Of all the blogs I have written so far, this piece about ‘PEACE’ took me a lot of time ( a lifetime probably, had I wished to achieve it first and then write)! 

Every day after coming from school, she hugs me. But that evening, the way she hugged me was a bit different. There was something more to it. Something unsaid yet so obvious and something normal yet so special. 

Me: What happened?

Mini-Me: Nothing!

Me: Is there anything you want to tell me? How was school today?

Mini-Me: School was good. Can I ask you something?

Me: Yea, sure, go on!

Mini-Me: What’s Peace for you?

Me: Wh…What? (I fumbled literally for a fraction of seconds)

Mini-Me: Peace, Mumma… Peace!

Me: (still startled by her question) Why…I mean… what will you do with that? 

Mini-Me: Come on Mumma, how long will you take to answer?

Me: ( I wanted to say: “I don’t know the answer, I don’t have an answer, how can I answer, let me think…thinking…still thinking!)

Preparation for ‘My Answer’ :

For the first few seconds, I could not believe that she even knows this word, PEACE. Then I thought, she is just a 5-year-old girl who is too little to understand the meaning. I was confused as to how to answer this and make her understand too after all she is my little BabyBoo. I started strategizing. I started composing my answer. Okay! I sorted some best options:

1. A long holiday with my family
2. Hot chocolate fudge or a sundae
3. Movie night ( booked ‘Frozen 2’ advance tickets)

Then my options went up to:

1. A three BHK condominium
2. A car (for the harsh winters in this new country)
3. A stable and well-paying job
4. Good health insurance coverage for my family 
5. Savings to secure my little girl’s higher education
6. Birthday in Paris 
7. A solitaire from Tiffany’s
8. Efforts for a stable political scenario, women safety, and empowerment, Global warming, etc. etc. etc. 

And, while I was planning all this to answer her question, she hugged me tightly and gave me her soulful smile.

Mini-Me: Mumma, that’s my answer. When I hug you and daddy, that’s peace for me. I love you!

(Saying this, she went to her playroom)

And, I was left with drops of tears rolling down my cheeks. Something was choking inside me. Something was churning inside me. Something that made me introspect myself as a human being!

Preface:

Well, a preface should ideally come in the beginning but who cares about a mere structure any more now? 

So, it was on the eve of Remembrance Day in school that she was taught in her Senior Kindergarten about wars and how our brave soldiers protect the country and the countrymen. That’s when the teacher asked all the students about ‘PEACE’. Upon her reply, she got a big hug from her teachers and from her classmates too!

Never knew, the meaning of ‘PEACE’ would be so complicated for a mother ‘in-her-mid-thirties’ to define and so lovely for a ‘5-year-old’ to express!