The Little Angel!

Usually,I don't take a shine to kids easily. I mean, I don't like each and every kid I come across like some of my friends do. Only a few selected ones take my fancy.

My nephew, Aashay who is 3, born and brought up in the US, was a pleasant surprise as far as my fondness for kids goes.

I had seen his photographs on the net and always found him to be a very smart and mischievous kid. "Aashay definitely has a spark," I always told my mother when we looked at his photos on the net photo album.

This October, my cousin, sanjali and nephew Aashay came down to India for sanjali's brother's wedding.

Aashay soon became almost everybody's favourite. He not only spoke Marathi excellently, he even sang marathi nursary rhymes so well (marathi nursary rhymes, nowdays, are rare among Maharashtrian kids born n brought up in India).

Aashay was a sheer delight to be with. A happy child and a non-destructive one. Very inquisitive and intelligent little boy. Always smiling and no show of any tantrums.

We normally observe that kids raised in the US are used to a sort of lonely lifestyle. They don't understand sharing with and caring for others because they normally are the only children to their parents. Being a part of a nuclear family, they find it difficult to adjust to the big crowd of relatives in India. Pleasantly, Aashay was an exception and he loved people. He got really excited when we went to his house to meet sanjali n him. He would instantly get some box out of the fridge and offer us some sweets. Can you imagine this from a 3 year old?

When we all went to my sister's place for dinner, he observed that she was busy entertaining everyone and serving food etc. After the dinner was over, aashay told my sister (that too in marathi)," I think, tu ata zop". (You should sleep now!)

I am really proud of my little nephew who exhibited those rare qualities of being loving and caring to people elder to him, who liked to share things, and who knew his mothertongue so well.

Aashay is surely gifted intrinsically with those qualities of a good human being, but the credit also goes to my cousin sister sanjali and her husband, who made it a point to teach him his mothertongue and taught him to share.

Kudos to the parents who are trying to inculcate humane qualities into this bright sunny child and, loads of blessings and best wishes to our little angel!