World without Boundaries
I decided to pen down this entry because of 3 year old Noyon… In case you don’t know who that is… It’s the housekeeper’s son…
Through our constant interactions over the past month, I think we’ve developed a certain understanding that does not involve language… After all, he doesn’t speak English… And I don’t speak Bangla… At least not enough to understand him…
So, whenever he talks to me, I don’t understand what he’s saying… but I understand his gestures… And when I respond accordingly, he gives this huge grin on his face… Like when he was jumping off the steps and wanted me to join him… After my first jump, he was so excited! Other times he asks me to play badminton with him or with his opponent because he wants to see how we play… I’m a real softie when it comes to kids… I give in everytime… I’ve played badminton and cricket with him and with anyone that he asks me to play with… It totally cracks him up when I lose…
I think he feels the same way about me too… Me and my expressions… He doesn’t know what I’m saying… But he knows exactly what I’m trying to tell him… Whenever I give him an instruction in English, he can figure out what I’m saying… Sometimes he does what I want him to do, other times he responds in the exact way that I don’t want him to... Little Rebel… Once the guys told him to hit me and I told him not to listen to them.. in English… He happily said to the others that he didn’t understand what I was saying cos he doesn’t understand English… And then he ran back to hit me! Come on… When a cheeky kids does that… It’s just an excuse to hit me in spite of what I’m telling him… he’s really smart at that…
Once, I bought him a skipping rope because I happened to see them hanging at a stall… He saw me coming back with shopping bags… And kept saying things… And pointing to the bags…When I took out the rope and gave it to him, he was elated! I could tell he did not expect to get anything for himself… He just wanted to see what was in the bag…
I do make an attempt to learn some Bangla to be able to give him some directions and say nice things to him… I’ve learnt to say “good boy” (bhalo cheyley), “sit down” (borsho), “come here” (ekhane asho), “well done” (shabash), “what are you doing?” (tumi ki kortey so?), “what’s that?” (eta ki?), “who’s that?” (eta kay?), “I love you” (ami tomake bhalobashi)… It helps…
Maybe he knows that I’m making an attempt to talk to him… Cos we’re much closer now than before… Sometimes he wouldn’t even let me get out of Pathshala because he wants me to play with him… It got really bad once when he bit my shawl and wouldn’t let go… Topu had to scold him to get him to release it… Poor baby…
He’s really dirty though… from playing in the dirt and not being grossed out by anything in the drains, on the road or anything… Never fails to get dirt on me… I get it by carrying him, hugging him, talking to him, standing near him, standing far away from him… His hands are really dirty and he puts everything into his mouth… It’s amazing how he never falls sick…
For the next few months I expect I will be playing a lot more with him… And probably buying him some more clothes and toys… From the looks of things, more clothes would be good or his clothes are going to get really tattered from his rough play and from constant washings… He has this nice blue jacket that is warm but can’t be zipped… (Speaking of jackets, once when I was wearing a jacket that wasn’t zipped, he came along, fitted the zip properly and zipped up my jacket for me! Is that adorable or what?)
Jessica calls Noyon her baby…But really… He’s everybody’s baby… The Pathshala students adore him, the Chitroshala people love him, and every foreigner that has stepped into the premises of Pathshala love him… This intern included…
“Noyon, Ami Tomake Bhalobashi”
Through our constant interactions over the past month, I think we’ve developed a certain understanding that does not involve language… After all, he doesn’t speak English… And I don’t speak Bangla… At least not enough to understand him…
So, whenever he talks to me, I don’t understand what he’s saying… but I understand his gestures… And when I respond accordingly, he gives this huge grin on his face… Like when he was jumping off the steps and wanted me to join him… After my first jump, he was so excited! Other times he asks me to play badminton with him or with his opponent because he wants to see how we play… I’m a real softie when it comes to kids… I give in everytime… I’ve played badminton and cricket with him and with anyone that he asks me to play with… It totally cracks him up when I lose…
I think he feels the same way about me too… Me and my expressions… He doesn’t know what I’m saying… But he knows exactly what I’m trying to tell him… Whenever I give him an instruction in English, he can figure out what I’m saying… Sometimes he does what I want him to do, other times he responds in the exact way that I don’t want him to... Little Rebel… Once the guys told him to hit me and I told him not to listen to them.. in English… He happily said to the others that he didn’t understand what I was saying cos he doesn’t understand English… And then he ran back to hit me! Come on… When a cheeky kids does that… It’s just an excuse to hit me in spite of what I’m telling him… he’s really smart at that…
Once, I bought him a skipping rope because I happened to see them hanging at a stall… He saw me coming back with shopping bags… And kept saying things… And pointing to the bags…When I took out the rope and gave it to him, he was elated! I could tell he did not expect to get anything for himself… He just wanted to see what was in the bag…
I do make an attempt to learn some Bangla to be able to give him some directions and say nice things to him… I’ve learnt to say “good boy” (bhalo cheyley), “sit down” (borsho), “come here” (ekhane asho), “well done” (shabash), “what are you doing?” (tumi ki kortey so?), “what’s that?” (eta ki?), “who’s that?” (eta kay?), “I love you” (ami tomake bhalobashi)… It helps…
Maybe he knows that I’m making an attempt to talk to him… Cos we’re much closer now than before… Sometimes he wouldn’t even let me get out of Pathshala because he wants me to play with him… It got really bad once when he bit my shawl and wouldn’t let go… Topu had to scold him to get him to release it… Poor baby…
He’s really dirty though… from playing in the dirt and not being grossed out by anything in the drains, on the road or anything… Never fails to get dirt on me… I get it by carrying him, hugging him, talking to him, standing near him, standing far away from him… His hands are really dirty and he puts everything into his mouth… It’s amazing how he never falls sick…
For the next few months I expect I will be playing a lot more with him… And probably buying him some more clothes and toys… From the looks of things, more clothes would be good or his clothes are going to get really tattered from his rough play and from constant washings… He has this nice blue jacket that is warm but can’t be zipped… (Speaking of jackets, once when I was wearing a jacket that wasn’t zipped, he came along, fitted the zip properly and zipped up my jacket for me! Is that adorable or what?)
Jessica calls Noyon her baby…But really… He’s everybody’s baby… The Pathshala students adore him, the Chitroshala people love him, and every foreigner that has stepped into the premises of Pathshala love him… This intern included…
“Noyon, Ami Tomake Bhalobashi”
posted by thebemusedphotog @ 2:00 PM
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