We were in the middle of dinner
when Zyed suddenly stopped and raised his head happily and asked me: “Mumma
what did you make this with, this is very yummy”. I told him the ingredients.
He was satisfied and got back to his eating. After a few seconds he stopped
chewing and looked at me and this time even I stopped chewing. He then asked
me: “Mumma what did you make me with?” I was not sure I heard him right and I
asked him to repeat his question. He asked me again, “what am I made of?” I was
sort of relieved and told him, “Well, you are made of flesh and bones and blood”.
I guess he got what was bone and blood. He asked again, “what is flesh?”
I said “flesh is your skin and the
tissues beneath it.”
So then “what is tissue made of?
Is it that paper napkin we wipe our hands? Is THAT what makes my flesh?”
Now this was getting deeper. But
I did not want to curb his curiosity and decided to see where this goes. So we
continued. I said “No it isn’t THAT tissue.” It took me some time to respond
and I finally said getting to the elementary level, “Tissues are made of carbon
and hydrogen. Those are the basic constituents of any matter.” I went on to
explain that we are made up of the same carbon and hydrogen that makes every
matter like wood, plastic, metals and every other matter. He was surprised.
“So you mean to say that you made
me with the same thing as they made the table with?” You! They! Good questions
and analysis coming from a 5 year old. I was sort of stuck. Few classes of
organic chemistry flashed before my eyes…I couldn’t even recollect how many years
before they were but I could recollect what feelings of helplessness those
classes brought!
So I went on to say “Yes. We are
all made of Carbon and Hydrogen and Oxygen and few other elements (all that I
could remember from the Periodic Table), in different proportion”.
So he asked, “Books?” I said “Yes”.
“Glass?” I said “Yes.”
“Car?” “Yes.” My son was in
misery.
A frown crossed his little forehead and he said, “Mumma if you were
little careful while making me, I could have been Lighting McQueen. Why are you
so careless?”(Now he was just repeating a question he heard his dad ask very often!) I had many answers to respond to that and while I was
battling in my head as to which one I must shoot, here comes the next question.
“So how did they make carbon?”
THEY? I asked him “WHO they?” He said, “Oh you know, Allah Allah.” That is how God
is phrased for him. I was amused that he somehow figured out that all other
things was made by God and he was made by me! Though I was not sure where he picked up the idea from, that was quite a moment. Nonetheless
he continued staring at me and I had to come out of the momentary bliss and
answer his question. And with each question, he was drawing before me more
clearly the face of my high school chemistry teacher, Pratibha Kohli. I couldn’t
believe that 5 year olds would ever be interested in what carbon was! And I
could hear Mrs. Kohli telling me “See Sumeera you better pay attention or you
are going to be sorry”. I was beginning to see she was right. Now I dint want
to pull out my google tab in between dinner and set a bad example for my little
nerd. So I wrack my brain for few miserable moments and tell him carbon is made
of atoms. And though not sure of it, before he asked I said atoms are further made of subatomic
particles called protons, neutrons and electrons. And that’s it. They
are the smallest things. No more break down.
So he is asking me “Show me one
proton.”
I faint.
