Mantam-isms are back!!

Mantam seem to be having fun at their summer camp. So, on the way back home we keep talking about the happenings at the camp. They told about having learnt something new. I asked them who taught them. Tammu, not able to recollect the teacher’s name, replies – “Arey, wo aunty na, ek jeans pant pehena tha, tight waala jeans pant… Blue colour ka jaama.. nahi black colour ka jaama aur blur colour ka tight waala jeans pehena tha!” (jaama – shirt, pehena – wearing) I wondered if she was concentrating on the activity at all or was busy ogling at the teacher’s dress!!!

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There’s a teacher at their school who sport’s a boy cut. One day when we were speaking about school, the girls started talking about ‘Boy Ma’am’. Apparently they call the lady Boy Ma’am due to her hair-do.

Few days ago, both the girls are whispering and giggling among themselves. When I asked what tickled their funny bones, they clarify – ‘Wo Boy Ma’am hai na? Juttu pehenke aaya tha! Heee heee hee. Mantam se be pawn(small) juttu hai. Ha ha ha’

While I was dreading to attend the next PTM, I learnt that the lady has quit the school 🙄

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On the way to school in Bulu, after combing their hair and designing a small bindi on their foreheads, Mannu demands for lipstick and Tammu for Kajal!!! When I asked them why they suddenly had this urge to apply these cosmetics, they say that their teachers had all worn kajal and lipstick the previous day as they had a class group photograph taken. 😯

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One of the weekends, we had to take Ma for a review after 10 days from the discharge. I decided to stay back home and Abbas took Ma to the doc. This was decided earlier and Mantam knew of it when they went to catch their afternoon nap. We had our lunch and Ma and Abbas left. I stood in the balcony to wave at them as they left. When I came back to check on the girls, I found only Mannu on the bed. For a second I was startled, but then noticed Tammu sitting on the potty seat with a sad face. I went to her and brushed her head affectionately and asked – ‘What happened Tammu? Why are you sad?’ She said ‘Koi nahi tha na Mamma.’ (Nobody was there) I asked – ‘Did you feel sad that Mamma has also gone along with Baba and Didi?’ She said with the same sad expression – ‘Nahi Mamma. Amar socha ki amake chu-chu kaun karega? Isiliye’ And the balloon of high hopes was burst.

*No Mamma, I was thinking who will clean my bum! (Chu-chu is the term we use for bum cleaning)

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We have been reading stories together at night inspired by R’s Mom and are we enjoying or what!!! I’m loving the fact that they are able to recollect the stories we read some time ago. Their vocabulary is increasing rapidly too as they ask me the meaning of any new word they encounter and fortunately they do remember it.  I was reading a story recently where a man is following three other men. They didn’t ask me the meaning of following. So I asked them ‘What do you mean by following? Any idea?’ Mannu says – ‘Matlab peeche peeche aana.’ I was   amused. I asked – ‘How do you know?’ Mannu said ‘Mamma ne hi to bola tha na? Wo Zebra ka stoy mein? Zebra ka shadow follow karta hai. Wo dar jaata hai…’ I was beaming – ‘Oh yaa… Zebra ka story na?’ Tammu says – ‘Zebra nahi. Franky bolo. Uska name Franky tha na?’ (And yes the Zebra’s name in the story was actually Franky’

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Another story we read recently was about ‘The Bird with Golden Droppings’. So the story goes on the lines of a hunter discovering that the bird’s droppings get transformed to gold when they touch something. So he hunts the bird and then gets scared that the king might be angry with him for not informing about his catch. He gifts it to the king. And the king too foolishly lets the bird fly away on the advice of his ministers. The bird leaves it’s droppings on the king’s hand before flying and he realizes his folly. The moral of the story was to assess the facts before coming to conclusion. Not knowing how to explain the moral to Mantam, I asked them what they thought the moral was? Mannu had an instant answer – ‘Bird ko potty seat mein droppings daalna chahiye tha’!!!

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