Sohum-isms!

If you've just read my previous blog entry, you would probably think that watching the French Open was what took up most of my time over the last weekend. But no, I had something as much, if not more, enjoyable! My uncle and his family came to visit from the US, and Sohum was part of the package deal. Sohum, aged 5 (Almost 6, he reminds me at every possible instance), is perhaps the most adorable kid to ever walk the planet. So much so that he grabs attention wherever he goes. A little description... He's 4 feet tall ("I'm 48 inches and so I'm not allowed into the deep end of the pool"), just a couple of inches shorter that his sister Maya, two years older than him. He adores Shahrukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan, and aspires to have his hair styled like Hrithik's. He leaves no opportunity to admire himself in the mirror, and doesn't mind if you watch him while he does so. Adores movies of all sorts and is usually quoting some dialogue from some movie. Can laugh at himself and is very affectionate - the two things I really admire in him. I've tried to make a list of the adorable-est things he's said. Here's my compilation. (To get the full effect, all Sohumisms muct be read/ imagined in an American accent.)
On the first day they were here, we rented Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. From the 2nd minute of the movie, he was dying to know if Rahul would get remarried. My mum sat down to watch the movie when it was about halfway done, and he tried to fill her in on the details - "His wife is going to be Anjali and his daughter is Anjali. One Anjali and one Anjali. TWO ANJALIS!!!".
After falling off a chair, sternly to himself, "You gotta be careful!".
On Sunday, we went on a shopping spree. My mum promised to buy him and Maya whatever they wanted. He had his heart set on a basketball. My uncle said it would be difficult to carry it with them, but Sohum's mind was set. He didn't want anything else. I tried showing him a dozen different beach balls, and even tons of colouful basketballs. But he wanted the very first one he had seen - a classic orange B-ball. When his parents agreed to let him have it, he went down and picked it up. And then he quietly said to himself, "I've never had one before!". Maya and my uncle and aunt picked out their stuff. Throughout this time, he kept saying to himself "This is the best ball in the world!". He was very reluctant to give it to my mum when she needed to get it billed. When we got it done, we came outside and gave it to him. He was thrilled. "Mhave (Aunt in konkani) buyed it for me?", he asked. He went down to play that evening, and didn't let go of his beloved basketball. When he came back up, he told me that he had already learnt a new move.
Outside on the balcony, he got up onto our balcony, raised his arms and said, "I am Karma. There is no one stronger than me!". He is still under the impression that my mum was a super-villian he cured.
He wrote down his name in running hand, in Hindi and in block lettering and announced that he had written his name in three languages - Cursive, Hindi and American.
This one isn't something he said - it's something he did. He polished off two helpings of vanilla ice-cream with chocolate sauce faster than anyone else I've seen (And let me tell you I've seen some fast 'uns!) In fact, he is such a chocolate freak that he had a sip of chocolate sauce as if it were water, and then went 'Mmmmmm'! Actually, he enjoys food of all sorts. Must run in the family...
When my uncle first told us he'd be visiting us, I was very scared that the Sohum we had grown to adore two years back would have changed. I wasn't entirely wrong in this, and Sohum's actually changed in two ways - he's lost his lisp, and he's grown even more adorable. Even though he's all of five and a half and forty-eight inches tall, we all have a lot to learn from that little kid.