Of Angels and Princesses

Driti could easily climb up the stairs. The catch there was she'd want to do it independently.  So we let her; stealthily following her behind. Till about 2 days back, she couldn't get down. This was a huge boost to our ego. That she 'wanted us' in her life! Silly, but a kick nevertheless. Human beings have an inherent need to feel important. And although my dad refers to me as an angel, I think I have this need too. An anomaly- yes... but my explanation there is Angels need to feel human sentiments in order to help them! :-)


Anyway, back to my Princess (notice the interchange of words. I am not calling her an Angel here!).
So this time in the Park, she suddenly went up to the slide and started climbing up the steps. She sees so many children do it day in and day out, must've thought 'How difficult can it be?'

The only catch was, Mom-in-law couldn't follow her up to the top. So she cunningly ruined her plans with an alternate source of amusement. The swimming pool. But the head-strong girl that we have, did not budge. So that's the scene setting.

This was the moment that the Angel (yours truly) walked in to the Park, straight from office, looking for her Princess. 'Ah! Mama to the rescue!' I thought.

Mom -in-law looked at me in relief. "Please take your baby to the pinnacle.. she seems to like mountaineering all of a sudden" " Will do!" I just wished I had a magic wand at that instance to wave around.

But the most I expected of Driti was to climb a couple of steps. So arrogantly, I did not even remove my sandals.  But she kept climbing till she reached the top. (If you've read my previous posts you'll notice Driti does this to me often.. she wants to remain unpredictable I guess). I dutifully followed. Reaching the top, there was only one way down. Through the slide. Now, this was an awkward situation. All the other playmates were under 10. I was over 10 and under 30! (see how cleverly I'm leaving my age to your imagination!:-))

But a Mom's gotta do what a Mom's gotta do. So I did, the unthinkable. MIL was spell bound. I was too. I slid down the slide, with her on my lap. Like it happens in the movies, there was silence all over.  I thought I had broken some ' No adults on the slide' rule. I quickly thought of how I would explain my act. "Well, you see, contrary to what you see, I am an Angel. And it is my duty, to protect people. Kids are my most important clients". Then I  thought, not everyone would be ready for the truth. Well not just yet. When I was still thinking of an explanation, I suddenly heard faint clapping. It was coming from where my MIL was standing. "Very good Driti!" she screamed in excitement.  And before I knew, everybody was screaming and clapping. Phew! Thanks to MIL, the scene shifted totally to Driti! :-) I clapped too! That's how you divert attention!

Only then did I realize, that my ankle had scraped through the edge of the slide. I hadn't removed my sandals. But then... Clap! Clap! Clap! the world doesn't need to know that Angels scrape themselves too! :-)