Nieces and nephews are an underestimated gift to people. The advantage of having them could be likened to having children of your own, without the headaches that often go with it. You can treat them like your own children, or as adults, play with them, humour them or advise them, and without reason or rime, ignore them and walk away. No one notices, no one complains. Bachelors and bachelor girls can have first-hand experience of parenthood if they can play the game, with genuine affection for good measure, to master the art the proper way.
I have had children of my own but I have been blessed with a lot of nieces and nephews as well; I know this has enriched my life to no end. I discovered the truth of it all only by chance, and I might have even missed it totally had it not been for an email from a niece recently that lit up another revelation as to how we can never guess where, why, when, and how they might remember us.
To all immigrants like me who have left India, life maintains its excitement and variety with the spray of visits we make back home every now and then. Each visit has a highlight that stays as a link made of steel. I looked forward to one such visit that would add a new person to my life: I would be meeting my younger brother’s daughter for the first time. I bought a pretty little dress and a children’s book. When I handed them to her, the little girl was happy to wear the dress and sat down, placed the open book on her stretched-out legs and started turning the pages. Strange English words, and stranger colorful pictures. And that was the end of that as years rolled by as they will.
Today I received an email with a cover picture attached from the same niece, now married and settled down in Germany with a five-year-old daughter. “Dear Indu Aunty, I don’t know if you remember, but you had given this book to me when I was in First Grade in 1990. Unfortunately the book was lost in the process of us moving from Banashankari to Basavanagudi in 1994. However, I found this book again at a thrift store all for six euros! It is amazing because I have never forgotten this book. The pictures are so hauntingly beautiful.”
Since I did not even vaguely remember the book, I was seized by a desire to hold it in my hands and read it from beginning to end. I went searching online and found one available on Amazon for $99! A more realistic offer was from a thrift bookstore here somewhere in the Midwest for $7 that I ordered right away. Next time I visit Bengaluru, I will gift it to a child.
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