Wednesday 17 March 2010

Keep on walking

When the monster was that tiny baby, we used to walk and walk to get her to sleep. She was always a fairly excitable kid, however tired, she would not crash into sleep, and we had to calm her down, keep the room dark, calm ourselves down, sing, chant (times tables or something crazy like that), and, when all else failed, walk. Up and down, up and down. My mum would pat (whack) her to sleep on her lap and that seemed to work for her, but the husband and I *had* to walk.

I made a little song to go with the walk, so that we would be singing the walking song, and, well, walking. I remember one time being in Chennai at my in-laws place in the other bedroom, boiling hot of course as Chennai, and especially T Nagar always is, and everyone else doing something to do with gift bags for guests in the other room. And me? Carrying her and walking. And singing the walking song: Monster walky-walk, Amma Walky-walk, Appa Walky-walk, Fan Walky-walk, Watch Walky-walk, Diaper Walky-Walk (what will it take for this child to fall asleep dammit?).

I don't much like blended scotch but everytime I saw the Johnnie Walker ad (what is it now? Keep walking?) I would think, yeah, like I have any other choice! Gotto keep on walking, else this child will never sleep and then I will never sleep and everything will crash and burn and the world will cease to spin. Some days, it surely felt like she would *never* sleep, and I would have to spend my entire life carrying her and walking her. She used to wake up at least a couple of times every night for the longest time (two years? something like that). And it was not like normal human beings who drink water or pee or whatever and go back to sleep, this one would start rolling around in the bed and knocking into me, and most times it made better sense to somehow get her to sleep deeply so I could sleep without bruises on my body caused by her fat head.

Philosophy-wise, its sort of like life. Shit happens, right. People get married. Children are born. People die. Some die young, some die old (you mourn a little, feel a bit weird for a few days, wake up in the morning and hope it was just a bad dream). Jobs. Grocery. Lisol Floor Cleaner. Deadlines. Gotto go see mum. Been so long. Everything is ahead of you, everything is alongside you. At the end though, all you can do is Keep on Walking (except when you are running, or sitting down and drinking Jim, John or Jack... )

12 comments:

Unknown said...

smiles.. a walk is a must.. but a Jim, John or Jack helps a lot!!

Parul said...

You are on a roll, Kenny with your last few posts. Almost like some plug has been pulled and all these wonderful words are tumbling out.

I have my eyes on this blog, babe, that's for sure!

Mamma mia! Me a mamma? said...

Yes, you walk the line.

But here's the nice bit...you get by with a little help from your friends.

Preeti Aghalayam aka kbpm said...

thank you parul -
its like i had a bit of a drought, and now the synapses are connecting again.

meanderer - :-) Jim too? thats the worst of the lot, right?

M4 - totally. am nothing without them.

Choxbox said...

am all over blogsville going 'ghodiyu ghodiyu'. wonder where it fits into the philosophy of life and all. all you do is rock it a little and the kid is in slumberland. serious life-saver i tell you.

p.s.: in case you've forgotten its that gujju cloth cradle thing. remember i'd done a post once.

Perakath said...

I hate walking. Treks make no sense to me. Why not drive instead?

I love that tee with the outline pic of Gandhi and the 'Keep Walking' slogan, though.

Preeti Aghalayam aka kbpm said...

Perakath-not to fear. i do like treks but generic walking i dont like either. i prefer to run (of course). but this thing was just so much a part of our lives when she was little. thankfully since we are both crazy after exercise we rationalised it as such but still.

chox- i remember seeing that too late. anyway many such creations were propounded by relatives. i was on some trip then that she should feel us and feel close etc. whatever. its in the past now!

Choxbox said...

not to worry - we've been on many such trips ourselves :)

dipali said...

Ditto Parul:)
Keep on, Kenny, just keep 'em coming:)

wordjunkie said...

so true.
walk on!

wordjunkie said...

So true. Walk on!

Sands said...

don't know if your child asking you to walk is better or wanting to watch the same boring barney video a million times is better. Atleast you got your workout :)