BRINGING UP GRANDPA

I met two year old Shailav in the suburban locale of a moffusil town. He looks like a well adjusted little Chimpanzee. In any case, who has ever heard of a schizophrenic Chimp ?

Shailav is extremely popular in the neighbourhood. Each one of his neighbours calls him by a different form of endearment. When he passes by, anyone in sight can not resist stopping and exchanging pleasantries with him. An exchange with Shailav seems to lift the gloom off the face of his interlocutor. Age groups do not bother him. He is equally at home with the children, the young as well as the aged. The fair sex is however, one of his weaknesses.

Shailav has an aged neighbour. As it happens in every neighbourhood, this old man is the one who detests children. They " spoil his garden, clutter up his walkway with dirt and make a lot of noise outside his compound."Even when they are playing silently, " They are scheming on some devilish plan to torment him." He therefore jealously guards his property, shooing off any children coming even within a mile of his property.

One day while the old man was attending to his fence, Shailav walked upto hom, looked into his eyes and said " Grandpa " in his usual calm and dispassionate manner. No more words passed. Before the old man could react one way or the other, Shailav had completely forgotten and got busy with some other activity. For want of any other excuse, since Shailav had never entered his property, the old man had been calling him " a pampered brat ." However this incident set him to thinking. At least, he is different. He has never vandalized my garden. Never picked any fruits. What if he is pampered ?

Then on, Shailav got one more person to smile at. What is more, the old man smiled back. The news of the transformation of the old man spread in the neighbourhood. Just then, one day, Shailav was not to be found. Everyone gathered near his house, speculating about his whreabots. All his usual haunts were checked but no luck. After a considerable time, he emerged from the old man's house, mouth properly splattered with Chocolate, hands and pockets bulging with toffees. To the various cries of exclamation, Shailav had very little to respond to. He merely pointed towards the place of his recent place of habitat and said " Grandpa. " In that one word, he was telling the children of the locality that there was always a way of tackling any grown up. To the adults, he was saying " Look, the old man is after all, not that bad " The old man is now ready for grandfathership.