Snake-Woman

Dear Piya,

This world has many amazing creatures.

There are animals, who little toddlers like you love to observe.

There are birds, who babies like you love to listen to.

There are fish who little ones like you enjoy watching.

There are human beings, who are the source of little ones like you.

And then there are the super-humans, who are mostly a figment of imagination of kids like you who grew up to realise how boring life is without a dash of creativity.

I thought I belonged to the category of human beings all my life.

That is till the day I had you.

The sheer pain of having pushed out another human being from me made me want to be declared as a super-human.

Your father did not approve of this, obviously, as that would make the parental balance weigh down heavily in my favour.

But then as I developed a distinct super-power as you grew up, my stature as a super-human started to become undeniable.

Here is the super-power I have mastered with time - Slithering!

Yes!

I have become glib at slithering out of our bed after putting you down to sleep.

It took me some time, but I realised this pretty soon that you sense my absence through some magical body-warmth-detector in you. That is the only way I can justify you waking up with a cry the second I get out of bed.

I did not want your sleep to be disturbed like this. You are little. Little people like you should sleep so that big people like me can do things around them.

As expected, you did not grasp any of this logic.

And so, as time went by, I tried newer & newer techniques to avoid waking you up with myself, that is till I became the super-human - Snake Woman!

It’s the only way to not disturb your sleep, till date.

All I have to do is wait till you are deep in sleep, move away one tenth of an inch per second, reach the edge of the bed and then slither down without making any noise.

It’s difficult than it sounds.

You have no idea of the number of times I have fallen down the bed failing to slither away effortlessly.

Apart from getting my bottom hurt, I have then had to deal with the grief of you waking up.

Anyway, what I am saying is that your mother has superpowers, girl!

If you wake up less often and annoy me to a minimum by doing so, I will teach you my secret some day.

So, be good okay?

Sleep tight.

Good night.

Love,

Maa