An ode to books

A new version of 'Here we go round the mulberry bush', sung to the same tune:

This is the way we turn on the fan, turn on the fan, turn on the fan,
This is the way we turn on the fan on a hot and sticky morning!

This is the way we eat our chappatis, eat our chappatis etc
This is the way we eat our chappatis on a hot and sticky MOR - NIN!!

As sung by Maya


This morning we went to 'Crossword', a bookshop a little like Waterstones in that it is a chain and also has music, DVD's etc. A revelation has been to discover that every Sunday morning there is storytime for children. Maya loved going to this at the library in Huntingdon and here in Bangalore, the format is not dissimilar: stories, songs and then some kind of craft activity. The Indian version has an interesting twist though as after the songs, the children are then invited to come to the front and sing a song of their choice. It's like some mini talent contest with pint-sized little people belting out an off-key version of Humpty Dumpty. I was amazed at how confident they all were as there seemed no shortage of hands waving in the air. Perhaps performance is something encouraged in the nurseries and schools here. When Maya was asked if she'd like to come up she froze and peered behind her, feigning ignorance. (Good tactic, Maya. Think I would've done the same.)

Maya loves books. I mean, she absolutely adores them. I think 'book' was one of her first words. I'm sure it's no coincidence that her mummy is also a ravenous book worm, but I need to go on a mission to find and join a library here to satiate her passion. Before we came to India, I bought Maya a book called Elephant Dance (it's a barefoot book - for those of you with sprogs or if you ever want to buy good presents, these books for children are a-MA-zing. See www.barefoot-books.com). It's all about an Indian man who visits his family in England and tells his granchildren all about India, such as the sari-coloured rainbows, the sun which is ferocious as a tiger, the monsoon rains....Anyway, I'm so glad we spent time with this book before coming out here because, okay, Maya couldn't truly grasp how hot it was going to be or how spicy the food was going to be, but images and words are so powerful and evocative and she has been talking about the book a little since being here. Perhaps in her mind she is filtering some of the experiences she saw on paper to the reality she is now living?

'Elephant Dance' has also put me in something of a quandary however as the grandfather also tells his grandchildren about the Indian elephants. Maya keeps asking about these majestic creatures and I'm going to have to produce one soon for her otherwise she'll expose me as a fraud.

On another note, amidst all these experiences of new food, new clothes, the heat, storytime at bookshops and staring wide eyed at cows trundling proprietorially down the main roads, our first week has not been without tears and frustration. We mustn't forget that everything that Maya has ever known has suddenly gone and alright, I know she's only two, but she's still a very sensitive little girl who loves her routine and her belongings. There have been several occasions when something in her has snapped and she has become tearful and uncharacteristically agressive. We need to retain some of those things she held dear at home, such as cereal for breakfast, (yes, even if this means it's sweetened with ten tons of sugar - her poor little teeth!), cartoons on the laptop and games of hide and seek whilst gently introducing new sights, sounds and flavours.

Several times last night she padded into our bedroom, saying she needed her nose blown, or wanting to show us how she'd rolled the yoga mat up (thanks Maya, but is 3 am the best time for that?!) But in all seriousness though, the final time she came in she just wanted a cuddle. A plain and simple cuddle. I think she's going to be needing lots of those over the coming weeks.