Note: Originally published on LinkedIn on Oct 23rd, 2019
Yesterday morning, I asked my twin terrors to give me all the colours which they didn't need anymore. SR straight barged into his room and took out everything, arranged them neatly on his bed and told me to have whatever I wanted. SB tagged along for sometime and then paused to ask as to why in hell I required crayons and sketch pens. I pretended not to hear him as I rushed into the kitchen. The chap picked up his glass of milk, followed me into the kitchen, settled onto the stool (his legs still don't touch the ground) and the conversation proceeded as follows:SB- Why do you want our colours?
ME- For my class. (I was trying to be as laconic as possible. Conversations with this fellow almost always led to my dishes getting burned)
SB - But your students are all big students. What would they need colours for?
ME - For my class.
SB - (Placing his glass of milk on the counter and scratching his head with one tiny finger) - Are they doing a project? (I get the feeling that the word 'project' is getting bandied around quite a bit in the school...he had addressed the hideous eyesore of a cardboard box which he painstakingly painted in blue with the words 'Box for Bouncy Balls' as his 'art project'. My concurrence had resulted in the ‘eyesore’ occupying the pride of the place in our living room. SR noticed this and placed his ‘eyesore’…ahem… ‘art project’, right next to it. )
ME - Not exactly…they are going to do an activity!
SB - Ooooh! I love activities. In fact I love going to the tinkering lab in our school. By the way, you are taking away our colours and sketch pens…I hope you are planning to replace them soon.
ME - Sure thing this weekend! (Mental note - Top of the list this weekend - Get a new sketch pen set!)
SB - But amma…what activity are your students gonna do with OUR colours?
ME - An activity for conflict negotiation. (My responses are getting brief.)
SB - What is a con`FLICT?
ME - When you fight with SR over silliest of things….that is a conflict?
SB - How is that a conflict?
ME - Because both of you stop doing whatever you were doing, and instead engage in an argument. As a result, you don’t get ready for school on time and as a result, I get stressed out and end up having a bad day. So you see…conflicts are bad. (Which mother would resist an opportunity to impart some worldly wisdom to fellows who always decide to go off on a tangent…Try, Try and Try…Persistence is the key. Maybe in twenty years time, they’ll understand.)
SB - Oh….but do you know why we continue fighting like that?
ME - No…please do tell me. (Here I am Oh Buddha! Bring on your nuggets of wisdom!)
SB - When people fight….they get angry…when they get angry…they don’t want to listen…I don’t want to listen to SR when I get angry…so we continue to fight. So…that’s the thing…anger is the key. Deal with anger…you deal with the con`FLICT. (Am I dreaming or did I just hear Krishna’s flute in the background from the Bhagavad Gita as the rising sun's rays slowly made their way through the kitchen window and shone up the chap's face. He positively looked like an enlightened soul. And before I realised, the chap finished his milk, ran out and promptly picked up an argument with SR… Nuggets of wisdom are meant only for sharing…not for practising!)
