SUBSCRIPTIONS
ABOUT INDZINE

THE WINGS
By Meena Yeggina

My five-and-a-half-year-old son always seems mature for his age. To cite just one incident, he angrily encountered me once, "Mommy, why are you telling mummyamma (his maternal grandma) that I'm behaving well? That's a lie. You know I don't always listen to you. I do do bad things!" And that was almost six months ago. From then on I knew I had to be extra careful with his sensitivity and willingness to face facts up front. At the same time I loved his dependency his need for me to feed and bathe, put him to sleep only me. I adored this mixture of maturity and dependency.

So when he recently asked to go to India to spend eight weeks of summer holidays with his mummyamma and daddu (grandfather) as a gift for doing well in his kindergarten program, I was slightly taken aback. "Why?" I asked. "I just want to see mummyamma, daddu and Shree mama," he said with dignity. What he means is that he loves them very much and is aching to see them again. "Alone?" I asked. "Won't you miss me, daddy and your little sister?" "I will," he said as a matter-of-fact.. "But I think I can stay for 60 days!"

After a serious discussion, my husband and I decided that at 51/2 he's ready to visit his grandparents on his own. After all, as kids we ourselves spent most of our childhood at our grandparents'. So we got prepared to send him along with my close friends who are also visiting India. My son got excited to the idea, as he would be actually going with his close friends. My husband too seemed warming up to the idea. "He'll have fun," he declared.

I sat silently throughout the ride to the airport, though couldn't stop tears running down my cheeks. My son fell silent too. Suddenly he asked, "Mom, will you miss me a lot?" "Yes, of course," I replied. "Can you promise me something?" he demanded. "Sure!" "Promise me you won't die before I come back. I want to see you again!"

I knew the wish erupted from many of our casual conversations. But that simple query revealedso much to me! Although my little son is growing strong wings and is confident enough to fly great he might even find a new home and settle well he'll always know the way back to our home and heart; and he'll always love me. There's no need for tears anymore!

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