Cars and Boys

Thirteen years ago, I would reel out the car numbers, models and colours of the cars of all my colleagues. The parking lot fascinated me, I would go up to the 7th floor terrace and see the line of cars and try and figure out which one was whose. My favourite online game was Parking Perfection (all versions). My close friends would be awed by my memory and interest in cars. My dream in life at that time, was to buy my own car and drive to work in a starched printed silk saree. Up until then, I used to think that Cars was a boy-thing.  But I realized driving came naturally to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

My husband loves driving too. He once drove from one city to another, for 7 hours and was visibly unhappy that we had reached our destination. He also enjoys reading up information about the technical, mechanical facts of different cars and models. He passes on a lot of this to my older son too. (Genetically and Specifically)

My older child was fascinated with his first toy car when he was 6 months old. He couldn’t take his eyes off the wheels, would lie on the floor and see the wheels (probably could count rpm too!).  He connected it with a real car only when he was about 1, probably because he had a couple of new toy cars of which he could open and close the doors.

When he was 2, and started talking, he referred to our cars, only by their names – Toyota Innova and Hyundai Getz. In about a year’s time, when he was more than 3, he used to be most excited driving around sitting in his carseat. He thoroughly enjoyed the Mumbai traffic jams (maximum of 1.5 hrs once) because he got to see so many cars around.

He gaped, ogled and reeled out the model names. While it’s true that we have ended up giving him this information all along, we were surprised at the fact that he could recognize the models from a wheel or side of the car. We had to wait for the car to pass by, so we could get a quick glimpse of the logo at the rear.

He is 6 now, and getting him out of the car in front of school is a big task. He gets all excited and starts jumping around, yelling out “Mamma, that white Skoda Superb is Krish’s car!”, “That black Honda CRV is Jay’s car, he also has a navy blue BMW, you know?”

My second one was born into a home that had a bed in the shape of a car, and two tubs full of four wheelers for toys. He is 2.5 yrs now, has started making full sentences and repeats whatever big bro says. More often than not, he has no clue of what he is repeating, but that doesn’t really deter him. If he happens to see cars on the road, he asks his brother which ones they are. And if he is travelling alone with me, he reels out model names like a pro, even though the cars don’t match. This afternoon he saw a Maruti Alto and yelled, “Mamma, theee, Hondhaa thivick”...

Our family’s most favourite movie till date is “Cars” and, needless to say, we can’t wait for June 24th to watch its sequel. While on the subject, I can’t resist sharing the conversation that these two boys had, on our way to school this morning:

Older one: Look, that is a BMW!

Younger one: Loook, dhaath ith a behind dhabaloo!

Older one: Not behind W, its BMW, if you can’t say it, its ok, say   ‘Beamer’!

Younger one: Okay, dhaath ith a beemah dhabaloo

Older one: You are a funny brother, and I love you!

Younger one: <<Grinning, giggling, gurgling.......>>