A butterfly in a bus

My daughter (G) recently started 1st grade after a 3.5 month summer break. She's enjoyed the first few weeks of school and settled in nicely.

But she does have one major painpoint. The loss of control over her time.

This has led her to cherish what little free time she can get on weekdays and the weekend. She wants to spend all her free time at home playing with lego or doing art and of course watching TV.

So when we tried to get her to go into Church street this Sunday to have lunch and visit 'the best bookshops in the world' she threw a major tantrum.

We spent almost an hour cajoling her to come along. My wife (K) really wanted to go.

So I told G that she could either stay home with me and let K go or we all go together. She decided to come with us in 10 seconds! We should have tried that right at the beginning!

So we set off to MG Road and lunched at Lakeview. Lakeview has been a nostalgic favourite for us.

My Mom used to go there as a kid when visiting her grandparents in Bangalore. My parents also spent a fair share of their time there before I was born. K and I also used to be regulars once upon a time.

G loved the new decor (lots of mirrors) and we played some guessing games. Her mood was elevated and her stomach was full.

We then went to Blossoms where she has the habit of going around the shelves like a sort of a maze!

The next stop was Bookworm. This was the first time she went there and got fixated on the name. Is it a worm who reads? Etc. etc.

We know G is at peace when she sings or talks to herself on a drive. Around halfway into the drive she started singing a hindi song she learnt at school.

She's just started to learn hindi so her sound and pronounciations are quite amusing. (eg. 'Had balmaash' instead of 'hat badmaash' for example!)

The song starts off as: Titli udi. Ud na saki. Bus mein chadi. Seat na mili.

Translation: The butterfly tried to fly but couldn't. So she got into a bus but didn't get a seat.

She repeated the song relentlessly for over 10 minutes. We pulled up alongside a bus at a traffic signal.

K spotted a butterfly inside the bus resting on one of the window glasses! Cue jokes on whether G willed it to happen!

A small thrill in a day filled with small joys. Hope G will remember this the next time we ask her to go out with us.