chirp chirp chirp

My little 8 year old cousin from Chennai has come over home for the weekend. There's a house warming ceremony in the family. This little one goes chirp chirp chirp, has a keen eye for art, paints like a pro, knows 4 languages, talks like an adult. Probably because she's the only child and almost always has adults for company. Her favourite company is that of yours truly. We sit and "talk" for long hours.

This girl's fast becoming a touch-me-not kinda lady. Her parents are paranoid about her health, and she's far from the tomboy that I was at her age. The last frilly frock I had was when I was too small to wear my clothes myself. My mom had to struggle to get me to wear girly dresses at least on occasions. This girl almost always has nailpolish on, most of her dresses are the frilly types, her footwear is clearly the delicate types. A pretty sight to see, but I dread to think of her state of mind when she wears clothes like that.Now's not the time to feel pretty. Now's the time to feel smart. So much attention to outward appearance at THAT age? This girl doesnt have a pair of sports shoes other than the compulsory white canvas shoes for Fridays at school. Her intellect is good, vocabulary even better, and sense of alertness is better than that of both her parents combined. Loves to read books, understands what I tell her about being with friends and how to behave and why. I love those wide open eyes, waiting to take in every little detail.

I told her a thing or two about her overgrown, painted, filed, shaped nails. At 23, I still have never had long nails, and the last time I put nail polish was for a school play. I used a sketch pen for that. The little lady was so taken by the concept of neat and elegant as opposed to showy and garish, that she asked me to teach her to cut her own nails so she could do them herself. Which I did for the next half hour. I love her open mind, always looking for something new to take in.
Wish some adults I knew were like that. At least open enough to take a hint, if not a whole new concept. This girl has High Thinking, all she needs to learn about is Simple Living. She goes to one of the best schools in the city. She has to fight household influences that will surround her and make "looking pretty" an important part of her personality. A child's attention is too precious to be diverted to that. Presentability, is another issue of course, but children are pretty enough without those extra efforts that go into making them look pretty.
Lunch time, gotta go have lunch with the little sparrow :D
I distributed my enormous Tinkle collection to my many younger cousins. This lady has almost nothing left. Gotta go recover the books for this little birdie.