My Nemesis - My Daughter

  We are not a religious family - spiritual, yes but religious, no. My husband and I were both raised in unconventional but religious Hindu homes and sure, we do participate in religious ceremonies from time to time. But we consider ourselves agnostics - scientifically questioning beliefs and seeking rationale while also adopting good practices from any religion. We make a conscious effort to expose Yukta to different cultures, religions, and experiences, and teach her about being accepting and inclusive of everyone. Mythology in general is something that fascinates us and we often tell her stories from different mythological origins which immensely captivates her attention and imagination. On one occasion, we went to a Hindu temple and Yukta as usual asked hundreds of questions about the deities and rituals. We answered them to the best of our knowledge, offered our prayers, and went back home. The event was over for us but the gears in her head were far from being at rest. The fo...

  My husband is smart. He calls dibs on all the easy questions from Yukta and redirects all the tough ones to me. In his opinion he is 'prepping' me for the future when Yuka is a teenager with dilemmas and a difficult attitude. I have always laughed at this thinking this is eons into the future. And one fine day Yukta asked me in a troubled tone, "Who will marry me when I grow up?" (She is all of 4.5yrs of age) I laughed so hard that after a while I couldn't tell if I was laughing or crying. But the expression on Yukta's face hadn't changed. To her this was a life-altering question and I was not taking it seriously.  When I finally managed to regain composure, I told her that when she grows up she can find her own partner to marry or not marry altogether if her preference changes. To which she said, "So you will not do anything about it??" Now I'm sure my daughter thinks I'm lazy.

For those of you who have read some of the posts on this blog this will sound like a repetition. Yukta is a very curious child and often behaves with a maturity beyond her age. She frequently stumps us with her simple yet deep understanding of life. One day very randomly we asked her, "Yukta, what do you want to be when you grow up?" to which she instantly replied, "I just want to be an adult." Big things do come in small packages.

Those of you who have a Google Home (or Siri) will attest that it feels like another family member - someone who is physically not a human but in behavior is nothing short of it. Always listening, reacting when you expect it the least, providing unsolicited advice, having strong opinions, and a mind of its own. That way we are a small family of 3 - me, my husband, Yukta, and Google Home. Yukta in particular treats our Google Home as an omnipresent, all-knowing, superior member of the clan. In her opinion, Google knows the answer to anything her mom (and sometimes dad) cannot answer. From asking Google to play her favorite songs to finding out where she can buy Harry Potter merchandise, she is very adept at conversing with it. Which is why it is not a surprise that they have a mutual admiration club influencing each other - the Google Home seems to respond more to her voice than anybody else's and Yukta starts her sentences with "Hey, mamma/daddu..." One day Yukta was bein...