Well, it has been longer than I expected to write my next Daily Beats article. I intended it to be once a week, but unfortunately, the last few days have been busy with planning and organizing a brunch for 30 pax, and of course the Holi orders. Although I keep writing in my head, often I don’t follow through with it on the laptop.

Today, I would like to share with you something that Miki does often, since he was one year old, or perhaps even earlier. It had become a familiar gesture, a cute response that we laughed at and then forgot, until yesterday. A friend who had come to pick up some sweets lingered, chatting at the door, cooing over Riki. Just as she was about to leave, Miki returned from school, peddling his little tricycle, followed by Neelam (our helper). The moment he saw my friend, he stilled, closed his eyes and turned his head to one side.

“Oh! So cute!” exclaimed my friend.

I laughed. “He does it often when he sees new people or he doesn’t want to hear what I am saying. He thinks he has vanished.”

“That’s lovely. I wish all our problems would go away if we just did that,” replied my friend. “You have a great way of coping, Miki!”

Her response struck a chord. I found myself recollecting it a few times, at odd hours, in the middle of other activities.

How did Miki infer that if he closed his eyes, he would disappear, or the person before him would, or at the very least, not see him?

We never taught him anything of the kind. While the innocence is charming, the deep-seated response is an eye-opener. Children imbibe from the world around them, as well as express instinctively, mostly without filter, often without conscious thought, at times without the aid of learnt behaviour. And there’s a lot to take in from them.

As adults we know that closing our eyes does not solve a problem, but if we focus on the principle of the gesture, it teaches us the importance of stillness. A pause… Time to regroup… Time to assimilate… Time to choose our response (instead of reacting impulsively, and more often than not, wrongly). It’s a valuable lesson… Effective in building our own resilience, our patience, and our inner strength.

So, close your eyes, Miki! Take a deep breath! Take your time… The world will wait… For you!