All of a sudden, I was all ears like an good husband. My daughter’s pre-school is organizing a fancy dress event on Thursday. They had announced it on Friday. As my daughter had skipped school on Friday, we got to know it only on Monday evening. We have spent precious days holidaying in Pune, Now, we had hardly two days to plan and execute! In two days, we had to decide on the costume and also buy or rent it! The thought of accomplishing all this in two days was taking my blood pressure to new heights! To make matters simple, I thought of suggesting the Kerala traditional wear our daughter has. The all-knowing look on my wife’s face prevented me from voicing my brilliant idea out in the open for discussion.
On further thought, the easiest way out was dressing our daughter as a princess. Being a girl, there were a lot of flashy pink dresses readily available in her wardrobe. We needed only a head gear and a wand! We overlooked a minor detail here. A wand is associated with a witch and witches are not dressed up in pink! After procrastination, I visited a kid’s shop on the previous day of the event. Instead of asking for an headgear and wand, I asked them for a “fancy dress” costume. I was presented with variety of choices - Micky Mouse, Tiger, Elephant and Spiderman.
When a problem is solved, the solution brings to a light a hidden problem. What size should I choose? There was only one available size – 4 to 5 years size - for these costumes. My daughter is hardly 4. What if the size is too big? So, I looked around and found a mom-son duo. The son was as tall as my daughter. I enquired his age to the mom. She, with a sympathetic smile, told me her son’s age so that I could make an informed decision.
Finally I decided on the elephant costume! My daughter was excited to see the costume. She insisted on wearing it immediately. After wearing it, she started walking on her knees imitating an elephant. I felt relieved watching her. I thanked my stars that this happens only once an year! Compare this to my friend’s plight! He has three daughters!
You have one kid and you still go in for easy solutions!! not fair!! In schools here ready made garments for fancy dress are not acceptable, so to prove which set of parents are more imaginative and creative, we have to make dresses from egyptian pharoahs to a chai wallah to a vegei vendor, to a walking talking advertisement..and the list is endless as there are two kids and each year there is this story repeating!! but being a chail wallah is cool, all you need is an stained and ugly old shorts and shirt and a aluminium kettle and some super dialouge delivery!!
ReplyDeletehahaha good one buddy:)
ReplyDelete@Sujata - :o Thank god there is no restriction on ready made garments! If that was the case, non-creative parents like me will end up in trouble!
ReplyDelete@Ramesh - :) Thanks
Next time please show some more creativity...it is not fair that I put so much effort and you sent her in store bought clothes.
ReplyDeleteOnce it was Jhansi ki Raani with all the armour and weapons and once it was goddess Saraswati, complete with swan and a veena. Thank god the days are gone.
Oh yes! I got a costume of a Penguin made for my son. And later I used it for the daughter too... ;). Its just the beginning. Good Luck!
ReplyDelete@Aparna - Yes, Ma'am. :) Jhansi ki Raani sounds like a lot of work!
ReplyDelete@BKC - Thanks
@Jyothi - :) Wow! Did you tell your daughter that it was a hand down from her brother? I realize this is the beginning and need all the patience(and also the luck) in the world!
Glad to see your comments Nona..incentives to write more..so hit me more often..
ReplyDeleteYour blog: The first para of this post confirmed to me what good sense of humour you have..keep up the good work!
Of Course she knew! Only the costume was the same. The act was different. He had won third prize and she got the second Prize. There was a two year gap, so no one noticed, I guess!! :) The first prize generally goes to the most complicated costume plus the confidence of the child. It was fun training them.
ReplyDelete@Emmanuel - Thanks for dropping by and I'm glad you liked what I wrote. :)
ReplyDelete@Jyothi - Sounded like fun too. :)
Is it the fancy dress season or wut? for teh last few days..I am seeing supermans, barbies, batmans, donald ducks all accompanied by their parents in the morning on their way to school..
ReplyDelete@Rohit - Thanks for dropping by. I think it is because of the "Children's Day" celebrations in the schools. Everyone is having a "fancy dress" thing going on! My niece also had a similar one in her school. :)
ReplyDelete