Snowman on a school bus.

What happens when you let your 4 year old niece to paint a school bus (on the iPad app of course) ?

She did tell me that she wanted to go to a place filled with snow and that she would bring with her a carrot so that she can stick that as the nose of the snowman she would build. I really should try and take her somewhere before she grows out of this phase.

Whispering willow

My second niece (age : almost 4) is the terror of our house hold. She and I have our regular fights (including fists too) from time to time. She says the atrocious things, which at times is hilarious and sometimes leads to face palms. So there I was cooking something, my sister in law (her mom), cutting vegetables and my sister, doing something in the dining room (just outside the kitchen). She came to me and told that she had a secret to tell me. I am wary of her doing that because she just comes very close to the ears and screams to her full capacity. That really irritates me so I was a little hesitant. She promised that she really had something to say to me. When I bent, she whispered that I looked like an eli (eli in Tamil means Rat, check the google translate on how its pronounced). I was a little offended. Do I really look like that ? I am the biggest and the meanest looking of the lot (among the ladies in the house hold at least) and was wondering why she said that, a little sad at her statement.

For her whispering means saying something in the other’s ears. It doesn’t have to do anything with the volume 😛 So obviously, anyone close to her can hear her. She, then went to her mom and ‘whispered’ that she looked like an elephant (she obviously thought that, ‘that’ rhymed ! 🙄 ) And obviously , that made me feel a little better. At least I am not an elephant. But my sister in law wasn’t too happy about her daughter’s observation and was literally a little bit taken back! Then she went to my sister and whispered that she looked like a erumai (that means buffalo…she really was in the mood for rhyming words). Now this put both my sister in law and myself in a way better mood than when my niece left us with her observations. My sister was not so nice about hearing it and told my niece to run away if she really wanted to avoid being attacked by a buffalo. And that is all it took all of us to burst out laughing. She came, she ‘whispered’ and she went her merry way, leaving us elders perplexed.

Say cheese

“Smiling is infectious,
you catch it like the flu,
When someone smiled at me today,
I started smiling too.”
― Karen McLendon-Laumann

Captured when these kids were playing around in the temporary stage erected for the performances during the Ganesh Chathurthi festival at my friend’s housing community. They were so happy to be photographed. It first started with the kid on the right. I was watching them play and when he saw me I smiled and he reciprocated and went about playing. When I was contemplating if I should take one casual picture of theirs, he turned around. When he saw that I was ready with my camera he got ready with a pose. He then urged his friends to join him too.  And yes, I showed their photos to them and got their ecstatic approval.

I realized that I am growing to enjoy capturing their beautiful smiles and their enthusiasm. I might have to do it more often and whenever I get the opportunity.

Update: I posted it on Thursday night IST time, and when I saw today’s Weekly Photo Challenge, I realized that I could use the post for the same. So here it is, republishing it for this week’s Photography challenge theme: Humanity.