13-Dec-2010:
Me, Sheena and Aman are driving back to my home from my in-laws place after spending 2 days there. My in-laws had last week taken delivery of their spanking new car - a Suzuki A-Star Automatic and we had gone there to help get my FIL get comfy with the car, since he is not familiar with automatic transmission cars.
En-route, I drop Sheena at the Kayankulam bus-stand from where she would catch a bus to Alappuzha to get to work. After dropping her, I have Aman belted in safely in the front-seat. Given that our Swift has airbags, he should be seated in the rear-seat, since air-bags if deployed can cause harm rather than good to small kids in the front seat. However, it has been tough to persuade him to sit anywhere other than the front passenger seat. Ideally he should be sitting in the rear in a child-seat.
Infact I would prefer both Sheena & Aman sit in the rear passenger seat. I can convince Sheena, but my efforts with Aman have been in vain. Anyway, as me and Aman drive home, I decide to make another effort to convince him. It's a 10-km stretch to our home which is relatively free of traffic and I try to avoid the tone of advice, instead opting for a story-telling format, which I know usually works with Aman.
I tell him how a friend of mine had called me recently and told me the dangers of having small kids sit in the front-seat. Since airbags and the way they work would be tough to explain to a kid, I decide to use an analogy that he would understand. I tell him that in the event of an accident, the front wind-screen would shatter leading to glass-pieces hitting & injuring him (and Momma) if they sit in the front seat. So, this fictional friend of mine had clearly told me to have Aman seated only in the rear-passenger seat to avoid injuries.
There is silence from Aman as he digests this information. As we drive along, I have a faint hope that maybe he now understands the implications and would henceforth agree to sit in the rear. If only things were that simple.
Suddenly he pipes up, "But won't the glass pieces hit you, Daddy, since you are also seated in the front ?"
Logical, right ? I am asking him to be seated in the rear, while I sit in the front exposed to dangerous shrapnel. Unsure how to counter this logic, I tell him that I have no option but to sit in front since I have to drive the car. He is silent again taking in this information.
And then he says, "But we can always call Hanuman and before we have an accident, he will lift our car to a safe place".
To kids growing up with TV serials like "Chotta Bheem" and "Hanuman", there is nothing these mythological heroes cannot do. Why bother about seat-belts, airbags and stuff when you can call out to Hanuman in times of trouble, who will swoop you to safety, as depicted on TV ? :-)
P.S.: During the 10-day long year-end holidays, we plan to do quite some driving around, especially a possible 800km drive to north Kerala and back. Inspite of Hanuman, I hope Aman and Sheena agree to sit in the rear of the car henceforth.
