Innocence remembered

I began my foray into teaching dance without knowing what to expect really. Students of all ages began to enroll. Some tumbled in, some were pushed in (by over-zealous mothers with unrealized dreams of grandeur) and some actually walked in on their own two feet.

Among them was a child of no more than 5 years. Her lack of inhibition led to several rib-tickling conversations, and I shall always cherish them.

Once she had gotten over the initial few classes, she ventured to ask boldly, “Aunty, where are your children?”

I was married for just over a year at the time, and the question hadn’t started popping up too much (Ask me now, it’s a different situation altogether!). So I calmly replied that I didn’t have any.

The incredulous look on her face was a worthy sight. “But”, she insisted, “You must have them!”
“But I don’t!” I insisted back.

At this, my student took a few minutes to think things through, and decided she’d investigate further. “You are married, right?”
“Yes.” I assured her

“Ok see, aunty”, she sat down next to me (all too happy to take a break during dance class) and with a childlike sense of know-all, she stated, “You get married and then you have a child!”
“Ok!” Roles were reversed and I became the student who had to listen for a change.
“You see”, she continued, “You get married once, and you have one child. You get married again, and you have another child.” After a brief pause and thought, she whined, “I have been begging my parents to get married again, but they just won’t!” (She has a younger brother now )

Before the bubbles of laughter could escape, I quickly injected, “Oh! Ok!”
And then she capped it all. She was certain I hadn’t understood anything and reiterated, “Aunty, the 1st time you get married, you get your 1st child. Then you get your 2nd child … (Here she went on for a while, proud of her knowledge of ordinals). And then …. (I can still hear the imaginary drum roll in her head)… you will have a 101 Dalmations!”

After a few months of prophesying to me, she actually stopped classes.

Early this year, she actually came back –not to learn dancing, but singing instead. She had no recollection of the spark of ingenuity that she had displayed but laughed as long as her newly fit braces would allow. These days, it is her brother who shares his visionary insights. Another story, another time!