Raw emotions

She mostly ambles around the house with not a care in the world. Everything is fair game in her eyes and nothing is too expensive or too precious to be categorized "not a play thing". The first step is to pull down any object to her level and then examine it and see if it is interesting enough to keep her engaged.

One day she strutted around with an old can on talcum powder. Since she had no one else to play with, her grandfather happened to be her most obvious target. The grandfather obliged and played along asking for some powder to puff his face with. She willing gave him some and enjoyed doing so. A few hours later in her eternal quest to find something interesting, she found the grandfathers powder tin. Promptly she took it and walked around the house threatening to puff up the whole house. The grandfather was quick to reclaim his can of powder and explained to the child that it was not a toy. The child surrendered the tin but walked away pointing out that she had willingly shared her tin of powder and sees no reason why she was treated differently. Needless to say that the grandfather was quick to run after her with his tin of powder begging her to play with it.

One day in her usual manner she was at odds with her grandmother. The grandmother unable to win the argument warned her that if she did not listen to what was being told, the grandmother will go away and not come back. The girl not susceptible to normal admonishments began to bawl uncontrollably. It took a lot to explain to her that it was merely a joke before she stopped.

How bare and naked is the child’s mind. No social norms, no animosity, no bitter thoughts. It is all out there bare and naked for all to see. And yet my niece will lose this quality of hers in the matter of next couple of years and enter the world of controlled emotions. But till then she makes for a wonderful bundle of joy with her raw emotions out there for all to see.

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