Homework: Storyboard

The photoschool homework was to tell a story in three pictures..

Our story:

Pretty self explanatory, we thinks!

.

Explaining the economy

How does one explain the economy to a four year old?

We grew up in a poor household and as kids our understanding of the economy was simply:

"There are people with a lot more money than us we have to interact with every day. We are not rich. But it is okay. All our relatives and friends love us and we have no dearth of fun"

Over time we kind of learned (we weren't necessarily taught openly) to understand what our parents could provide for us as a default, what was pushing them to their limit, what was an extravagance for the household, etc. and would not bother to ask them for things that they might want to give us but cannot. The few times we did, we did with a lot of regret knowing the pain it would cause them.

The setting for the little one, is a lot different from the setting for me. Even Jr. understands things to an extent because we were going through a tough time when she was four, when the little one was just born and were moving from place to place and living in one room for almost 6 months.

The little one always "needs" things and "wants" things. She always compares with her sister or friends and is very temperamental, but she is also a very smart kid.

Earlier today, I gave her the usual speech about work, money, job, jobless people, expense, buying, spending, responsibility, etc. etc.

She listened to it patiently as though she cared and still wanted to get new shoes because her shoes are too tight, which is typical of four year olds because they change shoe sizes every 6 months! (and she IS going to get a new shoe).

Told her that she should listen to me and get the shoes Daddy picks for her.

She promptly ran away from me, looked at her mom and goes

"don't ask appa to buy me a shoe for 10 dollars okay.. just ask him to buy me a shoe that is one dollar!"

We both burst out laughing.

If only it was that simple!

.

If the Shoe fits!

It is a world renowned fact that Jr. is the three millionth, four hundred and thirty five thousandth, two hundred and fourth, avatar of Cindarella!

Although she was born five plus years ago, she realized that she was doll incarnate, only a few months ago in downtown Santa Barbara, where she had gone with her family on a magical vacation. It is when she had "the shoe fit" moment.

The story began in the year 2002. A beautiful girl was born in the land of Silicon. Her dad named her Jr. and as days went by, when her life was chronicled in great detail by her dad, she was understanding something very profound. She was just another girl. She had always wanted to be a princess from the time she was born.

Everywhere she turned, she saw them. Those girls on TV, DVD's, toys, cousins, little girls who showed up at their door on Halloween, with their puffy white and pink gowns, tiaras and little "princessy" staffs which looked very much like magic wands made in bulk somewhere in a land far away. She wanted to be one herself, "so so so much!".

She grew up, learnt to speak and eventually read and write and found out all about Cindarella, the mother of all Princesses! Oh the beauty, the grandeur, the advertising. It was all pervasive and the trips to Disneyland only made her longing even more serious. That was when she found out about the shoe. She needed glass slippers, with the Disney castle logo and "Made in China" written on the bottom to make her a princess, and it had to be worth it. "King daddy should be able to fork out a fortune to see if they fit, should he not?" she told herself.

That is when the evil mother and evil grandmother came into the picture. "Cut, Cut, Cut!" Jr. said. "There is only a fairy godmother in Cindarella. No evil mother and grandmother! You are confusing Snow White and Cindarella Daddy!", she said.

Her daddy just laughed. "Honey, we are living in 2007 and you are a Desi Kid. Of course there will be mothers and grandmothers in the story. Learn to deal with it!", came the reply.

Just as Jr. would try any shoe at any store as she went from zero to five years old, her maternal lineage would chip in with "VaLarra Kuzhandhai! Rendu size perusa Vaangungo. Veetukku porathukkula shoe chinnada poidum", which was the Tamizh equivalent of:

"Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Put 'em together and what have you got
bibbidi-bobbidi-boo.."

and when translated to English with a heavy Tamizh accent meant,

"She is a growing child! Buy two sizes bigger. By the time we buy a shoe and go home, the shoes we buy become too small for her feet!"

Junior would never become Juniorella in her first five years. She would be seen flopping around in shoes, slippers, sandals, glass slippers, etc. which were either too small for her or two sizes bigger. Till that night!

Oh, how could she forget that night! They had gone on a beautiful vacation to Santa Barbara and were about to return home the next morning when her shoes just gave in. It was cold outside and the entire family just rushed to the nearest "payless" shoe store for fear of her catching a cold and ruining the new year celebration with the cousins!

Jr. went through a bunch of shoes which were either too expensive, not her size, not her color, not her type, not her mothers type, not her grandmothers type, not nice enough to make her sister jealous, too boyish, too cheesy, too open for winter, too high tech , too low tech, and on and on and on.

It was almost like the Cindarella story. The only difference was that in the original the same shoe was "tried" by a zillion girls before it found the right girl, and in the Juniorella version, the same girl was "tired" trying a zillion shoes before she found the right shoe!

That is when she saw it. The thin, simple, silver and black "D" shoe. It was actually a Champion shoe which for some weird reason had the "C" written like a "D". Daddy told her that the C was for Cindarelli, but she called it the D shoe and when she walked up and down that aisle, for the first time she realized, "It fit!"

Mother and Grandmother promptly started singing..

"Salagadoola rendu suththoola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
Put 'em together and what have you got
romba chinna shoe.."

The store was about to close. Everyone had been sent out. The "Open" sign was changed to "Closed" and the big but nice African American lady who managed the store came up to daddy and said "Sir. We are closing as soon as you decide!". Time was running out. The whole payless store was about to turn into a nightmarish experience for Jr. at the stroke of 8:00. When there were only a few seconds left and the extended family was almost out of the door, Daddy took the box and Jr., whipped out his credit card and said "ring it up!"

As the clocks chimed eight times...

out walked "Juniorella"!

.