The Green Star

Today was a new beginning. A happy one. All I was looking forward to was a vomit-free day at school; one where he didn't cry while going in and come out sobbing uncontrollably waiting to jump into my arms. The preparations for the day started much before with my reminding LG what a good time he had last evening playing with his friend H who lives across us - the kid is 4 months younger than LG. It took some more narration of the colorful cycles at school, the wonderful aunties, the bubbly kids who were all eager to play with him, fun on the slides and so on. Somewhere in between I slipped the part that I would be away for a while but will come back to pick him up and we can go back home and have more fun; that his daadu would join me today for the picking up part and we can have a great ride back. It worked a bit I must admit - he wailed on entering but stopped a few minutes later, before I could cross to the other side of the road which was a good sign. I went in after 35 minutes and was cheerfully told by one of the teachers that he was comfortable and was listening to rhymes inside. I left it to them if they wanted to have him for some more time or if I should take him back. I was advised to win his confidence and take him back. He came out laughing but broke down on seeing me. The ma'am was quite happy about his getting adjusted today.

Then came the proud moment. She showed the back of his palm which had a bright green star - a token of appreciation for being a good kid (which in turn means not crying). So we've been showing it off to every person we meet ever since making a big deal out of it. Alright, it's not like clearing Civil Services or getting into the IIMs but so what? When we do indeed clear the major exams of our life, we become such cynics that we stop celebrating (or rather I). So this is a huge deal for me - a moment of celebration! Here's to my son's first achievement!