My little British Girl

Devi Nair
Devi Nair
Aug 26, 2017 · 2 min read

‘Naughty mommy!’. My 7 year old blurts at me when I refuse to let her watch Peppa Pig cartoon. Its been over an hour that she’s glued to the iPad and deep into the Peppa Pig video, almost virtually being one among Peppa’s family members. I recollect the conversation with her class teacher, ‘She is in a character world at times and it takes a while for her to shake out of it. Her accent is so British that her classmates and friends always wonder if she lived in the UK or if she is half British.’ That does raise an alarm in my mind, not too good to encourage it. Not that I have a problem with her talking in the British accent, but that would alienate her from her friends and peer groups; especially while we live in India.

I must say she sounds very cute with her voice and and the sweet accent, her manners and high etiquette, that kids usually of her age do not display. There are days when we have tea parties with her little ceramic tea pot and cups, cute intricate plastic cup cakes arranged on small serving plates, with her dollies on the other side of the table, who are our imaginary tea-mates. I always wonder how she picked up such English mannerism with perfection. Her pleasantries when she meets my friends or a family acquaintance takes me by surprise almost every other time. Off late, I notice that her grip on our mother tongue is dipping day by day. I wonder whatever is in store for me when it comes to her in the days to come.

I respond to her ‘Naughty Mommy’, saying, ‘Yes lady!’, and she giggles her heart out saying, ‘you are also talking me to the way I speak’. She forgets her demand for the iPad and we cuddle together on the couch laughing our heart out, rub our noses together and give butterfly kisses with eyelashes on each other’s cheeks. I look into her twinkling eyes and feel overwhelmed looking at ‘My little British girl.’

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