Hurricane NiNa

We have just been warned. About the impending storm. The severity has not been forecast. The land fall is expected in a month. We get daily alerts and   situation reports.  We are brazing up for the event and looking forward to it with great anticipation. The alert is about the impending visit of our two grand children and their parents on their annual holiday.  When we saw them off last, one was a sweet play school girl and the other just about on his feet. Now the elder girl, Nandini, is in her LKG and the younger boy, Nikhil, just made his foray into the play school.  Between them they are a bit of an ambush squad. 

During their last visit, which was a year back, they had not yet teamed up into the deadly duo. Other than pulling down my computer key board, dismantling my small pocket radio, running away with the mobile phone or the remote control or subjecting the walls to their art work, they had not been into any major destructive activity. Not so now, we are told.

A small update:

Nandini would go to sleep only after the usual quota of the same story- alert at pointing out even a minute deviation. She likes it without any change from the original.  She would start a conversation by asking you seemingly simple but profound questions that could shatter the foundations of the universe. What? Why?  The ‘What?’ questions are more or less harmless and are endless. Like what did the pussycat say to the puppy? What did the puppy’s mother say? And so on. It’s the ‘Whys?’ which take the life out of you.  Mercifully she is past the ‘Why’ stage. 

Her brother is not the questioning type. He is action oriented. I understand that he is more into ‘deconstruction’ / reverse engineering or finding innovative ways of playing with his toys.  (Like Derrida, the French philosopher, I’m averse to use the word destruction, and therefore, deconstruction. Similarly reverse engineering for dismantling.  After all, who knows, Nik might even turn out to become a great scientist!)

Nandini is more into arts. She likes to paint. (I’ve preserved her first effort, though the fresco has been painted off.).She attends a Bhajan class every Saturday and knows a few patriotic songs. Her favorite is ‘Jana Gana Mana” which she sings not less than half a dozen times at a stretch and expects us, at the other end of the Yahoo Messenger, to be in attention. She likes to play act her teacher with Nikhil, a reluctant student.  He is often game as he gets an opportunity to handle her crayons. Both have picked up a few words from their Hindi speaking teacher/ friends. They like to utter words such as ‘chup baito’ or ‘shut up’ which they know are a taboo at home. They can be a boisterous, marauding squad as their Doctor discovered recently, much to the discomfiture of their parents. Being frequent visitors they had developed great camaraderie with the Doctor.

Both are keen observers. Nandini liked the white bridal gown of Kate Middleton although she felt if she were to wear it she would like it shorter! Looking at the chorus boys she asked…Why are they looking so sad, Amma?  Nik felt that Princess Anne resembled the child catcher and he didn’t want to look at the TV any more! Nik can identify alphabets, particularly if it happens to be M, written in the manner of McDonalds! Once he told, looking at the Gurvayoorappan photo, “Amma, the Ambatty is smiling at me. Why?”  Another occasion he declared, peeping   through the windows, on a rare bright day with a clear sky-- “Amma, look the sky is falling!  He can become Hanuman or a cricketer, any instant, with the aid of kitchen gadgets usually kept out of his reach.

I have mentioned just a few of the instances from the situation report shared by our daughter during the daily chat. She says these are just the curtain raisers. Mentally and physically we are getting ready for the event. I surfed the net for some information on what people do when they get a hurricane warning. They fortify their homes, stock essential water and ration and keep praying that the storm doesn’t leave a trail of destruction. We are following suit. We have arranged with our carpenter to fix an extra barricade for the stair case railing, wicket gates for the sit out, moved the breakables into the loft and kept our books locked in a glass cupboard with a fervent prayer that they won’t take a fascination for the books.  Well, as the saying goes: Expect the unexpected! Keep your fingers crossed.