'MOM' me!

I work with around 20 children almost everyday during workshops. I do not have favorites. They are all my favourites. Every kid is an universe and  they welcome you into their world without fears and prejudices. You shower love, they embrace you with open arms :).. Manan- loves to look out of the window, can stare at bugs and birds all day. Vishnu - is five and wants to be grammatically correct all the time . Ardhya - strongly feels that she is smarter and can handle a heavy role in a play . she is not at all satisfied with her two lines . Nanditha - very quiet but colored a monkey mask green, blue and pink while everyone stuck to the color brown. Manav- believed with all his heart that if he flapped his arms really fast he would be able to fly. He simply could not understand the concept of gravity . Raheal , every time she read about violence in a story, she would cry . She changed the 'jack and the bean stalk story' in such a way that jack did not steal from the giant and  made friends with him as he lived all by himself on the clouds with no one to play to play with. Jasmine , she loves jasmine. Adnan- thinks that rockets are propelled by gigantic springs. Prahalad , simply could not figure out why the farmers had to grow food when they could just could go the market and buy it. Zoya , did not want to do ballet because a boy was teaching her to be a princess. Charvi, a fantastic story teller. Loves to run in the park and wants everyone to run with her.
The little child in the picture is Mudra, my Kanda. My dance teacher's daughter. I have known her since she was in her mom's womb. what music she liked and how she loved to move every time she kicked in her cosy space. The day she was born was such a magical day. I simply could not believe that life came into being from nothingness in such form , shape and size. She fit in my palms like a Pudina plant ..:) Her fingers and her entire palm was the size of my little finger and her eyes .. she seldom opened them and when she learned how to smile,  laughter flowed into the universe. I would hear her breath and put her to sleep with a hummmmm a lullaby improvised on the spot, to fit her taste and mood. She responded to stories before she could say a word. She listened, she would say things in silence, her body would express her needs, moods and emotions. When she fell ill or had to get a shot , I  could not understand how this tiny bundle of innocence could bear all the pain.  We loved to dance together and I had managed to injure her nose during a dance class. She never blamed me for causing so much pain . She was so forgiving . All she needed was a hug and my monkeyness to keep her smiling. I have not met her for almost a year now. I miss her and it is lovely to see her grow form a distance. Her teachers are now her experiences.
I miss her! She was the one who invoked the mother in me.
There is a mother in all of us . Nature is omnipresent as motherhood. I have many times wanted to adopt a child.When I interact with children , I have a strong urge to take them home, make them my own . But! is it about possessiveness and ownership? Does a mother own a child as it is an extension of her own body? I was once told by an educator that I will not know how a mother feels because I have not given birth to a child. That was the most hurtful thing that anyone has ever told me in my life. Almost all  my friends are married and have children and I love them all.  To all of you mothers out there , how would it feel when you get attached to a child as your own and at the end of the day he/she goes back to someone else ( I fail to express it in words).At the end of the day, mother knows best! There is a very strong urge to own a kid and I tell myself  that it is the most selfish thing to wish for. I love children and I love teaching them . Through teaching, I have also come to realize that there is more than one way of being a mother and loving children. This way, I am not stuck with one kid.. I get to meet a new angel almost every day. A new universe everyday. To love them all without owning them . They will love me back and they will go home and forget about me . No possessiveness . Just that moment that defines a mother and a child.. and then like everything else in this world ...it fades away into the oblivion . Memories remain... and they turn into precious possessions  with time :) and they are all mine !
I have to share this poem that the children wrote during a summer camp . The workshop named Granny's courtyard focused on farming and all 5 year old angels composed this poem.

Silkworm gives you silk,
Cows give you milk..
Horses take you around ,
Water comes from ground...
Snakes scare away mice,
Fields give you rice...
Plough your fields with bull,
Sheep gives you wool...
Hens give you eggs,
Earthworms have no legs...
Bees give you honey,
Pigs are so funny...
Ha ha ha ha hah

Looks like my ultimate destiny is to become a teacher and share their world with mine :)