Missing, doing, Papa

So what does a child learn when Papa is out of town for long periods?

He learns about time.

'When will Papa come?'

'Two weeks more, kiddo.'

'Two weeks? That means seven days, no?'

He learns about the net.

'Is papa online or off-line?', he asks and plonks himself on my lap to chat with my friends. Most of them know its him by the QQQQQQQQ and XXXXXXXX he so loves to type.

Sometimes Papa calls him and yells, 'oye, don't drive a cycle on the keyboard.'

'No, Papa, I am just playing the piano. Ja ji ju ja ja ja ju ja ji ji....'

He learns about post and parcel.

'But Papa, why can't you send me the helicopter flying?'

'I can, but how will you get the remote then?'

He learns about direction.

'This way is the south. Bangalore is in south. My papa lives in Bangalore.' I overhear him telling his friends, showing them his magnetic key chain.

He learns how to visualize people.

'Where are you right now, Papa?' he always wants to know.

'I am on my cycle. I am going to the college.'

'You are going to college to study?'

'Yes, Pavan.'

He gets a gist of politically correct gender awareness.

'Mother is making a movie. Papa is studying. Papa is learning to make vegetables for poor people.'

He learns to kiss photographs. And, maybe, he learns to dream of sitting on Papa's shoulders.