The day starts at 6am, as the boy is in a deep sleep kicks his brother off the bed, who lands on the nose of his aunt. The brother loses his sleep, along with the aunt who squeaks with the resulting swelling and pain; and his mother who has nothing to say but gives a sheepish smile to her sister, as a justification for her sons' deeds!!
It is midday. The youngest of the cousins are trying to let the Barbie clutch the shopping cart. Unable to accomplish it, they give up. The 4-year old then orders the 3-year old to ‘handle’ the doll (drive the cart and Barbie together so that they appear to be moving together). Unable to neither decode the meaning of the word nor the context of its usage, the younger one retorts, “You ‘handle’ it by yourself”!! Hurt by the defiance, the first one says, ‘I am 4, you are 3. You must listen to me’. In no mood to literally handle the domination, the young girl replies, ‘Even I shall turn 4 this December!!!' The argument continues until a complaint is lodged with the elders at home.
The clock shows 3pm. After a detailed lunch, the elders retire for an afternoon nap. The 8-year old is playing a code breaking game with his younger sister (younger just by 10 months). When the brother cracks the code, the sister cries foul as he already sneaked at the code while she was making it!! She shouts at him for deceiving her. When the sister cracks the code, the brother has the same objection and reaction. By the time half-a-dozen codes are broken, all the adults are around them solving the disputes!!
The time is 6pm and all the 5 cousins go for a swim in their specially-bought cute costumes. One acts to be as professional as a fish and displays his skills. The other holds on to the edge wall with one hand and shows off all the tricks with his other three limbs. One tries hard to get the basics right and keeps paddling the legs for the first half of the hour. One of them neither knows to swim nor wants to act so. She is not even interested to learn it immediately and just enjoys soaking and bumping in the water all around her (to the fear of her mother!!). The youngest one is seen crying before and even after entering the pool. But, soon forgets the reason for her grief and has fun with her companions!!
After having their dinner at 9pm, the cousins move into the bedroom and switch on music. The songs for which they have performed at the Annual Day celebration of their respective schools would be played and all five of them would dance, oblivious of the fact that these songs are being so many times over all the devices at home that they have become the most searched ones on YouTube on all the smartphones, laptops and tabs!!
The time is 11:45pm, the cousins are cracking their childish jokes, laughing and giggling aloud. The uncle is bothered about disturbing their neighbors. But, the merriment doesn’t stop until the mother of the eldest of the cousins switches off the lights, strictly warns them to close their eyes and call it a day!!
Four weeks of this crazy routine!! And it is now time for the cousins to part ways for this year, as the first leg of their summer vacation is about to end!!!
It has been as much a bonding time for the elders, as it was for the kids!! They left no stone unturned to make the best of these days........multi-language movie marathons; combined singing, stitching, walking, cooking and gossiping sessions of the adults continued round the clock too!!
