'Chang amma's mind'

Prayers (especially in my religion) usually begin with an invocation to the Elephant God like this - Shuklambharadharam Vishnum... At my daughter's convent school, she's taught to Praise the Lord or Thank the Lord for everything.

As little S sits down for her meal, she closes her eyes and obediently utters a Thank You prayer that goes something like this:

Thank you God

For the food we eat

For the water we drink

And for everything

Amen!

And when I'm angry and don't talk to her for a while, she writes little notes and shows them to me (albeit discreetly by her standards) by stealthily tip-toeing and placing the note right next to me while I'm engrossed in reading, cooking, chatting, and whatever-else-I-might-be-doing-then. You have to be a child at heart to know all about exchanging silly notes. Anyway... her notes are almost always the same and can be summed up as - "Amma, I am sorry. I love you. Will you talk to me...".

Or sometimes the notes would contain a short poem (and her favorite one too) which S has learnt from Barney and Friends.

I love you

You love me

We're all a family

Let me give a kiss

From me to you

Won't you say

"I Love You"

And oh... once S had modified the poem only slightly when I whacked her for creating ruckus, and not studying.

I love you

You hate me. Why?

We're all friends - I say that

Let me give a kiss

From me to you. Please.

Won't you say

'I Love You'?

Need I say how very sad I was over the next few days for breaking her heart and making her feel miserable. :(

But my little monkey never leaves an opportunity to test my patience, let it simmer a while, then bring it to a boil... and when the boiling point is finally reached, I stop speaking to her for a couple of hours. And this time (which was just two days ago), I was totally off and I hadn't spoken to S for almost half a day.

Now little S realized she's in trouble. And she had a real tough time winning back her mom. She tried writing notes which were quietly ignored. She tried to wriggle-wraggle, wriggle-wraggle, wriggle-wraggle like Donald Duck who is a one-legged, two-legged, three-legged, four-legged duck which almost always does the trick as her mom bursts out laughing. But sorry boss, it wasn't about to happen this time.

So, S had to tread a new path and write a different kind of note now - basically seeking Divine Intervention. And, she sent out a prayer God's way.

"Dear good God,

I want to talk, play and study with amma. Dear God, please chang amma's mind.

kindly srishtii."

But, of course, God also had ignored her for a bit so she realizes that while it's okay to make mischief and test mom's patience, it's NOT okay to disobey and ignore studies (especially when the mid-term exams are drawing closer). But God (good God) is God after all. Benevolent and loving that He is, He did 'chang' (I would rather not think about the Wikipedia definitions of the word) S's amma's mind. And thus, the story ends in another "... happily ever after" reunion. Peace to all! :)