I can’t believe this day is here already but my baby starts
school tomorrow. Admittedly the day of leaving the nest, even if only for a
couple of hours, has been preponed by our Addis Ababa move. Back in Delhi, I
might have waited till he turned two before unleashing Vihaan on the world.
Although I used to feel rather guilty about not providing him more company his
age there as well. One of the advantages of living in huge housing boards is
that your kid can create his own band of brothers just by stepping into the
common playground, an advantage denied to me both in Delhi and in Addis. So
basically I am going to pay a huge amount of money to get my son the
companionship which I could get 30 years ago by venturing into the colony and
my mom could get 60 years ago by venturing out of bed. Just to give you an idea
of scale, my medical education was cheaper than Vihaans playschool.
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| Time to braid his hair |
A few sentences of defence. Yes, Vihaan is too terribly
young to actually start school but he really enjoys the company of other
children or “Beby” as he puts it and I hope he will miss the 1001 people
pampering him at Delhi a little less if he is busy. Also his social skills are
a trifle cave man like at the moment consisting of random poking and shoving
and hoarding of precious “taupies”. I am perfectly willing to send him to a
clean ( and cheaper ) neighbourhood crèche but unfortunately, the number of
establishments willing to take a child this young are few. Also, we really,
really, really liked this place. Also my
school fees was Rs.5 a month so I have to compensate to the universe in
general.We’ve decided to let him attend this playschool for a few months and to
take a call on shifting him to a less premier institution once he turns two and
more socially acceptable.
I will detail more on the playschools I have explored in
Addis Ababa once the experiment is underway. To the next eighteen years of
education !
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| Too early for the arclights |
Footnote : The first day was a huge success. Vihaan immediately
waded into the toddler melee clutching his tiger soft toy and did not look back
till it was time to leave three hours later. I realized that it was the first
time he has ever been out of sight of a family member for any length of time
and the first time I couldn’t get a detailed account of his activities. My
nanny is lovely but has limited English skills. I could elicit that both of them
had fun, that there were children younger than Vihaan as well in his group and
that he pulled a child’s hair during the course of the morning. So, we will be
back in school on Friday if they are willing to have him. Maybe the fee isn’t
too steep after all.
