Innate Talent to the Rescue

Innate talent is phenomenal. It can ooze, erupt and explode in any form or shape at any time and place. I experienced it at the strike of midnight on last Sunday, the 16th of September, 2007.

We had a hectic day on Saturday, with the Ganesh Puja and followed by a hectic Sunday with some social activities. We went out with friends on Sunday evening and came back home by about 10.30 pm. And at 11.00 pm, my daughter remembers that she has some EVS project work to complete, which was their weekend homework. I always believe that the project work is home work for parents. We had to find pictures on the theme NEIGHBOURHOOD and paste them in the classwork note book. I pulled out my stack of magazines and rummaged through the pages and clipped some relevant pictures and completed my home work. I was pretty pleased with my late night endeavour and forced a THANK YOU out of my daughter and put her to bed and did the same to myself. It was around 11.45 pm.

I was settling in, to catch up my precious sleep, I felt my daughter tapping my arm. I get annoyed and clench my teeth and ask her,what now? She remembers that she has been selected to participate in a HINDI POETRY RECITATION COMPETITION the next day. I tell her to recite a poem from her text book and she says it is already selected by another classmate. I say, so what, you too can recite the same one. And as I am speaking to her, I am also trying to recall if I know something small and easy for her to learn, but I can't think of anything. I can see tears coming out of her eyes, signs of emotional blackmail. I succumb to it and tell her to just shut up and wait for me to think. And behold! the clock struck twelve and I mumble some rhyming Hindi words as they tumble from my mouth. My daughter is delighted and I am elated, amused and shocked at the same time. She asks me how did I do it and I say "Thank Lord Ganesha", he did it.

I realize, I have composed a short and sweet poem for my child, which she perfects in less than five minutes. She tells me the poem is very cute and that she has recited it with confidence at the competition. The results are still awaited!

रेलगाडी

चुक् चुक् , चुक् चुक् ,
चुक् चुक्, चुक् चुक् ,
आती है रेल गाडी ।

चुक् चुक् , चुक् चुक् ,
चुक् चुक्, चुक् चुक् ,
आती है रेलगाड़ी ।

ले जाती है गाऊँ गाऊँ
ले जाती है शेहर शेहर
हम बच्चों का मन
बहलाती है रेल गाडी ।

चुक् चुक् , चुक् चुक् ,
चुक् चुक् , चुक् चुक् ,
आती है रेल गाडी ।

चुक् चुक् , चुक् चुक् ,
चुक् चुक्, चुक् चुक् ,
जाती है रेल गाडी ।