Nana ka magic!

                                                                Nana ka magic!



When mummy papa came from Delhi this time, during their visit my Nayantara fell very very sick. She was burning with fever. She is 14 but is the baby of our house. He saw her not just in physical pain but could also see through her emotional pain. Her body is weak but her mind is weaker he said. As if he could peal every layer of her mind and see till her core. She smiled lesser than before, she hardly shared anything he said. My response was that she is a teenager Papa. Give her a few more years and i am sure she'll be fine. After all i have conditioned myself to believe that. Helps keep my exasperation at bay.

He saw that his favourite grand child ( because she is the first one I believe ) is suffering. He is intelligent enough to understand that like any teenager her hormones are acting up (after all he has raised two) but there is always a way to ease the pain and confusion. There is surely a way to make her journey from a teenager to an adult more joyful, he believed.

He’s seen her grow up into this beautiful, intelligent and sensitive young girl from an hour old baby. He loves her so much and knows her so well, guess that is why it was so easy for him to sense that something was not right this time.

He had a long heart to heart chat with me and realised that I was fed up of the tantrums  and my reaction to every unreasonable action of hers is that she will get over it in a few years, can’t do much about it except ignore it and wait....

Nana loves Nayantara and Nayantara loves nana.

Unlike me he is not prepared to ignore this  and decided to help. He has decided to send her a one liner every day via text message after he reaches Delhi. Yes he doesn’t understand whatsapp no more than any other feature in his smart phone. On a lighter note, mumma is so tech savvy that she makes fun of him for wasting money on an iPhone.

Text message 1 "how are you please keep smiling nana"


He was sure that this will make a difference. Honestly,  I didn’t want to hurt his feelings by telling him that I had asked her to check her messages or that to communicate with her he will have to be familiar with at least whatsapp. (not her fault. After all which teenager checks messages in the age of whatsapp and snapchat?).  I wish i could capture the smile she had when she read the message and she said,  i think nana is worried after seeing me so unwell. Her reply via text message- "ok nana"

He immediately called me and asked me to check the change in her behaviour that day. Is he so naive that he thinks that her two second smile and a response in two words would make a difference?

Text message 2 was a little more demanding as " Morning get up with a smiling face. No criticism of food tiffin should be empty"

 ( now is the right time to let you know problem number 1 - it is that she is a very poor eater and that leads to her short temper and constant nausea and headaches. and no it isn't boy trouble. Ask the mums whose kids do not eat well and they will tell you that it’s as big as it can be). The tiffin was empty the next day by the way!

The third day he told me that I keep complaining that her posture is deteriorating and she has started walking with a hunch but I have not even given her a study table in her room. he noticed that she mostly studies on her bed. What is the use of it lying in another room if she feels most comfortable in her own room, he said. Yes, that’s true and I am extremely ashamed to admit this but I know that sometimes one is just blind to simple solutions.

I did not waste a single breath and shifted the table to her room. Her first reaction to the change after she came back from school was that I was cluttering her room. The old Puja would have immediately said that why is your response to everything so negative? ( this gives me and opportunity to let you know that her response to anything new is negative. Can you imagine when we sold our Volks Wagen Passat and bought an Audi, she said why did we have to change a perfectly decent car? ) The new Puja said the same lines but in her mind. I left the room saying that I am only experimenting but will remove it if she doesn’t use it.
It’s day one of the study table today and she’s been using it all day.

I messaged him and thanked him and his response is
" No tks my dear give your time to her with lots of patience take her to movie play fever channel 104 Mhz at 6am to 7 am daily religious songs you will enjoy this is time when darlings ( yes i have 2) are getting ready "

I smile and am tempted to read this aloud to her. She smiles and says to my surprise, i think its a good idea.

What do you think worked  here?

I think a one liner in a text message from a person my kid trusts with her life?
From a person she knows loves her truly?
From a person she holds a very high opinion off?
of course...
No long lectures ( teenagers have the ability to nod politely yet block out the words)?
No face to face conversations where an immediate reply is expected?
The fact that she could respond when she felt like it ( no last seen on text message)?
of course...

A few words are doing the trick. Is the trick permanent?
of course not....
Has it given us a reason to smile?
of course...

Has it given me a reason to create a blog immediately that i have been procastinating for ages?
Of course....


I messaged papa and told him that I want one advise from him every day forever!!
(Who are you planning to text message for your child?)

He has not seen my message yet! How do i know this inspite of the no last seen feature on sms?

Oh come on.....we all know the answer to that!!!