The Person in Green Pants
Holding on to moments before they drift away and only remain a memory
Kabir was already on the bed. The fan and air purifier were making their rhythmic sounds, and there was the faint sound of a local train as it galloped down the tracks next to our building.
Faint local train sounds every 2–3 minutes, and the hum of fans and the air purifier were our Mumbai lullabies. They did not disturb us; in fact, their absence would have made us feel something was amiss.
I was just getting into bed. It was our little time to have heart-to-heart conversations.
“Kabir, do you know who my favorite person in the world is?” I asked.
“Who?” he replied.
Generally, when we are going to bed, I give him a description of a person whom he has to guess—like, “The person whose birthday we went to the water park for”—and Kabir loves this game. But today, I added a little twist.
“You know that day we went to CSMT station?”
Kabir nodded.
“So, when we went to CSMT and got down, we crossed the platform. As we were exiting the station, there was a policeman standing near the gate—do you remember that?”
Kabir nodded again.
“Well, next to the policeman, there was a person wearing green pants and a yellow shirt. He is my favorite person.”
Kabir was laughing at my made-up story. He didn’t confront me, but he knew I was making it up. He was tired; he closed his eyes and had almost fallen asleep when our dear friend Alexa spoke.
Alexa: “Time to get ready.”
It was the 8:45 PM alarm for Kabir to get ready for bed, but today he was already there with his eyes closed—not yet asleep, though.
“Kabir, Kabir, wake up! It’s time to get ready for school. See? Alexa said it’s time to get ready.”
Kabir opened his eyes fully, looking a little confused. “What time is it?”
“8:45.”
“AM or PM?”
“AM. You remember last night we were talking about my favorite person? Then you slept, and now it’s already morning.”
“No! I haven’t even slept yet. It’s PM,” he insisted.
“No, it’s AM. Shall we ask Alexa?”
“Yes, let’s ask Alexa.”
“Alexa, is it AM or PM in New York right now?”
Alexa: “It is 11 AM in New York right now.”
Kabir started playfully slapping me and laughing. “No, no! Ask if it’s AM or PM in India! Not in New York...” He continued laughing and playfully hitting me. “Alexa, what is the time in India?”
Alexa: ….
We did not hear the response we were busy laughing hard. In a minute or two laughter subsided. He drifted into his dreamworld with a little smile on his face.
PS: I will miss this laughter when he grows up and starts sleeping independently. I can already see the signs; now, he only needs me as a “starter” to go to bed. Earlier, he needed me to pat him; now, once I lie down next to him, he just dozes off—sometimes even without any touch.