K~ and her little Corner Garden

K~ wanted a new toy. Something that she could play with everyday without ever getting bored of it. I could not think of any such evergreen toy and ignored her request to be forgotten by her short-lived memory.

Last Sunday morning, after buying the weekly groceries .... stock of vegetables, cereals and pulses, dairy, meat products amongst many other things, we returned to the car and I was surprised at K~'s dad steering the car to a different direction away from home. I kept guessing about the destination before being welcomed by a roadside Plant Nursery. It sure was a pleasure to see the red poinsettias, croutons, zerberas, lilies and many many more seasonal flowers stacked neatly in long rows.

Hmmm .... I get it! This was K~'s toy .... the toy request she made that morning. Good thought K~'s dad ..... so far so good! We bought a kilo of compost, trowel, spade, weeder and watering can for the gardening equipment and flocks and petunia for the flower plants along with some more seasonal flower seeds. The entire thing costed Rs.300/- and I felt good at spending this amount on a creative activity like Gardening rather than buying a Barbie Toy House at almost double the price.

K~ was mad with joy on seeing her gardening equipment and the little plants. She wanted a special corner for her plants and her garden which would ban Laloo Maali from applying his gardening expertise- atleast in her piece of land! K~ and Papa spent the entire afternoon digging up the garden patch and de-weeding it. I wish I could share the excitement in K~'s voice when she was teaching Papa how to do the task. Soon, a neat flower bed emerged with compost soil mixed well and seeds planted along with other flowering plants in the backdrop.

K~ in all her excitement tripped over and fell twice while watering the entire garden at least thrice with her new watering can. K~ demanded a garden fence and a name board to let everyone know that she was the owner of the garden. So, a thermo-foam piece was pasted on a wooden stick with her name written on it and twigs were planted around her flower bed to keep away stray creatures like Papa, Mumma, Laloo and others.

K~ washed the garden equipment with our bath soap and wiped them with our face towels without our knowledge until today morning. Today, I felt so exploited at the hands of my daughter thinking about the countless times I wiped my cheeks with that dirty piece of cloth unaware of the dirt contents it held.

Anyway, it was 3:30 pm and everyone felt hungry except K~. It was with great persuasion that she gobbled up a few casual morsels before introducing her pet toys to the new garden. Before closing her eyes that night, she sang a melodious lullaby to her new friend - Her Garden.

There is one observation I have made in the last five years, and it has been the same each time .... countless times and that is, K~'s strong affinity to informal toys that requires participation from her parents and friends. In the initial years of her life, she preferred playing with steel plates, bowls and spoons squatting over the kitchen floor while I cooked, she would crawl over to the heap of folded clothes and fold a few handkerchiefs while I would pick up the dried wash and many more such instances. The formal branded toys classified age wise could not even half stir her imagination as much as these daily household accessories.

It perhaps explains that very often when a child demands a toy, she actually demands attention and participation.

And this tendency does not change even when we grow up as matured adults. We yearn for assets to perhaps make up for something amiss in life which even we are not completely aware of .... we want to own a house to make up for lack of a happy home, we want to buy car to win happiness of traveling together, we flaunt expensive branded clothes to cover our lack of self-esteem and identity.......

The child in us never grows up!