Around 4pm one day in March2014.
"Grandma, please come."
Less louder,"please come, Grandma, my leg is paining."
More louder,"Grandma!"
I was cleaning the utensils outside at my backyard. I was wondering about the silence of the old man and the old lady in that house. I walked to the compound wall. I couldn't see anybody around in the kitchen.
I called my mom and said,"Mom, this kid is crying for a few minutes but I couldn't seen anybody inside the house. I guess the kid's grandparents are not doing good. Can we just go to their house and find out what is keeping them from answering this boy?"
My mom didn't give me any answer. She wore her slippers and started walking down the street to go to the next street. I took out a stool and placed it near the compound wall. Climbed on the stool, climbed on the compound wall and jumped on their washing stone on the other side. Got down from the stone and reached their back gate. I saw the old lady cradling the little baby holding the milk bottle in her hand, in the hall. The old man was sitting on the sofa and watching this. None of them bothered to answer the little boy's cry.
I called,"Aunty."
The second call,"Aunty." She came to the gate and asked me,"what happened?!!"
I said,"The little boy has been crying for a long time. And nobody bothered to answer him. So I thought something was wrong and was worried. "
She laughed and said,"Oh, he always does that. He is sitting inside the toilet and waiting for me to go and wash him."
I said,"Ok. He has been shouting and crying for a long time. And I didn't hear you asking him to wait. So I thought something has happened to you."
She laughed again and said ,"Oh, he always does that. I told him to wait for some time since I was tending to his little sister. But he never listens."
I said,"Ok" and started climbing on the washing stone. She came out of the gate and said,"Be careful girl. You can go through the front gate."
I said,"That's ok. I have a stool down there in the other side of the compound wall. Thanks."
She repeated again,"This boy keep shouting like this. You don't bother about it."
By the time I climbed their washing stone my mom reached their front gate. The old man came out and gave the same reply, what the old lady gave to me.
My mom asked him,"Ok. The lady was tending to the baby. Why didn't YOU go and help him to wash?"
There was no answer for that question. The old man repeated what the lady said,"Oh. This kid always does this. He won't wait for us to come and wash him."
I am worried about the way this kid is being raised. I don't think he would react immediately if he come across some one's cry for help. He would take his own sweet time.
On a rainy day in Nov2014
"Mom"
"Mom, can you please come and wash me?"
"Mom".
His mom yelled at him,"I said,Wait." His mom is a very short tempered woman.
A few seconds passed. The boy started to shout louder,"Mom, please come and wash me."
There was no power and the house was dark. The boy was shouting,"Mom."
I guess he was afraid to sit inside that darkness. Or he wanted his mom to come and stand near the toilet.
I know kids always does that. My cousins, nephew and niece always wanted us to stand near the entrance whenever they use the rest room, even during broad day light. It's quite understandable. Children are afraid either of the small room or the darkness.
There was no answer from his mom for a few seconds. She said,"Hmm, wait" when the kid called again.
The kid waited for some time and started shouting louder,"Mom, please come and wash."
I felt angry with her lethargic attitude and couldn't help myself from going near the compound wall to peep through the gate. Couldn't see anybody because it was dark. The toilet had no candle light. I felt very sorry for the kid.
After a few seconds I heard her beating him inside the toilet and heard her saying,"Here. Wash it cleanly. Can't you wait for a few minutes until I come? Why should you shout like that?."
Like mother like daughter.
I heard him crying and I felt very bad for the kid. I was only thinking that if this kid is going to be raised by his elders in this fashion then I am sure he is not going to care for the elders in their old age.
How can these elders expect their kids to care for them when they have failed to raise the same kids with the same love that they are seeking from them now?
I am seeing, of late, that many parents are not caring for their children the same way how my parents and my grandparents cared for us.
Last weekend my mom had to walk to the next street to another house, only to be told by his mother that the kid was crying downstairs because she went upstairs to dry clothes leaving him downstairs. But we heard the kid cry as though some one was beating him hardly. That is an apartment and none of the neighbours came out to look for the kid.
I am worried about the future world populated with these kind of kids who are raised with no love and no feelings towards the call for help and sufferings of others.
Will we see 'Like mother, like son' after a few years?
Uma
Freelancer
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