Chota Bheem nahi darta!!!

This one is dedicated to my nephew Siddharth aka Sidhu.. kind of like... Pyaar se log mujhe Sidhu bulate hai ... he is an absolute sweetheart and a legend amongst those who know him...he is an absolute rockstar in the making...Sidhu Rocks!!!

The first incident that I would like to narrate is rather cute. This one needs loads of background. If there are kids in your house I am sure you are aware of the new cartoon series which revolves around the legendary Bheema, jog your memory people,"Bheema", "Pandavas", "Mahabharat" got it...Rather I believe it is based on Bheema but the stories presented are new and unrelated, the central character is called "Chota Bheem" and the other characters of note are "Chutki" and "Kalia". Now Kalia is the trouble maker and every episode begins with him creating new problems for Chota Bheem and ends with Bheem solving it and all is well with the world and all that. Now in his mind, Sidhu has created a star cast of his own, his father is "Kalia", his mom(my cousin) is "Chutki" and he Ofcourse is "Chota Bheem", the hero and saviour of all. Recently when we met, Sidhu was plied with the usual cute question "Where do you live ?", "Which School do you go to?", "What is your father's name ?" etc... When asked the question, "What is your father's name ?", he came with some answer like "Pappa". Never the ones to give up, the interrogators tried new tactics, "Who is Vijay??" to which Sidhu replied "Kalia!!!".

The next episode took place yesterday, Sidhu needed a haircut and my cousin (his mom) took him to the hairdresser(note the use of the word Hairdresser, apparently they take grave umbrage if referred to as Barbers, which I noted at the time the film "Billu" starring SRK was released)... but I digress, now where was I, Ah yes, they arrived at the hairdressers' saloon or should it be Salon???...I digress again...Here I would like to mention that usually it is his father who accompanies Sidhu for these hair cutting sessions, but since he is out of town on work my cousin ventured out. Apprehensive that he might get scared, she told the hairdresser to exercise care and keep the atmosphere light. The hairdresser willingly obliged and skillfully cut most of the hair without a hitch, then came the tricky part of cutting the hair just behind the ears, so the hairdresser told Sidhu, "Darro mat, kuch nahi hoga", to which Sidhu retorted "Chota Bheem nahi darta!!!".

The third is the cutest of them all and my personal favourite. My cousin has a very interesting way of making Sidhu eat his greens. Incase Sidhu spies some veggies that he particularly dislikes on the plate, he makes his feeling known to all and sundry. In such crisis situations my cousin uses the magic words "Close you Eyes!" and feeds him all the greens and the poor lamb actually closes his eyes and eats it !!!