Monday, May 19, 2008

Kada kutty*

It is always said that parents never stop being parents. In other words, to parents, their kids are forever trapped in a drooling, squiggle-eyed, gurgling baby time-warp.

I was talking with a friend the other day and she told me that her father had called her up early in the morning that day. It had turned unseasonably cold the previous night and he wanted to remind her to put on her sweater when she left for work. Did I mention? My friend turned 50 just recently.

Though I had heard about this compulsive-parenting phenomenon much earlier, my firsthand experience came about when I was in tenth grade.

Mom, dad and me had gone to visit some temple in South India. When we reached the temple entrance, dad was walking a little ahead while mom and me were lagging behind, admiring the architecture.

As we crossed the threshold of the temple, mom excitedly grabbed my hand and said, "Ooooh Archu! Look, what a huge elephant!" as she pointed out to the token elephant standing at the entrance. "So big, no? How exciting for you!" she continued.

At that point I gave a cold glare and crossly said, "Mummeeeeeee! I am not in kindergarden you know. I know what an elephant looks like. You don't have to point it out to me. I have seen plenty of elephants before in my life!" and stomped off angrily to complain to dad.

I caught up with dad and was just about to start complaining when he excitedly interrupted me, "Oh, here you are. I was looking for you! I wanted to show you the elephant. Did you see it? So big, no?"

Aaaaargh! I am sure the other people in the temple must have thought I was a mentally retarded 14 year old. Unless they were also parents, in which case they must have been too busy pointing out the elephant to their offspring to notice.

Oh well! As I said, parents will be parents!
--
*kada kutty refers to the last born in a house. Kada kuttys usually get even more babying than their siblings.

16 comments:

Vishesh said...

being the eldest sucks....

ACE !! said...

Kada kuttys always end up doing chores (non-stop) for elders.. :( :(

rads said...

yeayea, much to the annoyance of the oldest :|

:p

Altoid said...

Cute! :). And I second rads. Rads, lets go start a primogeniture team!

Jaya said...

:) I had a similar experience when my dad showed me a cloud. I was in 12 years old then!!!

Anonymous said...

Can totally relate to it. Being the last kid comes with its perils and privileges :)

SK said...

:--) Whenever I travelled with my Dad he used to show me places and explain them to me ( for example the LIC!) till I was 17, again and again. EVEN THOUGH I am not a kada kutty.
Parents are parents, no matter what :--)

Anita said...

ah. remember, my friend lakshmi? when she was 18, her mom helped her cross the road by screaming out loudly 'baby baby, hold my hand. watch out'. think everyone in the road sniggered.

Anonymous said...

My grandmother still asks me who wants the last butter part of curd rice she mixed and look at me and smiles cheekily.....The last part always went to the kada kutty btw.

Archana said...

Vishesh - ask the younger ones! You would hear sad tales of hand-me-downs, too much babying and too much being-taken advantage of :-)!

Ace - ah, a person in the know! Guess you are a kada-kutty too then :-)!

Rads - oldest have their own advantages pa!

Altoid - :-)! LOL :-)!

Joy - hehehe :-))!

A-kay - welcome aboard :-)! True!

SK - adhuvum correct thaan :-)!

Sindu - phew! I feel so much better now!! p.s. did lakshmi dig a whole and jump into it then :-P?

Binaryfootprints - ooooh - you have the "butter-vaai" concept too? nice! You a kada kutty too :-)?

J said...

Cute :) naan US varappa ennoda amma samayal notes onu avanghalae ezhuthi koduthaangha..ingha varappa enaku suthama samayal theriyathu...oru naal etho recipe paakarapa adhula, oil kaanjathum, kadugu seeragam potu apram pachai milagai podunu iruku...adhuku pakkathu bracket la "pachai milagai pota apram vedikum jaakirathai" nu ezhuthi irunthaangha...padikarappa elaam azhugai varum enaku :)

Punvati said...

Hehehe this is so true... And kada kutty apart, try being the only child ... when i complain to my parents they stare at me in confusion and just say that since even their parents treat them that way (still), it perfectly fine for them to do so. Now i cant defy that... :P

And so cute.. the pachai milagai thing :)

Archana said...

J - That is sooooooo sweet! Trust mothers to do that. My mom wrote down recipes for me too when I came here! BTW ippo thaan samaikka aarambichu irukiya? Un blog-la irukara pictures paartha appadi illai!

Divya - welcome aboard :-D! Thanks a ton for your comments on my older posts - good fun to read them :-)! Ah, single children tho are spoilt rotten :-P!

J said...

haha :) Oyeee, naan 1.7yrs'a 'nalla' samayal panitu iruken. but still refer my Amma's notes. adha sonen :)

but yes, US vantha apram (after marriage) dhaan samayalae kathukiten. adhuku munadi elaam etho opaethitu irupen veetla :p

Archana said...

J - lol :-)! Idhu ellarum panura velai thaan :-P!

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