During the 1965 Indo-Pak war, our three year old son Santosh's vocabulary was enriched by warlike words. Guns, Tanks, Bombs, Fighters were words constantly playing on his lips. Soon after the war, he heard that the Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri had died.
" Who shot him " was the question he shot at his mother. A little shocked, the mother somewhat testily replied that he was not shot by anyone.
"Then, how did he die " ? was the next one. Before his mother gave an even more shocked response to this second baffler, I thought I would butt in. A child psychologist that I considered myself to be, I was anxious that my son should be explained this thing about death in the logic and language of a child.
" Well, you see darling, Shastriji fell very much sick and that is why he died ", was the explanation given by me.
" But I did not die when I fell very much sick " was his argument apparently referring to his measles.
" But then, Shastriji was very old whereas you are very young " was my childlike reinforcement of the earlier explanation, Absence of any further discourse on the subject gave me the satisfaction of having used my child psychology successfully.
Six months later, we went to see our parents who were anxious to see their grandson. Mother was down with influenza so she called him to her bedside. He was immediately interested in the grandma much to the latter's delight.
" So you are grandma " ! he broke the ice.
" Well yes, I am your grandma " proudly countered my mother.
" Aren't you sick " ? my son went on.
" Yes dear, I am very much sick, that is why I could not come to the sta.....
" Oh! that's alright " interupted the little one.
" But tell me, are you old " ?
"Yes, my dear ! I am very old " piteously replied the granny.
" Well, well ! getting a little excited, the little devil spoke out triumphantly, " Then, you are going to die " !
My mother was struck dumb but her glare was eloquent. It showed unmistakably the contempt that she had for this new fangled thing called child psychology that I had been proudly parading about !
Post script:- My mother died eventually at the age of 95 years at Santosh's house in New Delhi of nothing but old age.
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