A child clinging on to its mother can be equally exasperating and beautiful. It can be exasperating as the child refuses to let go of their mother. Babies do not let their mothers eat, drink, sleep, or even breathe. It is beautiful because there is no relationship as pure as that of a mother and child. The child has immense trust in its mother, knowing that she will protect it from anything else in this world that is evil. It has nothing to fear when she is there. She will not let anything happen to her baby, no matter what. She is the most powerful entity in the world for that child.
On my recent train journey, I came across such a mother and child-duo. It was a girl. She was very naughty and kept shrieking for attention. Her mother always kept her occupied with toys or a bottle of milk. She had an electric kettle to warm the milk. It was past 11 p.m. and the baby had still not slept. The baby continuously talked to her mother. Her baby language was inarticulate, but she kept mumbling them. Her mother gave her a mobile to play with, which is wrong as it will spoil her baby’s eyes. The baby was engrossed in that cartoon on the phone, but after some time she became hungry again. Her mother gave her the bottle of milk, which she sipped on her mother’s lap. She was continuously touching and caressing her mother’s face and neck with her small, paw-like hands. Her mother was getting irritated and kept snapping her hands away. because she needed to sleep because it was now midnight. She had her large black eyes imprinted on her mother.
After drinking milk, she kept looking outside the window of the train. Her mother, lying down, kept calling her to come to sleep, but she was enjoying the view outside. I wish we could hear her baby-thoughts. At last, her mother managed to make her sleep next to her, and eventually, she fell asleep. She went into a deep, peaceful sleep and awoke in another world, which may be filled with toys or other babies. She was bothering her mother even while she was sleeping because her mother couldn’t turn. She had to retain the same position as the train seat has limited space, and if she had to turn, she would have had to pick up the baby and put her on the other side, which was a risk of her waking up. So her mother continued to sleep like that, giving her baby a peck on the forehead occasionally.
I was looking out of the window when a small hand patted me on the back. I looked around to see a small girl, around 9 years old. Her nose dripped, her hair was messy and pointed, and her dress was ripped and filthy. What was most appealing was that she had a small puppy with her. She’d tied it in a cloth and wrapped it around her. Like Rani Lakshmi Bai, the difference is that it was tied to her stomach, unlike Rani Lakshmi Bai, who tied her baby on her back.
It was a chubby little pup with moist eyes. She had one hand on her pup, caressing it and the other held out in front, asking for alms. She came to me and asked for money, with her big eyes fixated on me. I couldn’t keep myself from caressing the pup. I told her that I won’t give her money and asked her if she would like a chocolate? She looked around and he said she wanted a vada pav. She waited for some time with me and a vada pav vendor turned up. She pointed her small hand towards the vendor. I bought her a vada pav. She asked that vendor to give her a Mirchi. Off she went with it, her arms wrapped around the pup.
Published in www.medium.com
https://medium.com/@egalitariansaranya/random-tales-of-a-train-journey-d9953fae9eeb
