Bhumon (meaning ‘beautiful mind’) is my youngest cousin brother, all of 3 years. I call him ‘Bhoo’ while my younger brother Sunny calls him ‘Baby Bhoo’. How equipped really, is a 3-yr old with social, directional, conversational and selling skills? Can he charm people and win them over to his POV? ‘Oh yes’ I hear you say, if by ‘charm’, one is alluding to how kids howl, slather stuff copiously with drool and otherwise, coax out thingies from tuckered-out parents and nannies. But what if I were talking about a 3-yr old being a smooth operator? ‘No!’ But wait a minute, he’s so intelligent…. ‘Nyet, nada…whoever heard of conversational skills in a kid as small as that.’ So to win over all skeptics I present before you, 2 of the latest exploits of Bhumon, the charm-kid.
His parents go visiting a colleague of the dad’s with Bhumon in tow. With the adults talking in the living room, Bhumon rolls around taking inventory of the house’s provisions. Food being the reason d’être of most 3-yr olds, our charm-kid soon ends up in the kitchen where he sees a maid. Bhumon strikes up a conversation with the maid all by himself, talking about this and that, until he gets around to the topic of whats available in the way of instant consumption. Our charm-kid enquires, “Have you got Maggi (a brand of instant noodles)?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, I love Maggi. How much time does it take to make Maggi?”
“No time at all.”
“Then maybe you can make me some. I’m so hungry.” The charm-kid usually embellishes such requests with a slow smile and big, twinkling eyes (from my own experiences).
It was a short visit which gets prolonged cos the maid’s preparing Maggi for Bhumon who spends a slurpy time eating the noodles which he had got prepared by someone he’d met for the first time in a house he'd been visiting for the first time.
Another time, Sunny goes visiting Bhumon. Both of them are watching TV and Sunny is slowly getting irritated cos Bhumon’s been watching cartoons for the last half-hour and he’s got the remote nestled safely within his small palm. So Sunny says, “Hey baby Bhoo, you’re so big and still watching cartoons. Gimme the remote.” Our charm-kid slowly turns his head away from the TV, looks at Sunny full in the eye and explains, “Sunny da, I’m just 3-yrs old. All I can understand is cartoons.” And just as slowly turns his head back towards whatever colourful adventure was exploding on the screen. A very sheepish Sunny spends the rest of the evening following the trail of a pink teddy as it gallivants around a sleepy, Japanese town.
Whoever says that a 3-yr old is shy around people, unable to express himself thru language, is naturally hesitant & has no working knowledge of Carnegie’s ‘How to Win Friends & Influence People’, has to interact with Bhumon, the charm-kid.
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