a sigh of relief when they finally reach the red door to their apartment.
(You would think the adventure ends there, but kiddo has other plans! Read on)
19. Mom manages a tangle of umbrellas, masks, keys, bags and starts climbing the stairs. Kiddo wants to be carried up too, which isn’t simply possible for the mom. Mom hurries up, thinking kid will follow suit. Kiddo defiantly kicks off gum boots, proceeds to walk up two floors in new pink socks and declares boots are somewhere between first and second floor.
20. Mom drops everything on the floor she is (somewhere between second and third), proceeds downwards to retrieve the boots and manages to reach the house – ensuring kid, umbrellas, new socks, plastic bag, keys and masks, are all also finally inside the main house door .. and finally crashes on the sofa
(Based on true events. Any resemblance to fiction is strictly coincidental)
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