The Little Sun

‘What goes around comes around, ' she taught as her daughter was refusing to eat the food that was almost becoming dry. Flashback to how she would run around the garden, burning all the energy of her mother. “It’s all KARMA,” she mumbled in a faint voice and tried to push into her daughter’s mouth one more idly piece. Unlike her childhood, Dia, her daughter, was not allowed to go out without adult supervision. So she resorted to being adorable and curious indoors. Her questions were always unique and made her wonder if she was really hers.

Pushing her feeding spoon away, Dia opened her mouth to ask, “What is that?” Her eyes and tiny hands were fixed, pointing at the sun. Making use of the great opportunity, she said, ‘Here, baby open your mouth, baby aaaah’. Feeling proud of smuggling a big piece into her mouth, she still noticed Dia looking into the sun. Shifting to her Soft mommy voice, she said: “Dia baby, that is a Sun”. She was surprised at how her baby’s face was giving mature expressions.

As Dia opened her mouth to ask to follow up, she stuffed another piece into her mouth. Still unnoticing that her mouth was full, Dia asked “whysitfaa” mumbling between food and she said Please, chew your food, baby … I don’t understand.” Dia pointed at her water and sipped a few. Dia struggled to swallow the food and asked: “Why is it so up, mummy?” She giggled a little and said, “The sun…it is very very far away, baby. Our home is here; the sun’s home is very far away, baby.” Dia became very excited about what she heard. She couldn’t stop speaking now… Mummy, can we go and see the sun’s home? Mummy, can the sun and I be friends? Mummy, can I colour with the sun?

She told herself, “These quarantine days have really affected the psyche of Dia too; she is already longing for friends”. Wondering how to tell her curious daughter that she cannot be friends with the sun was a huge challenge. Her eyes stared at the Hanuman photo in the puja shelf, and muttered “…would really help to know how your mother handled you when you thought it was a mango?” Dia didn’t move even a bit she was putting her head on the safety railing in the balcony nd was staring at the sun trying to touch it with her both hands. She suddenly got an idea.

Leaving Dia in the balcony seating, mumbling prayers, she wouldn’t fall or hurt herself. She went inside, she rushed into her bedroom, pulled a stool near the cupboard, opened the top shelf, and started digging into a box that had some old decorations. Amidst all that, she found what she was looking for. She pulled out an old pack of balloons and found the brightest yellow balloon. She quickly inflated it, filled it up with all her love. She tied it up with some ribbons and decorated it, and rushed back to her daughter. Wanting to surprise her little one, she hid the balloon behind.

She neared her daughter, Dia was still looking at the sun, almost hanging from the safety railing, and now she was talking to the sun. She interrupted their conversation and said, “Dia Mummy has something for you”. Still couldn’t get her attention, so she pushed the balloon closer to her face. Dia’s sad face began to glow with the brightest smile, seeing the smiley-faced yellow balloon. She almost instantly cooked up her story: “… the sun lives very very very, very far away, baby! The sun couldn’t come all the way here to play with you, so it has sent Dia baby ‘a little sun’ to play.

Dia asked her mother, “Can the little sun stay with me in my room?” She nodded with a smile. This new friend kept Dia engaged for the entire afternoon. She was able to multitask, supervise Dia, and also finish cooking, cleaning, and some household chores. She could not help but notice how children find friendships with almost anything. She didn’t realize this friendship as serious until Dia asked her to feed her little sun during lunch. As a mother, you must know how to make the best of situations like this, she thought to herself. She said, ‘Dia, okay, let us see if you or your friend is eating fast and being a good child. ’ Children always love to compete among their peers; glad of how the situation has helped her feed Dia a full bowl of dhal rice without any tantrum or tears, she let the child play on the balcony and went quickly to wash her hands.

That is when the disaster happened.

She heard Dia, wailing and weeping in her top shrill voice. Dropping the vessels she was cleaning, he rushed to the balcony to find out what was the reason for her daughter’s sobbing. She found Dia trying to reach out to the balloon that was taken away by the wind. She calmed down nd thought of a quick fix. She took her wailing child, hugged her close to the chest, nd said:

“It's… ok baby…my darling baby…don’t cry...She rubbed away the tears on her soft cheek. “It’s okay, baby.”

…Dia still couldn’t bear the loss and continued to weep and sob… she came up with the best explanation she could to pacify her little one for the time being. She also had thought of a backup plan with this story: she looked into Dia’s eyes and said,

“Baby, please don’t cry, your friend has gone because the Little Sun’s Mom asked him to come back, ‘It's nap time for the little sun’. He played with you from morning, now he has to go and rest. When Dia's baby finishes her Nap time, then the little sun will also be awake and he will come here and play with you again.” Dia looked up at her Mom, her wet eyes filled with a glossy thin layer of tears and hope.

She was happy how blessed that Dia is at an age where she believes whatever her parents say. Dia was almost convinced, but she opened her mouth to ask one more time,

“Can I keep him in my room with me?” Yes baby.

“Will the little sun really come and play again with me?” Yes baby!

She took Dia to her room and answered another dozen questions about keeping the sun with her. She patiently answered all of them and fell asleep. Then Dia almost fell into a deep slumber. She tiptoed out and was trying to work on her backup plan. She probed into her art supplies box and hunted for the balloon packet. To her dismay, she could not find any yellow balloons. “…What…only reds, greens, and blues. My Dia is too bright to be convinced that this is not her friend, the little sun,” she told herself.

She can’t go out to buy a balloon for her child anyway, as shops are closed due to the lockdown. If this were a normal day, she would even chase down the balloon just to see a smile on her daughter’s face. Even she couldn’t move out because of the virus threat. She was getting worried about what she was going to tell her daughter. She was going to say that the little sun is not coming anymore because it doesn’t want to be friends with her daughter anymore. Or that the little sun is just a balloon that flew away. She was really afraid to hurt the delicate feelings of her little one.

She dragged herself to the balcony, feeling defeated, her backup plan didn’t work. She sat there still.

Meanwhile, the little sun was on a journey of his own. He ran around Dia’s apartment; He slowly passed over the balcony of every apartment, and he attracted some onlookers as well. As he passed with the slow wind, he even brought some smiles to people’s faces. He played hide and seek with people who tried to catch him. He was moving around, spreading smiles and joy. From where he was flying, he could see Dia’s mother sadly sitting on the balcony on the first floor. He wanted to see her smile, too. But the wind kept him pushing up. He couldn’t go down anymore. Suddenly, someone from the eighth floor pushed the little sun downward so did a small boy from the fifth floor. The little sun was almost near the first floor. The commotion created by the apartment people had gotten her attention, and it was the right time when Dia’s Mom again got hold of the little sun. Everyone on the balcony clapped for her achievement. She carefully kept the little sun tied inside and inflated different coloured balloons, set them to fly for other children in her apartment to catch. Dia's mom muttered under her breath.

What goes around comes around.