This was long ago when my older one was 6 and a half and younger one was 3 plus..we had started giving them pocket money(very small amount)just to teach them discipline, of course, their needs were well taken care of by the parents but we wanted them to value money hence started this practice….
I used to sing few bhajans and Gayatri mantras to put them to bed every night.
you see we become VERY Bharatiya when we stay abroad….all the patriotism and devotion for Gods(masha allah as it is we have countless Indian gods),Sanskriti,sanskar…nah nah these were not the names of my neighbors…I meant culture and values….all these things become paramount when you become an NRI-Non required indian….but jokes apart, I must say I learned to make all Indian sweets including as difficult as Mysore pak staying abroad…..oh lord forgive me for drifting away from the main write-up…ok back on track..so here goes aage ka haal
That night as a ritual ..I sang raghupati raghav to my sons to put them to bed…now when I look back ..I often wonder if it was the sweetness of a motherly affection in that bhajan or they found it awfully boring and Besura that as soon as I would start singing, they would drift into a deep slumber…..
But that night was different….so after putting them to bed, I was arranging the toys back in place in their playroom…when I heard them talking….I was wondering how on earth had my singing gone unaffected today….do I need to increase the potion of sleeping lullaby?. .yeah yeah, my mind runs faster and much ahead of its own previous thought…
So here is what I heard…..
“You know I am feeling very bad for papa…” big bro speaks
“Why bhaiya” obviously the chhotu one…
“He gives us all his salary….he has no money left…so I was thinking we should start giving him pocket money out of the pocket money he gives us…”tsk tsk he thought that’s all his father earns and like Daanveer Karn sans his shining armour…he also gives away all his hard-earned khoon paseena ki kamai to his jigar ka tukdas….
“Take my money bhaiya”
“No, we will give him half- half”
So they both pulled out a paper from their cursive writing notebook….fold it and put some money inside…the older one scribbles something on that….and slowly..goes to his study room and places it there knowing well that muma and papa have their bed tea in that room every morning…
I saw the live action….like cameraman Tejprakash ke saath shailja kumari reporting from Aaj Tak kinds….needless to say that I was choked…my eyes just couldn’t stop shedding Bin Barsat ki barish……all I wanted to do was cuddle them up…and wait for the beautiful morning to come so that I could see my hubby’s reaction……
So next morning…I prepare the tea….wake him up…we both sit down in his study to enjoy our morning chitchat…..
He finds the paper kept there….. carefully, he picks it up and reads…..
“Papa…here is your pocket money from me and Aryan for the month of June”(it had their cute, round, curly wurly signatures too)
He looked at me….and then looked at the paper…and the chillar falling down…each coin that touched the ground, touched his heart….each sound it made…echoed in the deepest of his heart….each word scribbled on that paper got printed on his soul and got immortalized…
That precious/priceless pocket money given to him couldn’t make him any Dheeru bhai Ambani…but it sure made him the richest man on earth….such is the power of innocence…