Sanjana..

She said she studies in UKG. Must have been five years old. Sanjana. Her name. I met her at one of my friend's place.

I consider kids as a different species of their own. Their behavior differs in a variety of ways and is quite humorosly unpredictable.

"What are you talking on phone?" The conversation had just begun. I knew she'd be not shy more than five minutes with me. But I hadn't expected her to be this frank and naughty as she proved to be! We were three friends and one by one she asked all our names. None of us understood the language that she spoke. But you dont need much of a language when you are with kids!

We were in the drawing room, watching cricket on the telly. She came a stationed herself firmly amongst us on the sofa. When it was about two minutes gone and she found that no one was paying attention to her, with a loud scream she jumped towards the tv, and manually changed the channel to Cartoon Network. And before any of us could react in any possible manner, she sprang into my lap, took the remote and kept it away at a distance. And then, as if a magician who had just finished a strange trick and is waiting for the audience to appreciate the its depth and greatness, she stood in the center of the room, looked at all of us and gave a loud laugh with hands covering her semi-toothed mouth.

We were out of the magic by now and the match was at an exciting point. I caught her in my arms and asked my friend to switch on the telly. She was waiting for someone to take her on to the lap and smiled wide. But as soon as the telly started, she realised that the attention span gained by her last trick was very ephimeral. How could she let this be? She freed herself from my arms and rushed back to the telly, almost breaking my glasses. How could they see something as mundane as cricket when a great performer like her was nearby? This act needs corrective punishment. Namely, switching off the TV.

Well, by now we'd realised the importance of this great personage between us, but the match was being telecast live and we wanted to stick to it. I caught hold of her again and asked her to sit quietly near me. The telly went on again. Understanding her need for attention, I kept talking to her, showing the different players on the screen. But it seemed her ony aim of existence was to grab the remote from my friend. She tickled me in my belly and ran off!

I am too sensitive to tickling. My friend managed to keep the remote away from her but by now she had identified her next trick! Tickling me. A sudden change in strategy was not noticed by me till she attacked me with full force and with a wonderfull loud cry of victory, landed on my lap. I was almost on the ground and before I could restrain her, she ran to another of my friend sitting adjacent and did the same trick to him. It did not take her long to realise that I was a better victim to her pranks than her. Add to this the fact that whatever she was continously speaking a high speed was quite worse than greek to me. And the same case with what I said to her, with the only difference being that I wanted to know what she was speaking whereas I was really not sure or the reverse.

When I held her left hand, she used her right one to tickle me. And when both her tiny hands were held, she made good use of her legs.

There was enough commotion now to make everybody abort the match and move for dinner.

I have a small study done on the way kids try to gain attention and to what extent they can play innocent pranks! [One of my friend's son locked his mom in the toilet and was watching innocently as neighbours were trying to free her. He was 10 months old. I'll write about it soon.:) ]